On a certain day, in the year 621, Josiah sent Shaphan, his minister of foreign affairs, to the Temple to empty the collection boxes and to report back to him on the progress of the repairs.
When Shaphan came to the Temple, Hilkiah approached him carrying a parchment statement, "I have found the Book of the Law in the House of God;" and Hilkiah handed the book to Shaphan.
Being questioned, Hilkiah explained that the book was discovered in one of the corner-stones of the Temple. It had probably been placed there by King Solomon himself, he explained, at the time when the Temple was built. But after Solomon's death, during the constant war between Israel and Judah and the inroads that idolatry had made in both countries, the real, genuine "Book of the Law" that was to have been the basis for government, the constitution of both Israel and Judah, had evidently been lost sight of and forgotten. Now, by the merest accident, it was found again.
When Shaphan glanced through it he immediately saw what a wonderful discovery had been made. So he took the book to the king. He reported to Josiah first, that the money was collected, material paid for and workmen satisfied; then, that the King's orders regarding the repairs of the Temple had been faithfully carried out; finally, that Hilkiah had discovered a book and that he had delivered it to him. The king, having heard the whole story of the discovery, ordered Shaphan to read the book to him, aloud.
What Shaphan read amazed Josiah and the few advisers whom he had called in to listen to the reading. Everything in it seemed to be the exact opposite of conditions as they existed in Judah. The laws for sacrifices and ceremonies in the Temple; the statutes regarding the priesthood in the Temple; the observances of the holidays; the commandments regarding duties of officers of the law and the administration of justice; the humane laws between man and man, all were different from, actually opposed to, the practice of priest, judge and people in Josiah's entire kingdom.
During the reading of the book Josiah recognized how little real headway his reforms thus far had made. When he heard Shaphan read:
"The judges shall judge the people with righteous judgment. Thou shalt not pervert justice; thou shalt not respect persons; neither shalt thou take a bribe, for a bribe blindeth the eyes of the wise and perverteth the words of the righteous. Justice and only justice shalt thou follow, that thou mayest live and inherit the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee",
he understood how far from this ideal his people had strayed.
When he heard the great declaration of God's unity,
"Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one; and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, with all thy might",