What happened to the Book of the Law in the time of Josiah?

> **2 Kings 22 (NIV)** > > 8 Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the secretary, “I have found > the Book of the Law in the temple of the Lord.” He gave it to Shaphan, > who read it. > > 11 When the king heard the words of the Book of the Law, he tore his > robes. From the reaction of King Josiah, it looked like he had never read the Book of the Law. Verse 8 also sounds like the book was lost for a long time. 1. Was the Book of the Law lost for a long time that King Josiah never saw it before? 2. Does this discovery of the Book of the Law mean that the location of the book was not known before? 3. Which copy of the Book of the Law was it? Was it the copy for the King or from the Levitical priests? (Deuteronomy 17:18) 4. Did their ignorance of the presence of Book of the Law mean that nobody at that time cared to go inside the Temple to read from the Book of the Law? 5. How may we refute people who say that someone forged the book and put it there?