The Lost Constitution Text: 2 Chronicles 34:14-21
Introduction: Cultural Amnesia
We live in a generation that is frantically renovating a house while having thrown the blueprints into a bonfire. Our culture is busy, active, and engaged in all sorts of repairs. We are fixing the plumbing with social justice, rewiring the electricity with identity politics, and patching the roof with therapeutic deism. But the foundation is cracked, the walls are leaning, and the entire structure is groaning under the weight of its own incoherence. Why? Because we have lost the book.
Like Judah under the wicked kings Manasseh and Amon, the West has undergone a catastrophic case of cultural amnesia. We have forgotten who we are because we have forgotten whose we are. And the most tragic part of this story is that the book was not lost in some pagan library or burned in a foreign invasion. It was lost in the House of God. It was misplaced by the very people charged with guarding it, studying it, and proclaiming it. We have Bibles in every hotel room and on every smartphone, but they are functionally lost. They are buried under a pile of sentimentalism, psychological self-help, political agendas, and outright neglect. We have the artifact, but we have lost the authority.
The story of Josiah's reformation is therefore not just a quaint piece of ancient history. It is a paradigm for genuine revival. It shows us the non-negotiable starting point for any true return to God. Revival does not begin with a new worship band, a slick marketing campaign, or a focus-grouped sermon series. Revival begins when a man finds the Book, reads the Book, trembles before the Book, and then obeys the Book.
The Text
When they were taking out the money which had been brought into the house of Yahweh, Hilkiah the priest found the book of the law of Yahweh given by the hand of Moses.
So Hilkiah answered and said to Shaphan the scribe, "I have found the book of the law in the house of Yahweh." And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan.
Then Shaphan brought the book to the king and furthermore responded to the king with a word, saying, "Everything that was given to the hand of your servants they are doing.
They have also poured out the money that was found in the house of Yahweh, and have given it into the hand of the supervisors and those who did the work."
Moreover, Shaphan the scribe told the king saying, "Hilkiah the priest gave me a book." And Shaphan read from it in the presence of the king.
Now it happened that when the king heard the words of the law, he tore his clothes.
Then the king commanded Hilkiah, Ahikam the son of Shaphan, Abdon the son of Micah, Shaphan the scribe, and Asaiah the king's servant, saying,
"Go, inquire of Yahweh for me and those who are left in Israel and in Judah, concerning the words of the book which has been found, for great is the wrath of Yahweh which is poured out against us, because our fathers have not kept the word of Yahweh, to do according to all that is written in this book."
(2 Chronicles 34:14-21 LSB)
An Accidental Discovery (v. 14-15)
The scene opens with honest work. They are renovating the temple, a good and necessary task.
"When they were taking out the money which had been brought into the house of Yahweh, Hilkiah the priest found the book of the law of Yahweh given by the hand of Moses." (2 Chronicles 34:14)
Notice that the greatest discovery of the age was a byproduct of faithful, ordinary obedience. They weren't on a spiritual quest for a lost artifact. They were doing construction and accounting. God honors the mundane. You don't have to go looking for spiritual goosebumps. Just do the next right thing, be faithful in the small things, and God will often interrupt your ordinary work with extraordinary grace.
But the verse is also a staggering indictment. Hilkiah the priest found the book of the law. Where? In a Philistine temple? In a Babylonian library? No, he found it "in the house of Yahweh." The covenant constitution of the nation was lost in their own capitol building. The priests, the men who were supposed to be teaching this law day and night, had misplaced it. This is a picture of institutional apostasy. It is one thing for the world to reject God's Word. It is another thing entirely for the church to misplace it. When the church buries the Bible under layers of human tradition, seeker-sensitive methodology, or political compromise, it has functionally lost the book, even if it is still on the shelf.
Hilkiah immediately recognizes what he has. He tells Shaphan the scribe, "I have found the book of the law." Not "a" book, but "the book." This was the authoritative, covenant-defining Word, "given by the hand of Moses." Its authority came not from its antiquity, but from its origin. It was God's Word.
The Word Unleashed (v. 16-18)
The book now begins to move up the proper chain of command, and this is important.
"Then Shaphan brought the book to the king... Moreover, Shaphan the scribe told the king saying, 'Hilkiah the priest gave me a book.' And Shaphan read from it in the presence of the king." (2 Chronicles 34:16, 18 LSB)
The Word goes from priest, to scribe, to king. From the ecclesiastical realm to the civil realm. God's law is not just for priests to study in a corner; it is for kings to hear and obey on the throne. Shaphan the scribe, the expert in the Word, reads it aloud to the chief magistrate. This is the foundation of a biblical society. The civil ruler must place himself under the authority of the written Word of God. Any politics that does not begin here is doomed to tyranny or chaos.
Notice also that Shaphan first gives a report on the renovation project. The practical work is important. But then he says, "Moreover... Hilkiah the priest gave me a book." The Word of God is not an afterthought, but it is the thing that must ultimately govern all our practical work. Our budgets, our building projects, our daily labor must all be brought into submission to what is written. A silent Bible is a chained Bible. It must be read, proclaimed, and brought to bear on the men in charge.
The Proper Reaction to Law (v. 19)
The reading of the law produces an immediate and violent reaction in King Josiah.
"Now it happened that when the king heard the words of the law, he tore his clothes." (2 Chronicles 34:19 LSB)
This is not a display of sentimental piety. Tearing one's clothes was an external sign of profound grief, horror, and repentance. Why? Because the law does two things. It shows us the perfect character of God, and it shows us our utter failure to live up to it. Josiah heard the words of the law, likely the curses from Deuteronomy 28, and he understood in a flash that he and his entire nation were standing on a trap door over the fires of God's judgment. He did not hear helpful suggestions for self-improvement. He heard the covenant lawsuit of a holy God against a rebellious people.
This is the work of the law. It does not grade on a curve. It kills. It shuts every mouth and holds the whole world accountable to God. Any preaching that does not first bring men to this point of desperation is not true gospel preaching. We want to rush to the comfort of the gospel without first feeling the terror of the law. But Josiah shows us the right pattern. The only sane response to hearing God's perfect standard is to be undone by it.
From Repentance to Inquiry (v. 20-21)
Josiah's repentance is not a passive, private feeling. It immediately explodes into action.
"Go, inquire of Yahweh for me and those who are left in Israel and in Judah, concerning the words of the book which has been found, for great is the wrath of Yahweh which is poured out against us, because our fathers have not kept the word of Yahweh, to do according to all that is written in this book." (2 Chronicles 34:21 LSB)
First, he takes responsibility. "Inquire... for me." True leadership repents first and repents publicly. He doesn't blame his officials or the priests who lost the book. He stands as the covenant head of his people and identifies with their sin.
Second, he understands corporate and generational sin. He inquires for "those who are left in Israel and in Judah" and acknowledges that this mess is "because our fathers have not kept the word of Yahweh." This is a profoundly anti-individualistic worldview. Josiah knows that he is living in the house his fathers built. Their disobedience piled up the kindling, and he realizes his generation is sitting on the pyre. We inherit the consequences, both good and bad, of our ancestors. To deny this is to deny the covenantal nature of reality.
Third, he believes the book. He doesn't try to soften the warnings. He says, "for great is the wrath of Yahweh which is poured out against us." He takes God at His Word. The threats are real. The judgment is coming. The first step toward deliverance is to agree with God about the severity of your condition. Our generation wants a God who is a celestial therapist, but the God of the Bible is a consuming fire. Josiah believed it, and that is why he was saved.
The Greater Josiah
This entire narrative is a foreshadowing. It is a glorious picture of what happens when the law of God is rediscovered. But it points us to a greater story, a greater king, and a greater salvation.
We, like Judah, were born under the wrath of God. The law was lost to us, not because it was misplaced, but because our hearts were stone, and our first father, Adam, had plunged us all into rebellion. We were covenant-breakers, and the curses of the law were our rightful inheritance.
But God, in His mercy, did not leave us in the rubble. He sent the living Word, the Lord Jesus Christ. The law, which brings conviction and terror, serves as the schoolmaster to drive us to Him. When the Holy Spirit does His work, He "finds the book" for us. He reads the law to our conscience, and we, like Josiah, are undone. We are brought to that place of torn hearts and true repentance.
But here is the glorious difference. Josiah, a righteous king, tore his clothes in fear of the wrath to come. Our King, Jesus Christ, the only truly righteous King, did not tear His clothes. His clothes were torn from Him. On the cross, He stood in our place, and the "great wrath of Yahweh" that Josiah rightly feared was not just threatened; it was "poured out" in full measure upon His own Son.
Josiah inquired of God and was granted a temporary reprieve for his people. We, through Christ, have been granted an eternal pardon. He fulfilled all that was "written in this book" on our behalf. His perfect obedience is credited to us, and our sin was nailed to His cross.
Therefore, when we find the book today, our response must be the same as Josiah's, and yet more. We must tremble at its holy demands. We must repent of our personal, corporate, and generational sins. But we do not stop there. We run to the greater Josiah, Jesus Christ, who is the end of the law for righteousness to all who believe. He is our only hope, the one who took the curse so that we might receive the blessing.