NOTES for Ki2 22:8-13

And so the book of the law was brought to the king. The words of this book came as completely new information to everyone—the law had been forgotten and no one obeyed it... The king tore his clothes—but what did he say? Did he perhaps cry, “But we did not know, we did not know; no one told us”? No. He understands that the word of God was given to Israel, and if Israel has forgotten this word, the people have only themselves to blame, and all the consequences of failing to observe the Law will fall upon God’s people. The king makes the only reasonable decision: to make the covenant again—or, more precisely, to enter the covenant again, because God had not broken it.

Let us not now reflect on primitive peoples who were never given the opportunity to read the Word of God. You and I possess this Word, and if we do not know it, that cannot in any way excuse us for failing to observe it.