10. And they put it in the hand of the workmen that had the oversight of the house of the LORD, and they gave it to the workmen that wrought in the house of the LORD, to repair and amend the house:

II. Even to the artificers and builders gave they it, to buy hewn stone, and timber for couplings, and to floor the houses which the kings of Judah had destroyed.

12. And the men did the work faithfully: and the overseers of them were Jahath and Obadiah, the Levites, of the sons of Merari; and Zechariah and Meshullam, of the sons of the Kohathites, to set it forward; and other of the Levites, all that could skill of instruments of musick.

13. Also they were over the bearers of burdens, and were overseers of all that wrought the work in any manner of service: and of the Levites there were scribes, and officers, and porters.

tion. The ravages of time, with neglect and abuse during the sway of idolatry, must have rendered it sadly in need of repair.

9. They came to Hilkiah the high priest. An ancestor of Ezra. Delivered the money that was brought into the house of God. Two centuries before this, Joash, king of Judah, young like Josiah, had in a similar way repaired the temple (2 Kings 12). Following his example, Josiah had been collecting money from the people through the proper officers. This had been appropriately brought to the temple, then handed to the royal treasurer, Shaphan, who came to make formal delivery of it to Hilkiah, that the high priest might pay the laborers whose work he was to superintend. The Levites. Descendants of Levi, from whose number the priests were selected. In 2 Kings 12:9 these doorkeepers are called priests. That kept the doors (Am. R., " the keepers of the threshold "), near which, probably, as in the time of Joash, the collection chest had been placed. "The north door into the priests' court (Ezek. 40: 35-43) seems to be intended, not the door of the temple building.' · Cook. And they returned to Jerusalem. Read this in the Am. R., "and of the inhabitants of Jerusalem." All the people were thus given a share in repairing the building which was again to become a sanctuary for all the people.

10. Workmen that had the oversight. Overseers of various kinds of laborers under Hilkiah, the general superintendent. And they, these overseers, gave it to the workmen that wrought, the masons, carpenters, and other artificers.

NOTE the importance of organization in church work. No business can be conducted successfully without it, least of all "our Father's business." We need not fear "too much machinery" in our churches, but only dead machinery, machinery with no steam in it.

11. Even to the artificers (Am. R., "the carpenters "), distinguished from the builders, the masons, who buy hewn stone, while the carpenters buy timber for couplings, and to floor (Am. R., "and to make beams "). Observe the indications of repairs, rather than of fresh construction, new stones to fill out gaps, beams to support sagging floors, etc. The houses. "Either the chambers which surrounded the temple on three sides (1 Kings 6: 5), or out-buildings attached to the courts. Cook. Which the kings of Judah had destroyed. Manasseh and Amon

are meant.

12. And the men did the work faithfully, as in the times of Hezekiah and Joash (2 Chron. 31: 12; 2 Kings 12: 15); so faithfully that "no reckoning was made with them of the money that was delivered into their hand " (2 Kings 22 : 7). Faithful workers, that are their own overseers, are the mainstay of any business.

It is well that we have here an honor roll of some of these faithful workers. Merari. The third son of Levi, certain of whose descendants were placed in partial charge of the temple music, aiding certain of the Gershonites, descendants of Levi's first son, and of the Kohathites, descendants of Kohath, second son of Levi. All that could skill (Am. R., were skilful ") in playing on instruments of musick. 13. They were overseers (Am. R., " They set forward ") the workmen. Scribes, and officers, and porters. These were divisions of the Levites, the scribes being copyists, translators, and clerks, to be sharply distinguished from such an important officer as Shaphan the Scribe or secretary of state; the officers, who acted

as local magistrates, like the cadis of the Mohammedans; and the porters, who kept the temple doors by night and day. Levites were drawn from all these divisions to aid in the repair of the temple.

It was during these repairs that the Book of the Law was found, as described in the next Lesson.

FINDING THE BOOK OF THE LAW. 2 Chron. 34: 14-33.

PRINT vs. 14-19, 29-33. MEMORIZE vs. 31.

GOLDEN TEXT. -I will not forget thy word. - Ps. 119:16.

times read it. But after all not a little SUBJECT: Finding the Bible, and the

THE LESSON IN ART.

Huldah and the Book of the Law, by an unknown artist. Josiah and the Book of the Law, by Von Schnorr.

THE LESSON IN LITERATURE. Poems on the Bible, such as Wordsworth's sonnet, "Translation of the

Bible " ; Whittier's sonnets,

"The

tribute to the Bible, in Our Fathers Have Word" and "The Book"; Ruskin's Told Us, Chap. III., § 37, and in his autobiography.

Everyday Poems by Amos R. Wells, the section on Poems Bible-born.

Senator Beveridge's The Bible as Good Reading is very interesting.

14. And when they brought out the money that was brought into the house of the LORD, Hilkiah the priest found a book of the law of the LORD given by Moses.

I. FINDING THE BOOK OF THE LAW, v. 14. In our last lesson we left Josiah and his chief officers repairing the Temple and making a thorough cleansing in every

The Book of the Law.

department to fit it for the religious services which had long been neglected. While engaged in their duties Hilkiah came upon a manuscript roll, which proved to be a copy of the Book of the Law of Jehovah by the hand of Moses (Am. R. margin). "In what part of the temple it was found is not stated, but the discovery took place when the commissioners were removing the money gathered to repair the Temple, from the chests where it was stored. It may be that it had lain hid in the Ark itself, which Manasseh had thrown aside into some of the many cells or chambers, where it might easily have remained unnoticed till the searching eagerness of the Commission discovered it." Geikie.

The Book of the Law Hilkiah found, it is generally agreed, was the book of Deuteronomy or some part thereof. From the effects of the reading upon the king and the people, it must have included chapters 28-30, and quite probably the whole book.

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It must have been the ancient copy of the law, and not a book written, as some critics think, by unknown persons in the reign of Manasseh, never seen or used among the Jews before." That an unknown book with no authority behind it should produce the effect on Josiah and his people, which this Book of the Law produced, borders on the absurd. Moreover many of the laws must have been familiar to Josiah, for they had been acted upon by his ancestors in every reform, and by himself in the reforms he began six years before. It is of course possible that additional laws had been added to the book, as new circumstances required, just as the Constitution of the United States has received several amendments, but is still called "The Constitution."

It is plain that the finding of this book " was not the discovery of something unknown before, but the rescuing of the Temple-copy of the Law from the hiding place in which it had long lain." Cambridge Bible.

"It is likely that nothing in the book was new to him; but his attention was now attracted to some things as never before. It is common to say that the book which Hilkiah found was the only copy of the law then in existence, but that is mere conjecture, and the more you think of it the more improbable it seems." Prof. Willis J.

Beecher.

15. And Hilkiah answered and said to Shaphan the scribe, I have found the book of the law in the house of the LORD. And Hilkiah delivered the book to Shaphan.

16. And Shaphan carried the book to the king, and brought the king word back again, saying, All that was committed to thy servants, they do it. 17. And they have gathered together the money that was found in the house of the LORD, and have delivered it into the hand of the overseers, and to the hand of the workmen.

18. Then Shaphan the scribe told the king, saying, Hilkiah the priest hath given me a book. And Shaphan read it before the king.

19. And it came to pass, when the king had heard the words of the law, that he rent his clothes.

29. Then the king sent and gathered together all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem.

II. THE BOOK OF THE LAW READ BEFORE THE KING, AND THE PEOPLE, vs. 15-30.

Shaphan the Scribe takes the Book to the King. He reported to the king that they had completed the work in the Temple, and that when he gathered together the money that was found in the house of the

LORD, Hilkiah the high-priest had found the book of the law, and had sent Shaphan to read it to the king. His secretary read it to him, and the king rent his clothes, the Oriental way of expressing great grief.

"The natural effect of the reading was to throw the king into consternation. Clearly the book had some terrible things to say about the wrath of God, and there can be little doubt that the passage which produced this effect was Deut. 28, with its elaborate and dreadful curses upon the disobedient" (McFadyen), and the blessings of obedience-results which the whole history of Israel illustrates; and which are as true to-day in the working out of God's laws as they were then. It is useless to say that these results of obedience and disobedience were only Old Testament teachings, which are outgrown in the New. Jesus taught the same truth over and over again.

What is the difference then?

It is that Jesus brought infinitely greater helps and motives for doing right; forgiveness, love, hope; and intensified every influence for redemption from sin.

NOTE that Josiah's fear was for his country chiefly. He himself had tried to do right and serve God. But he saw his kingdom going to ruin.

"For the sinful people there is no escape; as a matter of fact, within thirty-five years Jerusalem was laid in ruins, and the people were swept into exile; but for the devout and earnest king, who had been moved to so passionate a fear and sorrow by the sin of his people, a brighter prospect is held out; he was to die in peace before the evil day would come.". McFadyen. Nothing could persuade them, as a whole,

30. And the king went up into the house of the LORD, and all the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and the priests, and the Levites, and all the people, great and small: and he read in their ears all the words of the book of the covenant that was found in the house of the LORD.

31. And the king stood in his place, and made a covenant before the LORD, to walk after the LORD, and to keep his commandments, and his testimonies, and his statutes, with all his heart, and with all his soul, to perform the words of the covenant which are written in this book.

32. And he caused all that were present in Jerusalem and Benjamin to stand to it. And the inhabitants of Jerusalem did according to the covenant of God, the God of their fathers.

33. And Josiah took away all the abominations out of all the countries that pertained to the children of Israel, and made all that were present in Israel to serve, even to serve the LORD their God. And all his days they departed not from following the LORD, the God of their fathers.

to repent and be saved. Nothing but the actual infliction of the threatened punishment would cleanse them from idolatry. The reformation of Josiah was of great value, but it was the wind ruffling the surface of the waters, not the entire changing of their deeper flow.

Rejoicing in this delay was not a selfish joy on the part of Josiah. On the contrary, because he had been faithful to God, he was enabled to do all that could be done, for 13 years, to save the nation from destruction. All the people listen to God's Word. The king immediately assembled the elders and the priests, and the Levites. The political and religious leaders. 30. And all the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, .. and all the people, great and small. The same words which had stirred the king's heart were read to them by the king himself, in the court of the Temple, surrounded by the repairs that were being made. The people must be awakened and instructed. They must see the danger of going on as they had been, and the only way to blessedness and prosperity. The whole nation must change their course. The king alone could do very little toward reform, if the people were indifferent or opposed. This is the true method of reform, education and inspiration of the people. The authority of God himself was behind the movement.

III. THE EFFECTS OF BIBLE STUDY UPON THE NATION, vs. 31-33. 1. They made a Public Covenant and Pledge, vs. 31, 32. The king himself first made a public covenant before the LORD, to walk after the LORD, and to keep his commandments, with all his heart. The people all followed his example.

This was very similar to the great meeting under Joshua on the slopes of Mount Ebal and Gerizim eight centuries before, on taking possession of the Promised Land. The same motives were presented, and the same covenant made. And the king might well have said to the people as Joshua did: "Ye are witnesses against yourselves that ye have chosen you the LORD, to serve him."

And it may well have been under Josiah as under Joshua that the people said : "We are witnesses."

2. Reforms. They continued the progress of the reforms begun some time before. 3. Confirmed by a great religious meeting, ch. 35.

A Modern Example. J. R. Green, in his Short History of the English People, Chap. VIII., gives a marvellous testimony to the effect of the printed Bible in Elizabeth's reign. "No greater moral change ever passed over a nation than passed over England during the years which parted the middle of the reign of Elizabeth from the meeting of the Long Parliament. England became the people of a book, and that book was the Bible." Its literary and social effects were great, "but far greater was the effect of the Bible on the character of the people at large.' "One dominant influence told on human action." "The whole temper of the nation felt the change.' "A new conception of life, a new moral and religious impulse spread through every class."

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IV. HOW WE MAY FIND THE BIBLE, - FIND MORE IN THE BIBLE THAN HITHERTO WE HAVE FOUND. For our ordinary daily life there is an abundance of truths stated in simple, beautiful, and attractive forms for all our needs,