When Josiah was king he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord and walked in the ways of His father David, not turning to the right or to the left. In the 18th year of his reign, he started to repair the temple. In the process they found the book of the Law in the temple of the Lord. So that does not need much explanation, as obviously it was not being used and no one seemed to notice. Even if you know where the book is but do not read from it or believe it, it is still lost. So Hilkiah found it then gave it to Shaphan the secretary who read it. Then he took it to the king and read it to him. Once the King heard the words of the book of the Law 2 Kings 22:11 “he tore his robes. 12 He gave these orders to Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam son of Shaphan, Akbor son of Micaiah, Shaphan the secretary and Asaiah the king’s attendant: 13 “Go and inquire of the Lord for me and for the people and for all Judah about what is written in this book that has been found. Great is the Lord’s anger that burns against us because those who have gone before us have not obeyed the words of this book; they have not acted in accordance with all that is written there concerning us.”
Fear leads to action. The king could have said great story, so what but he acted upon the words of the book because he feared the Lord. Then they did the right thing and sought a prophet of the Lord to hear the word of the Lord. So once he received the answer they read the book to the people, then renewed the covenant. Then because he feared the Lord he took action. He did what they were supposed to do when they first took the land. Numbers 33:50 “On the plains of Moab by the Jordan across from Jericho the Lord said to Moses, 51 “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘When you cross the Jordan into Canaan, 52 drive out all the inhabitants of the land before you. Destroy all their carved images and their cast idols, and demolish all their high places.” These images, high places and idols should never have returned but he got rid of everything. You can read about this in 1 Kings 23. 1 Kings 23:24 “Furthermore, Josiah got rid of the mediums and spiritists, the household gods, the idols and all the other detestable things seen in Judah and Jerusalem. This he did to fulfill the requirements of the law written in the book that Hilkiah the priest had discovered in the temple of the Lord. 25 Neither before nor after Josiah was there a king like him who turned to the Lord as he did—with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his strength, in accordance with all the Law of Moses.”
If we are to fear the Lord as Josiah did, we will respond to the word of God and upon hearing it we should be cut to the heart just like Peter said in Acts 2. Not only are we cut to the heart, we then act upon it. We renew the covenant; we tear down the idols that have come between God and us. We clean house in a big way. It also should be said of us that we turned to the Lord —with all our heart and with all our soul and with all our strength. When this happens then the book of Acts once again becomes the guide for us once again. We then become a people who act upon the word of God. We must humble ourselves in order for the Holy Spirit to be poured out just as at Pentecost.
