Chicken Soup And Your Soul

Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the court secretary, “I have found the Book of the Law in the LORD’s Temple!”   2 Kings 22:8

King Josiah began his attempt to turn things around in Judah by refurbishing the Temple of God. He raised money through taxes collected at the Temple. Then, at age twenty-six, the king began renovation (see 2 Kings 22:3-6). Josiah sent his secretary, Shaphan, to Hilkiah the high priest to get the money and pay the builders.

Hilkiah entered the Temple, and while he was there, he discovered a dusty old book. This “Book of the Law” was almost certainly a copy of Deuteronomy. One wonders how it could have become lost in the Temple!

God’s law condemned most of the things the previous kings Amon and Manasseh had done, and everybody knew that Jezebel had put the prophets who spoke the Word of God in the North to death. So it’s not difficult to imagine why the priests ignored the Scriptures. If they had preached from the Word of God, “There is one living God, and the worship of all other gods is an offense to his glory,” that would have led to trouble, just as it would lead to trouble today.

So the priests continued their work in the Temple without ever using the Scriptures! What were they doing all day? They must have become experts in administration, counseling, and organizing social events, but apparently the priests never opened the Scriptures. The high priest likely placed the Bible in a Temple vault and offered, in its place, short encouraging talks. Within fifty years, a new generation of God’s people knew nothing of God’s law.

Indeed, many people today seek pastors who tell stories and jokes and offer the people “chicken soup for the soul.” You don’t need the Bible to do that. But if the church chooses this path, then within a generation we may well have young people like Josiah growing up, who long to know God but do not know where to find him. They go to church, but they do not find him there. If you’re longing to know God today, it’s important to ask yourself, Am I attending a church that faithfully teaches the Word of God?

For further reading, see 2 Timothy 4