Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 2 Chronicles 34:14
And when they brought out the money that was brought into the house of the LORD, Hilkiah the priest found a book of the law of the LORD [given] by Moses.
14. This verse has no parallel in 2 Kin.
a book of the law ] R.V. the book of the law. This book was not the complete Pentateuch in its present shape, for the redaction of the Pentateuch as a whole, is attributed by the ablest critics to a later period than this. Similarly it cannot have been the book of Deuteronomy in the complete form in which we have it, for there are traces in Deuteronomy of the work of an editor who must have lived at a later time than the days of Josiah. This “book of the law” seems to have consisted (roughly reckoned) of Deuteronomy 5-26 with 28.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
2Ch 34:14-33
And when they brought out the money that was brought into the house of the Lord.
Restoring Gods house
I. Spiritual desolation.
1. The negligent priesthood (2Ch 34:5).
2. The dilapidated temple (2Ch 34:7).
3. The perverted utensils (2Ch 34:7).
II. Abundant offerings.
1. Opportunity to give (2Ch 34:8).
2. Called to give (2Ch 34:9).
3. Giving cheerfully (2Ch 34:10).
III. Effective work.
1. Skilled workmen (2Ch 34:12).
2. Diligent service (2Ch 34:13).
3. Renewed devotion (2Ch 34:14). (Sunday School Times.)
The book of the law found
1. We to-day are in some danger of losing the Scriptures. Not as a volume of literature.
(1) It is possible for the Word of God to sink out of our consciousness through our indifference.
(2) We may also make so much of prayer-books and creeds, of systems of doctrine and religious treatises, that the Scriptures themselves are seen only by a reflected light.
(3) Because we have been acquainted with the Scriptures from childhood, as we grow older we may fancy that we know what they contain, and leave them unstudied and unread.
(4) It is not unusual in public worship for the devotional services and the sermon to come between the soul and Gods Word.
(5) It is not unusual to find men so wedded to traditional interpretations, having origin in some theological theory, that when they read the Bible they are like one looking upon a landscape through coloured spectacles. When this tendency rules we are in danger of losing the Bible.
2. The discovery of the book of the law gave Josiah a new basis for faith. He must have felt when he read it, that he was supernaturally strengthened in his great task of reformation. There are few of us who do not desire to have our various undertakings approved by those in whose sagacity and moral discernment we trust. Josiah undertook his work with a new heart, for he felt that the Lord was with him.
3. We have here suggested the broad distinction between our certainty of what seems to be true and our certainty of what is vouched for as true by the Word of God.
4. This discovery of the law enlarged Josiahs conception of duty. The knowledge that came to him and to the nation, through this book, was what a flash of light is to a ship on a dangerous coast; the light reveals the rocks upon which she nearly struck; it also reveals the safe channel and the course to the harbour. The Bible performs this double office for all to whom it comes. It reveals sin; and it discloses the path to a better life. Gods prohibitions are not restrictions upon life, but protections to it. Gods calls to men are calls to blessedness.
5. This narrative illustrates the way truth enters a human life and recreates it.
6. Two reflections.
(1) The large importance to each one of us of our finding the truth of God.
(2) The chief blessing we can confer on others is to give them the truth God has given us. The men who went to the temple treasury came back with more than money. (G. E. Horr.)
The book of the law found
I. The results of losing the law.
1. Knowledge of the truth was lost.
2. True religion passed away.
3. The services of the temple ceased.
4. The sanctuary was polluted.
5. False religion came in like a flood. The land was full of idols.
6. Crimes of violence and deeds of oppression abounded everywhere. When man ceases to fear God he begins to hate his fellow-man.
7. Immorality was rampant. Morality does not live without religion.
8. Misery and final destruction followed.
II. The results of finding the law.
1. False religion was put away.
2. The people repented and turned to God.
3. The truth was learned.
4. The temple was beautified and opened for services.
5. A measure of mercy was found.
6. The truth was handed down to other ages.
Miscellaneous lessons:
1. Temple and services are vain without the truth.
2. Those who seek to serve God discover his will
3. When men desire to do wrong they hate the Word of God.
4. The Bible will survive all efforts of man to destroy it.
5. Where leaders set an example of piety the people follow.
6. Sin, vice, misery, and destruction come where the truth is not possessed.
7. If the times are bad we should hold up the law of God.
8. The Bible is a lost book to those who
(a) neglect it;
(b) disbelieve it;
(c) disobey it.
9. Every child should own, read, and love the Bible.
10. One can be loyal to God amid the most opposing surroundings.
11. Ones course in childhood generally determines what the youth and manhood will be.
12. The world greatly needs the services of children and men and women of righteousness. (J. E. Jacklin.)
Josiah and the newly found law
I. The discovery of the book of the law. We see here–
1. A striking instance of the indestructibleness of Gods Word. It has a charmed life.
2. That honest efforts after reformation are usually rewarded by clearer knowledge of Gods will. If Hilkiah had not been busy in setting wrong things right, he would not have found the book in its dark hiding-place. We are told that the coincidence of the discovery at the nick of time is suspicious. So it is, if you do not believe in Providence. If you do, the coincidence is but one instance of his sending gifts of the right sort at the right moment.
3. That the true basis of all religious reform is the Word of God. The nearest parallel is Luthers finding the dusty Latin Bible among the neglected convent books. Faded flowers will lift up their heads when plunged into water. The old Bible, discovered and applied anew, must underlie all real renovation of dead or moribund Christianity.
II. The effect of the rediscovered law. If a man will give Gods Word a fair hearing, and be honest with himself, it will bring him to his knees. No man rightly uses Gods law who is not convinced by it of his sin, and impelled to that self-abased sorrow of which the rent royal robes were the passionate expression. The first function of the law is to arouse the knowledge of sin, as Paul profoundly teaches. Without that penitential knowledge religion is superficial, and reformation merely external.
III. The double-eyed message of the prophetess. Josiah does not seem to have told his messengers where to go; but they knew, and went to a very unlikely person, the wife of an obscure man, only known as his fathers son. Where was Jeremiah of Anathoth? Perhaps not in the city at the time. This embassy to Huldah is in full accord with the high position which women held in that state, of which the framework was shaped by God Himself. In Christ Jesus there is neither male nor female, and Judaism approximated much more closely to that ideal than other lands did. Huldahs message has two parts.
1. The confirmation of the threatenings of the law.
2. The assurance to Josiah of the acceptance of his repentance and gracious promise of escape from the coming storm.
These two are precisely equivalent to the double aspect of the gospel, which completes the law, endorsing its sentence and pointing the way of escape. (A. Maclaren, D.D.)
The Scriptures found and searched
I. The bible lost.
1. It is lost to nations. Sometimes kings and governments forbid its circulation.
2. In communities where it freely circulates in the vernacular of the people–by misconstruction, false teaching and disregard.
3. It is lost to individuals by the way they treat it. How many a man suffers the Bible to lie in his home unused, dust-covered, like the sacred roll in the Temple, until it be almost forgotten! How many cast it away because it reproves them as it reproved the wicked kings of Judah!
II. Degeneracy inevitable without it. The Word of God is the great source and conservator of moral life and health. It is sunlight to the moral world. It is the invigorating element in the moral atmosphere. No more surely do plants grow pale without sunlight, or animal life grow feeble without oxygen, than all that makes a worthy life in man, individual or collective, wanes and fails when deprived of the Word of God. How true was this of Judah! When the Word of God was lost, the nation sunk rapidly into wickedness and consequent weakness. False religion ran riot. The smoke of incense to heathen gods filled the land. The consciences of the people were debauched. And whenever the Word of God has been lost by prohibition or neglect, the downward tendency of national life has been marked. Other elements of strength may have withstood it, and, for a time, upheld with seeming success the fabric of state. But, the best elements being wanting, degeneracy and feebleness sooner or later inevitably appear. But illustrations of the matter under consideration are more open to observation in regard to communities. Whenever the Word of God is not set on high, and honoured as the arbiter in morals, the teacher in religion, and the guide in life, there wickedness and vice will prevail. But individual life furnishes the best illustration. Without the word of God abiding in the mind and regnant in the life, deterioration in all things good certainly supervenes. Take out of a mans life the distinctive truths of the Divine revelation, and he is utterly exposed. Every avenue of his being is open to temptation. He will surely run down, sink to a lower plane, and ordinarily to a plane lower and lower the longer he lives. How many parents weep over sons and daughters tarnished, degraded, lost, because they would not heed the voice of God!
III. Its effect when found.
1. In the case of Josiah, it was astonishment. That such a book should have existed, stating so clearly the Divine will, so full of denunciations against the sins of the land, filled him with amazement. This is natural and legitimate. Only let men to whom the Bible has been lost wake to the solemn reality that its statements are everlasting truth, and that they will hold with unrelaxing energy in life, in death, and in eternity, and amazement must overwhelm them. Is it possible that these things are true and I have not realised them?
2. Another effect was to set him to earnest study. God was speaking. It was necessary for him to know what was said that he might order his conduct accordingly. Investigation of the Bible follows naturally a realisation of its nature.
3. Another result was to awaken anxiety. Study of the book of the law revealed his true condition. And so it is always. The Bible does not create the facts of our existence, but it does reveal them. In it we see our necessities and our danger. The past is marked with sin, the present full of corruption; the future forbidding, through fear of coming doom.
4. Again, the Bible found leads to repentance and reformation. How thorough was it in the case of Josiah! How deeply he deplored the sins of the land, how strenuously put them away! So it is always. It shows men what they are, and what they have done. It reveals the intensity of their sinfulness and the multitude of their sins. New thoughts, new desires, new affections, new purposes dwell within; new conduct, new habits mark the external life. And the same thing occurs in a wider field. Communities are waked to newness of life by finding the Bible. All this is true of tribes and nations. Many are the nations which have been revolutionised by it in the past, and it is doing the same to-day. Freedom of conscience attends the Bible, and civil liberty follows close behind. The Bible is the charter of the worlds hope and the mainspring of its reformation. How sad is the thought that to so many of our race there is no Bible! (Monday Club Sermons.)
Finding the book of the law
1. Many precious things are found when we set to work at repairs. Try to remove the dust from old sanctuaries of life and memory, and see what you will light upon.
2. How one good thing leads to another. First walking in the way of the Lord; then interest in the house of the Lord; then the book found.
3. The connection between pecuniary integrity and the Divine blessing. When they brought the money they found the book.
4. How many old things are new to us when we are in trouble and distress of mind.
5. The age of sixteen is a time of his life which no man ever forgets.
6. Devotedness to God at sixteen is so great a step in the life of a youth that it cannot be alone; you must make another onward into the sphere of spirit and of life.
7. God always finds some work to do for those who are His.
8. There is no deeper distress possible to us than that which pierces us in the discovery of our enmity to God. (B. Kent, M.A.)
The loss of the Scriptures
Consider what we should lose if we were to part with the Christian Scriptures, and with all the institutions and blessings for which we are indebted to them.
I. We should lose the knowledge of the true god. Mankind needs a book to keep alive in the earth the knowledge of a spiritual and personal God.
II. We should lose sooner or later our institutions of benevolence.
III. We should lose our institutions for popular education. Popular education is of Bible origin. Other than Christian religions build themselves on the ignorance of the masses.
IV. We should lose sooner or later our institutions of civil liberty. History shows that the great charter of freedom in the world is the Word of God. The great free nations of the earth are the great Christian nations. (A. Phelps.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 14. Found a book of the law] See on 2Kg 22:8.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
And when they brought out the money that was brought into the house of the Lord,…. The Levites, who brought it out of the country into the temple, and from thence brought it to the high priest, who delivering it to the king’s ministers, and they to the overseers, the repairs were begun:
and then Hilkiah the high priest found a book of the law of the Lord given by Moses house of the Lord,…. The Levites, who brought it out of the country into the temple, and from thence brought it to the high priest, who delivering it to the king’s ministers, and they to the overseers, the repairs were begun: [See comments on 2Ki 22:8]. From hence, to the end of 2Ch 34:28, is the same as 2Ki 22:8.
[See comments on 2Ki 22:9] [See comments on 2Ki 22:10] [See comments on 2Ki 22:11] [See comments on 2Ki 22:12] [See comments on 2Ki 22:13] [See comments on 2Ki 22:14] [See comments on 2Ki 22:15] [See comments on 2Ki 22:16] [See comments on 2Ki 22:16] [See comments on 2Ki 22:17] [See comments on 2Ki 22:18] [See comments on 2Ki 22:19] [See comments on 2Ki 22:20]
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
14 And when they brought out the money that was brought into the house of the LORD, Hilkiah the priest found a book of the law of the LORD given by Moses. 15 And Hilkiah answered and said to Shaphan the scribe, I have found the book of the law in the house of the LORD. And Hilkiah delivered the book to Shaphan. 16 And Shaphan carried the book to the king, and brought the king word back again, saying, All that was committed to thy servants, they do it. 17 And they have gathered together the money that was found in the house of the LORD, and have delivered it into the hand of the overseers, and to the hand of the workmen. 18 Then Shaphan the scribe told the king, saying, Hilkiah the priest hath given me a book. And Shaphan read it before the king. 19 And it came to pass, when the king had heard the words of the law, that he rent his clothes. 20 And the king commanded Hilkiah, and Ahikam the son of Shaphan, and Abdon the son of Micah, and Shaphan the scribe, and Asaiah a servant of the king’s, saying, 21 Go, enquire of the LORD for me, and for them that are left in Israel and in Judah, concerning the words of the book that is found: for great is the wrath of the LORD that is poured out upon us, because our fathers have not kept the word of the LORD, to do after all that is written in this book. 22 And Hilkiah, and they that the king had appointed, went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of Tikvath, the son of Hasrah, keeper of the wardrobe; (now she dwelt in Jerusalem in the college:) and they spake to her to that effect. 23 And she answered them, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Tell ye the man that sent you to me, 24 Thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will bring evil upon this place, and upon the inhabitants thereof, even all the curses that are written in the book which they have read before the king of Judah: 25 Because they have forsaken me, and have burned incense unto other gods, that they might provoke me to anger with all the works of their hands; therefore my wrath shall be poured out upon this place, and shall not be quenched. 26 And as for the king of Judah, who sent you to enquire of the LORD, so shall ye say unto him, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel concerning the words which thou hast heard; 27 Because thine heart was tender, and thou didst humble thyself before God, when thou heardest his words against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof, and humbledst thyself before me, and didst rend thy clothes, and weep before me; I have even heard thee also, saith the LORD. 28 Behold, I will gather thee to thy fathers, and thou shalt be gathered to thy grave in peace, neither shall thine eyes see all the evil that I will bring upon this place, and upon the inhabitants of the same. So they brought the king word again.
This whole paragraph we had, just as it is here related, 2 Kings xxii. 8-20, and have nothing to add here to what was there observed. But, 1. We may hence take occasion to bless God that we have plenty of Bibles, and that they are, or may be, in all hands,–that the book of the law and gospel is not lost, is not scarce,–that, in this sense, the word of the Lord is not precious. Bibles are jewels, but, thanks be to God, they are not rarities. The fountain of the waters of life is not a spring shut up or a fountain sealed, but the streams of it, in all places, make glad the city of our God. Usus communis aquarum–These waters flow for general use. What a great deal shall we have to answer for if the great things of God’s law, being thus made common, should be accounted by us as strange things! 2. We may hence learn, whenever we read or hear the word of God, to affect our hearts with it, and to get them possessed with a holy fear of that wrath of God which is there revealed against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, as Josiah’s tender heart was. When he heard the words of the law he rent his clothes (v. 19), and God was well pleased with his doing so, v. 27. Were the things contained in the scripture new to us, as they were here to Josiah, surely they would make deeper impressions upon us than commonly they do; but they are not the less weighty, and therefore should not be the less considered by us, for their being well known. Rend the heart therefore, not the garments. 3. We are here directed when we are under convictions of sin, and apprehensions of divine wrath, to enquire of the Lord; so Josiah did, v. 21. It concerns us to ask (as they did, Acts ii. 37), Men and brethren, what shall we do? and more particularly (as the jailor), What must I do to be saved? Acts xvi. 30. If you will thus enquire, enquire (Isa. xxi. 12); and, blessed be God, we have the lively oracles to which to apply with these enquiries. 4. We are here warned of the ruin that sin brings upon nations and kingdoms. Those that forsake God bring evil upon themselves (2Ch 34:24; 2Ch 34:25), and kindle a fire which shall not be quenched. Such will the fire of God’s wrath be when the decree has gone forth against those that obstinately and impenitently persist in their wicked ways. 5. We are here encouraged to humble ourselves before God and seek unto him, as Josiah did. If we cannot prevail thereby to turn away God’s wrath from our land, yet we shall deliver our own souls, 2Ch 34:27; 2Ch 34:28. And good people are here taught to be so far from fearing death as to welcome it rather when it takes them away from the evil to come. See how the property of it is altered by making it the matter of a promise: Thou shalt be gathered to thy grave in peace, housed in that ark, as Noah, when a deluge is coming.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
See note on 2Ki 22:8
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
(14) And when they brought out.This verse is not in Kings. It supplements the older account, by assigning the occasion of the discovery.
Josephus makes Hilkiah find the book in the treasure-chamber of the Temple which he had entered to get gold and silver for making some sacred vessels. According to Rabbinical tradition it was found hidden under a heap of stones, where it had been placed to save it from being burnt by king Ahaz.
A book.The book.
Given by Moses.The Hebrew phrase, by the hand of Moses, belongs not to the book, but to the Law (or teaching) of Jehovah; and the meaning of the whole expression is, the Law of Jehovah communicated through the medium or instrumentality of Moses. (Comp. 2Ch. 33:8.)
To Shaphan.Kings adds, and he read it. Those words need not mean that Shaphan read the book through, as Thenius suggests. (See Note on 2Ki. 22:3.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
(14-19) Hilkiah finds the Book of the Law, and delivers it to Shaphan, who reads it before the king. (Comp. 2Ki. 22:8-11.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
The Finding of the Book of the Law and its Effects
v. 14. And when they brought out the money that was brought into the house of the Lord, v. 15. And Hilkiah answered and said to Shaphan, the scribe, v. 16. And Shaphan carried the book to the king and brought the king word back again, saying, All that is committed to thy servants, they do it. v. 17. And they have gathered together, v. 18. Then Shaphan, the scribe, told the king, saying, Hilkiah, the priest, hath given me a book. And Shaphan read it before the king, v. 19. And it came to pass, when the king had heard the words of the Law, that he rent his clothes, v. 20. And the king commanded Hilkiah and Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, v. 21. Go, inquire of the Lord for me and for them that are left in Israel and in Judah, v. 22. And Hilkiah, and they that the king had appointed, went to Huldah, the prophetess, v. 23. And she answered them, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Tell ye the man that sent you to me,
v. 24. Thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will bring evil upon this place and upon the inhabitants thereof, even all the curses that are written in the book which they have read before the king of Judah, v. 25. because they have forsaken Me and have burned incense unto other gods, that they might provoke Me to anger with all the works of their hands, v. 26. And as for the king of Judah who sent you to inquire of the Lord, so shall ye say unto him, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel concerning the words which thou hast heard:
v. 27. Because thine heart was tender, and thou didst humble thyself before God, when thou heardest His words against this place and against the inhabitants thereof, and humbledst thyself before Me, and didst rend thy clothes and weep before Me, v. 28. Behold, I will gather thee to thy fathers, and thou shalt be gathered to thy grave in peace, neither shall thine eyes see all the evil that I will bring upon this place and upon the inhabitants of the same, v. 29. Then the king sent and gathered together all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem, v. 30. And the king went up into the house of the Lord, and all the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and the priests, and the Levites, and all the people, great and small, v. 31. And the king stood in his place, v. 32. And he caused all that were present in Jerusalem and Benjamin to stand to it, v. 33. And Josiah took away all the abominations out of all the countries that pertained to the children of Israel,
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
2Ch 34:14. A book of the lawgiven by Moses See note on 2Ki 22:8. The word given is not in the Hebrew. It is literally, A book of the law of Jehovah, by the hand of Moses. It is scarcely possible for words more naturally to describe a book written by Moses himself, or to vouch more fully that the manuscript of the law at this time found was in the hand-writing of Moses: and though there are fifteen places in the Old Testament (Jos 8:31-32. 1Ki 2:3. 2Ki 14:6; 2Ki 23:25. 2Ch 23:18; 2Ch 25:4; 2Ch 30:16; 2Ch 35:12. Ezr 3:2; Ezr 6:18. Neh 13:1. Dan 11:13 and Mal 4:4.) which contain the words, law of Moses, and book of Moses; yet this one place only mentions the book of the law in the hand or by the hand of Moses: the reason of which seems to be, that the other places speak of that law in general, but this place speaks of one particular manuscript, namely, the original. As to the point of age, this manuscript might certainly be the original, distance of time leaving it very possible; for the most extended chronology does not make the interval from the death of Moses to the death of Josiah, 950 years; an age exceeded by that of several manuscripts preserved at this day. Kennicott’s Diss. vol. 2: p. 299.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
The relation here given so much corresponds to what was before related, 2Kings, that I think it necessary only to direct the Reader to look back, and consult what was there said, in our humble commentary upon it. I would only in addition remark, that if the discovery of the book of the law produced such effects upon the minds of the king and the people, what ought the perpetual use of the book of the gospel to have upon the minds of men in the present day, Surely we shall be of all men most inexcusable if we neglect so great salvation. Reader! how stands the word of God in your estimation, and what are the effects wrought in your heart from the perusal of it! Is it your meditation all the day; and can you say as one of old did, Mine eyes prevent the night watches, that I might meditate on thy word. Psa 119:148 . How delightful a view have we of the prophet in his love of God’s word, when he said, thy words were found and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart. Jer 15:16 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
2Ch 34:14 And when they brought out the money that was brought into the house of the LORD, Hilkiah the priest found a book of the law of the LORD [given] by Moses. 2Ch 34:15 And Hilkiah answered and said to Shaphan the scribe, I have found the book of the law in the house of the LORD. And Hilkiah delivered the book to Shaphan.
Ver. 14, 15. Hilkiah the priest found a book of the law. ] See 2Ki 22:8 .
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
2 Chronicles
JOSIAH AND THE NEWLY FOUND LAW
2Ch 34:14 – 2Ch 34:18
About one hundred years separated Hezekiah’s restoration from Josiah’ s. Neither was more than a momentary arrest of the strong tide running in the opposite direction; and Josiah’s was too near the edge of the cataract to last, or to avert the plunge. There is nothing more tragical than the working of the law which often sets the children’s teeth on edge by reason of the fathers’ eating of sour grapes.
I. The first point in this passage is the discovery of the book of the Law.
The straightforward story of our passage gives a most natural explanation of the find. Hilkiah was likely to have had dark corners cleared out in preparation for repairs and in storing the subscriptions, and many a mislaid thing would turn up. If it be possible that the book of the Law should have been neglected and the religious corruption of the last hundred years makes that only too certain, its discovery in some dusty recess is very intelligible, and would not have been doubted but for the exigencies of a theory. ‘Reading between the lines’ is fascinating, but risky; for the reader is very likely unconsciously to do what Hilkiah is said to have done-namely, to invent what he thinks he finds.
Accepting the narrative as it stands, we may see in it a striking instance of the indestructibleness of God’s Word. His law is imperishable, and its written embodiment seems as if it, too, had a charmed life. When we consider the perils attending the transmission of ancient manuscripts, the necessary scarcity of copies before the invention of printing, the scattering of the Jewish people, it does appear as if a divine hand had guarded the venerable book. How came this strange people, who never kept their Law, to swim through all their troubles, like Caesar with his commentaries between his teeth, bearing aloft and dry, the Word which they obeyed so badly? ‘Write it . . . in a book, that it may be for the time to come for ever and ever.’ The permanence of the written Word, the providence that has watched over it, the romantic history of its preservation through ages of neglect, and the imperishable gift to the world of an objective standard of duty, remaining the same from age to age, are all suggested by this reappearance of the forgotten Law.
It may suggest, too, that honest efforts after reformation are usually rewarded by clearer knowledge of God’s will. If Hilkiah had not been busy in setting wrong things right, he would not have found the book in its dark hiding-place. We are told that the coincidence of the discovery at the nick of time is suspicious. So it is, if you do not believe in Providence. If you do, the coincidence is but one instance of His sending gifts of the right sort at the right moment. It is not the first time nor the last that the attempt to keep God’s law has led to larger knowledge of the law. It is not the first time nor the last that God has sent to His faithful servants an opportune gift. What the world calls accidental coincidence deeper wisdom discerns to be the touch of God’s hand.
Again, the discovery reminds us that the true basis of all religious reform is the Word of God. Josiah had begun to restore the Temple, but he did not know till he heard the Law read how great the task was which he had taken in hand. That recovered book gave impulse and direction to his efforts. The nearest parallel is the rediscovery of the Bible in the sixteenth century, or, if we may take one incident as a symbol of the whole, Luther’s finding the dusty Latin Bible among the neglected convent books. The only reformation for an effete or secularised church is in its return to the Bible. Faded flowers will lift up their heads when plunged in water. The old Bible, discovered and applied anew, must underlie all real renovation of dead or moribund Christianity.
II. The next point here is the effect of the rediscovered Law. Shaphan was closely connected with Josiah, as his office made him a confidant. It is ordinarily taken for granted that he and the other persons named in this lesson formed a little knot of earnest Jehovah worshippers, fully sympathising with the Reformation, and that among them lay the authorship of the book. But we know nothing about them except what is told here and in the parallel in Kings. One of them, Ahikam, was a friend and protector of Jeremiah, and Shaphan the scribe was the father of another of Jeremiah’s friends. They may all have been in accord with the king, or they may not.
At all events, Shaphan took the book to Josiah. We can picture the scene-the deepening awe of both men as the whole extent of the nation’s departure from God became clearer and clearer, the tremulous tones of the reader, and the silent, fixed attention of the listener as the solemn threatenings came from Shaphan’s reluctant, pallid lips. There was enough in them to touch a harder heart than Josiah’ s. We cannot suppose that, knowing the history of the past, and being sufficiently enlightened to ‘seek after the God of David his father,’ he did not know in a general way that sin meant sorrow, and national disobedience national death. But we all have the faculty of blunting the cutting edge of truth, especially if it has been familiar, so that some novelty in the manner of its presentation, or even its repetition without novelty sometimes, may turn commonplace and impotent truth into a mighty instrument to shake and melt.
So it seems to have been with Josiah. Whether new or old, the Word found him as it had never done before. The venerable copy from which Shaphan read, the coincidence of its discovery just then, the dishonour done to it for so long, may all have helped the impression. However it arose, it was made. If a man will give God’s Word a fair hearing, and be honest with himself, it will bring him to his knees. No man rightly uses God’s law who is not convinced by it of his sin, and impelled to that self-abased sorrow of which the rent royal robes were the passionate expression. Josiah was wise when he did not turn his thoughts to other people’s sins, but began with his own, even whilst he included others. The first function of the law is to arouse the knowledge of sin, as Paul profoundly teaches. Without that penitent knowledge religion is superficial, and reformation merely external. Unless we ‘abhor ourselves, and repent in dust and ashes,’ Scripture has not done its work on us, and all our reading of it is in vain. Nor is there any good reason why familiarity with it should weaken its power. But, alas! it too often does. How many of us would stand in awe of God’s judgments if we heard them for the first time, but listen to them unmoved, as to thunder without lightning, merely because wo know them so well! That is a reason for attending to them, not for neglecting.
Josiah’s sense of sin led him to long for a further word from God; and so he called these attendants named in 2Ch 34:20 , and sent them to ‘enquire of the Lord . . . concerning the words of the book.’ What more did he wish to know? The words were plain enough, and their application to Israel and him indubitable. Clearly, he could only wish to know whether there was any possibility of averting the judgments, and, if so, what was the means. The awakened conscience instinctively feels that threatenings cannot be God’s last words to it, but must have been given that they might not need to be fulfilled. We do not rightly sorrow for sin unless it quickens in us a desire for a word from God to tell us how to escape. The Law prepares for the Gospel, and is incomplete without it. ‘The soul that sinneth, it shall die,’ cannot be all which a God of pity and love has to say. A faint promise of life lies in the very fact of threatening death, faint indeed, but sufficient to awaken earnest desire for yet another word from the Lord. We rightly use the solemn revelations of God’s law when we are driven by them to cry, ‘What must I do to be saved?’ III. So we come to the last point, the double-edged message of the prophetess. Josiah does not seem to have told his messengers where to go; but they knew, and went straight to a very unlikely person, the wife of an obscure man, only known as his father’s son. Where was Jeremiah of Anathoth? Perhaps not in the city at the time. There had been prophetesses in Israel before. Miriam, Deborah, the wife of Isaiah, are instances of ‘your daughters’ prophesying; and this embassy to Huldah is in full accord with the high position which women held in that state, of which the framework was shaped by God Himself. In Christ Jesus ‘there is neither male nor female,’ and Judaism approximated much more closely to that ideal than other lands did.
Huldah’s message has two parts: one the confirmation of the threatenings of the Law; one the assurance to Josiah of acceptance of his repentance and gracious promise of escape from the coming storm. These two are precisely equivalent to the double aspect of the Gospel, which completes the Law, endorsing its sentence and pointing the way of escape.
Note that the former part addresses Josiah as ‘the man that sent you,’ but the latter names him. The embassy had probably not disclosed his name, and Huldah at first keeps up the veil, since the personality of the sender had nothing to do with her answer; but when she comes to speak of pardon and God’s favour, there must be no vagueness in the destination of the message, and the penitent heart must be tenderly bound up by a word from God straight to itself. The threatenings are general, but each single soul that is sorry for sin may take as its very own the promise of forgiveness. God’s great ‘Whosoever’ is for me as certainly as if my name stood on the page.
The terrible message of the inevitableness of the destruction hanging over Jerusalem is precisely parallel with the burden of all Jeremiah’s teaching. It was too late to avert the fall. The external judgments must come now, for the emphasis of the prophecy is in its last words, it ‘shall not be quenched.’ But that did not mean that repentance was too late to alter the whole character of the punishment, which would be fatherly chastisement if meekly accepted. So, too, Jeremiah taught, when he exhorted submission to the ‘Chaldees.’ It is never too late to seek mercy, though it may be too late to hope for averting the outward consequences of sin.
As for Josiah, his penitence was accepted, and he was assured that he would be gathered to his fathers. That expression, as is clear from the places where it occurs, is not a synonym for either death or burial, from both of which it is distinguished, but is a dim promise of being united, beyond the grave, with the fathers, who, in some one condition, which we may call a place, are gathered into a restful company, and wander no more as pilgrims and sojourners in this lonely and changeful life.
Josiah died in battle. Was that going to his grave in peace? Surely yes! if, dying, he felt God’s presence, and in the darkness saw a great light. He who thus dies, though it be in the thick of battle, and with his heart’s blood pouring from an arrow-wound down on the floor of the chariot, dies in peace, and into peace.
Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren
found a book of the law. Without doubt the book which Moses himself wrote, the original copy of the Pentateuch. Compare 2Ki 22:8, and see App-47.
by = by the hand of.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
2Ch 34:14-15. And when they brought out the money that was brought into the house of the LORD, Hilkiah the priest found a book of the law of the LORD given by Moses. And Hilkiah answered and said to Shaphan the scribe, I have found the book of the law in the house of the LORD, And Hilkiah delivered the book to Shaphan.
This was a very remarkable find. Of all the discoveries that they might have made, they could have discovered nothing that would work so much good to all the people as this book of the law of the Lord given by Moses.
2Ch 34:16-19. And Shaphan carried the book to the king, and brought the king word back again, saying, All that was committed to thy servant, they do it. And they have gathered together the money that was found in the house of the LORD, and have delivered it into the hand of the overseers, and to the hand of the workmen. Then Shaphan the scribe told the king, saying, Hilkiah the priest hath given me a book. And Shaphan read it before the king. And it came to pass, when the king had heard the words of the law, that he rent his clothes.
Such was his horror upon discovering how they had all sinned, and how many terrible judgments were to be inflicted upon them because of all that long time of sin, that he rent his clothes.
2Ch 34:20-21. And the king commanded Hilkiah, and Ahikam the son of Shaphan, and Abdon the son of Micah, and Shaphan the scribe, and Asaiah a servant of the kings, saying, Go, inquire of the LORD for me, and for them that are left in Israel and in Judah, concerning the words of the book that is found:
Oh, that all who read Gods Book now would do as young Josiah did I If there be any difficulty in a book, the short way to get to understand it is to inquire of the author; and, surely, never is there greater wisdom than having read any of the deep mysteries or solemn threatenings in this Volume and feeling ourselves staggered by them, we inquire of the Lord concerning them. I believe that there is many a puzzling passage in the Bible on purpose that we may be driven to inquire of the Lord about it. If the Book were all so easy of understanding that, at the first reading of it, we could comprehend all its meaning, we might, perhaps, keep away from God; but he has purposely given us many dark sentences, and made the sense to be somewhat obscure in order that we may wait upon his enlightening Spirit and so obtain instruction, for the Spirit of God is more useful to us even than the Word itself is. Great as the blessing of the Book is, the blessing of the living Spirit is greater still, and anything is good that drives us to him. That which had influenced the mind of Josiah was the terror of the Book.
2Ch 34:21-28. For great is the wrath of the LORD that is poured out upon us, because our fathers have not kept the word of the LORD, to do after all that is written in this book. And Hilkiah, and they that the king had appointed, went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of Tikvath, the son of Hasrah, keeper of the wardrobe; (now she dwelt in Jerusalem in the college:) and they spake to her to that effect. And she answered them, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Tell ye the man that sent you to me, Thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will bring evil upon this place, and upon the inhabitants thereof, even all the curses that are written in the book which they have read before the king of Judah: because they have forsaken me, and have burned incense unto other gods, that they might provoke me to anger with all the works of their hands; therefore my wrath shall be poured out upon this place, and shall not be quenched. And as for the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of the LORD, so shall ye say unto him, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel concerning the words which thou hast heard; because thine heart was tender, and thou didst humble thyself before God, when thou heardest his words against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof, and humbledst thyself before me, and didst rend thy clothes, and weep before me; I have even heard thee also, saith the LORD. Behold, I will gather thee to thy fathers, and thou shalt be gathered to thy grave in peace, neither shall thine eyes see all the evil that I will bring upon this place, and upon the inhabitants of the same. So they brought the king word again.
When God selects an instrument for his own service, how well he tunes it for the use to which it is to be put! Here is a woman, a married woman, and she is selected to be the Lords prophetess to the king; but never has any man spoken more bravely than she did. Her opening words show a holy courage which is lifted above all fear of men: Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Tell ye the man that sent you to me, for before God kings are only men; and though Huldah was only a subject of Josiah, see with what real dignity Gods ordination had invested her. Josiah was not to succeed in the reformation of Israel. He was true and sincere, but the people were steeped in hypocrisy, and formality, and idolatry, and they did not go with the king in all his root and branch reforms. They still clung in their hearts to their idols, and therefore they must be destroyed, and the nation must be carried away captive. It was, however, a very singular promise that God gave to Josiah I will gather thee to thy fathers, and thou shalt be gathered to thy grave in peace. Yet he was mortally wounded in battle, so how could that promise be fulfilled ? You know how it could be. However we may die, if sword or plague or fire consume the saints among the rest of mankind, their very deaths and graves are blest. There was no fighting about Josiahs grave; he was buried in peace. Pharaoh-Necho had smitten him, but he did not destroy the land; and Josiah was allowed to be buried amid the great lamentations of a people who only began fully to appreciate him when he was taken away from them.
2Ch 34:29-30. Then the king sent and gathered together all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem. And the king went up into the house of the LORD, and all the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and the priests, and the Levites, and all the people, great and small: and he read in their ears all the words of the book of the covenant that was found in the house of the LORD.
That was a grand Bible-reading, with a king for reader, and all his princes and all his people gathered to Listen to the Word of God. What could he have said better, had he been the greatest of orators ? To read out of this blessed Book must surely be to the edification of the hearers.
2Ch 34:31-33. And the king stood in his place, and made a covenant before the LORD, to walk after the LORD, and to keep his commandments, and his testimonies, and his statutes, with all his heart, and with all his soul, to perform the words of the covenant which are written in this book. And he caused all that were present in Jerusalem and Benjamin to stand to it. And the inhabitants of Jerusalem did according to the covenant of God, the God of their fathers. And Josiah took away all the abominations out of all the countries that pertained to the children of Israel, and made all that were present in Israel to serve, even to serve the LORD their God. And all his days they departed not from following the LORD, the God of their father.
Fuente: Spurgeon’s Verse Expositions of the Bible
2Ch 34:14-21
2Ch 34:14-21
THE DISCOVERY OF THE BOOK OF THE LAW OF JEHOVAH GIVEN BY MOSES
“And when they brought out the money that was brought into the house of Jehovah, Hilkiah the priest found the book of the law of Jehovah given by Moses. And Hilkiah answered and said to Shaphan the scribe, I have found the book of the law in the house of Jehovah. And Hilkiah delivered the book to Shaphan. And Shaphan carried the book to the king, and moreover brought back word to the king, saying, All that was committed to thy servants they are doing. And they have emptied out the money that was found in the house of Jehovah, and have delivered into the hands of the overseers, and into the hand of the workmen. And Shaphan the scribe told the king, saying, Hilkiah the priest hath delivered me a book. And Shaphan read therein before the king. And it came to pass when the king heard the words of the law, that he rent his clothes. And the king commanded Hilkiah, and Ahikam the son of Shaphan, and Abdon the son of Micah, and Shaphan the scribe, and Asaiah the king’s servant, saying, Go ye, inquire of Jehovah for me, and for them that are left in Israel and in Judah, concerning the words of the book that is found; for great is the wrath of Jehovah that is poured out upon us, because our fathers have not kept the word of Jehovah, to do according to all that is written in this book.”
Once for all, this paragraph settles the matter of what that book was which was found in the temple. The title we have given this paragraph is from the sacred text itself; and a million unbelievers shouting that it was anything else cannot nullify what is written here.
The account here is brief. The critical allegation that Shaphan read “the whole book” before the king is ridiculous. The text says “he read therein,” that is, he read certain portions of it, indicating that he had previously studied the book and chose certain passages to read before the king.
Of course, right here is the reason that the inventors of that Priestly Document fairy tale, and those who have swallowed such a falsehood, find the incontrovertible denial of their false theory; and all, repeat, all the objections which radical critics bring against Second Chronicles are for the purpose of defending their ridiculous theory against Biblical truth.
E.M. Zerr:
2Ch 34:14. Money that was brought means the money that had previously been deposited in the treasury of the temple. It had to be taken out in order to follow the instructions of the king for the repairs of the temple. Found a book. This has been the occasion for many fanciful speeches, intended to enlarge on the neglect of the Bible of which so many are guilty. In order to put emphasis on the instance, they even add their imagination by saying that the book was found amidst the rubbish that had been allowed to accumulate in the house of God. There is nothing said about such a subject. All that can justly be said is that no attention had been given the book previously, but that the program the king had put into action caused a closer inspection of all the surroundings. It is significant that the book was found when they were visiting the place where the money was deposited. That money was taken from the incomes of the people, and was added unto almost constantly. That fact would discount the idea that the book was “hidden in the rubbish.” It was found at the same time these men were thinking about the repair work ready to be started in the building, and thus when the attention of all was more alert to the conditions. Many professed children of God today might “find” the Bible in the same sense that is applied to the case under Josiah. A Bible might be lying on a table or in a library shelf and be unnoticed for years, until some person called attention to the importance of reading it. And if it should then be done, many half-hearted Christians would be as surprised as Josiah was, when they discovered how far they had drifted from their path of duty.
2Ch 34:15. Hilkiah was high priest and second to none in authority over matters pertaining to the religious activities. The scribes, however, had the special work of copying the law, and it would seem consistent with their role to handle what copies that were already written. So the high priest turned over the book to the scribe.
2Ch 34:16. The wording of this verse might be a little confusing, as it sounds as if Shaphan made two trips to see the king. The thought is that he had to make a report to the king anyway, so while he was at it he just took the book along. No doubt that fact figured somewhat in the act of the high priest in putting the newly found book into his hands. He knew that he soon was going to see the king, and hence would be the first to have occasion to tell him about the book. But before bringing up that subject, he made his report on the conduct of the king’s servants, that all things were done according to the royal orders.
2Ch 34:17. Shaphan did not stop with a general statement of the work of the servants. He gave the detail of gathering together the money that was available in the house of the Lord, and making proper distribution of it; it was placed in proper hands.
2Ch 34:18. Having made his business report, the scribe then mentioned the subject of the book. He told the king who had found it and delivered it to him. The king did not take the book but had Shaphan to read it in his hearing.
2Ch 34:19. Men as well as women wore certain loose clothing over their inner garments. There was a custom of tearing the skirt of the garment at times of great grief or anxiety. Where or when this practice started I do not know. When Josiah heard the reading of the book he rent his clothes. That was not in protest or disrespect for what the book said; he had great reverence for it; but he was shocked at the awful situation it indicated they were in, and determined to make further inquiry.
2Ch 34:20-21. Moses was the writer of the law of the Lord and he completed his work. If any new or specific information were needed, it had to be learned through the prophets or other inspired persons who would be given messages for the occasion. (Heb 1:1.) Josiah knew that the nation had departed from the law in many respects, but had not realized how far, until Shaphan had read it before him. Accordingly, he was concerned about getting direct instructions from the Lord, and commanded these persons to enquire of the Lord. His attention to the material improvements of the temple was now diverted and centered on a spiritual reformation, even more intense than what he had done in the beginning of his reign.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Hilkiah: 2Ki 22:8-20, Deu 31:24-26
a book: Literally, “a book of the law of the Lord, by the hand of Moses,” i.e, as Dr. Kennicott understands it, “in the handwriting of Moses;” for, says he, though there are fifteen places in the Old Testament which mention the “Law of Moses,” and “book of Moses,” yet this one place only mentions “the book of the law in, or by, the hand of Moses.”
the law: 2Ch 12:1, 2Ch 31:4, 2Ch 35:26, Deu 17:18, Deu 17:19, Jos 1:8, Ezr 7:10, Psa 1:2, Isa 5:24, Isa 30:9, Jer 8:8, Luk 2:39
Moses: Heb. the hand of Moses, Lev 8:36, Lev 10:11, Lev 26:46
Reciprocal: Exo 25:16 – General Deu 31:26 – in the side 2Ki 23:24 – the book 1Ch 6:13 – Hilkiah 2Ch 34:9 – Hilkiah 2Ch 35:3 – Put 2Ch 35:8 – Hilkiah
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
34:14 And when they brought out the money that was brought into the house of the LORD, Hilkiah the priest found a {h} book of the law of the LORD [given] by Moses.
(h) Read 2Ki 22:8.