In today’s Old Testament reading (2 Kings 22:8‑13; 23:1‑3) takes place some 100 years after yesterday’s. King Josiah (641‑610 BC) is now on the throne of the southern kingdom of Judah.
Hilkiah, the high priest, tells Shaphan, an expert in the Scriptures, that he has found the “Book of the Law” in the archives of the Temple. This book likely refers to Deuteronomy, but it might also be the entire Pentateuch, the five volumes attributed to Moses. This Book of the Law was thought to be “lost” during the reign of Manasseh (686‑642 BC).
Shaphan takes the Book to the king and reads it to him. When the king hears the contents, he tore his garments. He realized just how much the statutes of God’s law had been neglected and violated. He now understood how the misfortunes of the people were the signs of God’s anger: “…for great is the wrath of the Lord that is kindled against us because our ancestors did not obey the words of this book, to do according to all that is written concerning us.”
Perhaps the covenant curses in Leviticus and Deuteronomy, climaxing with the threat of exile, were the statements that especially disturbed Josiah. We can contrast Josiah’s reaction to the words of the scroll with that of his successor, Jehoiakim (609‑598 BC). After being reminded of the texts, Jehoiakim treated them with contempt and burned them, passage by passage, as they were read to him by the prophet Baruch. He, and his people, paid a high price for his arrogance.
Back to Josiah. Josiah gave instructions to Hilkiah (mentioned earlier), Ahikam, and Acbor, to consult the Lord on what was laid down in these writings on behalf of himself, and all of Judah. Ahikam was the father of Gedaliah who was later appointed governor of Judah by King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. He was also the protector of Jeremiah when his life was threatened during the reign of Jehoiakim (see Jeremiah 26:24). Acbor’s son, Elnathan, is mentioned in chapter 24 of 2 Kings.
These people, together with some others, went to consult a prophetess Huldah in Jerusalem. She confirmed that the terrible threats towards those who had broken the law and worshipped idols would be carried out as foretold. However, King Josiah would be spared this fate because, after hearing the contents of the document, he had expressed deep repentance and grief and rent his garments. He would go to his grave in peace and would not live to see the awful punishments that would be visited upon Jerusalem. These details are from verses omitted in our reading today.
The entire population, including priests and prophets, is then gathered to have the whole “Book of the Law” read to them. The king, as the Lord’s representative, renewed the covenant of God with his people, promising to observe “with all his heart and all his soul” all its requirements. As he did so, he stood “by the pillar”, that is, one of the two bronze pillars in the portico of the Temple. Josiah fulfilled the role of one mediating a covenant between God and his people, just as Moses, Joshua, Samuel and King Jehoiada had done before him.
The people then pledged themselves to obey the covenant. It is likely that some sort of ratification rite was performed, in which the people participated and pledged by oath to be loyal to their covenant obligations.
It is good for us, too, to regularly to go through Scripture, and especially the Gospels, and renew the promises we made in our Baptism. We might ask ourselves how much attention we give to the Word of God that is proclaimed to us at every Eucharist in which we participate. A careful reading of the Gospel will often reveal to us just how far we have strayed from the call of Jesus to be his disciples.
Today’s Gospel reading (Matthew 7:15-20) provides another warning to us about listening to and following false “prophets”. Taken from the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus tells us these “prophets” are wolves in sheep’s clothing. On the outside, they seem to have the image of Jesus, his gentleness and love, but in fact they are religious predators, using people for their own ends. There have been unfortunate examples of this in our own time of so-called ‘televangelists’ who, in the name of the Jesus, steal money from trusting people, to pledge money for programs that do not help build the kingdom of God.
How can you recognize these false prophets? By their “fruits”, by the way they behave and for what their funds go to. Jesus tells us that it is not possible for a bad tree to produce good fruit nor for a good tree to produce bad fruit. We have to admit that on many occasions we try to make a good impression on people, and we often try to hide from others what we believe to be our weaknesses.
Integrity and transparency are precious qualities to be found in any person and they are not easy to practice. Most of us wear masks of some kind, hiding what we are from others. Yet people can often identify more easily with a person whose faults are admitted. They feel that they are dealing with the real person and not with a phony. This can apply very much to pastors and other religious leaders.
Jesus is calling on us to be genuine. Jesus tells us to take care of the inside and the outside will take care of itself.
May God Bless You and Grant You His Peace!