Book of the Law
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incense unto other gods, that they might provoke Me to anger with all
the works of their hands; therefore My wrath shall be kindled against
this place, and shall not be quenched.”
Verses 15-17
.
But because the king had humbled his heart before God, the Lord
would acknowledge his promptness in seeking forgiveness and mercy.
To him was sent the message: “Because thine heart was tender, and
thou hast humbled thyself before the Lord, when thou heardest what I
spake against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof, that they
should become a desolation and a curse, and hast rent thy clothes,
and wept before Me; I also have heard thee, saith the Lord. Behold
therefore, I will gather thee unto thy fathers, and thou shalt be gathered
into thy grave in peace; and thine eyes shall not see all the evil which I
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will bring upon this place.”
Verses 19, 20
.
The king must leave with God the events of the future; he could not
alter the eternal decrees of Jehovah. But in announcing the retributive
judgments of Heaven, the Lord had not withdrawn opportunity for
repentance and reformation; and Josiah, discerning in this a willingness
on the part of God to temper His judgments with mercy, determined
to do all in his power to bring about decided reforms. He arranged
at once for a great convocation, to which were invited the elders and
magistrates in Jerusalem and Judah, together with the common people.
These, with the priests and Levites, met the king in the court of the
temple.
To this vast assembly the king himself read “all the words of the
book of the covenant which was found in the house of the Lord.”
2
Kings 23:2
. The royal reader was deeply affected, and he delivered
his message with the pathos of a broken heart. His hearers were pro-
foundly moved. The intensity of feeling revealed in the countenance of
the king, the solemnity of the message itself, the warning of judgments
impending—all these had their effect, and many determined to join
with the king in seeking forgiveness.
Josiah now proposed that those highest in authority unite with the
people in solemnly covenanting before God to co-operate with one
another in an effort to institute decided changes. “The king stood by a
pillar, and made a covenant before the Lord, to walk after the Lord, and
to keep His commandments and His testimonies and His statutes with
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all their heart and all their soul, to perform the words of this covenant
that were written in this book.” The response was more hearty than the