Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 2 Kings 22:3
And it came to pass in the eighteenth year of king Josiah, [that] the king sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah, the son of Meshullam, the scribe, to the house of the LORD, saying,
3. And it came to pass in the eighteenth year ] The Chronicler gives two dates anterior to this for events in the course of Josiah’s life. He says (2Ch 34:3-7 R.V.) ‘In the eighth year of his reign while he was yet young, he began to seek after the God of David his father, and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem from the high places, and the Asherim, and the graven images and the molten images. And they brake down the altars of the Baalim in his presence, and the sun-images that were on high above them he hewed down, and the Asherim and the graven images and the molten images he brake in pieces, and made dust of them and strewed it upon the graves of them that had sacrificed unto them. And he burnt the bones of the priests upon their altars and purged Judah and Jerusalem. And so did he in the cities of Manasseh and Ephraim and Simeon, even unto Naphtali, in their ruins round about. And he brake down the altars and beat the Asherim and the graven images into powder, and hewed down all the sun-images throughout all the land of Israel, and returned to Jerusalem’. It is clear that we have here, a most comprehensive summary of the destruction of idolatry in the whole of Josiah’s reign and not what he began to do in his twelfth year. The Chronicler however having given us the date at which Josiah first manifested his disposition to destroy the idols out of the land, includes in the same sentences all that was done by the king in the after part of his reign. We cannot but think that the chief impulse toward the utter destruction of the idols was given, as the writer of Kings tells us (2Ki 23:3) when the king made a covenant to walk after the Lord, according to the words of the book of the Law, and all the people stood to the covenant. Then began the extermination of all remaining traces of idolatry, which the king himself had begun to remove in some degree in his twelfth year.
The LXX. adds to the date given in this verse, , ‘in the eighth month’, but with no warrant from the original.
the king sent Shaphan the scribe ] The event on which all else in Josiah’s reformation seems to hinge is the restoration of the temple. There it was that the book of the Law was discovered which stirred both king and people to attempt a thorough reformation. Therefore the writer of Kings passes to that undertaking without pausing over minor matters which preceded it.
Shaphan the scribe ] Shaphan whose father and grandfather are here mentioned, was the father of Ahikam mentioned below (verse 12) and of Gemariah (Jer 36:10-12), and the grandfather of Gedaliah (Jer 39:14; Jer 40:5; Jer 40:9; Jer 40:11, &c.). The office of Scribe in his time was clearly an important one. He is sent by the king to take oversight of the funds for the restoration of the temple, and seems to have ranked with the governor of the city and the recorder. We have no notice of Shaphan’s afterlife. He must have been advanced in years at this time, for thirty-five years after this date his grandson Gedaliah was set by the Chaldans to be governor of the country.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
In the eighteenth year – This is the date of the finding of the Book of the Law and of the Passover (marginal reference, and 2Ki 23:23), but is not meant to apply to all the various reforms of Josiah as related in 2 Kings 23:4-20. The true chronology of Josiahs reign is to be learned from 2Ch 34:3-8; 2Ch 35:1. From these places it appear that at least the greater part of his reforms preceded the finding of the Book of the Law. He began them in the 12th year of his reign, at the age of 20, and had accomplishied all, or the greater part, by his 18th year, when the Book of the Law was found.
Shaphan is mentioned frequently by Jeremiah. He was the father of Ahikam, Jeremiahs friend and protector at the court of Jehoiakim Jer 26:24, and the grandfather of Gedaliah, who was made governor of Judaea by the Babylonians after the destruction of Jeruslem 2Ki 25:22. Several others of his sons and grandsons were in favor with the later Jewish kings Jer 29:3; Jer 36:10-12, Jer 36:25; Eze 8:11. Shaphans office was one of great importance, involving very confidential relations with the king 1Ki 4:3.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
In the eighteenth year, not of his life, but of his reign, as it is expressed, 2Ch 34:3,8. What he did before this time, see 2Ch 34:3, &c. The scribe; the kings secretary.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
3, 4. in the eighteenth year of kingJosiahPrevious to this period, he had commenced the work ofnational reformation. The preliminary steps had been already taken;not only the builders were employed, but money had been brought byall the people and received by the Levites at the door, and variousother preparations had been made. But the course of this narrativeturns on one interesting incident which happened in the eighteenthyear of Josiah’s reign, and hence that date is specified. In fact thewhole land was thoroughly purified from every object and all tracesof idolatry. The king now addressed himself to the repair andembellishment of the temple and gave directions to Hilkiah the highpriest to take a general survey, in order to ascertain what wasnecessary to be done (see on 2Ch34:8-15).
2Ki22:8-15. HILKIAH FINDSTHE BOOK OF THELAW.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And it came to pass in the eighteenth year of King Josiah,…. Not of his age, but of his reign, as appears from 2Ch 34:8 nor is what follows the first remarkable act he did in a religious way; for elsewhere we read of what he did in the eighth and twelfth years of his reign, 2Ch 34:3,
that the king sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah, the son of Meshullam the scribe, to the house of the Lord; the king’s secretary; the Septuagint version is, the scribe of the house of the Lord, and so the Vulgate Latin version; that kept the account of the expenses of the temple; with him two others were sent, 2Ch 34:8,
saying: as follows.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Repairing of the temple, and discovery of the book of the law ( cf. 2Ch 34:8-18). – When Josiah sent Shaphan the secretary of state ( , see at 2Sa 8:17) into the temple, in the eighteenth year of his reign, with instructions to Hilkiah the high priest to pay to the builders the money which had been collected from the people for repairing the temple by the Levites who kept the door, Hilkiah said to Shaphan, “I have found the book of the law.” 2Ki 22:3-8 form a long period. The apodosis to , “it came to pass in the eighteenth year of king Josiah-the king had sent Shaphan,” etc., does not follow till 2Ki 22:8: “that Hilkiah said,” etc. The principal fact which the historian wished to relate, was the discovery of the book of the law; and the repairing of the temple is simply mentioned because it was when Shaphan was sent to Hilkiah about the payment of the money to the builders that the high priest informed the king’s secretary of state of the discovery of the book of the law in the temple, and handed it over to him to take to the king. , in 2Ki 22:3, forms the commencement to the minor clauses inserted within the principal clause, and subordinate to it: “the king had sent Shaphan,” etc. According to 2Ch 34:8, the king had deputed not only Shaphan the state-secretary, but also Maaseiah the governor of the city and Joach the chancellor, because the repairing of the temple was not a private affair of the king and the high priest, but concerned the city generally, and indeed the whole kingdom. In 2Ki 22:4, 2Ki 22:5 there follows the charge given by the king to Shaphan: “Go up to Hilkiah the high priest, that he may make up the money, … and hand it over to the workmen appointed over the house of Jehovah,” etc. , from , Hiphil, signifies to finish or set right, i.e., not pay out (Ges., Dietr.), but make it up for the purpose of paying out, namely, collect it from the door-keepers, count it, and bind it up in bags (see 2Ki 12:11). is therefore quite appropriate here, and there is no alteration of the text required. The door-keepers had probably put the money in a chest placed at the entrance, as was the case at the repairing of the temple in the time of Joash (2Ki 12:10). In 2Ki 22:5 the Keri is a bad alteration of the Chethb , “and give (it) into the hand,” which is perfectly correct. might denote both the masters and the workmen (builders), and is therefore defined more precisely first of all by , “who had the oversight at the house of Jehovah,” i.e., the masters or inspectors of the building, and secondly by , who were (occupied) at the house of Jehovah, whilst in the Chronicles it is explained by . The Keri is an alteration after 2Ki 22:9, whereas the combination is justified by the construction of c. acc. pers. and rei in Jer 40:5. The masters are the subject to ; they were to pay the money as it was wanted, either to the workmen, or for the purchase of materials for repairing the dilapidations, as is more precisely defined in 2Ki 22:6. Compare 2Ki 12:12-13; and for 2Ki 22:7 compare 2Ki 12:16. The names of the masters or inspectors are given in 2Ch 34:12. – The execution of the king’s command is not specially mentioned, that the parenthesis may not be spun out any further.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
B. THE TEMPLE REPAIR 22:37
TRANSLATION
(3) And it came to pass in the eighteenth year of King Josiah, the king sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah the son of Meshullam, the scribe, to the house of the LORD saying, (4) Go up to Hilkiah the high priest that he may report the silver which is brought to the house of the LORD which the keepers of the door have gathered from the people. (5) And let them deliver it over to the workers, those who have been appointed over the house of the LORD; and let them give it to the workers who are in the house of the LORD to repair the dilapidation of the house, (6) to the carpenters and builders and masons in order to purchase timber and hewn stone to repair the house. (7) However, no thought was taken of the silver which was given into their hand because they worked faithfully.
COMMENTS
In his eighteenth year, the king dispatched the scribe Shaphan[640] (2Ki. 22:3) to the Temple to take a count of the monies which had been collected to pay for much needed repairs in and around the Temple. This collection must have been accumulating in a box or boxes placed at the entrance of the Temple complex for perhaps as long as six years, i.e., from the twelfth year of Josiah. The order was now given for the high priest to count the collection (2Ki. 22:4) and to distribute it among the superintendents who were in charge of the Temple renovation. They in turn were to hire the skilled laborers (2Ki. 22:5) and to purchase the necessary building materials that would be required to repair and renovate the dilapidated Temple (2Ki. 22:6). The superintendents were men of impeccable honesty in whom full confidence was placed to properly administer the funds (2Ki. 22:7). Their names are recorded in Chronicles along with the fact that they were all Levites (2Ch. 34:12).
[640] Chronicles adds that Shaphan was accompanied by Maaseiah the governor of the city and Joah the royal recorder or remembrancer (2Ch. 34:8).
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(3) In the eighteenth year.See the Notes on 2Ch. 34:3, seq. The discourses of Jeremiah, who began his prophetic ministry in the thirteenth year of Josiah, to which Thenius refers as incomprehensible on the assumption that idolatry was extirpated throughout the country in the twelfth year of this king, would be quite reconcilable even with that assumption, which, however, it is not necessary to make, as is shown in the Notes on Chronicles. Josiah did not succeed, any more than Hezekiah, in rooting out the spirit of apostasy. (See Jer. 2:1; Jer. 4:2). The young king was, no doubt influenced for good by the discourses of Jeremiah and Zephaniah; but it is not easy to account for his heeding the prophetic teachings, considering that, as the grandson of a Manasseh and the son of an Amon he must have been brought up under precisely opposite influences (Thenius).
The king sent Shaphan . . . the scribe.Chronicles mentions beside Maaseiah, the governor of the city, and Joah the recorder. Thenius pronounces these personages fictitious, because (1) only the scribe is mentioned in 2Ki. 12:10 (?); (2) Joshua was the then governor of the city (but this is not quite clear: the Joshua of 2Ki. 23:8 may have been a former governor; or, as Maaseiah and Joshua are very much alike in Hebrew, one name may be a corruption of the other); (3) Maaseiah seems to have been manufactured out of the Asahiah of 2Ki. 22:12 (but Asahiah is mentioned as a distinct person in 2Ch. 34:20); and (4) Joah the recorder seems to have been borrowed from 2Ki. 18:18 (as if anything could be inferred from a recurrence of the same name; and that probably in the same family !). Upon such a basis of mere conjecture, the inference is raised that the chronicler invented these names, in order to give a colour of genuine history to his narrative. It is obvious to reply that Shaphan only is mentioned here, as the chief man in the business. (Comp, also 2Ki. 18:17; 2Ki. 19:8).
Go up to Hilkiah the priest.The account of the repair of the Temple under Josiah naturally resembles that of the same proceeding under Joash (2Ki. 12:10, seq.) More than 200 years had since elapsed, so that the fabric might well stand in need of repair, apart from the defacements which it had undergone at the hands of heathenish princes (2Ch. 34:2). The text does not say that the repair of the Temple had been longtemps nglige par lincurie des prtres (Reuss),
Hilkiah.See 1Ch. 6:13 for this high priest. He is a different person from Hilkiah, the father of Jeremiah, who was a priest, but not high priest (Jer. 1:1).
That he may sumi.e., make up, ascertain the amount of . . . The LXX. reads, seal up (), which implies a Hebrew verb, of which that in the present Hebrew text might be a corruption.
Which the keepers of the door.See the Notes on 2Ki. 12:9; 2Ki. 12:11-12, as to the contents of this and the next verse.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
PREPARATIONS MADE TO REPAIR THE TEMPLE, 2Ki 22:3-7.
3. The eighteenth year of king Josiah This is a memorable date, and made especially prominent by the writer of Kings, because it was in this year that the book of the law was discovered, and the celebrated passover held. Hence he repeats the mention of this date in 2Ki 23:23, and seems to fasten all his narrative upon it. But from the parallel history in 2 Chronicles 34, 35 , we learn that in his eighth year Josiah “began to seek after the God of his father David,” and in his twelfth year he began to destroy the idolatrous images not only in “Judah and Jerusalem,” but also “in the cities of Manasseh, and Ephraim, and Simeon, even unto Naphtali.” Hence we conclude that various reforms and extensive destruction of images were commenced by Josiah before this eighteenth year, but after the discovery of the law the work was carried out with far greater zeal and thoroughness.
Shaphan the scribe He was also the father of Ahikam, mentioned 2Ki 22:12; 2Ki 22:14. On the office and work of scribe, see note on 2Sa 8:17.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Instructions Concerning The Restoration of the Temple ( 2Ki 22:3-7 ).
In view of its connection with the Temple these instructions would have been entered in the royal annals (compare 2Ki 12:4-5). The entering up in some detail of such information about temples was a regular feature of official annals, for temples and their maintenance were seen as being of great importance to the stability of the royal house. Indeed the kings saw themselves as reigning on behalf of the gods, and as responsible for their houses. The similarity of wording with 2Ki 12:11-15 (where it is not, however, in the words of the king) can be explained in one of two ways. The first possibility is that Josiah, with the restoration in view, had read the earlier annals and based his words on them. The second is that the prophetic author himself based the wording in 2Ki 12:11-15, concerning the earlier restoration, on the words of Josiah here. Either is possible.
The fact that sufficient silver had been gathered for the restoration, something which would have taken months if not years to do, indicates that the reforms had already been in progress for some time. That was why the silver had been collected. Furthermore there can really be no doubt that before proceeding with this repair work, the Temple itself would have been ‘cleansed’ by the removal of major objectionable items such as the Asherah mentioned in 2Ki 23:6. This would especially be so as by this time Ashur-bani-pal of Assyria had been dead for some years (his death occurring somewhere between 633 and 626 BC), and he had in fact not troubled Palestine in his later years, being taken up with both warfare elsewhere and antiquarian interests. Thus his death in itself would have signalled the possibility of removing the hated Assyrian gods from the Temple, even if that had not occurred previously, something which would have had the support of the majority of the people. That the reforms had commenced six years previously as the Chronicler states is therefore simply confirmation of what is already obvious (2Ch 34:3). But it is not mentioned here because the author of Kings was not so much interested in when the reforms started as on concentrating on the details of the finding of the Book of the Law.
Analysis.
a
b “And let them deliver it into the hand of the workmen who have the oversight of the house of YHWH, and let them give it to the workmen who are in the house of YHWH, to repair the breaches of the house, to the carpenters, and to the builders, and to the masons, and for buying timber and hewn stone to repair the house” (2Ki 22:5-6).
a However, there was no reckoning made with them of the silver which was delivered into their hand, for they dealt faithfully (2Ki 22:7).
Note that in ‘a’ the amount of ‘silver’ was to be weighed up, and in the parallel no reckoning was to be made of it by the workers. Centrally in ‘b’ it had to be given to the workmen for the carrying out of the restoration work.
2Ki 22:3
‘And it came about in the eighteenth year of king Josiah, that the king sent Shaphan, the son of Azaliah the son of Meshullam, the scribe, to the house of YHWH, saying,’
This would have been in about 622 BC, some years after the death of Ashur-bani-pal, and three years after Babylonia had finally freed themselves from the Assyrian yoke. Thus it came at a time of decidedly waning Assyrian power (in fact within ten years the Assyrian empire would be on the verge of extinction). The eighteenth year is mentioned, not because it was the date of the commencement of the reforms, but as the date when serious repair work began on the restoration of the Temple itself after years of preparation, work which resulted in the law book being discovered within the Temple structure, a discovery which would have caused huge excitement as the emergence of something coming from the distant past. It would give a new impetus to what was already going on.
Shaphan (‘rock badger’) the scribe was Josiah’s official go-between, and one of the highest officials in the land (compare 2Ki 18:18); 2Sa 20:25; 1Ki 4:3). He was called on by the king to convey his official instructions in respect of the actual repair work on the Temple. The Chronicler tells us that he was accompanied by the governor of the city and the recorder. The deputation was thus seen as of the highest importance.
2Ki 22:4-5
“Go up to Hilkiah the high priest, that he may sum the silver which is brought into the house of YHWH, which the keepers of the threshold have gathered of the people, and let them deliver it into the hand of the workmen who have the oversight of the house of YHWH, and let them give it to the workmen who are in the house of YHWH, to repair the breaches of the house,’
The instructions were necessarily passed on to the leading priest at the Temple. The title ‘high priest’ occurs in 2Ki 12:10; Lev 21:10; Num 35:25; Num 35:28; Jos 20:6. Such a status is also mentioned at Ugarit, and most nations had ‘high priests’, so that Israel would have been an oddity not to have had one. Normally, however, in Israel/Judah he was called simply ‘the Priest’, but here he was being given his formal official title in an important communication.
Hilkiah was being called on to weigh and ‘sum up’ the ‘silver’ (possibly by turning it into ingots. There were no official coins in those days) which had been gathered for the purpose of the repair work, and had been brought into the house of YHWH. The ‘keepers of the threshold’ were high Temple officials (in terms of New Testament days ‘chief priests’) who were responsible to ensure the sanctity of the Temple by excluding from it any unauthorised persons. Their post would make them ideal for the collecting of gifts to the Temple, and watching over them. Hilkiah, having assessed the value of the gifts, was then to call on the keepers of the threshhold to deliver the silver into the hands of the workmen who had oversight of the house of YHWH, in our terms the priestly architects and structural engineers. They in their turn were to arrange for the work to be done by organised priestly workmen set apart for the work and were to pay over the silver accordingly. This work would be performed by suitably trained priests. The aim was to ‘repair the breaches in the house’, in other words to carry out needed building repairs to the decaying and neglected building.
2Ki 22:6
‘To the carpenters, and to the builders, and to the masons, and for buying timber and hewn stone to repair the house.’
The silver was to be both paid to the specialist workmen, and to the merchants who would provide the timber and hewn stone for the repair of the house. The need for hewn stone (hewn away from the Temple area in accordance with measurements taken) emphasises the poor state at that time of the Temple structure. Compare here 2Ki 12:11-12.
2Ki 22:7
‘However, there was no reckoning made with them of the money which was delivered into their hand, for they dealt faithfully.’
The honesty of those involved was considered to be such that it was felt unnecessary to call for an account of how the silver was spent. Comparison with 2Ki 12:15 suggests that this was regularly a recognised part of any such contract. To have taken up any other position would seemingly have been seen as insulting to the priest-workmen. Such an attitude was only really possible in times of ‘revival’ when there was a new spirit of dedication around.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
If the Reader will read the parallel history of this pious king, as it is more largely recorded in the book of the Chronicles, 2Ch 34 . he will there find that in the eighth year of his reign, which was the sixteenth of his life, he began to seek after the God of David his Father. Oh! how lovely is early piety. There is another beautiful account to be noticed in those verses; I mean the faithfulness of the workman. No reckoning, it is said, was made with them, because they dealt faithfully. When labourers act in their worldly concerns as under the eye of the Lord, how very lovely and graceful is the sight. How exceedingly to be wished it is that gospel-times furnished out continual instances of this kind. And when piety is blended with honesty, and men are gracious as well as conscientious, oh! how blessed is the sight! We have a beautiful example of this in the workmen of Boaz. The Lord be with you, said Boaz to his reapers. The Lord bless thee, was the answer they returned. Rth 2:4 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
2Ki 22:3 And it came to pass in the eighteenth year of king Josiah, [that] the king sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah, the son of Meshullam, the scribe, to the house of the LORD, saying,
Ver. 3. In the eighteenth year of king Josiah. ] That is, In the eighteenth year of his reign; after that, with a great deal of zeal, he had purged the land and the house. 2Ch 34:8 In which time also it seemeth that a collection was made for the repairing of the temple, which now this pious king taketh order to have done, and herein he proceedeth aequabiliter, iuste, prudenter. a And from this famous eighteenth year of Josiah’s reign, both those thirty years, Eze 1:1 and those forty days or years of the sin of Judah, Eze 6:6 seem to take their rise and reckoning.
a Ussher., Annal. Vet. Testam., p. 115.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
the eighteenth year. Marks the completion of the work (2Ki 23:23). Begun in the twelfth year (2Ch 34:3, 2Ch 34:8). Jeremiah was called in Josiah’s thirteenth year (Jer 1:2; Jer 25:3), and was to Josiah what Isaiah had been to Hezekiah.
Shaphan. Eight relatives mentioned in 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles:
(1) His grandfather, Meshullam (2Ki 22:3);
(2) his father, Azaliah (2Ki 22:3);
(3) his son, Ahikam (2Ki 22:12);
(4) his son, Gemariah (Jer 36:10);
(5) his son, Elasah (Jer 29:3);
(6) his son, Jaazaniah (Eze 8:11);
(7) his grandson, Michaiah (Jer 36:11, Jer 36:13);
(8) his grandson, Gedaliah (Jer 39:43).
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
am 3380, bc 642
in the: 2Ch 34:3-8, 9-33
Reciprocal: 2Ki 12:10 – the king’s 2Ki 22:9 – Shaphan 2Ch 34:8 – sent Shaphan Jer 36:12 – Gemariah Eze 8:11 – Shaphan
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
A MEMORABLE YEAR
The eighteenth year of king Josiah.
2Ki 22:3-20
Josiah mounted the throne when he was eight years old. He was the son of Amon and the grandson of Manasseh, both of them evil rulers who had forgotten God. It is therefore all the more surprising and delightful to light on the tender heart of this young king. It was to Jedidah that he owed everything, under God. Where Boscath (her ancestral city) stood, we do not know. It was a town somewhere near the Philistine border. But it is not there that we must seek her monument. It is in the character and work of King Josiah.
I. Josiah had given his heart to God.He had sought God early, and according to His promise had found Him. His religion began in the home of his own soul, but a religion that begins there, cannot stop there. Josiah looked out on the people God had given him. His fathers lineaments seemed stamped upon them. They called themselves the servants of Jehovah, yet how corrupt and how debased they were! Men were still worshipping the host of heaven. Fathers were offering their children to the fire-god. Altars still smoked with sacrifices to Baal. Idolatrous things still stood in the Temple Court. Josiah had a mighty task before him. He had cleansed his heartcould he ever cleanse his land? I think it shows the earnestness of the king that he began resolutely with what was in his power. If he could not call his people back to God, at least he could repair the House of God. The Temple had fallen into sad disrepair since Joash had renewed it two hundred years ago. So Josiah set to work upon the Temple. Let him begin there, and greater things will follow. We find him paying the carpenters and masons, and God was to pay him back a thousandfold. Do we not need to learn that lesson still? Are we not often tempted to do nothing, simply because there is so much to do? Josiah teaches us that the road to victory begins in doing what we can do, to-day. As Newman sings
When obstacles and trials seem
Like prison-walls to be,
I do the little I can do,
And leave the rest to Thee.
Josiah could at least employ the carpenters, and the covenant was nearer than he thought.
II. What was it that made reformation possible?What was it that breathed a new spirit through the land, and brought the people back to God again? It was the discovery by the high priest Hilkiah of an old volume in the House of God. Hilkiah had his heart in the right place; he was eagerly seconding Josiahs efforts, and he too, like Josiah, doing what he could, did a great deal more than he had ever dreamed of. Can you not picture him busy in the Temple, helping to clear out the dusty rooms? Can you not see him, in some neglected corner, lighting upon that old and discoloured parchment? He opened it with a scholars curiosity. In that moment he forgot all his cleaning work. I dont think a mans heart ever throbbed so violently at the chance discovery of some rare old tome as did Hilkiahs in that memorable hour. He had discovered the lost law-book of Jehovah. It was in substance our Book of Deuteronomy. It was the voice of Jehovah speaking to the age. It was the very message that the times required. The land might mock at Jeremiahs threatenings; but here was a message that would convince the stubbornest.
III. The book was found, then, and passed on to the king.Shaphan the scribe read it before the throne. And as Josiah listened to its awful judgments, hurled at the sin with which his land was seething, a great fear seized upon his kingly heart. Was there no hope? Might not God stay His anger? It might be well to consult the prophets about that. But the case was urgent, and Jeremiah was not living in the city; was there no interpreter of God within the walls? The thoughts of the council turn at once to Huldah, an aged saint who dwelt in the lower town. How men would stare, and how the women would talk as the embassy went hurrying through the streets! How many a worshipper at the street-corner shrines would have his hand arrested as the envoys passed! Something had happened. The city grew apprehensive. Uneasy consciences are quick to take alarm. Then the trumpet sounded a rally to the Temple. The people crowded up the slope at its summons. There stood the king, touched by a greater Presence. In his hand was the book that had been found. He read it all to them, with what passion you may guess. There and then he made a covenant with God. And the people, struck by a common fear, moved by a common impulse, feeling the majesty and jealous love of God as they had never felt it in their lives before, turned from their sin to serve their great Deliverer, and entered into covenant with Him.
Illustrations
(1) John Newton was very wild and wicked when he was young. But his mother also was Jedidahbeloved, and when he became a Christian he used to say this. He used to say, Even when I was very wild, I could never forget my mothers soft hand. When going to do something wicked, I could always feel her soft hand on my head. If thousands of miles away from her, I could not forget that. Without question it was so with young Josiah.
(2) A Bible found in the monastery of Erfurt had an incalculable influence on Luther. A pedlars tract, brought to his fathers door, was the means of the conversion of Richard Baxter. The accidental discovery of a little volume on an old soldiers window-head at Simprin gave new spiritual life to Thomas Boston, and through Boston to thousands over Scotland. Surely (as Wordsworth writes in the Excursion) God is
A Being
Whose everlasting purposes embrace
All accidents, converting them to good.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
2Ki 22:3-4. In the eighteenth year of King Josiah Not of his life, but of his reign, as it is expressed, 2Ch 34:3; 2Ch 34:8. The king sent Shaphan The secretary of state; saying, Go up to Hilkiah, that he may sum the silver Take an exact account how much it is, and then dispose of it in the manner following. Which the keepers of the door have gathered Who were priests or Levites, 2Ki 8:9; 2Ch 8:14. It seems, they took much the same way of raising the money that Joash took, 2Ki 12:9. The people giving by a little at a time, the burden was not felt, and giving by voluntary contribution, it was not complained of. This money, so collected, he ordered Hilkiah to lay out for the repairs of the temple, 2Ki 22:5-6. And now the workmen, as in the days of Joash, acquitted themselves so well, that there was no reckoning made with them. This is certainly mentioned to the praise of the workmen, that they gained such a reputation for honesty, but whether to the praise of them that employed them may well be doubted. Many will think it would not have been amiss to have reckoned with them, had it been only that others might be satisfied.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
2. Josiah’s reforms 22:3-23:27
Josiah began to seek Yahweh when he was 16 years old and began initiating religious reforms when he was 20 (2Ch 34:3-7). His reforms were more extensive than those of any of his predecessors. One of them involved the repair of Solomon’s temple (2Ki 22:5; cf. 2Ki 12:4-16). He began this project when he was 26.
". . . Josiah rules during years in which Assyria fades but also those in which Babylon is not yet ready to rule as far west as Judah and in a time when Egypt does not yet attempt to rule the smaller nations north of the border. Judah thereby gets a rest from its constant role as political football." [Note: House, p. 382.]
It seems probable that Manasseh or Amon had destroyed existing copies of Israel’s covenant constitution since there is every reason to believe that Hezekiah knew the Mosaic Law (cf. chs. 18-20). This would not have been difficult because in ancient times there were few copies of even official documents.
Some scholars have interpreted 2Ki 22:8-10 as meaning that Hilkiah found the Book of Deuteronomy, but it was not the writing of Moses. They have hypothesized that someone in Josiah’s day composed this Deuteronomy about 621 B.C. to encourage centralization of worship in Jerusalem. Conservative scholars have rejected this late date theory of Deuteronomy for several reasons. The laws peculiar to it, and the nature of the commands that presuppose a wilderness wanderings context and anticipation of entrance into the Promised Land, argue against a late date of composition. Furthermore, the names of deity used in it, the detailed geographical data, and the anachronism of stressing centralization of worship in Jerusalem after the fall of the Northern Kingdom make this theory unlikely. "The book of the law" here seems to refer to the entire Torah (Pentateuch), not just the Book of Deuteronomy.
Josiah’s shock at hearing the Law read points to the fact that people had been unfamiliar with it for a long time. 2Ki 22:13 is especially helpful in understanding Josiah’s perception of and response to God’s will. He was a genuinely humble man who trembled at the Word of the Lord. Josiah made monotheism the official theology again, but it is hard to say how many of the people abandoned other gods. The prophets who wrote in that time bewailed the lack of true godliness in the nation.
Other prophets beside Huldah lived in and around Jerusalem at this time: Jeremiah (Jer 1:1), Zephaniah (Zep 1:1), and perhaps Nahum and Habakkuk. Nevertheless, for reasons unexplained in the text, the king sought the prophetess Huldah in her residence in Jerusalem’s Second Quarter (2Ki 22:14; i.e., the southern, lower part of the city topographically). His willingness to seek guidance from a woman demonstrates Josiah’s humility. God would judge Judah, but He would spare Josiah because he humbled himself under Yahweh’s authority (2Ki 22:19). The king would die in peace (2Ki 22:20). His death in 609 B.C. was four years before King Nebuchadnezzar’s first attack on Jerusalem in 605 B.C.
Josiah died in battle (22:29-30). The promise of his dying in peace therefore probably means that he would die before God ended the peace of Jerusalem by bringing Nebuchadnezzar against it. Some commentators have taken the promise as referring to the fact that Josiah evidently died at peace with God. [Note: E.g., Patterson and Austel, p. 284.]
Josiah did not wait for the completion of the temple renovation before he assembled the people and personally read some parts of the Mosaic Law to them (2Ki 23:2). Perhaps he read the portions that dealt with God’s covenant with Israel (i.e., Leviticus 26; Deuteronomy 28-30) or perhaps Deuteronomy 12-26 or 5-30. [Note: Auld, p. 222.] He then rededicated himself to Yahweh, and the people renewed their commitment to the covenant as a nation (2Ki 22:3; cf. 2Ki 2:3; Exo 19:8; Jos 24:21-24).
Putting the ashes, which burning the relics connected with Baal worship created, on the Bethel altar would have made it unclean (2Ki 22:4). Evidently Josiah scattered more ashes on the graves of the common people because they had been idolaters (2Ki 22:6). Male prostitutes had apparently been living in the side rooms of the temple (2Ki 22:7). The king excluded the Levitical priests who had offered sacrifices on the high places from serving at the rededicated altar. Nevertheless he permitted them to eat the unleavened bread the worshippers brought to the temple (2Ki 22:9; cf. Lev 6:9-10; Lev 6:16). Topheth was the place where child sacrifice had taken place (2Ki 22:10; cf. 2Ki 16:3; Jos 15:8). The people had also used horses and chariots to honor the sun (2Ki 22:11). This was a common practice in the ancient Near East. [Note: Patterson and Austel, p. 287.] The Mount of Destruction was the hill on the southern portion of the Mount of Olives, later known as the Hill of Corruption (cf. 1Ki 11:5; 1Ki 11:7).
Josiah finally destroyed Jeroboam’s altar at Bethel (2Ki 22:15) and desecrated the site. The young prophet from Judah had predicted Josiah’s actions back in Jeroboam’s day (2Ki 22:16; cf. 1Ki 13:2-3). The king even extended his purges into formerly Israelite territory (2Ki 22:19-20).
Josiah also replaced pagan worship with revived Yahweh worship. He conducted his Passover celebration with more attention to the Law than anyone had done since the days of the judges. Teraphim (v. 24) were household gods that some people connected with oracles and sources of prosperity. Josiah was Judah’s most careful king regarding the Mosaic Covenant (22:25). He is the only king described with the exact wording of Deu 6:5: he turned to the Lord "with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his might." Hezekiah was praiseworthy for his great trust in Yahweh (2Ki 18:5), and Josiah excelled in his obedience to Yahweh.
Notice that in the sequence of reforms that the writer narrated, the discovery of the Law (2Ki 22:8-13) that took place during the repairing of the temple (2Ki 22:3-7) led to the other reforms. This order is another indication of the writer’s purpose. He emphasized the centrality of the Law in Israel’s life. [Note: See Lyle Eslinger, "Josiah and the Torah Book: Comparison of 2 Kings 22:1-23:28 and 2 Chronicles 34:1-35:19," Hebrew Annual Review 10 (1986):37-62.]