Summary Of The Covenant Ceremony Second Kings 23: 2b-3

Covenant Ceremony – Second Kings 23:2b-3
Not content with prophesy of his own security, Josiah desired to avert the threatened calamities prophesied upon his kingdom and its people, thus the congregation was assembled at the temple. Once the aggregation gathered at the temple, Josiah “read in their hearing all the words of the book of the covenant that had been found in the house of the Lord.” (v 2b) Here in the NRSV as well as in the KJV, NASB, NLT, CEB, and the CJB the “Book of the Law” acquires a new name as the “Book of the Covenant” carefully identifying with its lineage once more. A covenant is a legally binding agreement between two parties, In this case between God and the People. By having the contents of the Book of the Covenant
The Covenant presented a demand for absolute loyalty to the Lord and the expectation that every Israelite would remain faithful to the agreement with God to serve no other
“Josiah’s actions, based on the law that had been discovered, have led scholars to conclude that the scroll was the major part of what is known today as the book of Deuteronomy. Thus, they refer to Josiah’s reform as the Deuteronomic reform.” There are close similarities in viewpoints, sequence and vocabulary between this bit of Josiah narrative and Deuteronomy 29: 1-26. When compared both passages indicate an assembly gathering (Deut 29:1; 2 Kings 23:1). In Deuteronomy the people stand before Yahweh (v.9 and v. 14) while in second Kings the King stands in the presence of the Lord on a platform (v.3). Both Passages have language of totality (Deut 29:9b-10 and 2 Kings 23:2), both contain descriptive language of covenant making. In Deuteronomy chapter 29 we find “enter into covenant” (v 1), “Make Covenant” (v 11) and establish his people (v 12). Compared to Second Kings chapter 23 we find “Stand in covenant” (v 3), “Make covenant” (v 3) and “establish words of covenant” (v 3), Both the Deuteronomy passage and the Kings passage refer to the Book of