How did King Josias respond when the Book of the Law was found during temple repairs?

Josias was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned for thirty-one years in Jerusalem. From his youth, he committed himself to upright conduct in the sight of God, following the faithful example of his forefather David without wavering to the right or to the left. In the eighth year of his reign, while still a boy, he began earnestly seeking the God of his ancestors. Four years later, in the twelfth year of his rule, he launched an energetic campaign to eradicate pagan practices across Juda and Jerusalem, demolishing high places, sacred groves, idols and graven things. The altars dedicated to Baalim were broken down before him, and the idols on them were demolished. He cut down groves and graven things, broke them in pieces, and scattered the fragments on the graves of those who had sacrificed to them. To complete this purification, he burned the bones of pagan priests upon their own dismantled altars. Moving beyond Juda's borders, he extended this religious cleansing into the northern territories of Manasses, Ephraim, Simeon, and Nephtali, breaking down profane shrines, cutting down groves, and grinding idols to powder throughout the land of Israel before returning to Jerusalem.

In the eighteenth year of his reign, having cleansed both the countryside and the sanctuary, Josias initiated extensive structural repairs on the temple of the Lord. He dispatched Saphan the royal scribe, city governor Maasias, and recorder Joha to oversee the restoration project. These officials came to High Priest Helcias, receiving from him the money that Levite gatekeepers had gathered from the northern remnants of Manasses, Ephraim, and Israel, as well as from the inhabitants of Juda, Benjamin, and Jerusalem. The officials delivered the funds into the hands of the work supervisors in the house of the Lord, who paid master craftsmen and masons to purchase quarry stone and timber to mend what was weak and rafter the structural beams damaged by previous kings of Juda. The artisans carried out their duties with notable fidelity under the supervision of Levite overseers—Jahath and Abdias representing the Merarites, alongside Zacharias and Mosollam representing the Caathites—who guided the labor alongside skilled Levite musicians, scribes, and transport managers.

While retrieving the collected silver from the temple treasury, High Priest Helcias discovered the scroll of the Law of the Lord given through Moses. Helcias informed Saphan the scribe and handed him the document. Returning to the king, Saphan reported that all administrative instructions regarding the temple repairs and funding had been executed faithfully. He then presented the newly recovered scroll and read its passages aloud in the king's presence. Upon hearing the severe divine warnings and legal requirements contained in the Law, Josias tore his garments in intense distress. Convinced that generations of disobedience had exposed the kingdom to overwhelming divine wrath, the king appointed an official delegation—consisting of Helcias, Ahicam son of Saphan, Abdon son of Micha, Saphan the scribe, and royal attendant Asaa—commanding them to pray and seek divine counsel on behalf of himself and the surviving remnant of Israel and Juda.

The royal envoys sought out the prophetess Olda, wife of Sellum son of Thecuath, son of Hasra, keeper of the wardrobe, who lived in Jerusalem's Second Quarter. Olda delivered an oracle from the Lord God of Israel, confirming that all the curses and calamities written in the scroll would indeed fall upon Jerusalem and its inhabitants because they had abandoned God and provoked Him with sacrifices to strange gods; His wrath would not be quenched. Nevertheless, she gave a distinct message intended specifically for King Josias. Because his heart had softened, and he had humbled himself before God, tearing his garments and weeping when he heard the divine indictments, the Lord had heard his prayer. God promised that Josias would be gathered to his fathers and brought to his tomb in peace, spared from witnessing the devastating ruin destined to overtake Jerusalem and its inhabitants.

After receiving Olda's message, Josias gathered all the elders of Juda and Jerusalem, assembling the priests, Levites, and citizens of every rank at the temple of the Lord. Standing upon his royal tribunal, the king personally read aloud the entire contents of the discovered Book of the Law to the assembled multitude. He then formally entered into a solemn covenant before the Lord, pledging to walk in His ways and keep His commandments, testimonies, and precepts with all his heart and soul, fulfilling everything written in the sacred text. Josias bound all residents of Jerusalem and Benjamin to uphold this commitment, leading the citizens to live in harmony with the covenant of their fathers' God. He eliminated all remaining idolatrous abominations throughout the territories of Israel, requiring every inhabitant to serve the Lord; and as long as Josias lived, the people did not abandon the God of their ancestors.