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<< 2 Kings 22: Finding the Law in the Days of Josiah >>
 SOME time after the good king Hezekiah, there was another good king, Josiah, the last good king of Judah. He was a child eight years old when he was made king. "In the eighth year of his reign, while he was yet young, he began to seek after the God of David his father: and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem from the high places, and the groves, and the carved images, and the molten images." (2 Chron. xxxiv. 3.) Prophets came in those days to warn the people. Among them were Zephaniah and Jeremiah whose words are kept for us in the Bible.
In the eighteen year of Josiah's reign something happened which aroused the king and the people to do all that they could to root out the wicked idolatries and to restore the worship of the Lord. Josiah had given orders to repair the temple. It had been cleaned and repaired by other good kings, but it had been neglected again. Shaphan the scribe was reader and writer for the king, an important officer. He took the command to Hilkiah the high priest, to count the silver which the keepers of the door had gathered of the people, and to give it to the workmen. Perhaps the money was gathered as it had been for the same purpose years before by king Joash, who also began to rule when a child only seven years old. At that time ' ' Jehoida the priest took a chest, and bored a hole in the lid of it, and set it beside the altar, on the right side as one cometh into the house of the LORD : and the priests that kept the door put therein all the money that was brought into the house of the Lord."
While Josiah's men were repairing the temple, the priest found "the book of the law." It was a roll containing the books of Moses, either entire or in part, which had been put for safekeeping in the temple. And now it had been neglected and nearly forgotten for perhaps seventy five years, since the days of Hezekiah. Have you seen a Jewish roll of parchment or leather, with the writing in columns, rolled up at either end on a stick?
The priest gave the roll to the scribe, and the scribe brought it to the king and read it, or read from it, to him. He read among other things some passages which told of the curses which would come upon the people if they did not hearken to the Lord. The king was afraid, and sent the scribe with other trusted officers to inquire of the Lord. Hezekiah in his trouble had sent to Isaiah: Josiah sent to Huldah the prophetess. Her husband was keeper of the priests' robes. "The college," where her home was, seems to mean some section of the city.
The answer was that the evil would come upon the people as it was written, but not in Josiah's time, because his heart was tender and he humbled himself when he heard the words of the law.
The story goes on to tell how the king gathered the people in the temple courts and read all the words of the book of the covenant which had been found. The king stood by '' the pillar" (perhaps one of the two pillars set by Solomon at the porch of the temple), where it was usual to stand on great occasions. The king and the people made a covenant to keep the Lord's commandments, and they did all that they could to destroy the idols and their altars from the temple and from the whole kingdom.
Then Josiah gave commandment to keep the Passover, as it was written in the law, in Exodus. The good king Hezekiah had kept the Passover and called all the people that would come to the feast. But the Passover which Josiah kept was kept more carefully according to the law of the Lord than any that had been kept since the days of the judges.
But after reigning thirty-one years Josiah was killed. Pharaoh-nechoh, the king of Egypt, went with his great army against Assyria. Josiah was no doubt in league with Assyria, and he tried to stop the Egyptians at Megiddo, where the army passed through the hills from the plains of Philistia into the plain of Esdraelon. It would seem that Pharaoh had no wish to harm Josiah. The story is told in a few simple words :" King Josiah went against him; and he slew him at Megiddo, when he had seen him." "And Jeremiah lamented for Josiah; and all the singing men and the singing women spake of Josiah in their lamentations to this day." (2 Chron. x.xxv. 25.)
Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned thirty and one years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Jedidah, the daughter of Adaiah of Boscath. And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, and walked in all the way of David his father, and turned not aside to the right hand or to the left.
And it came to pass in the eighteenth year of king Josiah, that the king sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah, the son of Meshullam, the scribe, to the house of the LORD, saying, Go up to Hilkiah the high priest, that he may sum the silver which is brought into the house of the LORD, which the keepers of the door have gathered of the people: And let them deliver it into the hand of the doers of the work, that have the oversight of the house of the LORD: and let them give it to the doers of the work which is in the house of the LORD, to repair the breaches of the house, Unto carpenters, and builders, and masons, and to buy timber and hewn stone to repair the house. Howbeit there was no reckoning made with them of the money that was delivered into their hand, because they dealt faithfully. And Hilkiah the high priest said unto Shaphan the scribe, I have found the book of the law in the house of the LORD. And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, and he read it. And Shaphan the scribe came to the king, and brought the king word again, and said, Thy servants have gathered the money that was found in the house, and have delivered it into the hand of them that do the work, that have the oversight of the house of the LORD. And Shaphan the scribe shewed the king, saying, Hilkiah the priest hath delivered me a book. And Shaphan read it before the king. And it came to pass, when the king had heard the words of the book of the law, that he rent his clothes. And the king commanded Hilkiah the priest, and Ahikam the son of Shaphan, and Achbor the son of Michaiah, and Shaphan the scribe, and Asahiah a servant of the king's, saying, Go ye, enquire of theLORD for me, and for the people, and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book that is found: for great is the wrath of the LORD that is kindled against us, because our fathers have not hearkened unto the words of this book, to do according unto all that which is written concerning us. So Hilkiah the priest, and Ahikam, and Achbor, and Shaphan, and Asahiah, went unto Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of Tikvah, the son of Harhas, keeper of the wardrobe; (now she dwelt in Jerusalem in the college;) and they communed with her. And she said unto them, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Tell the man that sent you to me, Thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will bring evil upon this place, and upon the inhabitants thereof, even all the words of the book which the king of Judah hath read: Because they have forsaken me, and have burned 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. But to the king of Judah which sent you to enquire of the LORD, thus shall ye say to him, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, As touching the words which thou hast heard; 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 will bring upon this place. And they brought the king word again.
And the king sent, and they gathered unto him all the elders of Judah and of Jerusalem. And the king went up into the house of the LORD, and all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem with him, and the priests, and the prophets, and all the people, both small and great: and he read in their ears all the words of the book of the covenant which was found in the house of the LORD. And 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 all their heart and all their soul, to perform the words of this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people stood to the covenant. And the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest, and the priests of the second order, and the keepers of the door, to bring forth out of the temple of the LORD all the vessels that were made for Baal, and for the grove, and for all the host of heaven: and he burned them without Jerusalem in the fields of Kidron, and carried the ashes of them unto Bethel. And he put down the idolatrous priests, whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense in the high places in the cities of Judah, and in the places round about Jerusalem; them also that burned incense unto Baal, to the sun, and to the moon, and to the planets, and to all the host of heaven. And he brought out the grove from the house of the LORD, without Jerusalem, unto the brook Kidron, and burned it at the brook Kidron, and stamped it small to powder, and cast the powder thereof upon the graves of the children of the people. ...
And the king commanded all the people, saying, Keep the passover unto the LORD your God, as it is written in the book of this covenant. Surely there was not holden such a passover from the days of the judges that judged Israel, nor in all the days of the kings of Israel,nor of the kings of Judah; But in the eighteenth year of king Josiah, wherein this passover was holden to the LORD in Jerusalem. Moreover the workers with familiar spirits, and the wizards, and the images, and the idols, and all the abominations that were spied in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, did Josiah put away, that he might perform the words of the law which were written in the book that Hilkiah the priest found in the house of the LORD. And like unto him was there no king before him, that turned to the LORD with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the law of Moses; neither after him arose there any like him. In his days Pharaohnechoh king of Egypt went up against the king of Assyria to the river Euphrates: and king Josiah went against him; and he slew him at Megiddo, when he had seen him. And his servants carried him in a chariot dead from Megiddo, and brought him to Jerusalem, and buried him in his own sepulchre. And the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah, and anointed him, and made him king in his father's stead.---2 Kings XXII.; XXIII 1-6, 21-25, 29, 30.
Author: William L. Worcester 1904
Spiritual Correspondences
Spiritual Meaning
2 KINGS XXII
1Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned thirty and one years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Jedidah, the daughter of Adaiah of Boscath.
1. And this new state of the celestial church is an incipient state of charity, and of faith from charity, the external origin and quality of which is the good of truth acquired in temptations.
2And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, and walked in all the way of David his father, and turned not aside to the right hand or to the left.
2. And the man of this new church is obedient to Divine Truth from Divine Good, according to the example of the Lord in His human life on earth, nor is he diverted from the truth either by evil in the will or error in the understanding.
3And it came to pass in the eighteenth year of king Josiah, that the king sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah, the son of Meshullam, the scribe, to the house of the LORD, saying,
3. And it happens that, when he is purified by conflict against evil, according to its degrees, there is influx from the Lord successively into the natural mind, disposing it to the conjunction of truth with good, and thence giving perception,
4Go up to Hilkiah the high priest, that he may sum the silver which is brought into the house of the LORD, which the keepers of the door have gathered of the people:
4. That such conjunction with good is necessary in order that truths which have been productive of good through acknowledgment of the Lord in the beginning of regeneration, rnay be arranged under good in order.
5And let them deliver it into the hand of the doers of the work, that have the oversight of the house of the LORD: and let them give it to the doers of the work which is in the house of the LORD, to repair the breaches of the house,
5. So that they may be employed by the intellectual and voluntary, powers of the regenerating man, and through them by the natural powers, in order that good may be made perfect by truths.
6Unto carpenters, and builders, and masons, and to buy timber and hewn stone to repair the house.
6. For this must be effected in the natural man as to affection, as to intelligence, and as to scientifics, good being procured and truth being formed therein.
7Howbeit there was no reckoning made with them of the money that was delivered into their hand, because they dealt faithfully.
7. And this is done in freedom from the love of good and not at all from any selfish and worldly motive.
8And Hilkiah the high priest said unto Shaphan the scribe, I have found the book of the law in the house of the LORD. And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, and he read it.
8. moreover to the man of the new church Diivine truths are revealed according to the state of good, and are perceived in the understanding as being conjoined with good, and as being the forrn of good.
9And Shaphan the scribe came to the king, and brought the king word again, and said, Thy servants have gathered the money that was found in the house, and have delivered it into the hand of them that do the work, that have the oversight of the house of the LORD.
9. And therefore the natural man is obedient to the spiritual man, acknowledging his supremacy, and utilizing the truths of the Word conjoined with good, so as by means of the new will and understanding, to make good fully perfect by truths.
10And Shaphan the scribe shewed the king, saying, Hilkiah the priest hath delivered me a book. And Shaphan read it before the king.
10. And also, the natural man is now conscious that from good he receives truths, and that thus the Word is opened to him. Wherefore he acknowledges that it is from the Lord.
11And it came to pass, when the king had heard the words of the book of the law, that he rent his clothes.
11. But it happens that, when Divine truths from the Word are opened to the man of the new church, he mourns on account of his neglect of truth;
12And the king commanded Hilkiah the priest, and Ahikam the son of Shaphan, and Achbor the son of Michaiah, and Shaphan the scribe, and Asahiah a servant of the king's, saying,
12. And there is an inftux from the Lord into his various powers in successive order --- namely, through the celestial heaven into the good and truth of the spiritual heaven, and thence into the truth and good of the ultimate heaven,
13Go ye, enquire of the LORD for me, and for the people, and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book that is found: for great is the wrath of the LORD that is kindled against us, because our fathers have not hearkened unto the words of this book, to do according unto all that which is written concerning us.
13. Giving the perception concerning the state of the general church, that inquiry should be made by application to the Word, on behalf of those in truths interior and exterior, and also of those in natural good, with respect to the opening of the Word, by which the state of the corrupted church is discovered, shewing its aversion from the Lord in consequence of disobedience, and the rejection of Divine truths.
14So Hilkiah the priest, and Ahikam, and Achbor, and Shaphan, and Asahiah, went unto Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of Tikvah, the son of Harhas, keeper of the wardrobe; (now she dwelt in Jerusalem in the college;) and they communed with her.
14. Wherefore such inquiry by the man of the church is made with all his powers: for he approaches the Word which is the union of truth with goodness in an external form derived from interior truth giving faith, and from interior good giving charity; and which covers those interior things and protects them ; for the Word is a revelation in the church and is Divine Truth from Divine Good giving enlightenment.
15And she said unto them, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Tell the man that sent you to me,
15. And, by the man of the new church, it is perceived to be in its inmost, Divine Truth proceeding from Divine Good for the instruction of mankind,
16Thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will bring evil upon this place, and upon the inhabitants thereof, even all the words of the book which the king of Judah hath read:
16. And therein it is revealed that the corrupted church, and the wicked man, bring upon themselves their own punishment externally and internally; for this is according to Divine Order, even that Divine Order which is perceived by him who is in good.
17Because they have forsaken me, and have burned 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.
17. For the wicked, by turning away from the Lord, and devoting themselves to a merely natural life from falsities, thus averting themselves by their actions, subject themselves to the direful suffering and torment which evil brings, nor is it possible that they should be removed, except by repentance.
18But to the king of Judah which sent you to enquire of the LORD, thus shall ye say to him, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, As touching the words which thou hast heard;
18. But to him who is in good, and who seeks instruction in good from the Word, is given, from living Truth conjoined with Divine Good, and thus from the Word, with regard to its nature and quality as condemning evil,
19Because 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.
19. The perception also, that wherever good exists internally, and also humility, together with aversion from all the evils of the corrupted church external and internal, which cause its desolation and vastation ; with mourning on account of lost truths, and sincere repentance,there is conjunction with the Lord,
20Behold 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 will bring upon this place. And they brought the king word again.
20. And consequently association with the angels, and the enjoyment of a new life of heavenly good; nor will the good see or suffer the punishment which evil brings upon itself. And all these truths are perceived fully by the man of the New Church.
2 KINGS XXIII
1And the king sent, and they gathered unto him all the elders of Judah and of Jerusalem.
1. And under the ruling principle of the New Church, which is faith from charity, are consociated all the leading truths of the church both as to affection and intelligence.
2And the king went up into the house of the LORD, and all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem with him, and the priests, and the prophets, and all the people, both small and great: and he read in their ears all the words of the book of the covenant which was found in the house of the LORD.
2. And there is, in this church, the conjunction of truth with good, or of faith with charity, and consequently of all the external powers of the mind therewith--namely, every truth of good, and every good of truth, every celestial good and every spiritual truth, all truths, in fact, of every quality; and to this church the Word of the Lord is opened as to its spiritual sense, which gives conjunction with the Lord, because it is from the Lord.
3And 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 all their heart and all their soul, to perform the words of this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people stood to the covenant.
3. Arid the man of this church, having the Word in the letter, is thereby conjoined with the Lord, in determining to live according to the truths of the Word, as to affection and thought internal and external, from the pure love of good and the understanding of truth, and by his actions to confirm himself in Divine truths, so that every truth in him is fully established in good.
4And the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest, and the priests of the second order, and the keepers of the door, to bring forth out of the temple of the LORD all the vessels that were made for Baal, and for the grove, and for all the host of heaven: and he burned them without Jerusalem in the fields of Kidron, and carried the ashes of them unto Bethel.
4 . And therefore there is an influx from the Lord into the celestial, spiritual, and natural degrees of his life prompting him to purify his mind, established in the truth of good, from every scientific encouraging the love of evil and falsity internally and externally; and consequently these false and evil scientifics are separated from the truths of the church, and are condernned as from infernal love; but their forms, being vastated of evil and falsity, are made serviceable to ultimate natural good.
5And he put down the idolatrous priests, whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense in the high places in the cities of Judah, and in the places round about Jerusalem; them also that burned incense unto Baal, to the sun, and to the moon, and to the planets, and to all the host of heaven.
5. Also the man of this church rejects all corrupted interior affections, supported by false doctrines from evil love, which assume the semblance of worship through the natural affections perverted by falsity from evil, internal and external; also all exterior affections of self-love as to evil and falsity internal and external.
6And he brought out the grove from the house of the LORD, without Jerusalem, unto the brook Kidron, and burned it at the brook Kidron, and stamped it small to powder, and cast the powder thereof upon the graves of the children of the people.
6. Again, the man of the New Church rejects entirely the doctrine of faith without charity, because it is contrary to the genuine truth of the letter of the Word, by which it is perceived to be from self-love, and void of all good, producing the vastation of all truths in those who confirm it.
22Surely there was not holden such a passover from the days of the judges that judged Israel, nor in all the days of the kings of Israel, nor of the kings of Judah;
22. And this state of regeneration is superior to all previous preparatory states of conjunction with the Lord by simple obedience by the intelligence of truth leading to good, or by a state of good acting by truths.
23But in the eighteenth year of king Josiah, wherein this passover was holden to the LORD in Jerusalem.
23. For it is the result of complete purification from evils through a full course of conflicts against evil and victories over it by the man of the true church.
24Moreover the workers with familiar spirits, and the wizards, and the images, and the idols, and all the abominations that were spied in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, did Josiah put away, that he might perform the words of the law which were written in the book that Hilkiah the priest found in the house of the LORD.
24. Moreover the man of the New Church rejects, by the power of celestial love and the light of spiritual truth, every deception which makes falsity appear like truth, and evil appear like good, with every image and symbol thereof in external worship, and every ultimate form of selfishness either as to affection or thouuht in the external man, in order that his life may be in complete conformity with the truths revealed in the Spiritual Sense of the Word of the Lord to him who is in good.
25And like unto him was there no king before him, that turned to the LORD with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the law of Moses; neither after him arose there any like him.
25. Nor is it possible that any previous state of the church or of the individual can equal that of the Lord in His glorified human life, or of the man of the New Church thence derived, who is regenerated fully as to the will, as to the understanding, and as to the life, by the Word of the Lord. Nor can any future state exceed this.
26Notwithstanding the LORD turned not from the fierceness of his great wrath, wherewith his anger was kindled against Judah, because of all the provocations that Manasseh had provoked him withal.
26. Nevertheless the man of the corrupted celestial church is totally averse from the intensity of the Divne Love, which, to him, is torment, because of his having confirmed in himself evil and falsity, and thus become opposed to and forgetful of the truth of good.
29In his days Pharaohnechoh king of Egypt went up against the king of Assyria to the river Euphrates: and king Josiah went against him; and he slew him at Megiddo, when he had seen him.
29. Notwithstanding, however, the depraved natural man rises up against the enlightened rational faculty of the man of the New Church, and is opposed by the
faith and life of that Church; and, when the natural man prevails, the church is vastated by falsity from evil in the extremes.
30And his servants carried him in a chariot dead from Megiddo, and brought him to Jerusalem, and buried him in his own sepulchre. And the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah, and anointed him, and made him king in his father's stead.
30. But the new natural man preserves, in true doctrine, the life of the New Church, delivering it from falsity by the truths of the church; so that the man of this church is raised to life in an external corresponding to his internal; while falsity conjoined with evil in the corrupted church produce a state of vastation there.
Author: Rev. HENRY MACLAGAN (1905)
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