In one sense the revolutionary reform didn’t last long, thirteen years to be exact. Then Egypt and Babylon got rid of Assyria (a good thing) but also conquered Judah (not a good thing). Babylon soon hauled Judah off into exile. But in another sense the reform that Josiah led and Jeremiah preached formed a people of God that not only survived a massive political defeat, enslavement, and exile but actually flourished. The Josianic reform, using Deuteronomy as its text, formed (re-formed) God’s people. I was in the early years of being a pastor when I learned this story of the discovery of
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