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 poured out upon this place, and
shall not be quenched. 26. And as for the king of Judah, who sent you
to enquire of the Lord, so shall ye say unto him, Thus saith the Lord
God of Israel concerning the words which thou hast heard; 27. Because
thine heart was tender, and thou didst humble thyself before God, when
thou heardest His words against this place, and against the
inhabitants thereof, and humbledst thyself before Me, and did rendst
thy clothes, and weep before Me; I have even heard thee also, saith
the Lord. 28. Behold, I will gather thee to thy fathers, and thou
shalt be gathered to thy grave in peace, neither shall thine eyes see
all the evil that I will bring upon this place, and upon the
inhabitants of the same. So they brought the king word again.'--2
CHRON. xxxiv. 14-28.


About one hundred years separated Hezekiah's restoration from
Josiah's. Neither was more than a momentary arrest of the strong tide
running in the opposite direction; and Josiah's was too near the edge
of the cataract to last, or to avert the plunge. There is nothing more
tragical than the working of the law which often sets the children's
teeth on edge by reason of the fathers' eating of sour grapes.

I. The first point in this passage is the discovery of the book of the
Law.

The book had been lost before it was found. For how long we do not
know, but the fact that it had been so carelessly kept is eloquent of
the indifference of priests and kings, its appointed guardians.