34:1 Josiah’s profile is found in 2 Kings 23, p. 511.
34:3 In Josiah’s day, boys were considered men at age 12. By 16, Josiah understood the responsibility of his office. Even at this young age, he showed greater wisdom than many of the older kings who came before him because he had decided to seek the Lord God and his wisdom. Don’t let your age hinder you from serving God.
34:14, 15 The Law of God that Hilkiah found was probably the book of Deuteronomy, which had been lost during the reigns of the evil kings. Now that it was found, Josiah realized that drastic changes had to be made in order to bring the nation back in line with God’s commands. This account is also recorded in 2 Kings 22:8-13.
34:19 It is human nature to treat sin lightly—to make excuses, blame somebody else, or minimize the harm done. Not so with Josiah. He was so appalled at the people’s neglect of the law that he tore his clothing to express his grief. True understanding of our sins should lead to “godly sorrow,” which “worketh repentance to salvation” (2 Corinthians 7:10). Are you always excusing your sin, blaming others, and pretending that it’s not so bad? God does not take sin lightly, and he wants us to respond with true remorse as Josiah did.
34:31 When Josiah read the scroll that Hilkiah discovered (34:14), he responded with repentance and humility and promised to follow God’s commands as written on the scroll. The Bible is God’s word to us, “quick, and powerful” (Hebrews 4:12), but we cannot know what God wants us to do if we do not read it. And even reading God’s Word is not enough; we must be willing to do what it says. There is not much difference between the scroll hidden in the Temple and the Bible hidden on the bookshelf. An unread Bible is as useless as a lost one.