Sermons
Vander Kam on 2 Kings 22:11-13
Sermons
Vander Kam on 2 Kings 22:11-132 Kings 22:11-13 – "And it came about when the king heard the words of the book of the law, that he tore his clothes. Then the king commanded Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam the son of Shaphan, Achbor the son of Micaiah, Shaphan the scribe, and Asaiah the king's servant saying, 'Go, inquire of the Lord for me and the people and all Judah concerning the words of this book that has been found, for great is the wrath of the Lord that burns against us, because our fathers have not listened to the words of this book, to do according to all that is written concerning us.'" (New American Standard Bible)
Beloved in the Lord, in less than ten days we are again going to celebrate the great Protestant Reformation. And I call it the great Protestant Reformation because of the fact that there were also various other reformations that had already taken place before that time. There was already one hundred years before Luther nailed his theses to the door of the chapel church at Wittenberg, that John Hus had already given his life for the truth of God as we know it. And he was the one who was in Bohemia, which is now and has been in recent years Czechoslovakia, died in the city of Prague, and he was a follower of Wycliffe, who had been the reformer in England already before that. So that, you see, that there were the reformations that had taken place, the one after the other, in various places, throughout the world, because of the fact that the church was dead. It had died a slow death from the time of the apostles on, from the time of the church fathers on, and because of the fact that they only had tradition left, and not the Word of God, as a result of that; reformation was required.
And I thought that I would deal with them both tonight and next Sunday night because this may be the last time that I had that opportunity to do so. So we will deal with that matter, the Reformation these two Sundays.
I speak to you tonight on, "Finding The Book of the Law." Noticing in the first place, the strange episode; secondly, its result; and finally, its teaching.
Now here you are indeed dealing with a very strange episode, that they find the Book of the Law in the house of God. It had been lost, actually. We don't know for what length of time, but it seems, and that is the impression that you get, that Josiah never heard of it before. Not only that, but that in Hilkiah had also never heard of it before. Nor had Shaphan the scribe heard of it. It is something totally new; this is something that they had never expected. They find a book of the law, that is the Old Testament, that is mainly the book of Deuteronomy, they find in the house of the Lord, when they are cleaning it up because Josiah has reformed Judah. And now in that reformation of Judah he is also going to restore again the temple.
Now you notice how strange that episode is, that you have a reformation outside of the Word. The Word was lost, but nevertheless, the reformation takes place. He is reforming Judah outside of the Word of God. The Word has been lost but He is nevertheless reforming it, that is, He is repairing the house of God, he is repairing the temple at Jerusalem because it has fallen into disrepair. It has to have ever so much work done to it, and they have to have carpenters and masons and they have to buy all kinds of materials in order that it may be restored. That temple of God had fallen into disarray. And that over a period of years, and nobody paid any attention to it, but there was still the function. The function of the temple, that is, the sacrifices were still being brought. They were still being brought all the time, even apart from the Word; they didn't have the Word, but nevertheless they brought the sacrifices. And they didn't have the Word but nevertheless they kept the feasts. They didn't know what they were all about, but nevertheless they kept them. They kept the Sabbath; they didn't know what it was all about, but they kept it. Because without the Word, you don't know what it is about.
And they also brought their sacrifices, and they didn't know what the import of those were, but nevertheless they brought them. And it is so strange, and you read of it in Chronicles as well as here in Second Kings. It is so strange that when Josiah begins that operation to restore the temple, that there is plenty of money, plenty of money is given. They give even though the Word is gone. Strange! It is a strange episode in the whole history of Judah. That in a time such as that when reformation is really required, that they are still willing to give. I suppose it is something like this, as an industrialist said to me about fifty years ago; he said; he believed in nothing, but nevertheless, he was very much in favor of this, that there would be a church in a community. That causes your property values to increase. And, he said, and this was a princely sum in those days; he said, "I would gladly give five thousand dollars for that, even though I don't go there myself." He never would go.
And so here, there is plenty; they give for the restoration of the temple of God, but they don't know what the temple is all about. Because they have lost the Book of the Law. They have lost it, they cannot find it, and it is so strange because that was supposed to be kept right next to the ark. That was supposed to be kept next to the ark in the holy of holies. The books of Moses were there to be kept and kept in such a way so that they would never be lost. And somehow they have lost them; they are no longer there. And nobody had noticed that before that they were no longer there. And therefore you just go ahead and repair the house of God, repair the house of God in Jerusalem so that it will again be a beautiful place. That it will again be the kind of a place where you can come to worship, worship what? To worship the God of the Hebrews. To worship the God who had spoken to us, even though we don't know what it's all about.
That is the kind of a reformation that takes place in the days of Josiah. Josiah was a godly man, Josiah was one of the best kings that Judah ever had, and was certainly the best of all those that were in the latter part of the kingdom. He is the one who brought Judah back a long ways. And now he finds this, that he is right in the middle of that, that they have found the Book of the Law. And now they come to him, and they come to him and, well, they are almost embarrassed by it. You restore the temple, and you restore it as good as possible, to bring it back into the kind of condition it had in the days of Solomon, if possible. You restore it to such an extent, but you don't have the Word, and that Word is lost and nobody noticed it. That is the appalling situation; nobody noticed it. Shaphan the scribe; scribe of what? He'll tell you the high priest, of what? Had never noticed that that Word of God was missing. And now, says Hilkiah, well, we cleaned up in there. I found a book. And he came to Shaphan the scribe, and he read in it. He thought, this better be brought to the king's attention. This is not a novel, this is an important book, and this has been lost. And now here we have it again. But what is all this about?
Can you imagine any kind of situation like that? That kind of a strange episode, that happens among His people. The Word is gone and nobody knows it, the Word is gone and nobody realizes it. Now, but that has taken place all over, people. It is everywhere that the Word is gone and they are totally in the dark concerning it. We used to say of some of these churches that were orthodox, that they were "sleeping giants," but it is far more this, that they were "shorn Samsons." Doesn't make much difference. A sleeping giant does nothing, and a shorn Samson can't do anything, and that's the way the churches are. Because of the fact that the Word is gone, the Word is lost.
And they still come together, they still come together to worship, they come together to bring sacrifices, they come together to keep the feasts, they come together and they give royally to the cause of His Kingdom, and the Word is gone. How is it possible? You look at these things and say, you know, in the New Testament age, in the age of the church, every reformation there has been, has been this, to bring them back to the Word. But here was a reformation that was starting to take place apart from the Word of God, and nevertheless it was somewhat of a reformation. To restore the house, to restore the temple, and there were the very best of intentions. And at the same time, apart from the Word.
The importance of the Word of God beloved, had never really, really been shown to Israel. The prophet had spoken to them and had also warned them that it was that Word whereby they were going to be judged. And that it was the Law of God whereby they were going to be judged. And the Word that they had was essentially that Law, it was the book of the Law, but they had forgotten, they had lost it. There was no longer the reading of the Ten Commandments every Sunday morning, or Saturday morning as it was among the Jews. No, they didn't know it anymore; they didn't know where it was. They couldn't find it. You are here almost to the point where you think well, has it gone so far that the Word has almost disappeared? If it is not found in Judah, don't look for it in Babylon, don't look for it in Nineveh, don't look for it anywhere else, because Judah, where the temple is, that is the place where it ought to be. But it is not found there. Hilkiah says in cleaning the temple, now that we are restoring and repairing it, now in cleaning it, I have found the Book, the Book of the Law. This is important; better bring it to the king's attention. I don't know what is going to be done with it but something has to be done. And Shaphan read it and he knew too that it was high time to bring it to the king's attention.
Secondly, notice the result. The result of the finding of the Book beloved is this, that it is really totally embarrassing. They are embarrassed by the very fact that they have found it, that they have found it where it should never have been lost, have found it now here in the temple someplace, under the rubble and ruin that was already there. Here they have found it, and how can it ever be lost, how can such a book be lost. That which you are going to guard with your life, that which is going to be in the very special place next to the ark. It was almost in one of the pockets of the ark where they had to put it, and now it is gone! It would almost have to be done intentionally in order to misread this, in order to overcome this difficulty, this strange episode. You would almost have to do it intentionally, to get rid of it.
But Hilkiah finds it and he is a priest of God, the high priest, and he gives it to Shaphan who is the scribe, that is, the one who is learned in the Book of the Law. And he doesn't have the Book of the Law, this is the first time he sees it, apparently. And he is a scribe, and they're embarrassed. And you notice it also in the way in which it is brought up. Notice in verse 9: "And Shaphan the scribe came to the king and brought back word to the king and said, 'your servants have emptied out the money that was found in the house and have delivered it unto the hand of the workmen who have the oversight of the house of the Lord.'" That's what he was sent for, to see to it that that money was put to the best use.
Now, I've forgotten it, but that was the not first in order. First in order was this; the work is going on fine. What you have sent me to look at, I did, and I can say that they have done a good job. And the money is taken care of, and it is put to use, but now there's one other thing yet. This is an embarrassing situation, but Hilkiah gave me a book – and then he reads it. He reads it to the king, in his presence, and the king tears his clothes. He's not embarrassed, he's overcome, he's overcome with its content because the contents of this book showed that it is God speaking to His people and that He is showing to them what is the way of life, and what is the way of light. And is showing them also what is the way of darkness and of death, and is showing this all to them in this Book of the Law. Deuteronomy comes alive. And the king tears his clothes and he says, "This is not sufficient, this is not the sufficient reformation; no, I have done everything that I knew what to do in order to repair the breaches in the house of God. I have collected the money for it in order that it may be done, and I have given it to the masons and to the carpenters and for that for the material that has to be bought. But everything is wrong, everything is wrong, there's not a thing here that is right. The Book of the Law shows me that everything has gone wrong."
And therefore he tears his clothes. This man is overcome with grief because of the Word of God, which he now hears for the first time. And he is about twenty-five to twenty-six years old at this time. He now hears it, and he trembles, as Isaiah would put it; trembles at the Word. He trembles at that Word because he hears God speaking. Shaphan the scribe can apparently read it without a wet eye, but Josiah says, This can't be, we can't go on like this, there has to be far more reformation than this, merely repairing the breaches of the temple. Merely to restore it, that's not sufficient. All of the sacrifices that have been brought are of no effect; all of our Sabbath keeping and all of our feast keeping is of no effect. That is the result that it has in the heart of the king. It floors him; he is devastated by it. This is not a word to build up; no, it is a word to tear down. It is a word that comes to him as a commandment that he has gone contrary to, that he has not kept. He hears the commandments of God and these commandments certainly are such that they condemn him at every step.
Now then, reformation is necessary. But then it is the kind of a reformation that must go a whole lot deeper than this. It has to go a whole lot deeper than that that you merely repair a building, and even though there is all kinds of money for it, that the people have given and that they have given willingly, and that you don't even ask for accountability because these people are dealing with it so fairly and so honestly; you don't have to ask for an accounting, he says to Shaphan when you bring the money, you don't have to ask for an accounting, you don't need a receipt. Nah, these people are honest, they are doing the work.
Well, but reformation is necessary, because God comes with His Law and He says, "Thou shalt do this, thou shalt not do that." And here the king, or his prophet or his priest didn't know anything about that. And they were the ones to cause that Word of God to be proclaimed in other places. They were to witness to that truth, but how can you witness to something that has been lost all your life! And then if you come into possession of it, yah, then he rends his garments, he tears them. As a token of mourning, he is in mourning for this. This is the typical Jewish way, as you also well know from ever so many accounts in the Bible. The typical Jewish, the Hebrew way of showing mourning, grief, that they take their clothes and rend them, because they are overcome; the king is overcome by this. That's where it speaks, and that Word comes with thunderous sounds, and it condemns him and he realizes it, and it condemns his whole people and he realizes it. Now what shall we do, what shall we do!
Because here it is far more than merely repairing a physical temple. You have to go a whole lot farther than that. It deals with matters of the heart, it deals with matters of the soul, and as a result, reformation must come from an entirely different direction. The reformation must come through the Word; that alone can reform, that alone can renew, strengthen.
That is the way in which it went in Judah. How is it possible, this people which came from David and Solomon, from a Jehoshaphat and Hezekiah; yet now they don't even have a copy anymore of the Book; the Book is gone.
But now it is found, amid all this rubble, now what shall we do? Can't keep it from him, so you'd better bring it to the king. And Shaphan read it; you'd better bring it to the king. Contains a whole lot more than what he had thought. And now it is brought to the king's presence, and he tears his garments in grief. The man is grief stricken for Judah, and for himself. Because God comes with His threats, comes with His accusations, comes with His judgments, and he has to be careful. See, you could die that way in your ignorance, he almost did. You could die in that ignorance, not finding the Book, and believing that plastering a temple would help; giving in great amounts for that temple would help. No, it doesn't. It has to be a lot deeper than that.
Josiah came close to this, it's only a little while later, he doesn't get much over thirty, and he is slain on the battlefield of the king of Egypt. So there's not much time left. He heard the Book of the Law and he also humbled himself under the hand of God, and returned to Him. And we may think also of Shaphan and Hilkiah, they may have done likewise; it is not stated, but I have found the Book, and that was an important book. We have it; we brought it back.
And finally, notice its teaching. Though inquire of the Lord for me, says Josiah, and the people in all Judah concerning the words of this book that has been found; for great is the wrath of the Lord that burns against us because our fathers have not listened to the words of this book to do according to all that is written concerning us.
Now you, Hilkiah the priest, better do your priestly work. And you, Shaphan the scribe, better do your scribe's work, and you better go to the Lord and you better inquire there as to the future. Because great is the wrath of the Lord against us, for what we have done ignorantly. Yah, of course, we didn't know any better, we didn't have the Word. That Word was lost, but nevertheless, we did it, and His anger is burning against us. So you'd better ask the Lord about this. That's where you have to begin. The reformation must drive you again to the mercy seat; it must drive you again to the presence of your God. That's where it brought Luther, that's where it brought Calvin, that's where it brought all the reformers. That it brought them into the very presence of God; they didn't do such great, heroic things. They have been noted for that in history but that's not the important thing. Not the great important things that they said, but it drove them again into the arms of God, because His wrath over us is great and that to all Judah and also to the king and to all His people.
And therefore, inquire and go to the Lord in order that there it may be cleared up, because this is His Word. This is the Word that He has given by inspiration, this is the Word that was never supposed to be lost; not at all, but this is the Word that was to be kept alive, and kept alive in His people's thoughts, in their hearts, so that they would live by it. That was the purpose, to live by that Word. And the teaching comes to us from that also, Josiah saying to this Shaphan and to this Hilkiah, "Now get to work; you have been dawdling long enough. You have here not even really realized that the Book of the Law was gone. So now, you get back to the Lord. And you inquire of Him that He might yet have mercy on us, because great is His wrath toward us." Because the judgment is already foretold.
Now if you have only that Book of the Law, if you are standing there only with the Book of Deuteronomy, for example, and you stand there in that temple that is now being fixed up again, and you have the Book of Deuteronomy in your hand. Oh, then you begin to wonder, you begin to tremble, you begin to ask, "Where is the Lord?" and to humble yourself under His mighty hand.
And Josiah does not have Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. He has here now open the first time Deuteronomy, and that condemns him. And that drives him into the arms of his God, and he asks those who are called for that to inquire of Him; that's what he has to do. It is this, that he may also inquire not only for the king, not only for themselves, but also for all of Judah. For the whole church, that church has to live by the Word, and if it doesn't live by the Word, it is going to die. Because that's the only thing that is able to live by. The only thing that it is able to feast upon; that Word, and if it doesn't have that Word, it has nothing. And that Word has to be proclaimed in its entirety, in its fullness, and without that, there is nothing, and then great is the wrath of God toward us. And then you'd better inquire of the Lord.
For that king's house, for the priestly state, for the prophetic state, but also especially for the church, for all Judah. Because that was the people chosen; He had chosen that people from among all others, and He had given them rich and great promises, and He had also established covenants with them. But all of that is going to go by the board if they do not return to the Word of God. And this looks like a small matter to some people. Ah, you do your best and you do your utmost, and with your best and with your utmost you land right in the middle of hell. Because it is only that Word that is able to give you the true course, the course that we have to take, and that is going to lead you into the arms of Jesus Christ. That's the reformation.
And that is the kind of a reformation which the church needs so badly, so desperately. It needs it again in every age. Here it came in the days of Josiah; Josiah did so much. Then he held the Passover, you read later in this same chapter. He held the Passover in Judah, and there was no Passover like that held since the days of Solomon. They still had Passover, mind you, but not one like this though. They still had communion, but not like this. They still came together, but not like this. But now, when Josiah has cleaned things up, and has brought the Word back, now there is a Passover held. And that Passover which was to be held again every year, upon which the people of God had to feed; that was a means of grace, and that had gone virtually into disuse, because the Word was lost. That Word must be there to bolster the sacraments, and without that it is soon going to fall into disuse. Or if not into total disuse, it has been robbed of all content. And therefore, back to the Word.
That is the message, and that is the teaching that comes from it. Back to the Word of God. See, there are all kinds of movements in the church, in the theological world of the present day. And these movements mean very little, if it is not a going back to the Word of God; going back to the Word. Already before the Reformation, it was a going back to the Greek and to the Hebrew. These were the men who began to look again into the Scriptures, and they realized that Catholicism was false, because it went contrary to the Scriptures. And therefore it's teaching comes, "Return to the Book, and don't let it be lost again." Because as far as that is concerned, for many churches today; it might as well be lost. They have thrown it away anyway; they don't want it.
Well we hold to it might and main; that is our only hope. In that Word of God. Therein we have light, therein we have life, therein He speaks to us. And speaks to us now, not of judgment, or of wrath, but He speaks to us first of all, grace, of mercy, of love, of salvation. And you find that only in the Word of God. Amen.
We thank Thee, heavenly Father, for the Word wherein Thou hast again spoken to us. We thank Thee for Thy grace bestowed. We thank Thee for the love and mercy Thou hast shown us. Thank Thee Lord, that we have that Word with us, and that we may also immerse ourselves in that Word, and that we may know that it shall ever stand. Bless then this Word unto our hearts by the operation of Thy Spirit. Wilt Thou further be near to us and uphold us. Be with us in the days of the week to come. Pardon our sins, and hear us, in Jesus' Name. Amen.
Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE, © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.
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