2 Chronicles 34 explained: A Young King and a Rediscovered Book

A boy becomes king (vv. 1-2)

Josiah took the throne at eight, so others likely governed for him at first. The writer ranks him with David, the model king, for keeping a steady course without drifting either way.

Tearing down other worship (vv. 3-7)

At about sixteen he began seeking God, and at about twenty he started destroying hilltop shrines, poles for the goddess Asherah, and altars to Baal, a Canaanite god. Burning dead priests' bones on their own altars was a harsh act meant to defile those sites for good, and he carried this into the old northern territories too.

Repairing the temple (vv. 8-13)

Money gathered from both north and south paid carpenters and builders to restore what earlier kings had let decay. Levites, the temple's assistant clergy, supervised the work, and the text notes some were skilled musicians, though why that is mentioned is not certain.

The book is found (vv. 14-21)

During the work the high priest found a book of the law given through Moses, and on hearing it read Josiah tore his clothes, a traditional sign of grief and alarm. Many scholars think it was an early form of Deuteronomy, though that is an interpretation, not something the text states.

Huldah's message (vv. 22-28)

The king's officials consulted Huldah, a woman prophet, who said disaster was still coming because the people had turned to other gods, but Josiah would not live to see it because he humbled himself. Since he later dies in battle (chapter 35), the promise of a peaceful burial seems to mean dying before Jerusalem's fall.

The covenant renewed (vv. 29-33)

Josiah read the book aloud to the whole gathering, high and low alike, publicly pledged to keep its terms, and had the people pledge too. The chapter says they stayed faithful while he lived, which quietly hints that it did not last after him.

Key verse: 2 Chronicles 34:31

Where Christians differ

Christians differ on what the found book was, with many traditional readers seeing it as Moses' long lost law and many scholars seeing it as an early form of Deuteronomy shaped not long before Josiah's time.

Something to think about

When you have discovered you were wrong about something important, what made it possible to change course instead of defending what you had always done?