International Sunday School Lesson September 21, 2025
15 Then Hilkiah answered and said to Shaphan the secretary, “I have found the Book of the Law in the house of the Lord.” And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan. 16 Shaphan brought the book to the king, and further reported to the king, “All that was committed to your servants they are doing. 17 They have emptied out the money that was found in the house of the Lord and have given it into the hand of the overseers and the workmen.” 18 Then Shaphan the secretary told the king, “Hilkiah the priest has given me a book.” And Shaphan read from it before the king. 19 And when the king heard the words of the Law, he tore his clothes. 20 And the king commanded Hilkiah, Ahikam the son of Shaphan, Abdon the son of Micah, Shaphan the secretary, and Asaiah the king’s servant, saying, 21 “Go, inquire of the Lord for me and for those who are left in Israel and in Judah, concerning the words of the book that has been found. For great is the wrath of the Lord that is poured out on us, because our fathers have not kept the word of them Lord, to do according to all that is written in this book.” 22 So Hilkiah and those whom the king had sent went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of Tokhath, son of Hasrah, keeper of the wardrobe (now she lived in Jerusalem in the Second Quarter) and spoke to her to that effect.
(2 Chronicles 34:15–22, ESV)
26 But to the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of the Lord, thus shall you say to him, Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Regarding the words that you have heard, 27 because your heart was tender and you humbled yourself before God when you heard his words against this place and its inhabitants, and you have humbled yourself before me and have torn your clothes and wept before me, I also have heard you, declares the Lord.
(2 Chronicles 34:26–27, ESV)
Notes/Quotes
- Strange as it may seem, the Books of Moses had apparently been destroyed except for this one copy preserved in the temple. How or when this happened is a mystery but the most likely occasion was the almost complete eradication of the worship of the Lord in the days of Manasseh and Amon (chap. 33).1
- Because of certain higher critical assumptions, many scholars limit this document to Deuteronomy. There is no reason to do so, however, even though Deuteronomy may be in mind in certain places in the present narrative. The “book” may well have included the entire Pentateuch (Gen.-Deut.).2
- Josiah was right: God was angry. The high priest and his colleagues found someone who could speak for God—Huldah the prophetess.3
- Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, the king’s secretary, who was also a member of the temple committee, and told him what it was. Apparently the identity of the book did not mean much to Shaphan because he tacked its discovery on to the end of his next report to the king. He told Josiah that all the workers were being paid properly and then remembered, “Oh yes, Hilkiah has found this book.” He began reading a few excerpts that he thought the king might find interesting.4
- Josiah was 26 years old and had been king for 18 years when the temple restoration project started.
- Merrill, Eugene H. “2 Chronicles.” The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, edited by J. F. Walvoord and R. B. Zuck, vol. 1, Victor Books, 1985, p. 647. ↩︎
- Merrill, Eugene H. “2 Chronicles.” The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, edited by J. F. Walvoord and R. B. Zuck, vol. 1, Victor Books, 1985, p. 646. ↩︎
- Corduan, Winfried. 1st & 2nd Chronicles. Edited by Max Anders, Holman Reference, 2011, p. 356. ↩︎
- Corduan, Winfried. 1st & 2nd Chronicles. Edited by Max Anders, Holman Reference, 2011, p. 356. ↩︎
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