WAEC Christian Religious Studies (CRS) 2022 Theory — Question 4

Model answer

(a) JOSIAH'S RESPONSE TO THE DISCOVERY OF THE BOOK OF THE LAW IN THE TEMPLE: i. In the eighteenth year of King Josiah, the king sent Shaphan the secretary to the house of the LORD. ii. Josiah commanded Shaphan the secretary to go up to Hilkiah the high priest, that he might reckon the amount of the money which had been brought into the house of the LORD, which the keepers of the threshold had collected from the people. iii. The money should be given into the hands of the workmen who had the oversight of the house (the carpenters, the builders, the masons), as well as for buying timber and quarried stone to repair the house. iv. No accounting should be asked from them for the money delivered into their hands, for they dealt honestly. v. Subsequently, Hilkiah the high priest told Shaphan the secretary that he had found the book of the law in the house of the LORD. Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan and he read it. vi. Shaphan the secretary came to the king, and reported to the king, 'Your servants have emptied out the money that was found in the house, and have delivered it into the hand of the workmen who have oversight of the house of the LORD.' vii. Then Shaphan the secretary told the king, 'Hilkiah the priest has given me a book.' And Shaphan read it before the king. viii. When the king (Josiah) heard the words of the book of the law, he rent his clothes. ix. The king commanded Hilkiah and Shaphan and the rest to go and inquire of the LORD for him, for the people, and for all Judah, concerning the words of the book that had been found, 'for great is the wrath of the LORD that is kindled against us, because our fathers have not obeyed the words of this book, to do according to all that is written concerning us.' (b) THREE WAYS IN WHICH THE RELIGIOUS SITUATION TODAY IS SIMILAR TO JOSIAH'S DAYS: i. People have abandoned the true teaching of the word of God for worldly things. ii. People now idolize material things at the expense of the word of God. iii. There is immorality in the church and society. iv. People are not faithful to the service of God. v. There is deception in the church and society.