he understood how little he had accomplished throughout his reign, in attempted suppression of the worship of many gods.
When he heard the scribe read aloud that it is God's will to be worshiped only in that "place which the Lord your God shall choose out of all your tribes to put His name there," he determined, more than ever before, to pull down every shrine and pagan sanctuary and to center the worship of the Lord in the Temple in Jerusalem alone.
At the end of the book, Shaphan read a series of wonderful blessings that were promised king and people, if they would live in accordance with the commandments contained in the Book of the Law—and Josiah saw visions of peace and prosperity for his kingdom. But the reading of the last lines cast a heavy gloom upon the little party, for the book concluded with the enumeration of a series of evils upon evils that would surely befall king and people should they not live in accordance with these commandments:
"All these curses shall come upon thee and follow thee and overtake thee until thou art destroyed, because thou hast not hearkened unto the Lord thy God, to keep His commandments and His statutes which He commanded thee."
Upon hearing this very dramatic conclusion, Josiah came down from his throne and bowed himself to the ground. He rent his clothes and wept aloud, as if he were mourning for one who had died and whom he had loved best of all in the world.
Then, restraining himself and collecting all his strength, he turned to Shaphan and Hilkiah and the others, who had been listening to the reading, and said:
"Go ye, inquire of the Lord for me, and for them that are left in Israel and Judah, concerning the words of the book that is found; for great is the wrath of the Lord that is poured out upon us, because our fathers have not kept the word of the Lord, to do according unto all that is written in this book."
Leaving the King's presence, Hilkiah and his companions held a short council to determine what to do next. The Book of the Law was so extraordinary that they needed the wisdom of some sage to explain to them how to proceed.
Those of the Prophetic Party understood well enough what this book was. They considered that it was a copy of the law which Moses was ordered to "put by the side of the Ark" and which Solomon probably placed in the corner-stone of the Temple when he built it. They who had been trained by the descendants of the little party of faithful Judeans whom Isaiah had gathered about him, knew that this law had been continually violated since the days of Hezekiah and practically forgotten. Therefore they wanted someone who was an authority, one who would be trusted by all the people, to interpret this book and to declare it to be the genuine Law of Moses.
First, someone suggested that Jeremiah be called in to interpret the book, but Hilkiah objected on the ground that Jeremiah was still a young man and that his opinion probably would not be heeded by all the people. Shaphan then suggested that the book be taken to Huldah, the Prophetess, a wise and aged mother in Israel, then living in Jerusalem.