book of the law of the Lord, given or written by the hand of Moses, as it is expressed, 2Ch_34:14, which by God’s command was put beside the ark, Deu_31:26, and probably taken from thence and hid, by the care of some godly priest, when some of the idolatrous kings of Judah persecuted the true religion, and defaced the temple, and (which the Jewish writers affirm) burnt all the copies of God’s law which they could find, and now found among the rubbish, or in some secret place.