When the king heard the words of the Law, he tore his robes. – 2 Chronicles 34:19

Today's Scripture Reading (May 3, 2023): 2 Chronicles 34

As an avid amateur political observer, it seems that the most revealing question indicating the success of a political campaign is found in the answer to one question; do I trust you to keep me safe? It may be that the responsibility to keep the nation safe is the most crucial task for any politician occupying a position of rule and authority. A potential candidate may have the economic know-how to run a government, they may have the inside track on some of the social issues that our countries face, they may even seem to have taken the moral high ground, but even with all of that in their favor, if we do not believe that they are capable of keeping us safe, it is unlikely that the candidate will succeed and be elected to political office.

Josiah comes to rule the nation of Judah. And there was an expectation that every king would sit down and write out a copy of the law of God for himself. The expectation was not just that he would read it and not that they would employ a scribe to do the work for them, handing the finished copy to the king, but the king was supposed to sit down and take a writing instrument and a blank scroll and copy it himself. The understanding that this was necessary so that he would know what was in the law. Deuteronomy makes this very clear; "When he [the king] takes the throne of his kingdom, he is to write for himself on a scroll a copy of this law, taken from that of the Levitical priests" (Deuteronomy 17:18). Ignorance of the law was not going to be accepted as an excuse for its violation.

Deuteronomy was likely the book that was found during the reign of Josiah. And it might have been this passage that Josiah had just heard when he tore his robes and realized how he had failed at being king, and Josiah began to understand that ignorance would not be accepted as an excuse. And in his failure to know the law, he had failed in his most basic responsibility as king; to keep the nation safe. He wasn't alone. His father had failed to keep the country safe in the twenty-two years of his reign, and his grandfather had been unable to keep the nation safe during the fifty-five years of his rule. Like him, they had never heard this expectation from the Book of Deuteronomy. But ignorance could not be an excuse. Josiah tore his robes as he repented, not from the sins he had committed in rebellion, but because of the sins Josiah had committed because he did not know. Josiah understood that unless God were with Judah, Judah would never truly be a safe place to live.

At the end of the American civil war, the United States placed the phrase "In God We Trust" on their money. It was simply an indication that a nation that had been hurt so badly by war could only be put back together by the God who loved them. And every leader has trusted in some power beyond themselves to help keep the nation safe. The most respected Presidents are the ones who have succeeded at that task. They kept the country safe, especially in dangerous times.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Zephaniah 1

See Also 2 Kings 22:11