Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 2 Chronicles 34:1
Josiah [was] eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem one and thirty years.
Ch. 2Ch 34:1-2 (= 2Ki 22:1-2). Josiah’s good Reign
1. In Jerusalem one and thirty years ] R.V. thirty and one years in Jerusalem (as 2 Kin.). Here the Chronicler omits Josiah’s mother’s name; cp. 2Ch 33:1; 2Ch 33:21.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Compare the parallel history of 2 Kings 22 notes; 23:1-30 notes; the writer here being more full on the celebration of the Passover. The only approach to a discrepancy between the two narratives is with respect to the time of the religions reformation, which the writer of Chronicles distinctly places before, the author of Kings after, the repair of the temple. The best explanation seems to be, that the author of Kings has departed from the chronological order, to which he makes no profession of adhering.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
2Ch 34:1-8
Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign.
Josiahs early piety
I. The possibility of youthful responsibility. Other children besides Josiah have been called to the cares of a kingdom. Manasseh commenced to reign at twelve, Joash was seven, Uzziah sixteen; Henry III and Edward VI of England were both nine; four of the Scottish kings, James II, III, IV, and V, ascended the throne when children. Of the French kings, Louis I. began to reign at sixteen, Louis IX at eleven, Louis XIII at nine, Charles VI at eleven, Charles IX at ten; Louis XIV, inheriting the kingdom at five, assumed full control by his own force of character at thirteen. Charles I of Spain, better known as Charles V of Germany, became king at sixteen; Charles II at fourteen, seizing the kingdom from an ill-governing regency which had existed since his fourth year.
II. Early piety is possible and desirable. When does the period of moral accountability begin? We cannot fix it definitely. But this much is certain: whenever the child can intelligently choose this or that because it is right or wrong, then has moral accountability commenced, and the child can be a Christian.
III. The influence of good advisers. Josiah was but a boy, and yet around him were spiritual Titans–Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Jeremiah.
IV. The energy of youthful piety.
V. The influence of the surrounding atmosphere on piety. We must be watchful against irreligious influences. (Monday Club Sermons.)
Importance of early piety
Ancient nations would not receive old men into their armies, as being unfit for service. Let us not wait until we can only offer unto Him who hath loved us dry and worthless bones. (W. M. Taylor, D.D.)
The example of Joash
There is at the top of the Queens staircase in Windsor Castle a statue from the studio of Baron Triqueti, of Edward VI., marking with his sceptre a passage in the Bible, which he holds in his left hand, and upon which he earnestly looks. The passage is this concerning Josiah: Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned thirty and one years in Jerusalem. And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, and walked in all the way of David, his father, and turned not aside to the right hand or to the left. The statue was erected by the will of the late Prince Consort, who intended it to convey to his son the Divine principles by which the future governor of England should mould his life and reign on the throne of Great Britain. (T. Hughes.)
Early piety
I was admitted into the Church at the early age of eight. I dont remember that I experienced at the time any extraordinary work of God on my soul. I loved Christ, and felt a strong desire to be identified with His people. When I mentioned the fact to some of the deacons some of them looked askance, and expressed grave doubts as to the propriety of allowing one so young to sit at the Lords table. Among them, however, there were wiser men. Their counsels prevailed, and after some months of probation I was admitted. From that day until now I have never ceased to thank God that I was induced to take the important step at the time I did. Had I not done so I doubt whether I should have been a missionary–if a member of the Christian Church at all. (Griffith Johns.)
Josiah the old-fashioned young man
As the sensitive plate in the photographic camera, when the person who sits for a likeness is placed in a powerful light, takes an impression of him in which every line upon the countenance and every furrow upon the brow are exaggerated, so that the artist has to touch the negative in order to do him simple justice, so, when a man sits in the fierce glare of public light, his failings are so prominently recorded, and his defects so clearly brought out, that it is necessary for us in fairness to touch the negative with the pencil of charity, and thus soften down the defects. Remembering this, this description of Josiah fills us with wonder. Consider–
I. His disadvantages.
1. His extreme youth.
2. The degeneracy of the times. He ascended the throne in a dark age.
3. He was the son of a bad father.
II. What is the explanation of his piety? It may have been largely due to the quiet but all-powerful influence of a good mother. But there are wonders of grace often wrought in the lives of the children of wicked men which you cannot explain.
III. The manifestation of his piety. He walked in the ways of David his father. Four hundred years separated Josiah from David. Thank God, there are seasons, even in degenerate times, when the old purity of things is restored, when the grand old faith is received and lived over again, and when the heroism of those who are gone comes back like a new inspiration to young lives. Ah! he is an old-fashioned young man: he lives behind the age; he ought to have been living in the time of David, for he has quite adopted his ancient ways, exclaimed some young men of the period. All the conceited striplings of the day would join in the chorus, Poor Josiah, he does not move with the age. He is an eccentric young fellow, very puritanic in his notions, and sings psalms as if he lived in the days of old King David. My young friends, a true man likes to be old-fashioned sometimes. It is noble to move with the age when the age is going forward; but it is grand to remain with the past when the age in which we live retrogrades from ancient purity and ancient faith. When there is no spiritual vigour or moral fibre in our day, it is well to stick to the old days when there were strength and fibre in religion and morals. Do not be afraid of the charge of being old-fashioned. It is cheaply made, and is often meaningless, save as it is the highest possible compliment. Be in the company of the worlds best and noblest men: never mind whether they live to-day, or whether they lived eighteen hundred years ago, or even more. (D. Davies.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
CHAPTER XXXIV
Josiah reigns thirty-one years; destroys idolatry in Judah, as
also in Manasseh, Ephraim, Simeon, and even to Naphtali, 1-7.
He begins to repair the temple, and collects money for the
purpose, and employs workmen, 8-13.
Hilkiah the priest finds the book of the law in the temple,
which is read by Shaphan before the king, 14-19.
He is greatly troubled, and consults Huldah the prophetess,
20-22.
Her exhortation, and message to the king, 23-28.
He causes it to be read to the elders of Judah, and they make
a covenant with God, 29, 32.
Josiah reforms every abomination, and the people serve God all
his days, 33.
NOTES ON CHAP. XXXIV
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Of this chapter, see the notes on 2Ki 22; 2Ki 23.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
1. Josiah was eight years old(Seeon 2Ki 22:1). The testimony borneto the undeviating steadfastness of his adherence to the cause oftrue religion places his character and reign in honorable contrastwith those of many of his royal predecessors.
2Ch34:3-7. HE DESTROYSIDOLATRY.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Ver. 1,2. Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign,…. Of these two verses, [See comments on 2Ki 22:1],
[See comments on 2Ki 22:2].
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Duration and spirit of Josiah’s reign; agreeing with 2Ki 22:1, 2Ki 22:2, only the note as to Josiah’s mother being here omitted.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| The Reign of Josiah. | B. C. 623. |
1 Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem one and thirty years. 2 And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, and walked in the ways of David his father, and declined neither to the right hand, nor to the left. 3 For 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 groves, and the carved images, and the molten images. 4 And they brake down the altars of Baalim in his presence; and the images, that were on high above them, he cut down; and the groves, and the carved images, and the molten images, he brake in pieces, and made dust of them, and strowed it upon the graves of them that had sacrificed unto them. 5 And he burnt the bones of the priests upon their altars, and cleansed Judah and Jerusalem. 6 And so did he in the cities of Manasseh, and Ephraim, and Simeon, even unto Naphtali, with their mattocks round about. 7 And when he had broken down the altars and the groves, and had beaten the graven images into powder, and cut down all the idols throughout all the land of Israel, he returned to Jerusalem.
Concerning Josiah we are here told, 1. That he came to the crown when he was very young, only eight years old (yet his infancy did not debar him from his right), and he reigned thirty-one years (v. 1), a considerable time. I fear, however, that in the beginning of his reign things went much as they had done in his father’s time, because, being a child, he must have left the management of them to others; so that it was not till his twelfth year, which goes far in the number of his years, that the reformation began, v. 3. He could not, as Hezekiah did, fall about it immediately. 2. That he reigned very well (v. 2), approved himself to God, trod in the steps of David, and did not decline either to the right hand of to the left: for there are errors on both hands. 3. That while he was young, about sixteen years old, he began to seek after God, v. 3. We have reason to think he had not so good an education as Manasseh had (it is well if those about him did not endeavour to corrupt and debauch him); yet he thus sought God when he was young. It is the duty and interest of young people, and will particularly be the honour of young gentlemen, as soon as they come to years of understanding, to begin to seek God; for those that seek him early shall find him. 4. That in the twelfth year of his reign, when it is probable he took the administration of the government entirely into his own hands, he began to purge his kingdom from the remains of idolatry; he destroyed the high places, groves, images, altars, all the utensils of idolatry, 2Ch 34:3; 2Ch 34:4. He not only cast them out as Manasseh did, but broke them to pieces, and made dust of them. This destruction of idolatry is here said to be in his twelfth year, but it was said (2 Kings xxiii. 23) to be in his eighteenth year. Something was probably done towards it in his twelfth year; then he began to purge out idolatry, but that good work met with opposition, so that it was not thoroughly done till they had found the book of the law six years afterwards. But here the whole work is laid together briefly which was much more largely and particularly related in the Kings. His zeal carried him out to do this, not only in Judah and Jerusalem, but in the cities of Israel too, as far as he had any influence upon them.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
Reformation – 2Ch 34:1-7
With Josiah, Judah gets its last godly king, and again there is the paradox of bad father-good son. He was only an eight year old child when his father died, and he was made king. To the good of Judah he had a relatively long reign of thirty-one years, cut short by his death in battle. He is said to have taken his forefather David as his example and to have walked in his ways, doing right in the sight of the Lord, not turning aside to the right hand or the left.
Josiah turned to the Lord and was saved during his eighth year of rule, when, he was about sixteen years of age. It is said that he then began to seek after the God of David. What influenced this young man to turn from the idolatry of his father and his counselors is unknown, but the question will be examined at more length in a succeeding topic of this commentary. In the twelfth year of Josiah’s reign, when he was twenty years of age, he began a reformation of the land religiously, much like that of his great grandfather Hezekiah, whom he resembles in many respects.
Josiah totally demolished the shrines of idolatry throughout the land. He began with the high places, for this was the basis of most of the idolatrous practices carried on under pretense of worshipping the Lord. The groves were cut down, the carved wooden images and molten ones were destroyed. The numerous altars of Baal were broken down. The king was a personal witness to much of this, his presence lending emphasis to the crusade to turn Judah back to the true God. The pagan practice of raising idolatrous symbols on poles had appeared in Judah. Josiah cut these down. From the ashes of the burned images he took and strewed the dust on the graves of the false priests and prophets. The bones of many of these were taken from their graves and burned to ashes.
Josiah pursued his eradication program thoroughly in Judah and Jerusalem, then ventured into the former tribes of the north. For some eighty years the Assyrians had occupied these lands, since Samaria’s fall. Now they were in their decline because of pressure on them from eastern nations, such as Babylon, Media, and Persia. Josiah took advantage of lax conditions in the former northern kingdom to extend his reformation into that area, particularly the former tribes of Manasseh, Ephraim, and Naphtali. It also extended to the south, to the former area of the tribe of Simeon. Here he broke down pagan altars and cut down the groves just as he had done in his own country, and returned to Jerusalem.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
THE SECOND BOOK OF CHRONICLES
IN discussing the First Book of Chronicles we called attention to the fact that according to Usshers chronology, the two Books, not reckoning the table of genealogy, covered a space of 468 years of history; the First Book only 41 of these, and this second, 427. As to the authorship of these Books, Ezra is commonly accepted.
The analysis of any book is largely the presentation of a personal view. One man divides this Second Book of Chronicles into two portions: The Reign of Solomon, chapters 1 to 9, and The Kings of Judah, chapters 10 to 36.
Scofield in his reference Bible, says of this Book: It falls into eighteen divisions, by reigns, from Solomon to the captivities; records the division of the kingdom of David under Jeroboam and Rehoboam, and is marked by an ever growing apostasy, broken temporarily by reformations under Asa, Jehoshaphat, Joash, Hezekiah, and Josiah.
It is our purpose to follow neither of these divisions, however natural they may be, but to discuss the volume under three heads: Solomon and the Temple; Rehoboam and the Division, and the History of Judah.
SOLOMON AND THE TEMPLE
The Book opens with a declaration concerning the new king, And Solomon the son of David was strengthened in his kingdom, and the Lord his God was with him, and magnified him exceedingly (2Ch 1:1).
The history that follows gives occasion to say several things concerning this marvelous man of immortal reputation:
First, Solomons kingship enjoyed an auspicious beginning. The man who ascends the throne under the favor of the Lord necessarily begins a reign of promise. If, as in Solomons case, he sensibly recognizes his responsibility and seeks wisdom from the only sufficient source, he adds greater certainty to his success. When, in addition to this, his objectives are high and God-honoring, the glory of his kingdom advances accordingly. Certainly, Solomons preparation to build the temple was not only a noble objective, but one in line with his kingly fathers purpose and prayers, and the great Heavenly Fathers will for him.
The interesting history here of gathering materials and appointing men for this marvelous construction is made more interesting still by the kings personal supervision and spiritual interest. It takes some courage to conduct war, and we believe it takes almost more courage and even a clearer sense of God, to build sanctuaries, make their appointments according to the Divine pleasure, and call the people to worship within the spacious rooms of the same. Yet, when you have read but five chapters of this Book, you find such a work complete, and are not in the least amazed or even surprised to read, The glory of the Lord had filled the house of God (2Ch 5:14).
It is doubtful whether any company of men have done more for the establishment of spirituality in the earth and for the strengthening of the souls of their fellows, than have those who brought sanctuaries into existence and led congregations of people to a genuine worship of the most high God.
The on-going of this Book reveals Solomons conscious dependence. When the altar was erected he stood by it with outstretched hands (2Ch 6:12). That is the attitude of prayer and possibly of adoration. When his lips parted to speak, he says,
O Lord God of Israel, there is no God tike Thee in the heaven, nor in the earth; which keepest covenant, and shewest mercy unto Thy servants that walk before Thee with all their hearts:
Thou which hast kept with Thy servant David my father that which Thou hast promised him; and spakest with Thy mouth, and hast fulfilled it with Thine hand, as it is this day.
Now therefore, O Lord God of Israel, keep with Thy servant David my father that which Thou hast promised him, saying, There shall not fail thee a man in My sight to sit upon the throne of Israel; yet so that thy children take heed to their way to walk in My Law, as Thou hast walked before Me (2Ch 6:14-16).
Now then, O Lord God of Israel, let Thy Word be verified, which Thou hast spoken unto Thy servant David (2Ch 6:17).
Then follows an appeal that Gods eyes should be open upon their house day and night; that His ears should hearken to the prayers made in that place, and if sin were committed, that forgiveness should be granted, and if the people fail before the face of the enemy because of sin that they also should be pardoned; that if heaven be shut up on the same ground, upon repentance the dearth should end.
Then he concludes in a more personal petition to Him:
Then what prayer or what supplication soever shall be made of any man, or of all Thy people Israel, when every one shall know his own sore and his own grief, and shall spread forth his hands in this house:
Then hear Thou from Heaven Thy dwelling place, and forgive (2Ch 6:29-30).
These are only samples of the long petition that followed the dedicatory sermon. They wind up with a sentence like this: O Lord God, turn not away the face of Thine anointed: remember the mercies of David Thy servant (2Ch 6:42). It is a model prayer; it is the petition of a sincere soul; it is the cry of one who knows that the mercy and love of God are the only grounds of hope.
The further text records Solomons fame and death. That fame was based upon Solomons wisdom, accentuated doubtless by the magnificence of the temple, but made more honorable still in the extent of his organization, the luxury of his court and the wealth of his treasury.
Evidently, among the rulers of the earth, the queen of Sheba held conspicuous place, and when the fame of Solomon reached her, she came to prove him with her questions, and impress him with her own riches and glory. The difficult questions were satisfactorily answered, the temple was adequately shown, the table of the king groaned with its good meats, the apparel of the servants was profoundly impressive, and the queen said to the king,
It was a true report which I heard in mine own land of thine acts, and of thy wisdom:
Howbeit I believed not their words, until I came, and mine eyes had seen it: and, behold, the one half of the greatness of thy wisdom was not told me: for thou exceedest the fame that I heard.
Happy are thy men, and happy are these thy servants, winch stand continually before thee, and hear thy wisdom.
Blessed be the Lord thy God, which delighted in thee to set thee on his throne, to be king for the Lord thy God (2Ch 9:5-8).
The compliment to the king is followed with a statement of Solomons annual income, the magnificence of his throne, the rich appointments of the palace, the extensive commercial importance of his kingdom, and the willing tributes of the earths lesser lords.
Then, as if the task of telling all was too great, we have this record,
Now the rest of the acts of Solomon, first and last, are they not written in the book of Nathan the Prophet, and in the prophecy of Ahijah the Shilonite, and in the visions of Iddo the seer against Jeroboam the son of Nebat?
And Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel forty years.
And Solomon slept with his fathers, and he was buried in the city of David his father: and Rehoboam his son reigned in his stead (2Ch 9:29-31).
It is a surprising end, and yet strangely true to human history. How many men spend all their days in preparing to live, and when the preparation seems almost complete, proceed to die? The last enemy is no respecter of persons. His bow is drawn against the great as well as the humble, the rich as well as the poor, the wise as well as the ignorant. Death respects neither thrones nor kings; he holds the key to the palace room, and even to the throne room. Kings may command their humbler fellows, and even counsel their equals; but where death calls, they also obey.
REHOBOAM AND THE DIVISION
The emptying of a throne is forever fraught with perils. The eternal and pertinent question is this, Who shall come after the king? The tenth chapter answered that concerning the throne of Israel. The answer was an ill omen! Rehoboams tyrannical spirit split the kingdom. When Jeroboam and all Israel came to him, saying, Thy father made our yoke grievous: now therefore ease thou somewhat the grievous servitude of thy father, and his heavy yoke that he put upon us, and we will serve thee (2Ch 10:4), they delicately referred to the increased taxation to which the luxurious court and the personal orgies of Solomon had given rise. They thought, as people commonly do, that the new rule would prove the peoples friend. Their hope was in vain.
The old men, former counselors of Solomon, advised kindness and compassion; but the young bloods, spoiled by their fellowship with royalty, counseled increased oppression; and under their influence he said,
My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add thereto: my father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions (2Ch 10:14).
It was enough. The war was on; and that war has never ended until this day, for Israel and Judah are not yet one. A man who divides brethren and sets them to battle, little understands the infinite reach of his mischief. The father of Modernism in America, when he fell asleep at a comparatively early age, little dreamed that he had set influences to work that would divide every denomination on the continent, destroy the fellowship of men who loved one another as twins are commonly supposed to love, wreck schools and churches by the thousand, and start a war that may easily exceed the famous Hundred Year War of history.
Israel and Judahblood brothersbecame the bitterest of enemies. For some reason Second Chronicles pays little attention to Israel, but proceeds to trace Judahs history to the year of Cyrus, king of Persia, or through a period of almost a half millennium. The family feud occasionally projects itself into the record, but for the most part, Israel is forgotten, and the doings of Judah are recorded in detail.
The explanation of this is found in the circumstance that Jeroboam rejected the worship of Jehovah (2Ch 11:14-15). When God is once put away, when Gods priest is disposed of, and His minister is heard no more, then degeneracy compels a declining record.
Unitarianism three quarters of a century ago denied the Lord. Its history has amounted to little; and if it were recorded, it would simply prove, as the Jeroboam movement, a breeding place of apostasy; and yet this record regards not one apostasy only, but two.
The man of many favors may forget God.
When Rehoboam had established the kingdom, and had strengthened himself, he forsook the Law of the Lord, and all Israel with him (2Ch 12:1).
What a sad commentary on the uncertainty and unstability of human nature! The explanation of Rehoboams failure has fitted thousands, yea millions of cases. He did evil, because he prepared not his heart to seek the Lord (2Ch 12:14). Of all disappointments, none exceed thisto begin well and end badly; to give promise and create disappointment; to be the subject of Divine favor, and become the slave of Gods adversary.
THE HISTORY OF JUDAH
Chapters 11 to 36 contain the roster of kings. The fortunes of the country answer accurately and inevitably to the characters of their rulers. On the whole, the history is a down-grade. In that respect, it runs true to form. The doctrine of evolution may find an illustration in national life if it goes from the simple to the complex, but in so far as it contends for improvement, history fails to illustrate it. Degeneracy of nations has more often taken place than has social and moral progress.
The foundations of Judah were laid under David; the kingdoms glory appeared under Solomon. From that moment until this, one word expresses Judahs coursedecline.
Africa was once an advanced nation, now a heathen one; Italy once ruled the world, now she holds an inconspicuous place; Greece once represented the climax of physical and mental accomplishment, now she boasts neither. The reasons for decline are varied, but in Judah they were one the God who had made her great was too often forgotten, too willingly offended. When the nations neglect the source of their strength, weakness naturally ensues. Judahs strength was in the Lord, and when her kings forgot Him, despised His Word, entered into unholy alliances that were followed by the people, her fame declined, and her land fainted.
The mixed social condition manifested her sinfulness. We have a phrase, Like people, like priest. We can paraphrase that, Like princes, like people. The study of these kings results in no compliment to human nature. Some of them were utterly evil; most of them were a mixture of the good and bad; two or three of them were sound. Among the utterly evil ones, Jehoram, Ahaziah, Athaliah, Manasseh, Amon and Jehoiakin held first place. The ones that represent a mixture of good and bad were Jeroboam, Jehoshaphat, Joash, Amaziah, Uzziah, Jehoiakim; while the truly good consisted of Jotham, Hezekiah and Josiah. In all probability the reign of each of these good kings was profoundly affected and made spiritually fruitful by the ministry of Isaiah, the greatest preacher among Old Testament Prophets. It is perhaps a fact of history that no rulers have ever proven faithful to God without the stimulating and salutary influence of the Gospel ministry.
The judgments and mercies of Second Chronicles alike vindicate Jehovah. In this record wickedness does not go unpunished; and yet it is a marvelous revelation of Divine mercy.
There is never the least sign of penitence on the part of the ruler and the people without an immediate and generous response from Jehovah.
When Jehoshaphat declined in his loyalty and effected a sinful coalition with Ahab, judgment fell; but instantly upon his repentance, mercy was shown. Judgment is always and everywhere Gods strange work, the work in which He takes no pleasure. As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked (Eze 33:11).
Mercy is His nature, His essential character, for to the Lord our God belong mercies and forgiveness. He that covereth his sins shall not prosper; but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy (Pro 28:13).
Fuente: The Bible of the Expositor and the Evangelist by Riley
CRITICAL NOTES.] This and next chapter give history of Josiah, and parallel with 2 Kings 22 and 2Ki. 23:1-30. Josiahs good beginning (2Ch. 34:1-7); cleanses temple (2Ch. 34:8-13); finds a copy of the law (2Ch. 34:14-17); which is read by Shaphan (2Ch. 34:18-22); Huldahs message (2Ch. 34:23-28); J. reads the law to the elders (2Ch. 34:29-33).
2Ch. 34:1-7.J.s good beginning. Walked, declined neither to right hand nor left: honourable contrast to predecessors. 2Ch. 34:3. Young, fifteen or sixteen years old. Jewish youths in majority at thirteen. 2Ch. 34:4. Images, sun statues (marg.), 2Ch. 14:3. Dust (Exo. 32:20). Strewed, as if graves guilty of crimes of inmates. Burnt, greatest infamy to disinter bones of idolatrous priests (cf. 2Ki. 23:13-20). 2Ch. 34:6. Cities of Mana. The power of Assyria now (B.C. 629624) greatly weakened, if not completely broken. J., it is evident, asserted and maintained a claim to authority over the whole land of Isa. [Speak. Com.]. Mattocks, in their dry (desolate) places (cf. Psa. 109:10). 2Ch. 34:7. He had, king himself went in person and purified the land.
2Ch. 34:8-13.Temple repaired. Purged, first cleansed, then repaired (2Ki. 23:4). S., M., and J. sent to report progress; repair, carry on the work. 2Ch. 34:9. Money collected in temple and in all parts of Judah and Isa. 2Ch. 34:10. Workmen, overseers or superintendents (2Ki. 22:5). Eastern people only work under overseers. 2Ch. 34:11. Couplings, beams to bind the house and support joists. Floor, to rafter chambers surrounding temple or outbuildings attached to courts. 2Ch. 34:12. Faithfully, skilfully and diligently. 2Ch. 34:13. Scribes, now designating a class, a distinct division of Levitical body.
2Ch. 34:14-22.Discovery of a copy of the law. Found, probably an original copy of Pentateuch. 2Ch. 34:15. The book, the temple copy, kept in most holy place (Deu. 31:26). Shaphan the scribe able to read it. If this were the very autograph of Moses or his scribe, it would not be more than 830 years old. Manuscripts exist of nearly twice this age [Murphy]. 2Ch. 34:16. S. took the book to king and reported the work (2Ki. 22:9). 2Ch. 34:17. Gathered, emptied out of a chest into a bag. 2Ch. 34:19. Rent, in distress of mind. 2Ch. 34:21. Enquire, from a prophet. Agitated feelings prompted J. to seek immediate counsel to avert curses under which his kingdom lay. Huldah, keeper of wardrobe, priestly or royal garments; she dwelt in college, second part or suburb of city (cf. Neh. 11:9; Zep. 1:10).
2Ch. 34:23-28.Message of Huldah. Tell, oracular response, in which justice is blended with mercy, announcing impending evil to overtake the city and its inhabitants. Very likely such places as Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28-32 were read to the king. 2Ch. 34:27. Heard, wrath delayed and prayer of king heard on account of penitence.
2Ch. 34:29-33.Public reading of the law. King does what he can to bring people to penitence. Elders, representatives of the nation. Read, caused to be read aloud before the whole assembly. 2Ch. 34:31. Place, upon his pillar, covenanted with his subjects to keep commandments and walk after the Lord. 2Ch. 34:33. Took away. Completes purgation of the land, is followed by the people in outward reformation during his lifetime; but the special mission of Jeremiah in earlier ministry to rebuke the error and urge real change of heart and life (cf. Jer. 7:3-4; Jer. 7:21-24).
HOMILETICS
JOSIAH, OR EARLY PIETY.2Ch. 34:1-13
What Hezekiah had accomplished was soon undone by successors, Manasseh and Amon. Manasseh brought down Gods judgment for present and awful threatenings for future. Destruction not averted, but delayed. Gods goodness and longsuffering displayed. Josiah mounts the throne, and even in youth shows the power of true religion, and the blessings which it gives to its possessor.
I. Displayed in seeking God in youth. For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was yet young, &c. A minor till thirteen years old, he sought God, in three years after he attained majority. Probably devout and prayerful before this. No difficulty in young persons serving God. Joseph, Samuel, David, and Timothy. Boys may evince beautiful character, and give promise of virtuous life. Beza thanked God, in his last will and testament, that he became a Christian at the age of sixteen. Those that seek me early shall find me.
II. Displayed in the administration of his kingdom. In the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem.
1. He purged the temple. In the long reign of his idolatrous grandfather, and short but wicked rule of his father, the temple neglected and out of repairdilapidated and deserted for the gods of heathenism. Concerned for Gods glory and Gods housesought to make temple attractive and restore it to former beauty.
2. He cleansed the land. Altars of Baal overturned, images broken down and turned to dust, and groves uprooted. The shrines of idols forsaken and obliterated. The land cleansed and the worship of temple restored and performed with scrupulous obedience.
III. Displayed with undeviating consistency. Declined neither to the right hand nor to the left. Not satisfied with first impressions, first convictions, and first feelings towards God, but reformed the wrong and did that which was right. Surrounded by profligate courtiers, opposed by unprincipled men, he was earnest, decided, persevering, and consistent. He began to seek, continued and spent a whole life in setting things right through length and breadth of his kingdom. One of the first, he was one of the most zealous converts. Judah never had a more devoted and earnest prince.
JOSIAH THE YOUNG REFORMER
I. Reform originated by personal agency. Personal efforts of king and priests, elders and officers of the court. Good laws, religious institutions, helpful, required and not to be ignored; but moral influence essentially personal. Good men, earnest reformersoriginate good laws and good institutionsthe means of revivals and extensive reforms. Luther, Whitfield, and Wesley.
II. The object of reform to restore the worship of God in the land. Not commerce or education evennot to introduce any new religion, but revive the old, pure religion which God instituted at first. J. destroyed the evil and fostered the good; secured workmen and overseers to repair the temple in great numbers. We are addicted to idolatry, to love the creature more than the Creator; but God will have no rival, should have the chief place in our hearts and lives, in our temples and kingdoms.
III. Reform was regulated by the principles of Gods Word. Engaged in the work, he was stimulated by the discovery of the law. Henceforth he acted with greater intelligence and reverence for the book. Great reforms have always been preceded and accompanied by study of Gods Word. In days of Isaiah and Ezra people brought to penitence and prayer by reading of Scrip. The Reformation prepared by the translations of Tyndale and Wycliffe. The germ of the great movement in days of Whitfield and Wesley, in the Holy Club, a meeting of a few students and tutors to study the Greek Testament in Oxford University. Bible study and Christian activity now joined together. Have a Bible always about you, was Wesleys injunction. Follow not what is fashionable, prevalent, and convenient, but what is right in the sight of the Lord.
THE DISCOVERY OF THE BOOK.2Ch. 34:11-21
The Book of the Law found is no other than the temple copy, which was deposited beside the ark in the holy of holies (Deu. 31:25-26), and during the ungodly reigns of Manasseh and Amon, perhaps under Ahaz, when the temple itself had been profaned by idols, and as we may infer from 2Ch. 35:3, the ark also removed from its place, was somehow lost, and was now found again during the repair of the temple [Keil].
I. The Scriptures may be lost for a season. If not actually lost, hidden away and forgotten. The Bible lost by wilful neglect to read; by mere attention to the letter and not the spirit; by criticising and dissecting it as if the production of man; by every abuse of it, though boasting of its possession.
II. When found and rightly read, the Scriptures will quicken spiritual life. Its discovery a complete surprise to the king, who rent his clothes, studied the book himself, and read it to others. It is possible that it may have been a mere rediscovery, like the revival of the Pandects at Amalfi, like the revival of the Hebrew and Greek text of the Bible at the Reformation. But, in either case, this sudden appearance of the Law amounted almost to a new revelation [Stanley].
1. It reminded of neglected duty. Duties of prophets, priests, and kings set forth in the volume, concerning religious and political unity, the destruction of high places and obedience to Jehovah. All that which is written concerning us.
2. It produced a sense of guilt. Our fathers have not hearkened unto the words of this book. Curse pronounced on apostasy pierces the kings heart; he rends garments and bows down in deep sorrow before God.
3. It gave insight into Gods service. Enquire of the Lord. The enquiry revealed the moral condition of the nation and urged the necessity of reform. There was still a higher purpose which the Second Law served, a still nobler spirit in which Moses might be said to have risen again in the days of Josiah, to promulgate afresh the coda of Sinai. Now, for the first time, the love of God, as the chief ground of his dealing with his peoplethe love towards God as the ground of their service to himthe spiritual character a free choice of that servicewere urged on the nation with all the force of Divine and human authority [Stanley].
4. It stimulated to vigorous activity. King active before, more so after discovery. Not deterred by stern message from Huldah. Rulers of people inspired, if not with the spirit of penitence, yet with the burning zeal that destroys the monuments of idolatry and repeats the deeds of Elijah.
III. Hence, when a right sense of duty is created by reading the Scripture, a revival of religion will ensue. Spiritual sensibility was maintained in the kings profession and elevation. In the personal life of the leaders, the religious worship of the temple and the government of the nation. Political reforms and ameliorations beneficial when a spirit of piety pervades the people, and the nation fears God. Regard to Gods will the secret of prosperous churches, happy governments, and genuine revivals. As individuals, churches, and nation, how do we treat the Bible? Is it losing or keeping its hold upon our religion, our manners and customs? Hear ye the word of the Lord, ye that tremble (with holy awe) at His word (Isa. 66:5).
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. In the loss of the Bible and its fruits, we should lose the knowledge of the true God. History proves this beyond reasonable dispute. God must speak, or man does not find him. Mankind needs a book to keep alive in the earth the knowledge of a spiritual and personal God. II. By the loss of the Scriptures and their results from the knowledge of mankind, we should lose sooner or later our institutions of benevolence. Benevolence on a large scale, and in the form of permanent institutions, and for all classes of mankind, is a Biblical idea. III. In the loss of the Bible and its fruits, we should sooner or later suffer the loss of our institutions for popular education. Culture has existed without a revelation from heaven. Schools are not the product of the Bible only. But it is beyond question that popular education is of Bible origin. Other than Christian religions build themselves on the ignorance of the masses. IV. By the loss of the Scriptures and their creations, we should sooner or later part with 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, O.T. a Living Book].
EARLY PIETY AND ITS ADVANTAGES
I. Enlightened piety consists in seeking God. J. while yet, young began to seek after God. God the object of all religion. To seek his favour, presence, glory, the end of rational and immortal beings. The essence of sin to deny, dishonour, and disobey God.
1. In seeking earnestly. Not enough to think, talk, and argue about God. Seek as after riches, he that seeketh findeth.
2. In seeking promptly. J. delayed not. Jehovah had kept him from influence of corruption, from passing through the fire in his fathers reign; but this satisfied not, he sought higher knowledge, began early and promptly to seek God.
3. In seeking perseveringly. In youthful inexperience, surrounded with temptations and hindered with disadvantages, he pursued that which was right with decided steps, declined neither to the right hand nor to the left.
II. Seeking God early will conduce to honour. In temporal things it tends to health, reputation, and long life; in spiritual and eternal more advantageous.
1. It keeps alive religious susceptibilities. His heart was tender, not only in the ardour and sensibility of youth, but in maturity of age, crowned with regal honours and surrounded by worldly pleasures.
2. It saves from snares. Temptations like wind, spring from every quarter. Exposed in company and in solitude, in Gods house and in our ownalways exposed. Business, pleasure, and companions may become a snare. But great risks in youth. Religion alone can preserve.
3. It brings eminent usefulness in life. Power in patience, love, courage, and action; influence over others in relations of life; safety in position. Self-willed monarchs have brought destruction on themselves and ruin on kingdoms.
4. It prepares for happy death. J. honoured in age and lamented in death. Virtues which led to prosperity cherished, and vices which tended to poverty escaped. Converted in early morning, his day bright, his work accomplished. Few sins to bewail at last, no remorse, no sins of youth to fill his bones with pain; his end, though mysterious, peaceful and triumphant. Godliness profitable to all things, &c.
HOMILETIC HINTS AND SUGGESTIONS
2Ch. 34:3. The character of Josiah. I. He began to serve God at a very early period of life. II. He proceeded in his career with extraordinary zeal and diligence. III. He was as zealous in promoting piety as in suppressing vice. IV. In all he did he adhered strictly to the Word of God [Rev. C. Simeon]. LearnI. That a child may begin to serve God early. II. That a child may serve God when the world is most attractive. Moses, David, Josiah. III. That when a child begins to serve God early he will be likely to become honourable and useful. Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it. A lessonI. To the young. Avoid the wrong and do that which is right.
2. To parents and guardians of youth. Look well to rising generation. The welfare of families, churches, and the nation depends upon their training. That of all men we meet with, nine parts out of ten are what they are, good or bad, useful or not, according to their education [Locke]. Began to seek. Sweet words are these!to begin; not only to begin, but to begin to seek. What suggestions of modesty, lowliness, and insignificance of effort! What determination expressed in simple patience! No violence, no demonstrativeness, nothing of ostentation, but inquiry, waiting, expectancy, a look that means I know not from what part of the heavens the Lord may come, but from some point he will presently descend, and it is for me to seek, to be prepared to receive him [Dr. Parker]. The verse contains a descriptionI. Of our moral condition; without God.
2. Of essential principles of all religion; seeking God.
3. Of true prayer; earnest desire for God, not cold asking, formal seeking, &c. The words also describe the way to
(1) eminent piety;
(2) eminent consistency;
(3) eminent usefulness.
2Ch. 34:13. Scribes. Hitherto designation of a class, officers of state, who mustered troops and managed finances (cf. 2Sa. 8:17; 2Sa. 20:25; 2Ki. 12:10; Isa. 33:18). Here evidently a new state of thingsan order of scribes forming a distinct division of Levitical body. The class term first found in this passage, yet probably originated in reign of Hezekiah, who employed men to copy out uncollected proverbs of Solomon (Pro. 25:1). Probably to the rise of this class are we indebted for preservation of many prophecies belonging to Hezekiahs time, while works of previous prophetsof Ahijah, Iddo, Shemaiah, Jehu son of Hanani, and othershave perished [Speak. Com.].
2Ch. 34:14. Found a Book.
1. The profound sensation created.
2. The intense anxiety to know the truth. The inquiry, personal reading, and public exposition.
3. The need of the Book now. To preserve religion, educate the race, and advance the cause of God and humanity.
2Ch. 34:23-28. The faithful message. Notice
1. The estimate of the king. Tell the man. Only a man, sinful and mortal like other men. Kings need to be told this truth. I acknowledge myself a mortal, said Charles V. Emperor. With God no respect of persons.
2. The threatened judgment. I will bring evil upon this place. No hiding, no toning down of unpleasant truths.
3. The procuring cause of judgment. They have forsaken me. Announcement to Manasseh repeated with terrible significance to Josiah. Repentance will not avail, now too late to save guilty people Wrath poured out and shall not be quenched.
2Ch. 34:26-28. A tender spirit. Huldah in first outburst of prophetic spirit thinks only of the matter in hand, forgetting the person of the inquirer; but when that is past, and the stream flows more smoothly, the thought of the person occurs to her, the King of Judah [Speak. Com.]. Here she giveth him his just title, whom before she had called man. Piety is no enemy to civility [Trapp]. I. Give a general account of a tender heart.
1. It implies a quick and ready sense of feeling in spiritual thingsquickness of apprehension, ready reflections of conscience, a disposition to be easily affected.
2. A pliable disposition to yield to Divine influences. II. The way in which such a temper should express itself.
1. In relation to the Word of God.
2. In relation to sin.
3. In relation to providential events.
4. In relation to the honour of God. III. What foundation is laid for such a temper in Christianity.
1. Good men in the ancient church were not strangers to it.
2. The recompenses of the life to come are more fully revealed.
3. Richer discoveries of grace are made to us.
4. Ceremonials have given way to substantials of religion.
5. The softening spirit is more plentifully communicated. IV. Inferences.
1. Discern the difference between a truly Christian temper and some things mistaken for it: it is not natural easiness of disposition, not occasional tenderness.
2. Let us all seek after and cultivate this tenderness of spirit.
3. If conscious of its possession, take the comfort of it as good evidence of a renewed and Christian state [Dr. Evans].
2Ch. 34:29-33. I. The public reading of the Book. The Book exists; not to be invented; only to be found, used, understood, and obeyed. II. The making of the solemn covenant. Made with sincerity, with all his heart and with all his soul; made to perform in Kings (2Ch. 23:2), to stand to the covenant. Many forget and fall away. III. The impression created upon the people. The example of the king, reforms in the temple and solemn resolution in open covenant. A restraint for a season. No open idolatry, no grove, nor Baal worship, yet superficial, not deeply seated amendment. Did not stand for personal purity and loyal obedience. The mission of Jeremiah in his early ministry to rebuke and urge a real change. Except your righteousness exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees.
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 34
2Ch. 34:1-7. Eight years old. There is at the top of the Queens staircase in Windsor Castle a statue from the studio of Baron Triqueti, of Edward VI. marking with his sceptre a passage in the Bible, which he holds in his left hand, and upon which he earnestly looks. The passage is concerning Josiah. J. was eight years old when he began to reign and walked in all the way of David his father, and turned not aside to the right hand or to the left. The statue was erected by the will of the late prince, who intended it to convey to his son the Divine principles by which the future governor of England should mould his life and reign on the throne of Great Britain [T. Hughes].
2Ch. 34:8-13. Men did work faithfully (2Ch. 34:12). What we are accustomed to decry as great social evils will, for the most part, be found to be but the outgrowth of mans own perverted life; and though we may endeavour to cut down and extirpate them by means of law, they will only spring up again with fresh luxuriance in some other form, unless the conditions of personal life and character are radically improved. If this view be correct, then it follows that the highest patriotism and philanthropy consist, not so much in altering laws and modifying institutions, as in helping and stimulating men to elevate and improve themselves by their own free and independent individual action [Smiles]. We put too much faith in systems and look too little to men [B. Disraeli].
2Ch. 34:14-22. The Bible the Saviour of the Church. Men say that the Church has saved the Bible. I say that the Bible has saved the Church ten thousand times over. You shall find that when great questions come up in a community churches do not go ahead. You cannot make them. Churches are like the baggage-waggons of an army. They carry the provisions and indispensable things; but, after all, baggage-waggons never go first in a march. And the Church is so busy taking care of the things which it carries that it has no time to devote to new things that present themselves. Reforms hardly ever originate in churches. I am not speaking against churches, I am merely putting them where they put themselves, and saying that tendencies to unusual conduct in the application of gospel principles to new questions are oftentimes ridiculed by ministers, rejected from pulpits, and refused places in conference meetings, and stigmatised by church members as being fanatical [H. W. Beecher]. When we find the book of the law, let us not shrink from finding its judgments as well as its gospels. The prophecies must all be fulfilled, when they indicate that the wicked shall be destroyed (2Ch. 34:25), shall be driven away in the wrath of God. The Bible is not all gospel; or where it is all gospel it involves the element of judgment and the certainty of doom [Dr. J. Parker].
2Ch. 34:33. Departed not. The multitude go at all adventures (Lev. 26:21, marg.), careless of their ways, reckless of their end. It is with them scarcely worth looking intowhether God is displeased or not; whether they be walking in the narrow or broad path, and what the end of that path may be. Sometimes they come into the world fresh from the influence of a religious education. For a while they yield alternately to their conscience and their corruptions. They are touched a moment under the convictions of the word, or the corrections of the rod. Yet the want of steadiness and consistency soon sweeps all away into worse hardness than before [C. Bridge].
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
LESSON TWENTY-FOUR 3436
JOSIAHS REFORMATION THE LAST DAYS OF THE SOUTHERN KINGDOM BABYLONIAN CAPTIVITY. THE DECREE OF CYRUS
17. THE REIGN OF JOSIAH (Chapter 3435)
INTRODUCTION
Josiah and Hilkiah led Judah in a wonderful revival of faith in God. The passover was a time of great rejoicing. Josiahs untimely death shortened Judahs time as a kingdom. Babylon came. Jerusalem was ruined. Captivity followed. At the end of the captivity Cyrus released the Jews for their return to Jerusalem.
TEXT
2Ch. 34:1. Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign; and he reigned thirty and one years in Jerusalem. 2. And he did that which was right in the eyes of Jehovah, and walked in the ways of David his father, and turned not aside to the right hand or to the left. 3. For 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. 4. 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. 5. And he burnt the bones of the priests upon their altars, and purged Judah and Jerusalem. 6. And so did he in the cities of Manasseh and Ephraim and Simeon, even unto Naphtali, in their ruins round about. 7. 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.
8. Now in the eighteenth year of his reign, when he had purged the land and the house, he sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah, and Maaseiah the governor of the city, and Joah the son of Joahaz the recorder, to repair the house of Jehovah his God. 9. And they came to Hilkiah the high priest, and delivered the money that was brought into the house of God, which the Levites, the keepers of the threshold, had gathered of the hand of Manasseh and Ephraim, and of all the remnant of Israel, and of all Judah and Benjamin, and of the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 10. And they delivered it into the hand of the workmen that had the oversight of the house of Jehovah; and the workmen that wrought in the house of Jehovah gave it to mend and repair the house: 11. even to the carpenters and to the builders gave they it, to buy hewn stone, and timber for couplings, and to make beams for the houses which the kings of Judah had destroyed. 12. And the men did the work faithfully: and the overseers of them were Jahath and Obadiah, the Levites, of the sons of Merari; and Zechariah and Meshullam, of the sons of the Kohathites, to set it forward; and others of the Levites, all that were skilful with instruments of music. 13. Also they were over the bearers of burdens, and set forward all that did the work in every manner of service: and of the Levites there were scribes, and officers, and porters.
14. 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. 15. 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. 16. 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. 17. And they have emptied out the money that was found in the house of Jehovah, and have delivered it into the hand of the overseers, and into the hand of the workmen. 18. And Shaphan the scribe told the king, saying, Hilkiah the priest hath delivered me a book. And Shaphan read therein 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 the kings servant, saying, 21. 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 unto all that is written in this book.
22. So Hilkiah, and they whom the king had commanded, went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of Tokhath, the son of Hasrah, keeper of the wardrobe (now she dwelt in Jerusalem in the second quarter); and they spake to her to that effect. 23. And she said unto them, Thus saith Jehovah, the God of Israel: Tell ye the man that sent you unto me, 24. Thus saith Jehovah, 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 is my wrath poured out upon this place, and it shall not be quenched. 26. But unto the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of Jehovah, thus shall ye say to him Thus saith Jehovah, the God of Israel: As touching the words which thou hast heard, 27. because thy heart was tender, and thou didst humble thyself before God, when thou heardest his words against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof, and hast humbled thyself before me, and hast rent thy clothes, and wept before me; I also have heard thee, saith Jehovah. 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 thereof. And they brought back word to the king.
29. Then the king sent and gathered together all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem. 30. And the king went up to the house of Jehovah, and all the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and the priests, and the Levites, and all the people, both 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 Jehovah. 31. And the king stood in his place, and made a covenant before Jehovah, to walk after Jehovah, and to keep his commandments, and his testimonies, and his statues, with all his heart, and with all his soul, to perform the words of covenant that were written in this book. 32. And he caused all that were found 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. 33. And Josiah took away all the abominations out of all the countries that pertained to the children of Israel, and made all that were found in Israel to serve, even to serve Jehovah their God. All his days they departed not from following Jehovah, the God of their fathers.
2Ch. 35:1. And Josiah kept a passover unto Jehovah in Jerusalem: and they killed the passover on the fourteenth day of the first month. 2. And he set the priests in their offices, and encouraged them to the service of the house of Jehovah. 3. And he said unto the Levites that taught all Israel, that were holy unto Jehovah, Put the holy ark in the house which Solomon the son of David king of Israel did build; there shall no more be a burden upon your shoulders. Now serve Jehovah your God, and his people Israel; 4. and prepare yourselves after your fathers houses by your courses, according to the writing of David king of Israel, and according to the writing of Solomon his Song of Solomon 5. And stand in the holy place according to the divisions of the fathers houses of your brethren the children of the people, and let there be for each a portion of a fathers house of the Levites. 6. And kill the passover, and sanctify yourselves, and prepare for your brethren, to do according to the word of Jehovah by Moses.
7. And Josiah gave to the children of the people, of the flock, lambs and kids, all of them for the passover-offerings, unto all that were present, to the number of thirty thousand, and three thousand bullocks; these were of the kings substance. 8. And his princes gave for a freewill-offering unto the people, to the priests, and to the Levites. Hilkiah and Zechariah and Jehiel, the rulers of the house of God, gave unto the priests for the passover-offerings two thousand and six hundred small cattle, and three hundred oxen. 9. Conaniah also, and Shemaiah and Nethanel, his brethren, and Hashabiah and Jeiel and Jozabad, the chiefs of the Levites, gave unto the Levites, for the passover-offerings five thousand small cattle, and five hundred oxen.
So the service was prepared, and the priests stood in their place, and the Levites by their courses, according to the kings commandment. 11. And they killed the passover, and the priests sprinkled the blood which they received of their hand, and the Levites flayed them. 12. And they removed the burnt-offerings, that they might give them according to the divisions of the fathers houses of the children of the people, to offer unto Jehovah, as it is written in the book of Moses. And so did they with the oxen. 13. And they roasted the passover with fire according to the ordinance: and the holy offerings boiled they in pots, and in caldrons, and in pans, and carried them quickly to all the children of the people. 14. And afterward they prepared for themselves, and for the priests, because the priests the sons of Aaron were busied in offering the burnt-offerings and the fat until night: therefore the Levites prepared for themselves, and for the priests the sons of Aaron. 15. And the singers the sons of Asaph were in their place, according to the commandment of David, and Asaph, and Heman, and Jeduthun the kings seer; and the porters were at every gate: they needed not to depart from their service; for their brethren the Levites prepared for them.
16. So all the service of Jehovah was prepared the same day, to keep the passover, and to offer burnt-offerings upon the altar of Jehovah, according to the commandment of king Josiah. 17. And the children of Israel that were present kept the passover at that time, and the feast of unleavened bread seven days. 18. And there was no passover like to that kept in Israel from the days of Samuel the prophet; neither did any of the kings of Israel keep such a passover as Josiah kept, and the priests, and the Levites, and all Judah and Israel that were present, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 19. In the eighteenth year of the reign of Josiah was this passover kept.
20. After all this, when Josiah had prepared the temple, Neco king of Egypt went up to fight against Carchemish by the Euphrates: and Josiah went out against him. 21. But he sent ambassadors to him, saying, What have I to do with thee, thou king of Judah? I come not against thee this day, but against the house wherewith I have war; and God hath commanded me to make haste: forbear thee from meddling with God, who is with me, that he destroy thee not. 22. Nevertheless Josiah would not turn his face from him, but disguised himself, that he might fight with him, and hearkened not unto the words of Neco from the mouth of God, and came to fight in the valley of Megiddo. 23. And the archers shot at king Josiah; and the king said to his servants, Have me away; for I am sore wounded. 24. So his servants took him out of the chariot, and put him in the second chariot that he had, and brought him to Jerusalem; and he died, and was buried in the sepulchres of his fathers. And all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah. 25. And Jeremiah lamented for Josiah: and all the singing men and singing women spake of Josiah in their lamentations unto this day; and they made them an ordinance in Israel: and, behold, they are written in the lamentations. 26. Now the rest of the acts of Josiah, and his good deeds, according to that which is written in the law of Jehovah, 27. and his acts, first and last, behold, they are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah.
PARAPHRASE
2Ch. 34:1. Josiah was only eight years old when he became king. He reigned thirty-one years, in Jerusalem. 2. His was a good reign, as he carefully followed the good example of his ancestor King David. 3. For when he was sixteen years old, in the eighth year of his reign, he began to search for the God of his ancestor David; and four years later he began to clean up Judah and Jerusalem, destroying the heathen altars and the shame-idols on the hills. 4. He went out personally to watch as the altars of Baal were knocked apart, the obelisks above the altars chopped down, and the shame-idols ground into dust and scattered over the graves of those who had sacrificed to them. 5. Then he burned the bones of the heathen priests upon their own altars, feeling that this action would clear the people of Judah and Jerusalem from the guilt of their sin of idol-worship. 6. Then he went to the cities of Manasseh, Ephraim, and Simeon, even to distant Naphtali, and did the same thing there. 7. He broke down the heathen altars, ground to powder the shame-idols, and chopped down the obelisks. He did this everywhere throughout the whole land of Israel before returning to Jerusalem.
8. During the eighteenth year of his reign, after he had purged the land and cleaned up the situation at the Temple, he appointed Shaphan (son of Azaliah) and Ma-aseiah, governor of Jerusalem, and Joah (son of Joahaz), the city treasurer, to repair the Temple. 9. They set up a collection system for gifts for the Temple. The money was collected at the Temple gates by the Levites on guard duty there. Gifts were brought by the people coming from Manasseh, Ephraim, and other parts of the remnant of Israel, as well as from the people of Jerusalem. The money was taken to Hilkiah the High Priest for accounting, 10, 11. and then used by the Levites to pay the carpenters and stonemasons, and to purchase building materialsstone building blocks, timber, lumber, and beams. He now rebuilt what earlier kings of Judah had torn down. 12. The workmen were energetic under the leadership of Jahath and Obadiah, Levites of the subclan of Merari. Zechariah and Meshullam, of the subclan of Kohath, were the building superintendents. The Levites who were skilled musicians played background music while the work progressed. 13. Other Levites superintended the unskilled laborers who carried in the materials to the workmen. Still others assisted as accountants, supervisors, and carriers.
14. One day when Hilkiah, the High Priest, was at the Temple recording the money collected at the gates, he found an old scroll which turned out to be the laws of God as given to Moses! 15, 16. Look! Hilkiah exclaimed to Shaphan, the kings secretary. See what I have found in the Temple! These are the laws of God! Hilkiah gave the scroll to Shaphan, and Shaphan took it to the king, along with his report that there was good progress being made in the reconstruction of the Temple. 17. The money chests have been opened and counted, and the money has been put into the hand of the overseers and workmen, he said to the king. 19. Then he mentioned the scroll, and how Hilkiah had discovered it. So he read it to the king. 19. When the king heard what these laws required of Gods people, he ripped his clothing in despair, 20. and summoned Hilkiah, Ahikam (son of Shaphan), Abdon (son of Micah), Shaphan the treasurer, and Asaiah, the kings personal aide. 21. Go to the Temple and plead with the Lord for me! the king told them. Pray for all the remnant of Israel and Judah! For this scroll says that the reason the Lords great anger has been poured out upon us is that our ancestors have not obeyed these laws that are written here.
22. So the men went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum (son of Tokhath, son of Hasrah). (Shallum was the kings tailor, living in the second ward.) When they told her of the kings trouble, 23. she replied, The Lord God of Israel says, Tell the man who sent you, 24. Yes, the Lord will destroy this city and its people. All the curses written in the scroll will come true. 25. For my people have forsaken me and have worshiped heathen gods, and I am very angry with them for their deeds. Therefore, my unquenchable wrath is poured out upon this place. 26. But the Lord also says this to the king of Judah who sent you to ask me about this: Tell him, the Lord God of Israel says, 27. Because you are sorry and have humbled yourself before God when you heard my words against this city and its people, and have ripped your clothing in despair and wept before meI have heard you, says the Lord, 28. and I will not send the promised evil upon this city and its people until after your death. So they brought back to the king this word from the Lord.
29. Then the king summoned all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem, 30. and the priests and Levites and all the people great and small, to accompany him to the Temple. There the king read the scroll to themthe covenant of God that was found in the Temple. 31. As the king stood before them, he made a pledge to the Lord to follow his commandments with all his heart and soul, and to do what was written in the scroll. 32. And he required everyone in Jerusalem and Benjamin to subscribe to this pact with God, and all of them did. 33. So Josiah removed all idols from the areas occupied by the Jews, and required all of them to worship Jehovah their God. And throughout the remainder of his lifetime they continued serving Jehovah, the God of their ancestors.
2Ch. 35:1. Then Josiah announced that the Passover would be celebrated on the first day of April, in Jerusalem. The Passover lambs were slain that evening. 2. He also re-established the priests in their duties, and encouraged them to begin their work at the Temple again. 3. He issued this order to the sanctified Levites, the religious teachers in Israel: Since the Ark is now in Solomons Temple and you dont need to carry it back and forth upon your shoulders, spend your time ministering to the Lord and to his people. 4, 5. Form yourselves into the traditional service corps of your ancestors, as first organized by King David of Israel and by his son Solomon. Each corps will assist particular clans of the people who bring in their offerings to the Temple. 6. Kill the Passover lambs and sanctify yourselves and prepare to assist the people who come. Follow all of the instructions of the Lord through Moses.
7. Then the king contributed 30,000 lambs and young goats for the peoples Passover offerings, and 3,000 young bulls. 8. The kings officials made willing contributions to the priests and Levites. Hilkiah, Zechariah, and Jehiel, the overseers of the Temple, gave the priests 2,600 sheep and goats, and 300 oxen as Passover offerings. 9. The Levite leadersConaniah, Shemaiah, and Nethanel, and his brothers Hashabiah, Je-iel, and Jozabadgave 5,000 sheep and goats and 500 oxen to the Levites for their Passover offerings.
10. When everything was organized, and the priests were standing in their places, and the Levites were formed into service corps as the king had instructed, 11. then the Levites killed the Passover lambs and presented the blood to the priests, who sprinkled it upon the altar as the Levites removed the skins, 12. They piled up the carcasses for each tribe to present its own burnt sacrifices to the Lord, as it is written in the law of Moses. They did the same with the oxen. 13. Then, as directed by the laws of Moses, they roasted the Passover lambs and boiled the holy offerings in pots, kettles, and pans, and hurried them out to the people to eat. 14. Afterwards the Levites prepared a meal for themselves and for the priests, for they had been busy from morning till night offering the fat of the burnt offerings. 15. The singers (the sons of Asaph) were in their places, following directions issued centuries earlier by King David, Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun the kings prophet. The gatekeepers guarded the gates, and didnt need to leave their posts of duty, for their meals were brought to them by their Levite brothers.
16. The entire Passover ceremony was completed in that one day. All the burnt offerings were sacrificed upon the altar of the Lord, as Josiah had instructed. 17. Everyone present in Jerusalem took part in the Passover observance, and this was followed by the Feast of Unleavened Bread for the next seven days. 18. Never since the time of Samuel the prophet had there been such a Passovernot one of the kings of Israel could vie with King Josiah in this respect, involving so many of the priests, Levites, and people from Jerusalem and from all parts of Judah, and from over in Israel. 19. This all happened in the eighteenth year of the reign of Josiah.
20. Afterwards King Neco of Egypt led his army (against the Assyrians) at Carchemish on the Euphrates River, and Josiah declared war on him. 21. But King Neco sent ambassadors to Josiah with this message: I dont want a fight with you, O king of Judah! I have come only to fight the king of Assyria! Leave me alone! God has told me to hurry! Dont meddle with God or he will destroy you, for he is with me. 22. But Josiah refused to turn back. Instead he led his army into the battle at the Valley of Megiddo. (He laid aside his royal robes so that the enemy wouldnt recognize him.) Josiah refused to believe that Necos message was from God. 23. The enemy archers struck King Josiah with their arrows and fatally wounded him. Take me out of the battle, he exclaimed to his aides. 24, 25. So they lifted him out of his chariot and placed him in his second chariot and brought him back to Jerusalem where he died. He was buried there, in the royal cemetery. And all Judah and Jerusalem, including even Jeremiah the prophet, mourned for him, as did the Temple choirs. To this day they still sing sad songs about his death, for these songs of sorrow were recorded among the official lamentations. 26. The other activities of Josiah, and his good deeds, and how he followed the laws of the Lord, 27. all are written in The Annals of the Kings of Israel and Judah.
COMMENTARY
In the history of the northern kingdom one last strong king, Jeroboam II, reigned from about 782 to 753 B.C. This period may be called the Indian Summer of Israel. Jeroboam did not fear Jehovah; but he managed the government wisely so as to extend the borders of his kingdom and raise the living standards of the people. Within thirty years of the end of his reign Samaria was under Assyrian siege. Jeroboam was Israels last hope. In like manner, Josiah was Judahs last hope.[77] He was only eight years old when he was placed on the throne. Like Joash who had the able assistance of the priest, Jehoiada, Josiah had the strong support of the priest, Hilkiah. This great high priest must share any commendation Josiah received for being a good king. Josiahs father and grandfather provided no real spiritual heritage. From the very beginning of his reign he sought Jehovahs will. Much idolatrous rubbish had been brought back into Jerusalem by Amon. This was destroyed under the new king. When Jeroboam I set up calf worship at Bethel, a prophet out of Judah predicted that one day Josiah would desecrate the heathen altars (1Ki. 13:2). Josiah fulfilled this prediction (2Ch. 34:5-6). The destruction of idolatry was widespread under Josiah.
[77] Schultz, Samuel J., The Old Testament Speaks, p. 220
The Temple needed repairing. Money was collected from the people in Judah and Benjamin and from certain sections out of the northern kingdom. Responsible persons such as Shaphan, Maaseiah, and Joah turned the money over to the high priest, Hilkiah, who administered the funds for Temple renewal. Carpenters, stone-masons, and other skilled artisans worked faithfully. The priests and Levites had the responsibility of over-seeing the work. At this time musicians were appointed. Door-keepers, Temple officers, and scribes (students of Gods Law) were designated for service.
In the year 620 B.C., when the Temple renewal project was making good progress, the book of the Law was found in one of the storage rooms of the Temple. This was a most significant discovery. All evidence points to the complete Pentateuch (first five books of the Bible) as the book of the Law. This book was found at this time because it had been lost through carelessness and disuse. It was more than just the Book of Deuteronomy which liberal critics say had been written by some enterprising priests about thirty years before. This liberal theory supposes that the priests planted the book and conveniently found it at this time.[78] This theory denies the Mosaic authorship of Deuteronomy, the inspiration of the Scriptures, and the sincere faithfulness of Hilkiah and his associates. Such explanation of these events must be unalterably opposed by the honest student of Gods Word.
[78] Harrison, Ronald K,, Introduction to the Old Testament, pp. 43-46
Larue, Gerald A., Old Testament Life and Literature, pp. 246, 247
Oehler, Gustave F., Old Testament Theology, p. 414
The discovery of the book of the Law laid the foundation for a genuine revival of true religion in the days of Hilkiah and Josiah. Shaphan was a careful student of Jehovahs written Word. It was he who carried the book to the king. When Josiah heard Gods Word he immediately became a mourner. He rent his clothes. The king commanded Hilkiah and the other chief officers to get more information about what he had learned from the book. Inquire of Jehovah, the king ordered. He knew that Gods will and purpose had been totally disregarded. How could he and his people once more experience the grace and forgiveness of Jehovah? Huldah was a prophetess who was in Jerusalem. She had been called by God to speak for Him. Through her Jehovah revealed to Josiah that judgment was soon to come upon the southern kingdom because they have forsaken me (2Ch. 34:25). Wrath like fire would be poured out upon Judah and it would not be quenched until it had accomplished its work. Josiah would be spared all of the troubles that were to come because he loved God and sought His will.
When Huldahs prophetic word was brought to the king he called a great convocation at the Temple. The whole populace out of Judah and Jerusalem was gathered to hear the reading of Jehovahs Word. This Word was the book of the covenant because it told about Jehovahs agreement with His people and their pledge to serve the one true God. The covenant which Jehovah entered into with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob was renewed and the king caused the people to stand to it. Josiah remained true to Jehovah throughout his life-time.
The original details of the Passover are recorded in Exodus, chapter 12. This book must have been a part of the book discovered by Hilkiah because Josiah was careful to keep the feast just as it was written.[79] Once more the priests were respected leaders among the Hebrews. They were to serve according to their courses and they were to be careful to follow Gods Word in all matters. The king provided thirty thousand lambs and kids for this passover. In addition to these, the princes brought in hundreds of other animals for passover-offerings. The Passover animals were killed. Their blood was properly applied. The animals were roasted according to the origional directions. All of the congregation shared in this wonderful memorial of the day when Israel became a free people. After all of the people were served in respect to the Passover, the priests and Levites served themselves. The priests and Levites also attended the Passover ritual in behalf of the musicians and the gate-keepers.
[79] Spence, H. D. M., The Pulpit Commentary, II Chronicles, p. 428
Concerning this celebration the historian observed that there was no passover like to that kept in Israel from the days of Samuel the prophet (2Ch. 34:18). It was a religious exercise long remembered among the Hebrew people. No king of Israel ever kept such a passover as Josiah kept (2Ch. 34:18).
The city of Carchemish was on the Euphrates River far to the north of Canaan (about three hundred and seventy five miles from Jerusalem), Neco came up out of Egypt to go to war against Babylon in the regions far to the north and east. Josiah thought he had a responsibility with regard to these eastern allies, so he attempted to intercept the king of Egypt. Neco tried to move along the coastal plain and through the valley of Megiddo near Mount Carmel without any delay in relation to Josiah or Judah. The battlefield of Megiddo is one of the worlds most famous military arenas. The Armageddon of Revelation is named after this well known plain resulting from a break in the Lebanon mountain chain near Mount Carmel. Neco claimed that God had sent him on his mission and said that if Josiah would fight against him, Josiah would be meddling with God. Josiahs action here was ill-advised. He was mortally wounded in the battle. His reformation ended with his untimely death. He was accorded a very honorable burial and all of his people deeply mourned his departure. Josiah died in 609 B.C. Jeremiah, the prophet, began his ministry about 626 B.C. and was able to share many of the joys the people knew under Josiahs good reign. Jeremiah was renowned for his lamentations in which the weeping prophet poured out his sorrow for his people.
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(1) Josiah was eight years old.So 2Ki. 22:1, which adds, and his mothers name was Jedidah, the daughter of Adaiah of Boscath.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
(1, 2) Length and character of the reign.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
2Ch 34:1-33 Josiah’s Reforms 2Ch 34:1-33 records the story of Josiah’s reforms for Judah. Josiah’s efforts in cleansing the Temple are similar to Hezekiah’s efforts to do the same (2Ch 29:1 to 2Ch 30:27) and similar to Jesus’ efforts to cleanse the Temple (Mat 21:10-17, Joh 2:13-25).
A nation’s leaders have the responsibility to bring people back to God. Humility is a key element in such national reforms (Jas 4:7-10).
Jas 4:7-10, “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded. Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.”
2Ch 34:7 And when he had broken down the altars and the groves, and had beaten the graven images into powder, and cut down all the idols throughout all the land of Israel, he returned to Jerusalem.
2Ch 34:7
2Ch 34:27 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.
2Ch 34:27
Scripture Reference – Note:
1Pe 5:5, “Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.”
2Ch 34:28 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.
2Ch 34:30 2Ch 34:30
Luk 19:47, “And he taught daily in the temple. But the chief priests and the scribes and the chief of the people sought to destroy him,”
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
Josiah Restores the true Worship
v. 1. Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, v. 2. And he did that which was right, v. 3. For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was yet young, v. 4. And they brake down the altars of Baalim in his presence, v. 5. And he burned the bones of the priests upon their altars, v. 6. And so, v. 7. And when he had broken down the altars and the groves, and had beaten the graven images into powder, and cut down all the idols throughout all the land of Israel, v. 8. Now, in the eighteenth year of his reign, when he had purged the land and the house, v. 9. And when they came to Hilkiah, the high priest, they delivered the money that was brought into the house of God, which the Levites that kept the doors had gathered of the hand of Manasseh and Ephraim, and of all the remnant of Israel, v. 10. And they, v. 11. even to the artificers and builders gave they it to buy hewn stone and timber for couplings, v. 12. And the men did the work faithfully, v. 13. Also they were over the bearers of burdens,
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
EXPOSITION
This chapter, with the following, embraces the entire of the beneficent reign of Josiah, son of Amonthe son an illustrious contrast to the father. The parallel (2 Kings 22-23:30) is less full, and also, so far as chronology goes, less clear in the earlier verses. For once the writer of Kings spends his strength more largely than our compiler on the moral and religious aspects of Josiah’s work, and is rather scantier in the detail of his external works for his nation, city of Jerusalem, and temple. He, however, gives very much less prominence to the matter of the celebration of the Passover.
2Ch 34:1
Again the name of the mother is omitted. From the parallel we learn she was “Jedidah, the daughter of Adaiah of Boscath.”
2Ch 34:3
This, with the following four verses, forms the commentary on the statement of 2Ch 34:2, that Josiah “declined neither to the right hand, nor to the left.” We cannot mistake the allusion in this verse to his personal religion at, say, sixteen years of age, as the foundation of his religious reign and of the practical devotion to reformation, instanced as commencing with his twentieth year. It may be here noted that the Prophet Jeremiah was called to his work in the year following thereupon, or, perhaps, the very same year (Jer 1:1, Jer 1:2). It is highly likely that Josiah and Jeremiah were given to one another providentially, to cooperate in all good works, now so needed for Church and state. The three dates of the eighth, twelfth, and (verse 8) the eighteenth year of Josiah’s reign wore dates memorable in his life. For the two kinds of images of this verse, see succeeding note.
2Ch 34:4
Note references in Le 2Ch 26:1, 30. The images, that were on high above them; i.e; as Revised Version, the sun–images (). The word and name occur only eight timesin Leviticus as just quoted; in our Second Book of Chronicles three times; in Isaiah twice; and in Ezekiel twice. The groves; i.e. the Asherim; again as last verse. The carved images; Revised Version, graven images; Hebrew, . This word is found twenty-two times, occurring in Deuteronomy, Judges, Kings, Chronicles, Psalms, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Hosea, and Micah. The molten images; Hebrew, . This word also occurs just twenty-two times, from Exodus downwards. Made dust of them and strewed it (so Exo 32:20; 2Ki 23:6).
2Ch 34:5
Note herein the striking fulfilment of 1Ki 13:1-3, of which our parallel (2Ki 23:12-14, 2Ki 23:16-20) gives a more detailed account, especially as regards Israel, though not failing to recognize Judah and Jerusalem’s share in the need of purgation and punishment.
2Ch 34:6
In the cities of Manasseh, Ephraim, Simeon, even unto Naphtali. Manasseh and Ephraim lay very nearly in the centre of the whole land, while Simeon and Naphtali were respectively at the southern and northern extremities. With their mattocks. This rendering may be correct, and cannot be said to be foreign to the sense and connection of the passage, the Hebrew word in that ease being the feminine plural of Perhaps, however, the word is one with that found in Psa 109:10, and may be rendered “in their ruined,” i.e. semi-ruined, “condition.” Note Keri also, which favours the latter reading; the Septuagint shows simply words which may best translate, and in their neighbourhoods respectively.
2Ch 34:7
When. Cut out this word, which represents nothing in the original.
2Ch 34:8
It is in some sense as though the work of purification, atoning, penitence, must precede that of practical repentance, of repairing, restoring, rebuilding. The original, however, does not warrant the laying of any stress on the when, found again in the Authorized Version. Shaphau. In the parallel (2Ki 22:3) Shaphan is designated “the scribe.” His descendants, to the second generation, at all events, did him honor (Jer 26:24; Jer 29:3; Jer 36:10, Jer 36:12, Jer 36:25; Eze 8:11; see also 2Ki 25:22). The names of Masseiah (Jer 35:4) and Joah (2Ki 18:18) are known, but not marking the present persons.
2Ch 34:9
Hilkiah the high priest. Of Hilkiah’s ancestors and descendants we learn something in the following references: 1Ch 6:13, 1Ch 6:14; 1Ch 9:11; 2Ki 25:18; Neh 11:11; Ezr 7:1. They delivered. This means that Hilkiah’s people delivered of what they had collected to Shaphan and his colleagues, who again in their turn (Ezr 7:10) “put it into the hand of the workmen,’ etc. This is certainly the meaning of 2Ki 22:4-9. And they returned to Jerusalem; translate, and of the dwellers in Jerusalem. Note Keri, and see 2Ch 35:18; and Septuagint rendering here and there.
2Ch 34:10
And they put it; i.e. Shaphan and colleagues, according to the parallel.
2Ch 34:11
The exact work done we are unable to follow with precision. The parallel describes it, in more general terms, as “repairing the breaches.” The repairs here spoken of, however, betoken, to say the least the rough usage, as well as “negligence,” of kings like Manasseh and Amen, and suggest a further question as to the nature of those heathen and idolatrous practices, which cost so much to the very structure of temple and houses, i.e. probably the contiguous chambers of the main building (1Ki 6:5), the exact style of which, however, is very doubtful.
2Ch 34:12
Faithfully, Refer back to note, 2Ch 31:12. To set forward; Hebrew, ; the idea, of course, not so much that of expediting, as of guiding and instructing. The mention of those Levites whoso business was music is rather a surprise, and is not found in the parallel.
2Ch 34:13
Scribes. Considering the mention of “scribes” in the plural in 1Ki 4:3, although it stands alone, till, at all events, the time of Hezekiah (as testified by Pro 25:1), it is at any rate not improbable that an order of scribes was instituted by Solomon; that it fell into desuetude immediately under the divided kingdom, and, coming into vogue again under Hezekiah, is now mentioned in the natural way we here find it. The mention of the “scribe” in the singular number is of frequent occurrence in the historic books, and in Isaiah (Isa 33:18; Isa 36:22). The officers. This word reproduces, in the Hebrew, the familiar shoterim of Exo 5:10 (see also 1Ch 23:3-6).
2Ch 34:14
The time of this verse is not free from ambiguity, which the parallel does not remove. It purports either that, on occasion of “bringing out the money,” Hilkiah providentially lighted on his find, or that he availed himself of that occasion to report and give up the find made some time or other previously. The italic-type word “given,” in this verse, it is better to discard, and to restore the omitted words, “by the hand of;” i.e. the book was either Moses’ original handwriting and solemn deposit (Deu 31:26)in that ease nearly eight centuries and a half old-or, at any rate, the standard copy and authorized successor of it, though we nowhere read of such a copy having been made, nor is it necessary to doubt the durability of the original. A book should be rendered the book.
2Ch 34:18
The implication on the face of this verse as of the parallel (2Ki 22:10), is that Shaphan leaves the king to surmise (which he very quickly does), from hearing a portion (Hebrew here, read in it; in parallel, “read it”) of the book, what it was.
2Ch 34:19
With one insignificant exception (the omission here of the word ), the words of this verse are identical with the parallel in its 2Ch 34:11. The same, to all purposes, may be said of our twelve succeeding verses, compared with the parallel in its 2Ch 34:12 – 2Ch 23:3. The king rent his clothes, in grief that the practice of his nation had diverged so terribly from their ever-to-be-venerated Law.
2Ch 34:20
Ahikam the son of Shaphan (see Jer 26:24; Jer 40:5). Abdon the son of Micah. The parallel (2Ki 22:12) and the Syriac Version have “Achbor the son of Michaiah” (see also Jer 26:22; Jer 36:12).
2Ch 34:21
For me, and for them that are left in Israel and in Judah. The parallel shows, “For me, and for the people, and for all Judah” (2Ki 22:13), without any apparent specific reference to Israel. Our present passage may intend to glance at the fact that the bettor part of Israel were in captivity; and it will be possible, at any rate, to read the last clause as intending, not “for them that are left in Judah,” but “and for them in Judah.” That is poured out; Hebrew, . The parallel shows, “that is kindled;” Hebrew, . The considerable resemblance between the Hebrew words is worthy of passing note.
2Ch 34:22
The question may suggest itself, Why was not Jeremiah (2Ch 35:25; 2Ch 36:21) at once consulted? Probably he was at Anathoth, and not immediately accessible. Tikvath. In Hebrew, Tokhath; and in parallel, Tikvah. Hasrah. In parallel, Harhas. In the college; Revised Version, following Hebrew, in the (Mishneh) second quarter. Nothing is known of Huldah, nor of Shallum her husband, except what lies in this and the parallel place.
2Ch 34:23
The oracular answer of Huldah, contained in this and the following five verses, is very closely paralleled by the six verses of 2Ki 22:15-20.
2Ch 34:25
Poured out. So here again, as above (2Ch 34:21). Yet our Septuagint has “kindled;” and also the parallel in the Hebrew. The word “quenched,” which immediately follows, suits the word “kindled,” and what with the testimony of the Septuagint, both here and in 2Ch 34:21, and the Hebrew in both passages of the parallel, suggests that “poured” is the substitution, by some mishap, of a copyista mishap, for instance, that might result from the copyist writing from the speech of some one, and not from his own inspection. Exactly similar mistakes may often be seen in our maps, where the spelling and misspelling of the name of some place seem only to be accounted for by the same supposition. The catastrophe now foretold befell the nation manifestly in the reigns of the succeeding sovereigns, whose days were emphatically both few and evil, viz. the two sons of Josiah, Jehoahaz and Eliakim, whose name was changed to Jehoiakim; and the two sons of this latter, Jehoiachin and Zedekiah (according to 2Ki 24:17, the same with Mattaniah, and son of Josiah).
2Ch 34:29
The wise, religious, and unselfish conduct of the king is clearly betokened in the course he took, as narrated here and in the succeeding three verses.
2Ch 34:30
The Levites. The parallel mentions “prophets” and omits “Levites,” which latter our compiler is safe not to forget. When it is said in this verse, he read, the meaning, of course, is “the priests” read (Deu 31:9).
2Ch 34:31
The king stood in his place; i.e. not simply]in his order, but upon his royal pedestal, or platform; possibly following a mere suggestion, originating with the word used in the parallel, “by his pillar” (so Revised Version).
2Ch 34:32
Some think the text hero corrupt, both for the presence of the words, and in Benjamin, and the absence of the words, “in the covenant.” Their case, however, is scarcely conclusive (see 2Ki 23:3).
2Ch 34:33
The parallel (2Ki 23:4-20) gives some succinct account of Josiah’s removal of abominations, here glanced at so briefly.
HOMILETICS
2Ch 34:1-33
The reign of Josiah-its unexpected boon, in a republication of revealed religion, with the legitimate and happy results following thereupon.
In the reign and person of Josiah, once more and for the last time in the now numbered years of the kingdom of Judah, the light of piety and “goodness” flickered up in the socket. His reign began when his yearn numbered but eight; it lasted thirty-one years. Four reigns succeeded his to the date of the destruction of Jerusalem, but the four together occupied but twenty-two or twenty-three years in all. The term of life is run, therefore, within a very short length, and the pensive sadness of the coming end falls upon us before the horrors of the end itself overwhelm us. Josiah’s care for the reformation of the national religion emulated, rather exceeded, that of any predecessor (2Ki 23:22, 2Ki 23:25). He boldly denounced and destroyed, enlisted help and spiritual sympathy, and reconstructed. And, both by word and deed, laid most solemn stress on the immaculate celebration of the sacred Passoverse And explain it as we may, there was granted to him and his reign an opportunity, and it not neglected, which bid fair, going to the root of the matter, to promise brighter daysdays of more lasting brightness for the welfare of the people, in the true security of religion. But the knell of doom was already clanging. To the piety of Josiah, it was not so much that respite of the dread sentence on Judah was given, but this was given, the condescending information and merciful assurance that it was dated to a time when he would be “gathered to his fathers, and gathered to his grave in peace, and his eyes not see all the evil” (2Ch 34:27, 2Ch 34:28). This, with some special emphasis, came true; for Josiah, though slain in battle, and so far not dying “in peace,” did die in peace, so far as the end or captivity of Judah was concerned; and he was the last of the kings who received honourable burial in Jerusalem. Three of his successors and descendants died in captivity, and if Jehoiakim, the other of the four last kings, eventually “slept with his fathers’ (2Ki 24:6), in the sense of his dust resting with theirs, it was not so at first (Jer 22:19; Jer 36:30; Eze 19:8, Eze 19:9). The remarkable opportunity already spoken of, which was granted to Josiah in the interest of religion for his nation, which came on him so unexpectedly, which made such deep impression on him, and which he endeavoured with all his might to turn to the greatest and best advantage, may be dwelt upon, in all its lasting significance, for every time of day. The fact of the sudden discovery of “the book of the Law of the Lord by Moses” (Deu 31:26; also 10-13) loses its wonder perhaps for ourselves, as we look back on that history, as compared with the other extraordinary fact and appalling thought, that it had been lost, so lost that its very existence, the tradition of it, seemed as a thing unknown to Josiah. Counting the years of the reign of Manasseh, of Amon, and those which had already elapsed of Josiah, we may say that the sacred manuscript had been lost for some eighty years. In point of fact, some pious priest among the degenerate rank-and-file of the priests had probably carefully hidden it at the beginning of the iniquities of Manasseh. The wonder nevertheless is still left, that no quest of it, no literal active search for it, seems to have been made, and no perpetuation of the tradition of it even, by priest or prophet, seems to have been at hand, for Josiah to have had the opportunity of availing himself of it. It is not impossible to surmise partial explanations to meet the difficulty, but the surprising fact is full of significance. Practically the incident amounted to thisthat to Josiah was vouchsafed some “republication of revealed religion.” And his treatment of the novel, the startling message of revelation is a very parable in itself. We may for the text of this parable, to call it such, be reminded of the reputed words of “father Abraham,” in our blessed Lord’s parable of the rich man and Lazarus, when he says of the five brethren of the rich man in torments, “They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.“ They had not heard them, i.e. had not practically heeded them. But Josiah hears and heeds. And are we not confronted very happily and very suggestively, though in very brief, with these examples of the just demands of revealed religion, justly met? viz. when we read how
I. JOSIAH “HEARS” IT.
II. BELIEVES IT.
III. REVERENTLY FEARS IT, AS HE PERMITS IT TO SINK INTO HIS VERY SOUL, AND DOES NOT RESIST IT, NOR TRY TO DROWN IT, NOR PUT IT OFF TO BE TAKEN INTO CONSIDERATION AT A MORE CONVENIENT SEASON.
IV. WITH ALL URGENCY MAKES FULL INQUIRY, AND THAT IN THE RIGHT QUARTERS RESPECTING ITS FULL AND MOMENTOUS IMPORT.
V. DILIGENTLY GUIDES HIMSELF PRACTICALLY BY IT.
VI. CALLS WITH THE VOICE OF A TRUE PREACHER ALL AROUND HIM TO HEAR AND HEED THE SAM, E, AND WITHOUT A QUIBBLE OR DELAY TO ENTER INTO COVENANT WITH THAT GOD, WHO SO REVEALS HIMSELF, HIS TRUTH, HIS WILL, HIS COMMANDS, AND THE FEARFUL OR OTHERWISE THE AWE–INSPIRING SANCTIONS BY WHICH THEY ARE ACCOMPANIED. The rich man, the five brethren of the rich man, Judah and Israel, and countless millions upon millions of others, would have been saved and blessed had they been followers of Josiah. How many of modern days, how many of ourselves have neglected, are neglecting, and are making a mock of sin, because of neglecting the simple, faithful example of Josiah, as to the way to receive God’s revelation of his truth and will for our lives!
HOMILIES BY W. CLARKSON
2Ch 34:3
(first part).
Piety in youth.
That Josiah “while he was yet young began to seek after the God of David his father” is to us an interesting fact; it provides an example to the young and an incentive to those who have charge of their welfare. Respecting piety in youth it is well to consider
I. HOW MUCH THERE IS TO COMMEND IT.
1. All life belongs to God, and therefore this part of it. Unto him who gave us our existence and all our powers, and in whom we live and move and have our being, surely the whole of our life belongs; it cannot be withheld without wrong, without keeping back the “glory due to his Name,” the gratitude and the love and the service due to himself. Therefore does this part of it along with the rest. Audit is certain that when life is past and we come to have it in review we shall be most happy in the thought, if we can but cherish it, that our youth also was spent in the fear of God, in the love and service of Jesus Christ.
“‘Twill please us to look back and see
That our whole lives were thine.”
2. Each period of life has its own peculiar offering to bring. If age has its patience and submissiveness, and if elderliness has its experience, and if prime has the fulness of its strength for service, and if young manhood has its hopefulness and its ardour, then has youth also its especial offering to bring to its Redeemer; it has its affectionateness, its trustfulness, its docility, its readiness to obey, its beauty. Truly, the “flower when offered in the bud:’ is “no vain sacrifice.”
3. It saves the growth of injurious weeds in the garden of the soul. When the sense of sacred obligation is absent, youth is apt to let various evil habits grow uphabits which choke much that is good, which constitute a serious drawback to Christian worth, and which require much effort and much time also for their extraction. But when the curly days are spent in the service and in the friendship of Christ, his holy will being the one rule of the heart and life, such evil habits are unformed, and all the after-days are stronger and better and more beautiful for their absence.
4. Each period in life is a stepping-stone to the next, is a preparation for the next. We sow in youth what we reap ill young manhood; as we go on our way we gather in the harvest of the thought and toil of the years that came before it. But this applies to our moral and spiritual character more perfectly than to anything else. How, then, can we afford to lose the great advantage of building up from the beginning? Our manhood will be much the weaker for an ill-spent youth, and much the stronger for a well-spent one. Our whole life will be greatly impoverished by the one, greatly enriched by the other.
5. Godly youth is a source of pure and deep joy to those whom the young should be most desirous of pleasingto those that have loved them and served them with tenderest solicitude and unfailing devotion.
II. OUR DUTY IN REGARD TO IT.
1. To abstain most carefully from forcing it. No deadlier injury can be done to the young than forcing a religious habit; constraining them to affect a language and to make a profession which is unreal, which will soon break down, and which will leave the heart far less open to all heavenly influences than it would have been.
2. To encourage it in every way that is in our power; more particularly by the exhibition of a consistent life and the manifestation of a loving spirit toward them. Whom we win for ourselves we may lead to our Lord.
III. THE WISDOM AND THE DUTY OF THE YOUNG. This is to enter the service of Jesus Christ without delay. He does not require of them anything they cannot offer. He does not demand of them that they should use the language or do the work which is appropriate, to other conditions; he asks them to receive him as their Divine Teacher, as their Divine Friend, as their Divine Lord. He asks them to trust, to love, to serve him to the height of their present power. This they can do; this they should do; this they will be truly and deeply wise if they do. “Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near.”C.
2Ch 34:12
Faithful work.
“And the men did the work faithfully.” It became a godly King of Judah to do anything and everything that was required for the strength and beauty of the temple. For in that sacred edifice centred the religious life of the nation, and there God manifested himself as nowhere else. With us religious thought and spiritual earnestness are not thus localized; and though, after the manner as well as in the spirit of Josiah, we may concern ourselves much with the erection or the repair of some “house of the Lord,” yet Christian zeal now shows itself in a hundred ways;. it branches and bears fruit in all directions. There is, however, a sense in which it is all building. We who are at work for our Lord and for our neighbour are building up the kingdom of Christ, and, at the same time, are building up a peaceful, happy, holy community. It is probable that we have all undertaken some specific work of this kind, some ministry; that we have committed ourselves to some office which makes certain demands on our intelligence, our strength, our time. That being so, it is well that we realize the importance of “doing the work faithfully” which we have in hand.
I. WHAT CONSTITUTES FAITHFULNESS. TO be faithful is clearly a very different thing from being successful. Some men are successful, as men count success, who are not faithful in the sight of God; others are faithful who are not “successful.” To be faithful is to act with rightful, earnest, patient effort in the sphere in which our Lord has placed us.
1. Doing our work honestly, fairly, conscientiously, keeping in view the revealed will of God and the claims of men (see 2Ti 2:5).
2. Acting with earnestness; not languidly and listlessly, but devotedly and energetically.
3. With patient, persevering effort; not daunted by the first nor by the fiftieth difficulty that presents itself, not silenced by clamour, not forsaking the path of holy service because prosperity seems long in coming; but calmly, patiently, thoroughly proceeding with and completing our work; holding on and bearing up until we can say, thankfully and reverently, “It is finished.”
II. WHAT INDUCEMENTS WE HAVE TO BE FAITHFUL IN OUR WORK.
1. Our Lord requires it. “It is required in stewards that a man be found faithful” (1Co 4:2). “Be thou faithful unto death,” says the ascended Lord with commanding voice. There were “overseers,” our text says, to “set forward” the work in which these artificers were engaged. We have one great Divine Overseer, who is ever looking on and taking account, desiring of us that we “do the work faithfully,” and it behoves us to do everything we undertake, both that which does and that which does not directly belong to the affairs of his kingdom, “as ever in the great Taskmaster’s eye.”
2. By so doing we take rank with the best of the sons of men. Of Moses we read that “he was faithful in all his house” (Heb 3:2). He did not seem to be remarkably successful; probably in the eyes of his contemporaries he appeared positively unsuccessful. But when he lay down to die on Nebo he could feel that he had done his work faithfully. And thus with Paul. And so with the best and worthiest of our race. To be faithful in our work is to stand with the best of men.
3. Thus only can we secure the approval of our own conscience. But thus we shall; and how great a victory it will be to be able to feel as Paul felt when his course was run, “I have fought a good fight, I have kept the faith”!
4. We shall receive a large reward. If we arc but faithful in a few things here, we shall be rulers over many things hereafter (Mat 25:21). If faithful unto death, Christ will give us “a crown of life” (Rev 2:10). Life in all its glorious fulness, in all its perfect blessedness, will be ours for ever.C.
2Ch 34:14-28
The hidden treasure.
Whether this “book of the Law of the Lord” was indeed the original copy in the handwriting of Moses is a matter of sacred curiosity; but it is nothing more than that. The surprising and all but incredible thing is that Judah should have been reduced to any one copy of the “Law of the Lord.” This discovery of Hilkiah and the surprise and the eagerness it occasioned speak to us of
I. THE GUILTY NEGLIGENCE OF WHICH NATIONS AND MEN ARE CAPABLE. Judah had been concerning itself, had been “careful and troubled” about many things, but it had not thought it worth while to multiply copies of the “Law of the Lord,” of its own sacred books; so negligent had it been that when one is accidentally discovered its warnings are read for the first time by its own sovereign in his manhood! Of what great and guilty negligence are we capable! We may be spending our time and strength, we may be exhausting ourselves and endangering our health and life in all kinds of unprofitable occupation, in fruitless labour or in amusement which begins and ends in itself, and all the time may be neglecting that one study or that one habit in the pursuit of which “standeth our eternal life.” There are many men in Christian countries who expend their substance upon, and occupy their very life with, horses, or dogs, or guns, who do not afford even a few hours a year to the serious study of the will of God as revealed by his Son and recorded in his Word. The treasure which cannot be estimated in gold or silver lies untouched, as much buried from sight and use as if it had been hidden in some crypt of the temple. It may not be our deeds, but our negligences, that we shall most fear to face in the great day of account.
II. THE MELANCHOLY USE WE MAY MAKE OF DIVINE TRUTH. In that book of the Law of the Lord there were instructions and admonitions which, if duly heeded, would have ensured abiding peace and honour to the inhabitants of Judah. These had been waywardly and flagrantly disregarded. And now the time for employing them had well-nigh gone. What was left was the sad opportunity of verifying by bitter experience the truth of its threatenings. This was the alternative now open to Judah. Let us take care lest, by our disregard of the promises, we bring upon ourselves the warnings of the Word of God. “If we will not be ruled by the rudder, we must be ruled by the rock.” If we will not take advantage of the beneficent laws and the gracious overtures of God, we must “show forth” the severity of those righteous laws which attach suffering and shame to vanity and guilt.
III. THE URGENT NEED OF KEEPING AN OPEN MIND AND A SENSITIVE SPIRIT. We are almost startled when we read of Josiah’s vehemence (2Ch 34:19). These solemn threats do not affect us in that degree. But we have to consider that he was hearing them read for the first time; to him they were new and fresh, and therefore striking and forcible. Here lies one of our great perils. Familiarity covers the truth of God with its own veil, so that we do not see what we are looking at. We want to read the words of Jesus Christ, to listen to the story of his great sacrifice, to hearken to his words of gracious invitation, as if we had never met with them before; we want to bring to them all the force of an unclouded intelligence, of an undulled interest. And so with the warnings as well as with the promises of Scripture.
IV. THE ATTENTION GOD PAYS TO INDIVIDUAL SOULS. (2Ch 34:26-28.) Wrath was to be poured out upon Judah, but Josiah was to be treated mercifully because he had acted rightly. Whatever penalties are due to our country, however we may be, as we are, suffering as the members of a guilty race, we may be quite sure that God has regard to the life we are living, to the choice we are making. If our heart is tender, and if our will is obedient and submissive, we also shall find mercy of the Lord. God has his dealings with communities and with Churches; but his most constant relation is with men, with individual souls. “The Lord looketh upon me; Christ died for me;” “What wilt thou have me to do?” And according to our individual choice will be our destiny. “Every man must bear his own burden.”C.
2Ch 34:29-33
Communication and continuance.
Josiah’s wise and devout concern, when he discovered the Word and knew more fully the will of God, was to communicate his own earnestness to others, and to secure for future years this new and good departure. He took the most natural and wise measures to attain his object.
1. He summoned all the elders in particular and all the people who could meet together, and made known to them in its fulness the truth that had been revealed to himself (2Ch 34:29, 2Ch 34:30).
2. He pledged all those who were with him, and who represented the nation, to continuance in the service of Jehovah (2Ch 34:31, 2Ch 34:32).
3. He took away the standing temptation from the path of the people. He thus made obedience easier while he made the sense of obligation firmer.
I. OUR DUTY TO COMMUNICATE DIVINE TRUTH. When we consider:
1. How essential to life and all that life includes is the familiar knowledge of the will of God.
2. How possible and how practicable it is for all who know the will of God in Jesus Christ to pass it on to others.
3. How willingly men will listen if we give them the simplest and best guarantee of our sincerityconsistency of conduct and excellency of spirit; we shall see how right and how urgent it is upon us that we should all “hold forth the Word of life,” make known the goodness and the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.
II. OUR DUTY TO SECURE IT SO FAR AS LIES IN OUR POWER. The text suggests three ways of doing this.
1. Pledge ourselves to abide in its light. Josiah covenanted for himself to “keep his commandments with all his heart to perform the words written in this book.” That was his first, plain duty. And that is ours also; to undertake, solemnly and openly before God and his people, to walk in righteousness and in holy service; to” take the vows of the Lord” upon us. By so doing we give the strongest possible and the greatest practical encouragement to all others to come and “do likewise.”
2. Induce others to enter into the same solemn undertaking. As the king with his countrymen (2Ch 34:32), so we with our kindred and friends, with our fellow-worshippers and neighbours, should do all in our power to pledge them to the service of God. “Join us,” we should say, “in taking a solemn and sacred pledge to live consciously in the presence and continuously in the service of the Divine Saviour.” In every considerable company of worshippers there are those who are unpledged, but who, for their own sake and for that of others related to them, ought to be the avowed disciples of Christ. It is our sacred duty, it is our high privilege, it will prove a service rich in the best reward, to speak the encouraging and inviting word which will lead them to take this important step.
3. Remove temptation from the path of those who might not be able to resist it. This is ground on which we must exhibit both understanding and earnestness, both sagacity and self-sacrifice. There are things which may be said. to be “abominations” (2Ch 34:33) because they prove to be irresistible and ruinous temptations to some sincere disciples. In these cases, it is not enough to warn against themwe must go further than that; we must do anything and everything that is needful to get the temptation as much out of the path of our neighbours as the images which were ground to dust (2Ch 34:4) were removed from the way of the people of Judah. We may add a fourth measure which may be suggested by the twenty-ninth verse:
4. Prevail upon our friends to come into the near presence and under the power of the truth of God; and this not (as in the text) on one particular occasion, but frequently and regularly. For much fellowship with Christ and much hearkening to his voice as he speaks to us in the sanctuary will give strength unto the soul.C.
HOMILIES BY T. WHITELAW
2Ch 34:1-7
Josiah the good.
I. HIS EARLY ACCESSION. “Josiah [‘Whom Jehovah heals’] was eight years old when he began to reign” (2Ch 34:1). Manasseh, Uzziah, and Joash had been twelve, sixteen, and seven respectively when they ascended the throne. Generally speaking, it is perilous to have greatness thrust upon one at too early an age; sometimes premature responsibility calls forth capacities that might otherwise have continued latent. Edward VI; who assumed the crown of England in his tenth year, Charles IX; who was of the same age when he was raised to the throne of France, and Kang Hi, who became Emperor of China in his seventh year, were examples of the truth here stated.
II. HIS FERVENT RELIGION. Josiah’s piety was:
1. Ancestral. If his father Amen was not a good man, but the oppositean insensate idolater and a hardened trangressor (2Ch 33:22, 2Ch 33:23)his mother Jedidah, “Beloved,” the daughter of Adaiah of Boscath (2Ki 22:1), may have been a good woman, who, like Eunice of later times (2Ti 1:5), nurtured her son in the fear of Jehovah. Besides, as that son was six years of age before Manasseh died, he may have received from his aged grandfather such instructions as disposed him to the choice of the true religion of Jehovah. In any case, in him was reproduced the piety of the best sovereigns that had preceded himin particular of Hezekiah, Jotham, Jehoshaphat, and David.
2. Early. “In the eighth year of his reign, while he was yet young, he began to seek after the God of David his father” (verse 3). Youthful piety, of which Scripture furnishes numerous examplesSamuel (1Sa 2:26), Abijah (1Ki 14:13), Obadiah (1Ki 18:12), John (Luk 1:80), Jesus (Luk 2:52), Timothy (2Ti 1:5)while beautiful in all, is specially attractive in princes. King Edward VI; besides being a good linguist, “had a particular regard for the Holy Scriptures” (Bishop Burnet). That religion which begins in youth is most likely to be permanent, and certain to be most useful. Christ commends religion to the young (Mat 6:33).
3. Sincere.
(1) Earnest and active, not merely nominal and formal: “He began to seek after the God of David his father,” which meant that he inquired after and practised the rites and commandments of the true religion.
(2) Humble and obedient, not proud and self-willed: “He did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord, and walked in the ways of David his father” (verse 2), in so far, i.e; as he walked in the ways of Jehovah.
(3) Persevering and thorough, not intermittent and incomplete: “He turned not aside to the right hand or to the left” (verse 2).
III. HIS ZEALOUS REFORMATION. I. The period of it. Beginning in his twelfth year of reign, i.e. the twentieth of his life, and terminating in his eighteenth year of reign, or the twenty-sixth of his life, it occupied six years in all (verses 3, 8).
2. The scene of it.
(1) Jerusalem, the metropolis of the kingdom. Reformations, like charity, should begin at home. Many would reform others who have no heart to reform themselves (So Joh 1:6).
(2) Judah, of which Jerusalem was the capital. Though “beginning at Jerusalem,” Josiah’s reformation should not end there. A good king will give his first thoughts to the improvement of himself; his second, to the improvement of his capital, where his court sits and whence his laws proceed; his third, to the improvement of his land and people; his fourth, to the improvement of cities, empires, nations beyond, as far as lies within his power.
(3) The cities of Manasseh, Ephraim, and Simeon, even unto Naphtali, in their ruins round about. A good. king will extend his influence as widely as possible, and in particular strive to be helpful to those peoples in his vicinity that are less enlightened or more necessitous than himself.
3. The manner of it. With “The violenceprobably hinted at in the phrase, with their axes”. “The reformation executed by the king was earnestly intended; it was thorough, it was comprehensive; but it was above everything violent” (Ewald, ‘History of Israel,’ 4:237). This appears more distinctly from 2 Kings (2Ki 23:4-20). But the extirpation of religious, no more than of political abuses, can be carried out without a degree of harshness. Privileged iniquity in Church or in state is always difficult to dislodge.
4. The extent of it. Judah, Jerusalem, and the Israelitish cities already mentioned were purged from high places, Asherim, images and altars (verses 3-7). Particularly
(1) the altars of the Baalim were broken down in the young king’s presence, the sun-images above them being hewn down at his command (verse 4);
(2) the Asherim or “pillars and trees of Asherah” (Keil), with the graven and molten images connected with the impure worship of Astarte, were broken in pieces, and their dust (after burning) strewn upon the graves of them that had sacrificed unto them (verse 4)the Book of Kings speaking of the removal of the Asherah from the house of the Lord, and the destruction of the houses of the infamous women who wove tents for the idol (2Ki 23:6, 2Ki 23:7); and
(3) the bones of the priests who had sacrificed at the heathen shrines having first been exhumed from their graves, were burnt upon the altars at which the priests had ministered before these were destroyed.
LESSONS.
1. The beauty of early piety.
2. The excellence of Christian zeal.
3. The difficulty of executing reformations.W.
2Ch 34:8-13
The repairing of the temple by Josiah.
I. THE COMMISSIONERS.
1. Their names. Shaphan the son of Azaliah, the king’s secretary (2Ch 34:15); Maaseiah the governor of the city; and Josh the son of Joahaz, the recorder or chronicler.
2. Their business. To repair the house of the Lord. This had been done two centuries before by Joash (2Ch 24:12), and nearly one century before by Hezekiah (2Ch 29:12-19). During the reigns of Manasseh and Amon it had fallen into such disorder that it a third time demanded renovation. In this respect the temple was a melancholy symbol of all human institutionsnot excepting such as are religiouswhich constantly exhibit a tendency as they grow old to become degenerate, and, as a consequence stand in need of periodic reformation and rejuvenescence.
3. Their procedure. Along with Hilkiah the priestas Joash had acted in concert with Jehoiada, and the king’s scribe had co-operated with the high priest’s officer (2Ch 24:11, 2Ch 24:12)they received the money which the Levites that kept the temple doors had collected from the people of Manasseh and Ephraim, and of all the remnant of Israel, and from the inhabitants of all Judah and Benjamin, who, following the plan in vogue since the days of Joash and Jehoiada, cast in their free-will offerings into a box placed in the temple court for the purpose of receiving the voluntary contributions of the faithful towards the good end the king had in view, the repairing of the temple. Having received this money, the three commissioners, along with the high priest, paid it over to the superintendents who had the oversight of the house of the Lord.
II. THE OVERSEERS.
1. Their names.
(1) Jahath and Obadiah, two Levites of the family of Merari;
(2) Zechariah and Meshullam, two Levites of the house of Kohath: and
(3) others unnamed, but specified as “Levites, all that could skill of instruments of music” (verse 12).
2. Their duties.
(1) To exercise supervision over the workmen, over the bearers of burdens, and all that wrought in any manner of service (verse 13), over the carpenters, builders, and other artisans engaged in the undertaking (verse 11).
(2) To set forward the work (verse 12), or “to preside over it” (margin).
(3) Perhaps also to do both, i.e. incite and cheer the workmen, and so prosper the work, by music and song (Bertheau). “Orpheus and Amphion, by their music, moved the workmen to diligence and activity, and lessened and alleviated their toil. May we not suppose, then, that skilful musicians among the Levites did exercise their art among the workmen who were employed in the repairs of the house of the Lord? “(Adam Clarke).
(4) To distribute the moneys received from the commissioners to the different tradesmen that these might procure the necessary materials for the building (verses 10, 11).
III. THE ARTISANS.
1. Carpenters, or workers in wood, whose business was to prepare timber for couplings and to make beams for the houses, i.e. for the temple and its courts, which the kings of Judah had permitted to fall into decay.
2. Masons, or workers in stone; not to hew, since the stones were already hewn when purchased, but to buildin this perhaps designedly following the example given in the building of the temple (1Ki 6:7).
IV. THE ASSISTANTS.
1. Scribes, who kept a record of the progress of, as well as the necessary accounts connected with, the work.
2. Officers, who served in different capacities under superiors.
3. Porters, who watched at the several gates of the temple while the work was going on.
LESSONS.
1. The beauty of order,
2. The efficiency secured by division of labour.
3. The value of co-operation.W.
2Ch 34:14-28
The book of the Law.
I. THE FINDING OF THE BOOK. (2Ch 34:14, 2Ch 34:15.)
1. The finder. Hilkiah the priest (2Ch 34:18), the high priest (2Ch 34:9), the son of Shallum (1Ch 6:13), the son of Zadok; not to be identified with either the father of Jeremiah (Jer 1:1) or the father of Gemariah (Jer 29:3); and certainly to be distinguished from the father of Eliakim, Hezekiah’s house-steward (Isa 22:20).
2. The place. The temple (verse 15), though in what part is not stated (verse 14); perhaps the treasure-chest out of which Hilkiah was fetching gold. to make cups and other vessels (Josephus, ‘Ant.,’ 10.4. 2), but more probably the vicinity of the ark in the holy of holies.
3. The time. The eighteenth year of Josiah’s reign, when he was in the middle of his reformation work (verse 8), and just before the celebration of the Passover (2Ch 35:1)a circumstance calculated to suggest the presence of God’s finger in the opportune discovery of a book which exercised so powerful an influence upon the religious life of the nation at this critical juncture in its history; though the same circumstance has been used (Wellhausen, Kuenen, Ewald, Colenso, R. Smith, Cheyne) to support the theory that the book was now or shortly before for the first time written, by either Hilkiah himself, Jeremiah, or some other unknown prophet, as the legislative programme of the reforming party.
4. The book.
(1) Deuteronomy alone (De Wette, Bohlen, Kuenen, etc.), or the original kernel thereof (Cheyne); maintained chiefly on these grounds:
(a) The title of the book”the book of the Law” (verse 15), “a book of the Law of the Lord” (verse 14)a designation which appears to be reserved for the fifth alone of the so-called Mosaic books (Deu 28:61; Deu 30:10; Deu 31:26). But it is likewise styled “the book of the covenant” (verse 30); and this phrase occurs only in the second of the Pentateuchal books (Exo 24:7). Whence, by parity of reasoning, the book found must have been the Book of Exodus alone. The probability, however, is, that the volume contained both the second and the fifth books of Moses; in other words, that it was the whole Pentateuch.
(b) The size of the book. As Shaphan is said to have read it through at a sitting (verse 18), it is hardly likely to have been the whole Pentateuch, but may have been Deuteronomy. But the revised translation, “therein” (verse 8), has deprived this of the force it was formerly sup, posed to possess as an argument.
(c) The teaching of the book. The principle of Josiah’s reformation, which it is argued was based upon the bookthe principle, viz; of the abolition of local sanctuaries and the centralization of worship in the temple at Jerusalemcorresponds exactly with the legislation of the Deuteronomic code, which declares the law of one central altar, and forbids the erection of local sanctuaries (Deu 12:5-8). This, however, may be conceded without holding that Hilkiah’s Law-book contained nothing but Deuteronomy or the original draft thereofunless, indeed, it be assumed that Deuteronomy was only then for the first time writtenagainst which stands the fact that the law of the king (Deu 17:18) appears to have been known and observed in the days of Jehoiada and Jonah (2Ch 23:11; 2Ki 11:12). Besides, it is too readily assumed that Josiah had no knowledge of the sinfulness of local sanctuaries and the imperative obligation of a central altar until he heard Hilkiah’s book read, and that from the hearing of that book he derived his impulse to destroy the heathen altars in Jerusalem, Judah, and certain cities of Israel. As to the first, if Josiah had no acquaintance with the law of one altar, it would seem that Hezekiah had (2Ki 18:4-6); while, with reference to the second, the Book of Kings indeed adopts the view here stated; but the Chronicler represents the finding of the book as having taken place after the purgation of the land (verse 8).
(d) The style of the book. On the ground of certain linguistic resemblances between Deuteronomy and Jeremiah, it is argued that the former must have been Hilkiah’s book, and composed about Josiah’s time. But this reasoning is not good. As Hilkiah’s book contained Deuteronomy, whatever else it contained, it would most likely make on Jeremiah, as on Josiah, a deep impression, which would reflect itself upon his own writings. Hence, from mere verbal correspondences, it cannot be inferred that Deuteronomy was not written till the age of Josiah; and if’ this position be abandoned, it will not be necessary to maintain that Hilkiah’s book was only the last of the (so-called) books of Moses.
(2) The entire Pentateuch (Keil, Bahr, Havernick, and others). Besides being borne out by the failure to establish the preceding alternative, this opinion is confirmed by the facts that the book was found in the temple by the high priest; that it is stated to have been “by Moses;” that it was recognized as such by Hilkiah, Shaphan, and Josiah; and that it made a profound impression on them all.
(a) The fact that “it was a common practice of Egyptian scribes to insert in their transcripts of great religious or scientific works a statement that the writing in question had been ‘found’ in a temple,” hardly warrants the suggestion that Deu 31:6 was “an imitation of this custom,” or that Hilkiah’s book “was not lost by accident, nor yet placed in the sanctuary with the intention to deceive, but simply taken to the temple and formally placed there, and then communicated to Josiah with a view to its promulgation”.
(b) The phrase, “by Moses,” is not sufficiently explained by saying that the author meant that Moses, had he been alive, would have so written.
(c) It is difficult to perceive why Hilkiah, Shaphan, and Josiah should have given out that the work was by Moses, if they really knew that it was not, but was merely an “imitation” of the great lawgiver.
(d) It is too much to ask any but the credulous to believe that Josiah was not acting a part in pretending to be impressed by the contents of the book, if he knew it was not by the lawgiver, but by an unknown and recent author. That it was the autograph copy of the lawgiver’s work (Kennicott) is an unverifiable surmise; that it was “the three middle books of the Pentateuch” (Bertheau) or only the second (Gramberg) does not seem likely.
II. THE READING OF THE BOOK. (Deu 31:18, Deu 31:19)
1. The reader. Shaphan the scribe, the son of Azaliah (Deu 31:8), the son of Meshullam (2Ki 22:1-20 :37, one of Josiah’s commissioners for the repairing of the temple.
2. The auditor. Josiah (2Ki 22:18), to whom Shaphan carried the book in obedience to Hilkiah’s instructions.
3. The lesson. “It” or “in it” (Revised Version). Not necessarily the whole book, but only portions of it, as e.g. those containing the curses against disobedience (Deuteronomy 27-31.; Le Deu 26:14 -46), warnings against idolatry (Le 26:1-30; Deu 4:15; Deu 27:15), and perhaps also the directions relating to the observance of the Passover (Exo 12:1-51.7 and the making of a covenant (Exo 24:1-18.).
4. The impression. Josiah rent his clothes (Exo 12:19).
(1) In astonishment (cf. Gen 37:29; Gen 44:13) at the teaching rather than at the finding of the book. Many persons still would be surprised at the contents of the Bible if they only read it. The Bible is often rejected by those who are entirely ignorant of it.
(2) In self-abasement (Exo 12:27), as an acknowledgment in outward action of the sense he had of his own and his people’s shortcomings (cf. Num 14:6; 2Sa 3:31), in respect of both their idolatries and their continued maintenance of local sanctuariesan acknowledgment the sincerity of which was attested by the tears with which it was accompanied (Exo 12:27). So does no reading of the Bible accomplish its highest aim or produce its best effect unless it humbles the hearer before God, and causes him to weep for his sins (Job 42:5, Job 42:6; Psa 38:18; Jer 31:18, Jer 31:19; 2Co 7:9-11).
III. THE INQUIRING ABOUT THE BOOK. (Exo 12:21-28.) Done at Josiah’s instance.
1. The reason of this inquiry. The terror in which the king was about the wrath of Jehovah against himself and people on account of the failure of their fathers to do after all that was written in the book. Josiah recognized the solidarity of the race, according to which the proverb held good, “The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge” (Eze 18:2). Besides, Josiah must have known the reforming zeal of the people was at best but superficial (Jer 3:10). Hence, though the land and the house had been purged, he was uncertain whether the curses denounced against idolatry might not still overtake them. It is good when”the terror of the Lord” (2Co 5:11) persuades men to inquire about escaping, from the wrath to come.
2. The quarter at which this inquiry was made.
(1) Jehovah. “Inquire of the Lord for me”. The soul that would be saved must apply to him (Isa 45:22; Amo 5:4; Joh 3:16; Rom 3:22-30; 1Jn 5:11).
(2) Huldah the prophetessa title given to Miriam (Exo 15:20) and Deborah (Jdg 4:4)the wife of Shal-lum the sou of Tikvath, the son of Hasrath, keeper of the wardrobe, who dwelt in Jerusalem in the second quarter (Exo 12:22), i.e. of the city, probably the “other city” (Josephus, ‘Ant.,’ 15.11. 5), situated on the hill Acra. That the king sent not to Jeremiah may be explained by supposing Jeremiah was not then in Jerusalem, but at Anathoth (Kimchi); that he sent to Huldah shows he recognized the necessity as well as propriety of consulting God through his appointed media of communication, Not even under the gospel can God be approached directly (Joh 1:18), but only through Christ (Joh 14:6), the Prophet like unto Moses (Deu 18:15; Act 3:22), and yet greater than all prophets by so much as a son is greater than a servant (Heb 1:1; Heb 3:5, Heb 3:6).
3. The persons through whom this inquiry was made. The deputation sent by the king consisted of five individuals, most likely all high officials connected with his court.
(1) Hilkiah the priest;
(2) Ahikam the son of Shaphan (not the scribe), afterwards the friend and patron of Jeremiah (Jer 26:24; Jer 39:14), and father of Gedaliah, whom Nebuchadnezzar appointed deputy-governor of the land after the destruction of Jerusalem (2Ki 25:22; Jer 40:5);
(3) Abdon the son of MicahAchbor (2Ki 22:12), probably the correct reading (see Jer 26:22; Jer 36:12)whose son Elnathan was afterwards one of Jehoiakim’s and Zedekiah’s courtiers;
(4) Shaphan the scribe, or king’s secretary; and
(5) Asaiah the king’s servant. The centurion of Capernaum sent a deputation to entreat the help of Christ, whom he regarded as a Prophet (Luk 7:3). No intermediaries are required by such as would consult him whom the Father hath appointed the one Mediator between God and man (1Ti 2:5).
4. The answer returned to this inquiry.
(1) Concerning the city and the temple a sentence of doom (verse 24). The inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem had provoked Jehovah to anger by their senseless and shameful idolatries, had turned a deaf ear to the warnings of Jehovah’s prophets, had not even profited by the judgment already fallen on the northern kingdom, and had terribly abused the privileges they had enjoyed and the patience that had been exercised towards them. Their day of grace was past. The night of doom was at hand (verse 25). Had Josiah consulted Jeremiah, the reply would in all probability have been similar (Jer 5:1-31.). Of corresponding severity is the sentence pronounced by Christ upon them who love the darkness rather than the light, who adhere to sinful ways in spite of his calls to repentance, who despise his offered mercy and trample on his laws (Mat 21:41; Mat 24:51; Joh 5:29; Rom 1:18; Eph 5:6; 1Pe 3:12; Jud 1:13).
(2) Concerning the king, a message of grace (verse 27). The ground of it, Josiah’s repentance; the substance of it, Josiah’s deliverance. In the gospel repentance and salvation are always conjoined. Repentance a condition of salvation; salvation a consequent of repentance (Luk 15:7; Luk 18:13, Luk 18:14; 1Jn 1:9).
Learn:
1. The inspiration of Scriptures.
2. The profitableness of Scripture-reading.
3. The testimony of conscience to the Word of God.
4. The certainty of God’s anger against sin.
5. The blessedness of sincere mourning on account of sin.
6. The mercifulness of God in the providential preservation of his Word.
7. The certainty that God never loses sight of the Bible, though man often does.W.
2Ch 34:30
The value of the Bible.
I. THE BIBLE LOST. An unspeakable calamity.
1. To literature. Remark on the indebtedness of modern literature to the Bible.
2. To religion. Without the support and quickening derived from Scripture religion would speedily become languid.
3. To morality. Contrast in respect of morality countries possessing and countries lacking the Bible.
II. THE BIBLE FOUND. A great mercy. More to be prized than the discovery of gold-mines, which can only contribute to man’s material wealth, or even of rare manuscripts by human authors, which enrich chiefly the intellect, the finding of the Bible by an individual or a nation for the first time, or the recovery of it after it has been for some time lost, is:
1. An occasion of great joy, and is usually felt to be such. Witness the gladness of Luther at finding the Bible in the convent at Erfurth. And ought to be:
2. A reason for special thankfulness, as it generally is to all who know its value as a revelation of Divine wisdom and love, and can appreciate its power to influence the hearts and lives of men.
III. THE BIBLE READ. A blessed privilege.
1. Many might read the Bible who do not have it. A sad deprivation. This the case of the heathen generally and of numbers at home. An argument for missions.
2. Many have the Bible, yet do not read it. A grievous sin. This the case with thousands in Christendom to whom God’s Word is a strange book. An argument for preaching.
3. Many have the Bible, but cannot read it. A pitiful condition. This the case of those who through defective education or blindness are unable to read. An argument for Christian philanthropy.
4. Many have the Bible and read it. A happy experience. This the case of those who have learnt to recognize in the Bible God’s Word, and to appreciate its suitability to their soul’s needs. An argument for the inspiration of the Scriptures.
IV. THE BIBLE OBEYED. An indispensable duty.
1. Obedience the end and aim of the Bible. The Bible not written for information merely, but for direction also. Designed not simply for the construction of creeds, but likewise for the regulation of conduct (Mat 6:24; Jas 1:22).
2. Obedience the only homage acceptable to the Bible. To read it, admire its literary beauty, study its theology, extol its excellences, circulate it, are good if these acts are accompanied by obedience, but if not they are comparatively worthless.
3. Obedience the best witness to the Divinity of the Bible. “If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God” (Joh 7:17). Those who know the Bible best, by giving practical obedience to its precepts are most fully convinced of its heavenly and supernatural origin.
4. Obedience the necessary means for obtaining the blessing of the Bible. Not the hearers of the Word, but the doers thereof, are justified before God (Mat 7:21; Luk 11:28; Rom 2:13).W.
2Ch 34:29-33
Judah’s last national covenant.
I. THE CIRCUMSTANCES.
1. The time.
(1) In the eighteenth year of Josiah’s reign, or in Josiah’s twenty-sixth year; not so early as the covenant made by Asa in the fifteenth year of his reign (2Ch 15:10), or as that made by Jehoiada in the first year of Joash’s reign (2Ch 23:16), or as that projected by Hezekiah also in the first year of his reign (2Ch 29:10). But better late than never.
(2) After the purgation of the land and the house. It is necessary as well as fitting that works of repentance and reformation should be followed up by resolutions after new obedience, that the casting out of false gods should be supplemented by the bringing in of the true God, that “ceasing to do evil” should be accompanied by “learning to do well” (Isa 1:16, Isa 1:17).
(3) While Josiah was under the devout impressions produced by the reading of the book of the Law. Seasons when the heart is affected by a sense of God’s nearness or a conviction of its own sinfulness should be improved by drawing closer its relations to God (2Co 7:11).
2. The place.
(1) The city of Jerusalem, which had been swept clean from its idolatriesan indispensable preliminary to meeting with God.
(2) The temple on Moriah, where Jehovah had set his Name. They who would have dealings with a God of grace must seek him at the times, in the places, and by the ways he himself has appointed.
II. THE PARTIES.
1. The king. As was most appropriate, Josiah led the way. Though sovereigns have no right under the gospel to enforce religion on their subjects, they may nevertheless, by means of personal example, persuade their subjects to embrace religion.
2. The elders. These were the heads of the houses, and therefore the representatives of the inhabitants both of Judah and Jerusalem. Unless the chiefs in a state and the fathers in a family precede, it is not likely the inferiors in the former or the children in the latter will follow after in the paths of piety.
3. The priests and Levites. Instead of “the Levites,” 2 Kings (2Ki 23:2) reads “prophets,” which has been explained by supposing that the prophets, among whom probably were Jeremiah, Baruch, Zephaniah, and Urijah, belonged to priestly and Levitical families, or that they were Levites whose duty it was to preach and to interpret the Law (2Ch 17:8, 2Ch 17:9; cf. Deu 17:18; Deu 31:9; Deu 33:10). Those who ascribe it to an error of the pen are uncertain whether that error should be charged against the author of the Kings (Keil) or against the Chronicler (Bertheau).
4. The people. Great and smallthe people of distinction and the lower classes, perhaps also the grown-up persons and the childrenwere assembled as participants in this high transaction (cf. 2Ch 15:13; Deu 1:17).
III. THE PRELIMINARIES.
1. The reading of the book of the covenant. The part read most likely included Exo 24:1-18; the readers being, not the king himself (Adam Clarke), but others, presumably Shaphan, Hilkiah, Jeremiah, etc. The reading was “in their ears,” from which may be inferred that it was audible and distinct.
2. The standing of the king in his place. This was the platform beside the brazen altar, upon which the sovereign was accustomed to stand in high religious and national ceremonies (2Ch 6:13; 2Ch 23:13).
IV. THE ENGAGEMENTS.
1. To walk after the Lord. The common phrase for observing the worship of Jehovah (2Ch 11:17; 2Ki 17:8; 2Ki 21:22; Mic 4:5; Mic 6:16). Distinguish the similar phrases, “to walk before God” (2Ch 6:14; Gen 17:1), and “to walk with God” (Gen 5:24). The ideas in the first are perhaps those of imitation and obedience; in the second, those of sincerity and purity; in the third, those of communion and concord.
2. To keep his commandments and his testimonies and his statutes. Explanatory of the foregoing; to walk after Jehovah, signifying to keep his commandments, etc. The three termscommandments, testimonies, statutesoccasionally occur together or in contiguity (Psa 19:7, Psa 19:8; Psa 119:21, Psa 119:22, Psa 119:23), and though etymologically distinguishable, are practically synonymous. They are employed here perhaps for variety, but chiefly for emphasis (Ecc 4:12). The obedience required by Jehovah and promised by the people was not formal and superficial, but earnest and sincere”with all the heart, and with all the soul.” God for Christ’s sake may accept less, but for his own sake he never can demand less, while God’s people and Christ’s should strive never to present less.
3. To perform the words of the covenant written in the book of the Law. The ultimate standard of duty for king and people was to be the words of the book, and neither the opinions of others nor the imaginations of themselves. So for Christians the supreme rule of faith and practice is the Holy Scriptures.
V. THE RESULTS.
1. The people assented to the covenant. At the king’s commandwhether with perfect free-will (2Ki 23:3) is not clearthey bound themselves to its observance (verse 32). Without the concurrence of the will there can be no true religious service.
2. The king purged the land of Israel from abominations. He allowed no external observance of idolatry. To cleanse the hearts of his people from idol-worship was beyond his power. Human enactments, by whatever power promulgated, can only effect external reformation; the regeneration of the heart and renewal of the mind are competent to God alone.
3. The nation kept true to the covenant while Josiah lived. The practice of idolatry had been suppressed, but the spirit of idolatry had not been killed. After Josiah’s death it again raised its head (2Ch 36:5; 2Ki 23:32), as it had frequently done before after periods of reformation.
LESSONS.
1. The Word of God the supreme directory to a Christian both for faith and practice.
2. The prime duty of man to keep God’s commandments and testimonies.
3. The highest evidence of piety in either individual or nation is holiness.W.
Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary
p. Josiah: the Prophetess Huldah.Ch. 34, 35
. Josiahs Beginnings; the Extirpation of Idolatry: 2Ch 34:1-7
2Ch 34:1.Josiah was eight years old when he became king, and he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem. 2And he did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord, and walked in the ways of David his father, and declined not to 3the right hand nor to the left. And in the eighth year of his reign, while he was yet a youth, he began to seek after the God of David his father; and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem of the high places, 4and the asherim, and the carved images, and the molten images. And they pulled down before him the altars of Baalim; and the sun-statues which were above them he hewed down; and the asherim, and the carved images, and the molten images, he broke and pounded, and strewed upon the 5graves of them that had sacrificed to them. And the bones of the priests he 6burned upon their altars,1 and he purged Judah and Jerusalem. And in the cities of Manasseh, and Ephraim, and Simeon, even unto Naphtali, in their 7ruins2 around. And he pulled down the altars and the asherim, and he cut down the carved images to pound them, and hewed down all the sun-statues in all the land of Israel; and he returned to Jerusalem.
. The Purging of the Temple and the Recovery of the Book of the Law: 2Ch 34:8-21
8And in the eighteenth year of his reign, when he purged the land and the house, he sent Shaphan son of Azaliah, and Maaseiah the governor of the city, and Joah son of Joahaz the chancellor, to repair the house of the Lord 9his God. And they came to Hilkiah the high priest, and delivered the money that was brought into the house of God, which the Levites that kept the thresholds had gathered from the hand of Manasseh and Ephraim, and from all the remnant of Israel, and from all Judah and Benjamin, and the inhabitants3 of Jerusalem. 10And they put it into the hand of the work-masters who were appointed over the house of the Lord; and the work-masters who worked in the house of the Lord gave it to restore and repair the house. 11And they gave it to the carpenters and masons, to buy hewn stones and timber for girders and for joists of the houses, which the kings of Judah had destroyed. 12And the men wrought faithfully at the work, and over them were appointed Jahath and Obadiah the Levites of the sons of Merari, and Zechariah and Meshullam of the sons of the Kohathites, to oversee; and the 13Levites, all that had skill in instruments of song. And over the carriers, and overseeing all that were doing the work in any manner of service. 14And when they took out the money that was brought into the house of the Lord, Hilkiah the priest found the book of the law of the Lord by Moses. 15And Hilkiah answered and said to Shaphan the scribe, I have found the book of the law in the house of the Lord: and Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan. 16And Shaphan brought the book to the king, and returned to the king a report, saying, All that was committed to thy servants, they do. 17And they have poured out the money that was found in the house of the Lord, and 18given it into the hands of the overseers and of the workmen. And Shaphan the scribe told the king, saying, Hilkiah the priest hath given me a book: 19and Shaphan read in it before the king. And when the king heard the words of the law, then he rent his clothes. 20And the king commanded Hilkiah, and Ahikam son of Shaphan, and Abdon4 son of Micah, and Shaphan 21the scribe, and Asaiah the servant of the king, 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; 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.
. Consultation of Huldah the Prophetess, and Solemn Reading of the Law in the Temple: 2Ch 34:22-33
22And Hilkiah and those who were appointed5 by the king went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum son of Tokehath, son of Hasrah, keeper of the wardrobe; and she dwelt in Jerusalem in the second (quarter); and 23they spake to her to this effect. And she said to them, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Say ye to the man who sent you to me, 24Thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will bring evil upon this place, and upon its inhabitants, all the curses that are written in the book which they have read before the king of Judah: 25Because they have forsaken me, and have made burnings6 to other gods, to provoke me to anger with all the works of their hands; and my 26wrath is poured out on this place, and will not be quenched. And to the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of the Lord, thus shall ye say: Thus saith the Lord God of Israel of the words which thou hast heard. 27Because thy heart was tender, and thou didst bow down before God, when thou heardest His words against this place and its inhabitants, and thou didst bow down before me and didst rend thy garments and weep before me, so have I also heard thee, saith the Lord. 28Behold, I will gather thee to thy fathers, and thou shalt be gathered to thy grave in peace, and thine eyes shall not see all the evil that I will bring upon this place and upon its inhabitants: 29and they brought the king word again. And the king sent and gathered all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem. 30And 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 one read in their ears all the words of the book of the covenant that was found in the house of the Lord. 31And the king stood in his place, and made the covenant before the Lord, to walk after the Lord, and to keep His commandments and testimonies and statutes with all his heart and with all his soul, to perform the words of the covenant which are written in this book. 32And he caused all that were found 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. 33And Josiah took away all the abominations out of all the countries of the sons of Israel, and bound all that were found in Israel to serve the Lord their God: all his days they departed not from the Lord God of their fathers.
. The Passover: 2Ch 35:1-19
2Ch 35:1.And Josiah kept a passover unto the Lord in Jerusalem; and they killed the passover on the fourteenth of the first month. 2And he set the priests in their charges, and strengthened them for the service of the Lord. 3And he said unto the Levites, who taught all Israel,7 who were consecrated to the Lord, Put the holy ark into the house which Solomon son of David, the king of Israel, built; it shall not be a burden on your shoulders: now 4serve ye the Lord your God, and His people Israel. And make you ready8 in your father-houses by your courses, after the writing of David king of 5Israel, and after the description of Solomon his son. And stand ye in the sanctuary after the divisions of the father-houses of your brethren, the sons 6of the people, and a part of a father-house of the Levites [ for each]. And kill the passover, and sanctify you, and prepare your brethren, to do according to 7the word of the Lord by Moses. And Josiah dealt to the sons of the people sheep, lambs, and kids, all for paschal offerings, for all that were found, to the number of thirty thousand, and three thousand bullocks: these were of the property of the king. 8And his princes presented a free gift to the people, to the priests, and to the Levites: Hilkiah, and Zechariah, and Jehiel, rulers of the house of God, gave unto the priests for the passover-offerings two thousand 9and six hundred [ sheep], and three hundred oxen. And Conaniah, and Shemaiah, and Nethaneel, his brethren, and Hashabiah, and Jeiel, and Jozabad, chiefs of the Levites, presented to the Levites for passover-offerings five thousand [ sheep], 10and oxen five hundred. And the service was prepared, and the priests stood in their place, and the Levites in their courses, at the command of the king. 11And they killed the passover, and the priests sprinkled [ the wood] from their hand, and the Levites flayed. 12And they removed the burnt-offering to give them to the divisions of the father-houses of the sons of the people, to offer unto the Lord, as it is written in the book of Moses; and so with the oxen. 13And they roasted the passover with fire, according to the ordinance; and the holy things they sod in pots and kettles and pans, and brought them quickly 14to all the sons of the people. And afterwards they made ready for themselves and for the priests: because the priests the sons of Aaron were engaged in offering the burnt-offering and the fat until night; and the Levites prepared for themselves and for the priests the sons of Aaron. 15And the singers the sons of Asaph were in their place, according to the command of David, and Asaph, and Heman, and Jeduthun the kings seer; and the porters were at every gate: it was not necessary for them to depart from their service, 16for their brethren the Levites prepared for them. And all the service of the Lord was prepared that day, to keep the passover, and to offer burnt-offerings 17on the altar of the Lord, at the command of King Josiah. And the sons of Israel that were present kept the passover at that time, and the feast of unleavened bread seven days. 18And there was no passover like that kept in Israel from the days of Samuel the prophet; nor did all the kings of Israel keep such a passover as Josiah kept, and the priests, and the Levites, and all Judah and Israel that were present, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 19In the eighteenth year of the reign of Josiah was this passover kept.
. Josiahs Battle with Necho of Egypt, and End: 2Ch 35:20-27
20After all this, when Josiah had prepared the house, Necho king of Egypt came up to fight at Carchemish, on the Euphrates; and Josiah went out against 21him. And he sent ambassadors to him, saying, What have I to do with thee, O king of Judah? I am not against thee this day, but against the house of my war;9 and God hath commanded me to make haste: withdraw thee from 22God, who is with me, that He destroy thee not. And Josiah turned not his face from him, but disguised himself,10 to fight with him, and hearkened not unto the words of Necho from the mouth of God, and he came to fight in the valley of Megiddo. 23And the archers shot at King Josiah: and the king said 24to his servants, Remove me, for I am sorely wounded. And his servants removed him from the chariot, and put him on his second chariot; and brought him to Jerusalem, and he died, and was buried in the sepulchres of his fathers: and all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah. 25And Jeremiah lamented for Josiah; and all the songsters and songstresses spake of Josiah in their laments unto this day, and they made them an ordinance for Israel: and, behold, they are written in the Lamentations.
26And the rest of the acts of Josiah, and his kindness, as it is written in the law of the Lord, 27And his deeds, first and last, behold, they are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah.
q. Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin, Zedekiah: Close.Ch. 36
. Jehoahaz: 2Ch 36:1-4
2Ch 36:1.And the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah, and made him king instead of his father in Jerusalem. 2Jehoahaz was twenty and three years old when he became king; and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. 3And the king of Egypt put him down11 in Jerusalem, and fined the land a hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold. 4And the king of Egypt made Eliakim his brother king over Judah and Jerusalem, and turned his name to Jehoiakim: and Necho took Jehoahaz his brother and carried him to Egypt.
. Jehoiakim: 2Ch 36:5-8
5Jehoiakim was twenty and five years old when he became king; and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem; and he did that which was evil in the eyes of the Lord God. 6Against him came up Nebuchadnezzar king of Babel, 7and bound him in fetters, to carry him to Babel.12 And Nebuchadnezzar brought of the vessels of the house of the Lord to Babel, and put them in 8his palace at Babel. And the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim, and his abominations which he did, and that which was found against him, behold, they are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah: and Jehoiachin his son reigned in his stead.
. Jehoiachin: 2Ch 36:9-10
9Jehoiachin was eight years13 old when he became king; and he reigned three months and ten days in Jerusalem: and he did hat which was evil in 10the eyes of the Lord. And at the turn of the year, King Nebuchadnezzar sent and brought him to Babel, with the goodly vessels of the house of the Lord; and he made Zedekiah his brother king over Judah and Jerusalem.
. Zedekiah: 2Ch 36:11-21
11Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. 12And he did that which was evil in the eyes of the Lord his God; he humbled himself not before Jeremiah the prophet, from the mouth of the Lord. 13And he also rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar, who made him swear by God: and he stiffened his neck, and hardened his 14heart from turning unto the Lord God of Israel. Also all the chiefs of the priests and the people transgressed very much, after all the abominations of the heathen; and polluted the house of the Lord, which He had hallowed in 15Jerusalem. And the Lord God of their fathers sent to them by His messengers, rising early, and sending; because He had compassion on His people and His 16dwelling-place. And they mocked the messengers of God, and despised His words, and scoffed at His prophets, until the wrath of the Lord rose against 17His people, till there was no healing. And He brought up against them the king of the Chaldees, and slew their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary, and He spared neither young man nor maiden, the old nor the grey-headed; the whole He gave into his hand. 18And all the vessels of the house of God, great and small, and the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the king and his princes; the whole he brought to Babel. 19And they burned the house of God, and pulled down the wall of Jerusalem, and burned all its palaces with fire, and destroyed all its goodly vessels. 20And he carried away those that remained from the sword to Babel; and they became servants to him and his sons until the reign of the kingdom of Persia: 21To fulfil the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her sabbaths: all the days of the desolation she rested to fulfil seventy years.
. Close: the Return from Captivity under Cyrus: 2Ch 36:22-23
22And in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the Lord, by the mouth of Jeremiah, might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, and he made proclamation in all his kingdom, and also in writing, saying, 23Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia, All the kingdoms of the earth hath the Lord God of heaven given me; and He hath charged me to build Him a house at Jerusalem: whoso is among you of all His people? The Lord14 his God be with him, and let him go up.
EXEGETICAL
Preliminary Remark.Whereas in 2 Kings 22, 23 the several moments of the reforming action of Josiah are so combined that they appear all conditioned and determined by the repair of the temple, and the discovery in it of the book of the law, the Chronist separates the several acts or steps of his reforming activity more exactly, and indeed chronologically, as he makes the work of the king begin with the eighth year of his reign, the commencement of his more energetic proceedings to fall in the twelfth, and its end in the eighteenth (comp. on 2Ch 34:3). In other respects the two accounts agree substantially, though the Chronist has related the cleansing of Judah and Jerusalem from idolatry (2Ch 34:3-7) with great brevity, and, on the contrary, the great passover (2Ch 35:1-19) so much the more fully; whereas the author of 2 Kings, in accordance with his It less careful attention to the history of the Levitical worship, has reversed this method, and treated of the passover quite briefly. Both historians relate the closing catastrophe of the history of Josiah at nearly the same length and in much the same manner, though the Chronist gives vent to the pragmatic reflective connection of this tragic end with the previous transactions of his reign (2Ki 23:25 f.). He proceeds, lastly, quite in the form of an epitome in his statements concerning the four last reigns, in 2 Chronicles 36, to which the author of the books of Kings devotes a great deal of space.
1. Josiahs Beginnings; the Eradication of Idolatry: 2Ch 34:1-7.
2Ch 34:1-2 agree with 2Ki 22:1-2, especially with regard to the eulogy applied to Josiah (alone of all kings), that he declined not to the right hand nor to the left; only the mention of his mother (Jedidah, daughter of Adaiah) is wanting in our passage.
2Ch 34:3. And in the eighth year of his reign, when he was sixteen years old. The seeking after God, as 22:19 and elsewhere. On the relation of the present chronological statements, especially that referring to the twelfth year of Josiahs reign as the date of the beginning of the abolition of idolatry, in 2Ki 22:3 ff, and 2Ch 34:33 of our chapter, see Bhrs full discussion (Bibelw. vii. 453 ff.). This agrees with the conclusion of almost all recent expositors in this, that neither the Chronist nor the author of 2 Kings proceeds exactly in chronological order, in so far as the latter compresses the whole measures of the purification of worship and extirpation of idolatry into the eighteenth year of his reign; but the former (according to 2Ch 34:4-7, which are to be taken partly as proleptic) attaches to that which was put in operation in the twelfth year part of that which was only carried into effect in the eighteenth year, as he himself indicates at the close of the chapter (2Ch 34:33).
2Ch 34:4. And they pulled down before him the altars of Baalim, and the sun-statues . . . he hewed down; comp. 2Ch 33:3, 2Ch 31:1; and for the sun-statues especially, 2Ch 14:4; and for that which follows, 2Ch 15:16.And strewed (the dust of the ground images) upon the graves of them that had sacrificed to them, literally, upon the graves that sacrificed to them. In 2Ki 23:6, perhaps more exactly the ashes of the great asherim merely are designated as strewn upon the graves of the idolaters.
2Ch 34:5. And the bones of the priests he burned; for the particulars, see 2Ki 23:13-14; 2Ki 23:16-20.
2Ch 34:6. And in the cities of Manasseh, and Ephraim, and Simeon, and unto Naphtali, that is, in all the land, from the most southern to the most northern part of the tribes. That the regions belonging to the northern kingdom (among which here, as in 2Ch 15:9, Simeon also is named as a tribe addicted to idolatry) were at that time wasted by the invasion of Shalmaneser and Sargon, is indicated by the addition: in their ruins around. For the exclusive admissibility of this reading (), see Crit. Note. Moreover, the present account (with the parallel statement in 2Ki 23:19-20 f.), according to which the kingdom of Josiah included again in some measure all the twelve tribes, is certainly to be estimated in the same way as the statement in 2Ch 30:18, according to which, even in the beginning of Hezekiahs reign, before the northern kingdom had fallen, a partial annexation of its inhabitants to the southern kingdom in respect of worship had taken place. Here also it is only the introduction of the remnant of the inhabitants of the north into the work of the purification of worship that is spoken of, not the exercise of a formal sovereignty over their country. What Neteler says, p. 261, of a supposed reunion of the country of Israel with the kingdom of Judah under Manasseh, and of an inheritance of this collective Israelitish kingdom, restored to its original compass, on the part of Josiah son of Manasseh, is devoid of all definite hold in the text as well of the books of Kings as of Chronicles.
2Ch 34:7. Pulled down the altars; here first is the chief sentence to the (in the form of an absolute sentence, 2Ch 34:6) premised determination of the scene of the kings action.And the asherim; is a perfect-like (retaining the vowel of the perfect) infinitive with , on which see Ewald, 238, d.And he returned to Jerusalem, from his campaign against the idols, which had carried him into the former region of Ephraim and Simeon. In 2Ki 23:20 also is this notice found, but there certainly in reference to the eighteenth year of Josiah. A chronological contradiction of the two accounts, however, can scarcely be found in this circumstance; comp. Bhr on the passage.
2. The Purging of the Temple and Recovery of the Book of the Law: 2Ch 34:8-21. Comp. 2Ki 22:3-13, and Bhr on the passage.In the eighteenth year . . . when he purged. is neither after the purging, after he had purged (Luther, de Wette, etc.), nor in order to purge (Berth., Kamph.), but a note of time and circumstance in the purging (Keil, Net.); comp. Jer 46:13. In the naming of Shaphan, his designation as scribe or royal secretary (2Ki 22:3) has perhaps fallen out of the text of our account by a mere oversight, for the two other officers named by the Chronist (reporting more exactly than 2 Kings) are introduced by the addition of their titles. For repair (literally, strengthen) the house of the Lord, see on 2Ch 24:5, and also on 2Ch 34:9 of the present report concerning the repair of the temple under Joash (2Ch 24:11-13); see, moreover, the Crit. Note on 2Ch 34:9.
2Ch 34:10. Put it into the hand of the work-masters, etc. is a resuming of the same verb in the foregoing verse, but connected with , into the hand, by which the sense of handing is reached. For the plur. (for ), comp. 1Ch 23:24.The work-masters . . . gave it, etc.; so according to the received text; but if, as 2Ki 22:5 seems to show, a has fallen out before , it should be rendered: they gave it to the work-masters (or labourers). The latter reading appears the more suitable, though it cannot be affirmed that it is the original one.
2Ch 34:11. And timber for girders and for joists of the houses, literally, to joist the houses; comp. Neh 3:3; Neh 3:6. This means, naturally, not any houses of the city, but the buildings of the temple.Which the kings of Judah had destroyed, let go to ruin; a like exaggeration of phrase as in the case of Athaliah, 2Ch 24:7.
2Ch 34:12. And the men wrought faithfully at the work, literally, were working. For , truly, conscientiously, see on 2Ch 31:12.To oversee the building; comp. in essentially the same meaning, Ezr 3:8.And the Levites, all that had skill in instruments of song; comp. 1Ch 15:16; 1Ch 25:7; Dan 1:17. These closing words of 2Ch 34:12 are to be connected with 2Ch 34:13 a, so that the repeated is = as well as. This is simpler and less violent than the proposal of Bertheau, accepted by Kamph., to erase the first of 2Ch 34:13, and annex the words over the carriers to 2Ch 34:12. On 2Ch 34:14, comp. 2Ki 22:8.The book of the law of the Lord by Moses, that is, the Mosaic law (comp. for the phrase, 2Ch 33:8). The whole Torah at all events is meant, not merely Deuteronomy, as the modern critical school (last of all, Hitzig, Gesch p. 236) think; and not merely the groups of laws contained in the three middle cooks of the Pentateuch (according to Bertheaus hypothesis, Beitrge zur israelit. Gesch. p. 375). Decisive grounds against these modern hypotheses, especially so far as they endeavour to connect the assertion of an origin from Manasseh or even Josiah with our passage, see in Kleinert, Das Deuteronomium und der Deuteronomiker, 1871, and in Klostermann, Das Lied Mosis und das Deuteronomium, Theol. Stud. und Krit. 1871, ii.;1872, ii. and iii. Comp. also Sthelin, Einleit. ins A. T. (1862) p. 242 ff.; J. Frst, Gesch. der bibl. Literat. i. 351 ff.; and Bhr on 2Ki 22:7.
2Ch 34:16. And Shaphan brought the book to the king. Somewhat different in the parallel 2Ki 22:9, where at first it is only related: and Shaphan the scribe came to the king, and where, therefore, no , yet, stands in the following: and brought the king word. The structure of the words in the Chronist appears in every respect the younger, although none of its deviations is of any essential importance; comp. Keil on this passage.
2Ch 34:17. Given it into the hands; comp. on 2Ch 34:10 at the beginning.
2Ch 34:20. And Ahikam son of Shaphan, the father of Gedaliah and protector of Jeremiah; see Jer 26:24; Jer 40:5. For the probable originality of the reading Achbor for Abdon, see the Crit. Note. The Achbor of this passage appears the same who is so named Jer 26:22; Jer 36:12.
Ver 21. And for them that are left in Israel, literally, for that which is left; a significant phrase, like the parallel 2Ki 22:13 : for the people and for all Judah. The expression that is poured out () stands for the essentially synonymous that is kindled () of the parallel.
3. Consultation of Huldah, and Solemn Reading of the Law in the Temple: 2Ch 34:22-33. Comp. 2Ki 22:14-20; 2Ki 23:1-3, and Bhr on this passage.Went to Huldah . . . the wife of Shallum. The forefathers of this husband of Huldah are called in 2 Kings, not Tokehath and Hasrah, but Tikvah and Harhas.15 Which of these (nowhere else occurring) names are original cannot now be decided. For the second quarter or district of the lower city, see Bhr.And they spake to her to this effect, namely, as Josiah had said to them; this , which reminds us of 2Ch 32:15, is wanting in 2 Kings.
2Ch 34:24. All the curses, etc.; in 2 Kings less strong: all the words.
2Ch 34:25. And my wrath is poured out on this place. As in 2Ch 34:21, here again stands the verb instead of , the one usual in the parallel (2Ki 22:17), which latter, moreover, the Sept. expresses also in our passage, perhaps because it appears to suit better the following words: and will not be quenched.
2Ch 34:27. Because thy heart was tender . . . when thou heardest his words. In the original text the construction is somewhat different, namely, the words which thou hast heard (2Ch 34:26 for example), because thereby thy heart was made tender, and thou didst bow down before God, when thou heardest, etc. The words , absolutely prefixed, can scarcely be translated. In 2Ki 22:19, moreover, the words against this place are rendered still more distinct by the addition wanting here: that they should become a desolation and a curse.
2Ch 34:28. And they brought the king word again; comp. 2Ch 34:16.
2Ch 34:32. Caused all . . . to stand to it, namely, to the covenant. In 2Ki 23:3, instead of stands rather the Kal, joined with , and all the people stood to the covenant.
2Ch 34:33. And Josiah took away all the abominations. For the relation of this statement, that reverts to 2Ch 34:3-7 in the way of recapitulation, to 2Ki 23:4-20, see above, Preliminary Remark, and on 2Ch 34:3, By all the countries of the sons of Israel are here meant the territories of the former kingdom of the ten tribes, as distinguished from Jerusalem and Benjamin, 2Ch 34:32 (that is, Jerusalem, Judah, and Benjamin). Comp. above, 2Ch 34:6, also 2Ki 23:15; 2Ki 23:19, where in particular Bethel and the cities of Samaria are mentioned as places of the former Israel that were subjected to the great purging process of Josiah.And bound all to serve ( ), caused to serve, bound to the service of the Lord.All his days they departed not from the Lord. This theocratic behaviour of the people during the whole reign of Josiah can, at all events, have only been external, without true conversion of heart, and therefore without real constancy; see Evangelical and Ethical Reflections, No. 1.
4. The Passover: 2Ch 35:1-19. Comp. 2Ki 23:21; 2Ki 23:23; as also the tolerably close Greek version of our section in 1Es 1:1-21 (in Tischendorfs edit. of the Sept. the first book of Esdras).And they killed the passover on the fourteenth day of the first month; thus, though Hitzig (Gesch. p. 235) doubts it without any ground, at the time prescribed by law, otherwise than in the passover of Hezekiah, 2Ch 30:2 ff. The year of this solemnity is (2Ch 35:9; see on this verse) the eighteenth of Josiahs reign, and therefore 623 (or 622) b.c.
2Ch 35:2. And he set the priests in their charges (watches; comp. 2Ch 7:6, 2Ch 8:14), in their functions; comp. 1Ch 23:32.And strengthened them for the service of the Lord, by comforting, encouraging exhortation, as also by instructions in their legal functions; comp. Neh 2:18, where stands in the same sense, and 2Ch 29:5.
2Ch 35:3. Who taught all Israel. Comp. in Neh 8:7; Neh 8:9, also the synonymous above, 2Ch 17:8-9. For the following designation of the Levites as consecrated to the Lord, that is, alone entitled to enter His sanctuary and conduct His holy service, comp. 2Ch 23:6.Put the holy ark into the house. These words are somewhat surprising, and admit of various interpretations, as a parallel yielding a more definite explanation is wanting. But although not , bring back, but , give place, is the verb used, yet the assumption of a previous removal of the ark from its place in the holy of holies appears to present itself with constraining necessity, even if we think (with many ancients, as well as Berth. and Kamph.) of Manasseh or Amon as the author of this temporary transference of the ark; in which case, however, it would be very surprising that nothing should be expressly stated in the reign of these godless kings concerning so profane a violation; or if (with Starke and others) we consider Josiahs repair of the temple to be the occasion of the temporary removal of the ark from its place, which is undoubtedly the simplest and best supposition. Quite arbitrary is the hypothesis of some ancients, that the ark was, in the days of the idolatrous kings, sometimes carried round the country as a means of strengthening the faith of the people, and Josiah now forbids this custom in the present words (see v. Mosheim in Calmets Bibl. Untersuchungen, vi. 226 ff.); and equally so the Rabbinical conceit, that Josiah here gives orders to remove the ark from its place in the holy of holies to a subterranean chamber, to place it in safety from the impending destruction of the temple. But even the rendering: Leave the holy ark in the house, leave it in the temple, to which it properly belongs (Keil, after the ancients), is arbitrary; and so is Netelers attempted emendation, which, against the grammar, would change the imperat. into the perf. (from = , give), and translate accordingly: And he said to the Levites, Those who taught all Israel, who were consecrated to the Lord, have put the ark of the sanctuary into the house, etc. Were such an explanation of the passage possible, how surprising that it is first discovered in the 19th century !It shall not be a burden on your shoulders; comp. Num 4:15; Num 7:9. The sense of these words can only be: ye have to minister to the ark of the Lord not as a moveable sanctuary, to be carried laboriously on the shoulders, through the wilderness or from city to city, but as the throne of God standing in the centre of the temple; the times of the toilsome and perilous (comp. 1Ch 13:9) transport of the ark are over; an easier ministry before this sanctuary, but not the less conscientiously to be discharged, now lies upon you. If we take the words thus (with Keil, Kamph., etc.), there seems to be no necessity for Bertheaus assumption that the Levites at the pass-over had carried round the ark on their shoulders in an inconsiderate way, and Josiah therefore instructed them that this function of carrying was no longer binding on them with regard to the ark of the covenant.
2Ch 35:4. And make you ready (see Crit. Note) . . . after the writing of David, properly, in the writing, etc. (, as in 2Ch 29:25). There were then writings or notes (, as in 2Ch 26:22, 1Ch 28:19) of David and Solomon, in which these kings had established as law their prescriptions for the ministry of priests and Levites in the sanctuary, from which also our author had directly or indirectly drawn his former communications on this subject (1 Chronicles 23-26); comp. Introd. 5, for example, and the preliminary remark in explanation of 1 Chronicles 23-26
2Ch 35:5. And a part of a father-house of the Levites (for each); so that to every division (, as Ezr 6:18) of the non-Levitical father-houses may correspond a part of a Levitical father-house (comp. 1Ch 24:6). In this way it is not necessary to erase before in the sense of and indeed, or namely (against Berth.).
2Ch 35:6. Kill the passover and sanctify you, namely, by washing, before ye hand to the priests the blood to sprinkle on the altar; comp. 2Ch 30:16 f.
2Ch 35:7-9. The King and his Princes bestow Victims.And Josiah dealt to the sons of the people; , bestow as a heave-offering, as in 2Ch 30:24, Ezr 8:25.To the number of 30,000 head of small cattle, and 3000 bullocks,the latter, as appears from 2Ch 35:13, for slaying and consuming as peace-offerings. All this was from the kings domains; comp. 2Ch 31:3, 2Ch 32:29.
2Ch 35:8. And his princes presented a free gift; so is to be taken here (comp. the corresponding for passover-offerings in the verse before), not as an adverb, willingly, as Berth. thinks. How many the princes gave as free gifts is not here mentioned (it is otherwise in 2Ch 30:24); for the three rulers of the house of God named in b as in 2Ch 35:9, and six chiefs of the Levites, are certainly as different from the princes of the king as the spiritual office-bearers in any kingdom are from the temporal. Moreover, of the three princes of the house of God, Zechariah, named next after the high priest Hilkiah, appears to be his nearest subordinate or deputy ( , 2Ki 25:18); but the third, Jehiel, seems to be the head of the line of Ithamar (comp. Ezr 8:2, and Berth, on this passage). Of the six chiefs of the Levites named in 2Ch 35:9, threeConaniah, Shemaiah, and Jozabadhave the same names with those named in 2Ch 31:12-15 on the occasion of the reform of Hezekiah, but are scarcely the same persons.
2Ch 35:10 ff. depicts the preparation of the passover and the sacrificial feast connected with it.And the service was prepared (or arranged, Luther), comp. 2Ch 35:16; 2Ch 29:35; for the following, also 2Ch 30:16 f.
2Ch 35:12. And they removed the burnt-offering; is here to separate the parts of the victim that were to be burned on the altar; comp. Lev 3:9 f., Lev 4:31. These parts are here called , because, as the law of the peace-offering, Lev 3:6-16 (especially 2Ch 35:11; 2Ch 35:16), directs, they were wholly burned as the burnt-offering, and, moreover, on the flesh of the evening sacrifice. A special burnt-offering is not to be thought of, because such were not prescribed on the evening of the 14th Nisan for the pass-over; the only offerings to be presented thereon were the paschal lambs.To give them to the divisions; them, namely, the separated pieces, to be burned as burnt-offerings.And so with the oxen; they also (those special gifts in oxen mentioned 2Ch 35:7-9, 3800 head in all) were presented not as burnt-offerings or holocausts to be wholly burned, but as peace-offerings, to be eaten as a joyful festival in part, that is, after taking away the fat that was to be burned.
2Ch 35:13. And they roasted the passover with fire, according to the ordinance; see Exo 12:8-9. The holy things () are the slain oxen (see 2Ch 29:33). If it is further said of these, that their flesh, after being sodden in pots, etc., is to be brought quickly to the sons of the people, that is, the non-Levitical partakers in the feast, it does not follow that this was done on the first evening of the feast, the 14th Nisan, and thus that all that was provided, passover lambs and peace-offerings, was consumed on the very first evening (as Berth. and apparently also Kamph. think). On the contrary, Keil justly remarks: Such a junction or rather mingling of the feast prepared of the roasted lambs with the eating of the boiled beef would have been so rude an offence against the legal prescriptions concerning the passover, that we shall not ascribe it either to King Josiah and the priests, or even to the author of Chronicles, as the latter expressly remarks that they proceeded in the festival according to the prescription of the law of Moses, and according to the ordinance. Accordingly, that which is here and in the two following verses recorded concerning the preparation of the offering and the feast refers not merely to the opening evening, but to the whole seven days of unleavened bread.
2Ch 35:14. And afterwards, when the laity were provided for.Because the priests . . . (were engaged) in offering the burnt-offering and the fat until night, and thus could not cook and prepare for themselves, the Levites must do this for them. Burnt-offering and fat appear to denote one and the same thing, and so to form a hendiadyoin; or also the conjunctive between the two phrases appears to be explicative (Keil).
2Ch 35:15. And the singers . . . were in their place (comp. 1Ch 23:28; 1Ch 25:1; 1Ch 25:6). What is here recorded concerning the co-operation of the singers and the porters in the solemnity clearly refers, as the comprehensive character of the scene shows, not merely to one, but to all the seven days of the feast. The phrase that day, at the beginning of 2Ch 35:16, does not oppose this view, but reverts to the 14th Nisan as the fundamental day of the festival; comp. the sing. in Gen 2:4 and in 2Ch 35:17, which shows most directly and clearly the correctness of our interpretation.
2Ch 35:18. And there was no passover like that kept. . . from the days of Samuel. This does not contradict 2Ch 30:26, for there the point of comparison is the magnificence and numerous participation in the solemnity; here, on the contrary, its theocratic purity and legitimacy. Comp. above on that passage, as well as Bhr on the parallel 2Ki 23:22. On all Judah and Israel that were present, that is, so far as they were present, comp. 2Ch 34:33.
2Ch 35:19. In the eighteenth year of the reign of Josiah was this passover kept; thus in the same year in which, according to 2Ch 34:8, the full execution and conclusion of Josiahs reform of worship took place (comp. on 2Ch 35:1). There is no proper chronological difficulty in this date, which is also found in 2Ki 23:23; for the 18th year which is here spoken of is a reign and calendar year (Bhr), and if dated from the autumn, from that time till the legal term of the paschal feast, about the middle of Nisan (in the spring of the following calendar year), all that is related in 2Ch 34:8-33 may take place. And all the more because not a little that referred to the cleansing and repair of the temple might have been already prepared in the previous years of Josiahs reign (from the 12th, 2Ch 34:3).
5. Josiahs Battle with Necho of Egypt, and End: 2Ch 35:20-27. Comp. 2Ki 23:25-30.After all this . . . Necho, king of Egypt, came up; not the Necho I. (Ni–ik–ku–u sar Mi–im–im–piu Sa–ai, king of Memphis and Sais, on an inscription of Asurbanipal) mentioned 2Ch 33:11, who had reigned before 664, but the successor of Psammetichus, Necho II., who reigned till about 605. The Assyrian (or rather Babylonian) king who is attacked by Necho in the present campaign is probably Asur-idil-ili, the Sarak of Abydenus and Syncellus (see Schrader, p. 231 ff.), or even, if Nineveh was already fallen, Nabo-polassar (see Then., Berth., Bhr, etc.), but by no means Sardanapalus (5. Gumpach, Zeitrechnung der Babyl. und Assyr. p. 146), who was much earlier. For Carchemish = Circesium, on the Euphrates, comp. the expositors on Isa 10:9; Jer 46:2.16
2Ch 35:21. What have I to do with thee? properly, what is there to me and thee? comp. Jdg 11:12; 2Sa 10:9; Joh 2:4.I am not against thee this day, I am come up (), my attack is not on thee; after the suffix of the second pers. is rendered emphatic by an added , which would be expressed in English by even thee.But against the house of my war. These words must, if original, be interpreted like the phrase: man of wars of Tou, 1Ch 18:10, or the similar form in 2Sa 8:10, and would thus denote the hereditary foe of the Egyptian king. But it seems more natural to amend, as in 1 Esdras 1, according to the Crit. Note.And God hath commanded me to make haste. By this God, to whose command he was obedient, Necho means not any Egyptian deity, as the Targ. as well as some recent expositors (appealing to Herodotus, 2:158) think, but, according to 2Ch 35:22, the true supreme God, the acknowledgment of whom in the mouth of Necho cannot surprise us more than 2Ch 36:23 in the edict of Cyrus. The older expositors assume a special divine command (sive per somnium, sive per prophetam aliquem ad ipsum a Juda missum) without sufficient necessity; what Necho had recognised as agreeable to the will of his Egyptian deity, that he transfers at once to a supposed indication of the will of Jehovah.
2Ch 35:22. But disguised himself to fight with him; he gave up his true character, the part of the peaceful, which he was bound to play, and engaged against the will of God in combat with Necho. Perhaps, however (with Berth., Kamph.), the reading of the Sept.: but made himself strong for battle (comp. 2Ch 25:11), is to be preferred. A literal disguise, such as that of Ahab, 2Ch 18:29, should in no case be thought of (against Starke and other ancients, also Neteler). For the well-founded opinion of our author, that the battle of Josiah with Necho was a contravention of the divine will, see Evangelical and Ethical Reflections, No. 1. For the valley of Megiddo, see on 2Ki 23:29 f.
2Ch 35:24. And his servants . . . put him in his second chariot, perhaps a more commodious one, which he had with him besides the war chariot. Not so exact 2Ki 23:30.
2Ch 35:25. And Jeremiah lamented for Josiah. This lamentation of Jeremiah was certainly included in the collection of lamentations () on Josiah mentioned immediately after at the end of the verse, but is no longer found in the present Lamentations of Jeremiah, which must be regarded as a later collection than that here named. Perhaps the passages in Jer 22:10; Jer 22:18, and Zec 12:11 contain allusions to the older laments in memory of Josiah that are here intended; comp. Ngelsbach on Jeremiah, and Khler on Zechariah.
2Ch 35:26. And his kindness; , as in 2Ch 32:32 of Hezekiah, but more exactly defined in our passage by the addition: as it is written in the law of the Lord, corresponding to the characteristic peculiarity of Josiah, as a prince living and reigning in the strictest sense according to law.
6. Jehoahaz: 2Ch 36:1-4. Comp. 2Ki 23:30-35.And the people of the land took Jehoahaz; the same mode of elevation to the throne as in Josiah, 2Ch 33:25, and Uzziah, 2Ch 26:1. In the present case, the will of the people took effect in a usurping way, as the younger brother (Jehoahaz, or properly Shallum; see 1Ch 3:15, and comp. remarks on this passage) was preferred to the older Jehoiakim, perhaps because they had learned to fear the latter on account of the tyrannical spirit early manifested by him (comp. on 2Ch 36:8).
2Ch 36:3. Put him down. For the here probably necessary supplement of after , see Crit. Note. On the terms 100 talents of silver and a talent of gold, which are also found in 2 Kings 23, see Bhr on this passage.
7. Jehoiakim: 2Ch 36:5-8. Comp. 2Ki 23:36 to 2Ki 24:7.Jehoiakim was twenty and five years old when he became king, and so two years older than his brother Shallum-Jehoahaz.Against him came up Nebuchadnezzar; according to the Assyrio-Babylonian monuments, Nabiuv–kudurriusur (comp. the Hebrew form , Jer 49:28 and Ezr 2:1, Kethib; likewise in Alex. Polyhistor, Megasthenes, and Abydenus). The name (according to Schrader, p. 235) is compounded of the idol name Nabiuv or Nabu, the subst. Kudur, crown (), and the imperat. usur or nasar, protect, and means: Nebo, guard the crown (not Nebo guards the crown, as Keil states our passage and at Dan 1:1).And bound him in fetters, as befell Manasseh, and as the Assyrio-Babylonish sovereigns were wont to do to all captive princes; comp. on 2Ch 33:11.To carry him to Babel. That this carrying to Babel was only intended, not executed, almost all recent expositors justly assume; comp. besides Movers (Chron. p. 333), Bertheau, Keil, Neteler on our passage, also Bahr on 2Ki 24:1 ff., Ngelsbach on Jer 22:17 ff., as well as my remarks on Dan 1:2. If the Sept., which presents a text often deviating from the Masoretic text, and amplified with many additions, makes out of to carry him () an actual and carried him (), and also 1 Esdras and the Vulg. translate accordingly (et vinctum catenis duxit Babylonem), this has its ground in the erroneous assumption derived mainly from a onesided view of Dan 1:2, as if already the misfortune of being carried to Babel had befallen Jehoiakim, which, according to the sequel, first overtook his son Jehoiachin, whereas he himself, according to the express statement of 2Ch 36:5, reigned eleven years at Jerusalem (the last of these eleven years, naturally, as the vassal of Nebuchadnezzar). On the date of this first invasion of Nebuchadnezzar, according to Dan 1:1 in the third year of Jehoiakim, about 606 or 605 b.c., comp. our remarks in the Introd. to the book of Daniel, 8 (Bibelw. xvii. 28, 30 ff.). On 2Ch 36:7, comp. Dan 1:2; Ezr 1:7.
2Ch 36:8. And his abominations which he did; not certainly a mere designation of the idolatry of Jehoiakim (as Berth. thinks, who understands of the making of idols), but also of his other evil deedsfor example, his shedding of innocent blood, 2Ki 24:4. The next phrase: and that which was found against him, is a still more general and comprehensive expression for these evil deeds; comp. 2Ch 19:3.
8. Jehoiachin: 2Ch 36:9-10. Comp. the fuller account, 2Ki 24:8-17.Jehoiachin was eight years old. That the number eight here is, at all events, a miswriting for eighteen, see in Crit. Note. Not merely in 2Ki 24:8 is Jehoiachin designated as a youth of eighteen years at his accession, but Eze 19:5-9 makes him appear at least as old, since he is depicted as a young lion, who practised man-stealing, oppressed widows, and laid waste cities, abominations which a boy of eight years could not have committed. Against Bertheaus opinion, that it follows from 2Ki 24:12; 2Ki 24:15, Jer 22:26, where Jehoiachins mother is mentioned along with him, that he was still in his minority, and thus the present statement of the Chronist that he is only eight years old is correct, is the joint mention of the queen-mother in the account of the accession of a new king which is usual in the books of Kings, and occurs, for example, also in Jehoahaz (2Ki 23:31), Jehoiakim (2Ki 23:36), and Zedekiah (2Ki 24:18). For the name Jehoiachin, and its relation to the kindred form Jechoniah or Coniah, comp. on 2Ki 3:16.
2Ch 36:10. And at the turn of the year, in the spring, when men are wont to open the campaign (comp. 2Sa 11:1; 1Ki 20:22).And brought him to Babel (caused him to come) with the goodly vessels, etc. In the mention of these goodly vessels (as in 2Ch 32:27) there is an advance in comparison with some of the vessels, as in 2Ch 36:7. The spoliation under Jechoniah (598 b.c.) was more thorough than under Jehoiakim.And he made Zedekiah his brother king over Judah and Jerusalem. That this designation of Zedekiah, the last king before the exile, as the brother of Jehoiachin is inexact, and, according to 2Ki 24:17, to be explained by fathers brother (uncle,), or even directly changed into this term, is shown by the full list of Josiahs four sons already communicated by the Chronist, 1Ch 3:15 f. Comp. on this passage, especially on 1Ch 3:16, where also mention is made of Mattaniah, the name borne by Zedekiah before he ascended the throne.
9. Zedekiah: 2Ch 36:11-21. Comp. 2Ki 24:18 to 2Ki 25:21, also Jeremiah 52. and 1Es 1:44-55.Zedekiah was twenty-one years old. The younger Zedekiah, brother of Jehoiachin, and nephew of Mattaniah Zedekiah (see 1Ch 3:16), could not have been so old at the time when Jehoiachin, being eighteen years old, was deposed. The eleven years of Zedekiahs reign extend from 598 to 587.
2Ch 36:12. Humbled himself not before Jeremiah the prophet from the mouth of the Lord, who spoke from the mouth of God; comp. 2Ch 35:22; Jer 23:16. Of these prophetic warnings and threatenings addressed by Jeremiah to Zedekiah, Jer 21:4 ff. especially comes into account; comp. also Jer 37:2 ff.
2Ch 36:13. And he also rebelled against king Nebuchadnezzar. This revolt is also censured by the prophet Ezekiel (Eze 17:13 ff.) as a grievous transgression.And he stiffened his neck (showed himself stiff-necked; comp. 2Ki 17:14; Jer 19:15, etc.) and hardened his heart, made his heart firm. Comp. Deu 2:30, where God is said to harden and make stiffnecked; which does not, however, warrant the conclusion that he must also here be the subject of , as Bertheau thinks; comp., on the contrary, Deu 15:7.
2Ch 36:14. Also all the chiefs of the priests and the people transgressed very much; comp. Eze 8:6 ff., where priests and people are described as sunk in base idolatry under the last kings, Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin, and Zedekiah, while prominence is expressly given to the elders of the people (2Ch 36:11) and the priests (2Ch 36:16) as the chief participators in these abominations. Neither there nor here would a reference of the accusation concerning idolatrous abominations to an earlier time than that of the last kings, namely, to that of Manasseh and Amon, be justified (against Berth.). From the circumstance that in the prophetic discourses of Jeremiah such complaints of idolatry are less vehement under Zedekiah, no inference can be drawn against this view. The phrase: chiefs of the priests, denotes here, as in Ezr 10:5, the presidents of the twenty-four classes, together with the high priests, and therefore the same whom Ezekiel has in view in the twenty-five men in the temple; comp. Hitzig, Gesch. p. 238.
2Ch 36:15. Sent to them by his messengers, rising early and sending, constantly and earnestly; , as in Jer 26:5; Jer 29:19; Jer 35:14 f.Because He had compassion on His people, exercised forbearance toward them, did not wish to deliver them over instantly to condign punishment.
2Ch 36:16. And they mocked, literally, were mocking. (also occurring in Syriac in the sense of subsannantes) is . ., of like import with 30:10. Also the following (Hithp. of ), ape, befool, occurs only here; the equivalent pilel, see in Gen 27:12. On the contents of the present accusation, comp. especially Eze 33:22. If, then, at first only Ezekiel, the prophet of the exiles, is named as mocked by the people, yet it cannot be doubted that mocking and reproach were often cast upon the other prophets, especially Jeremiah, whose bold exhortations to repentance had to encounter so much opposition on the part of the ungodly population under the last kings before the exile. There is, therefore, in the plural messengers of God and prophets no exaggeration, though there may be some rhetorical generalization In the expression.Till there was no healing, till the threatening judgment could no longer be averted. Comp. on the phrase, 2Ch 21:18, 2Ch 30:20; Pro 6:15.
2Ch 36:17. And slew their young men with the sword. To , slew, or caused to slay, also is God the subject, as to the foregoing and following verbs. To bring in Nebuchadnezzar here as the subject is to import an unnecessary harshness of construction (against Keil, Neteler). The temple, where the young men were slain, is designated the house of the sanctuary, because they had profaned it by their idolatry; comp. 2Ch 36:14 b. The Sept. ( ) unnecessarily changes into (2Ch 7:20).The whole He gave into his hand; comp. Jer 27:6; Jer 32:3-4. The neutral , notwithstanding that persons only are previously named, is used, in view of the vessels and treasures about to be mentioned in the following verse; yet it may be rendered them all.
2Ch 36:19. And they burned; comp. Jer 39:8; 2Ki 25:9.And destroyed all its goodly vessels (comp. Isa 64:10, also 2Ch 36:10), literally, to destroy; comp. in 2Ch 12:12.
2Ch 36:20. And he carried away those that remained from the sword, literally, the remnant from the sword. The following words: and they became servants to him and his sons, coincide with the prophecy, Jer 27:7.
2Ch 36:21. To fulfil; , as in 1Ch 29:5; Dan 9:2. The oracle here quoted stands in Jer 25:11 f. (comp. Jer 29:10), where, however, only the seventy years duration of the Babylonish bondage is predicted; but nothing is said of a representation of these seventy years as an expiation or requital for the neglect of the sabbath years. This symbolizing of the seventy years duration of the exile predicted by Jeremiah, contained in the words: until the land enjoyed her sabbaths, is taken from the passage Lev 26:34, where such an expiation of neglected sabbath-year solemnities by an equally long time of desolation was announced to the people; and the added remark: all the days of the desolation she rested (kept a sabbath), is taken word for word from this passage of Leviticus. That there were exactly seventy neglected sabbath-years, and therefore a period of 490 years on account of which the seventy years of exile (with the beginning of the Persian monarchy as terminus ad quem, see 2Ch 36:20) were decreed, our author scarcely assumes. The terminus a quo of his reckoning of the neglected sabbath-years need not be sought exactly 490 years before the beginning of the exile (606 or 605), in the time of the last judges, Eli and Samuel; and we can scarcely suppose the whole period of the kingdom down to the exile to have been marked by the neglect of the sabbath-years, since under such theocratic sovereigns as David, Solomon, and Hezekiah, the observation of the precept in question was scarcely omitted. The whole statement is only approximate (like that in 2Ch 35:18 regarding the passover of Josiah, and its relation to the preceding one); it is in no way fitted to be the basis of any calculations, whether of the number of sabbath-years neglected till the exile, or of the point from which these acts of neglect date.
10. Close; The Return from the Captivity under Cyrus: 2Ch 36:22-23. Comp. Ezr 1:1-3 (also 1Es 2:1-5); and on the coincidence of the beginning of Ezra with the close of Chronicles, Introd. 2 and 3.And in the first year of Cyrus, in the first year of his sovereignty over the former Babylonian-Assyrian monarchy, immediately after the taking of Babylon. For the name Cyrus (. Pers. Quurus), see the expositions on Ezr 1:1 and Isa 44:28.That the word of the Lord might be fulfilled; (from perfici, 2Ch 29:34) thus = of the verse before, as the same prediction of Jeremiah is spoken of there as here.And he made proclamation, literally, let go a cry; comp. 2Ch 30:5.
2Ch 36:23. All the kingdoms of the earth hath the Lord God of heaven given me. In the same way as Necho, 2Ch 35:21, Cyrus knows and confesses himself the instrument or the anointed (Isa 45:1) of the most high, living, and only true God, but designates Him not by the common name God, like the former, but at once as Jehovah, the name of the God of the Jews, whose existence and identity with his own supreme god he at once acknowledges, and therefore as the God of heaven, by the title which his supreme god, Ahuramazda, was wont to receive at the heads of all the royal edicts of the Persian sovereign. Comp. Evangelical and Ethical Reflections, No. 3.Whoso is among you all of his people, the Lord his God (be) with him. That here probably is to be read instead of , see in Crit. Note. On the abrupt termination of the narrative after these words of the royal edict, see Introd. as quoted above.
Evangelical And Ethical Reflections And Homiletic Hints On 2 Chronicles 34-36
1. The last mighty outburst of the theocratic spirit under Josiah, which brought in at the same time the last flourishing epoch of the Jewish kingdom and people, is depicted by our author with comparative fulness in one respect, namely, as regards the great passover after the purging of the temple, which accords with his Levitical leanings, with much greater fulness than by the author of the books of Kings. If he not only celebrates the theocratic purity, exactitude, and legitimacy of this festival, as one the like of which had not been held during the whole period of the kings (from the days of Samuel the prophet, 2Ch 35:18), but praises the pious deeds of Josiah as it is written in the law of the Lord, 2Ch 35:26, designates the single case in which he renounced his character as a prince of peace, walking strictly according to law, as a disguising of himself, as being untrue to himself (2Ch 35:22), and in the very opening of his description gives him a commendation which was given to no other king, namely, that he walked in the ways of David his father, and declined not to the right hand nor to the left (2Ch 34:2), nothing of all this appears to be exaggerated; on the contrary, the whole extremely favourable picture of the prince is correctly conceived and faithfully rendered from the standpoint of our author. In the second book of Kings, while no specially Levitical leaning affects the pragmatism of the narrator, the praise of his walking in the footsteps of David, without declining to the right or left, is set forth with equal prominence; and a special aspect of his theocratic disposition and demeanour, his zeal in the extirpation of idolatry, is there described still more minutely and commended with more fulness (2Ki 23:4-20) than in the account before us, which compresses that which is here referred to, as already sufficiently known, into a brief sketch of a few verses. But as there, so here, it is manifest, amid the glory of his theocratic success, that his strenuous efforts were unsatisfactory, and insufficient to effect a permanent recovery, a true regeneration of the people of God. That, notwithstanding the sincerity of his conversion, the Lord turned not from the great hotness of His anger which was kindled against Judah because of the provocations of Manasseh, but rather the divine sentence of extirpation against the kingdom of Judah remained unrevoked (2Ki 23:26 f.),this our author certainly does not say in the express words of the older parallel text; indeed he appears, according to 2Ch 34:33, to add to the testimony for the sincerity of the kings conversion the assurance of the reality of the conversion of the people, when he writes: All his days they departed not from the Lord God of their fathers. But even this all his days contains a fatal limitation of the praise here bestowed on the endeavours of Josiah; and the lamentable state of idolatrous degeneracy which betrayed itself immediately under his sons (2Ch 36:5 ff.), and which was the fault no less of the maladministration of these last kings than of the apostasy of the chiefs of the priests and the people (2Ch 36:14), sufficiently shows that the adherence of Judah to the law of the Lord during the period from the reform of Josiah to his death was by no means sincere or truly genuine, but rather the complaints uttered in the last days of the kingdom by Jeremiah, of the unfaithfulness, the inner apostasy, and immorality, uncleanness, corruption indeed, of the people (Jeremiah 11, 13, 25, etc.), were fully justified. The insufficiency of mere reforms of the theocratic worship, healing only the surface, not the deep seat of the wound, and accordingly, as all that could serve the king as the standard for his reforming action lay in the ordinances of worship, the inadequacy of the law to the production of true life, that (Rom 8:3), that impotence of the law to secure true freedom, true righteousness, and assured hope of the heavenly inheritance (Gal 3:4; Romans 7),all this came out with astonishing clearness in the history of the reform of Josiah, which was pursued with so much zeal and sudden success, and yet yielded so transient a result. The king hears the words of the law discovered in the temple; the curses which it pronounces on the infidelity of the apostates pierce through his heart; he rends his garments, weeps, and bows down in deep, sincere sorrow before God. He succeeds also in inspiring the rulers of the people, if not with the same spirit of sincere repentance, yet with the fiery zeal that turns to the monuments and instruments of idolatry, and repeats the deeds of an Elijah. And what does he effect by all this? The stern message of Huldah announces this to him: for himself, and for the duration of his reign, he shall enjoy the blessings of walking with God; in peace he shall be gathered to his fathers sepulchres; his eyes shall not see air the misfortune which the Lord is determined to bring upon his kingdom and city; for His wrath is now once for all poured out on this place, and nothing is now able to quench it (2Ch 34:23-28). It is impossible more thoroughly and powerfully to exemplify and exhibit what is the curse which the law works (Gal 3:13) than by these words of Huldah, of which it can scarcely be said whether they are more an exhortation to repentance or a promise of mercy (comp. the in many ways similar address of Azariah ben Oded to King Asa, 2Ch 15:1-7). And not even the salvation and blessing which they promise the king on account of his personal pietythat he shall depart in peace to his fathersis fulfilled in a perfectly satisfactory way. Josiah departs before he has seen all the misfortune that the Lord has threatened to send, but as a brand plucked from the fire! Not in a painless way is he brought home to his fathers, but through conflict, war, and bloodshed, as he himself had willed. The only infidelity of which he made himself guilty in an otherwise irreproachable walk is avenged by a certainly only temporal (slaying only the body, not the soul), but yet terribly sharp and severe punishment; and even thereby is the series of judgments which bring on the end of the Jewish state and kingdom immediately introduced.
2. Josiahs defeat and tragic decease is the beginning of the end. As a fair but rapidly-overspreading evening glow after a dull, rainy day indicates the approaching nightfall, so his reform of worship, as the last powerful movement of the theocratic spirit, almost immediately precedes the sinking of the people of God into the murky night of political annihilation and protracted subjugation. It goes rapidly down, after its better administration of the people and the kingdom had once risen to a certain height; and, like that better emperor of the house of Palologus shortly before the fall of the Byzantine Empire, or like the reign of Louis XVI. as the forerunner of the terror of the French Revolution, had delayed for a short time the execution of the sentence of extirpation, already ripened into an inevitable decree under the last preceding kings. The Chronist indicates this rapid riding of the dead that came on after the decease of Josiah, this entrance of the galloping consumption into the long since internally rotten and putrid state of Judah, by the extreme brevity with which he despatches the last four reigns. In a way more summary still than the author of the books of Kings, who likewise does not dwell very long on them, he depicts the ungodly practice of the first three successors of Josiah, to none of whom he devotes more than four verses, and for none of whom he has any word of praise or acknowledgmentnot even for Jehoahaz, with respect to whom he does not indeed employ the formula used of the following two, in harmony with 2 Kings, and he did that which was evil before the Lord (comp., on the contrary, 2Ki 23:32), but simply on account of his epitomizing habit, as he hastens to the end, not because he cherished any better opinion of him. On Zedekiah he dwells somewhat longer; but not to report more fully the public acts of this unfortunate last of the Davidic kings, nor to depict the terrible catastrophe of wasting and destruction forming the close of his reign with the same fulness as in 2 Kings 25 or Jeremiah 52, but only to exhibit the ungodliness and perversity, carried out to the end, of the course of both king and people, in a pragmatic, reflective way, as the cause of the inevitable judgment (see vers. 1316), and to display the contrast between this course and the incessant but always ineffectual cries of admonition and warning coming from the prophet Jeremiah (vers. 12, 21). His report of the fall of Jerusalem and the beginning of the Babylonish captivity (vers. 1720) is, compared with the fuller accounts of the parallels, in fact, as compendious as possible, but by its very conciseness and brevity produces only the deeper and more powerful impression.
3. The conclusion of his historical account, 2Ch 36:22-23, is also characteristic for the standpoint and method of our author. While the author of the books of Kings (2Ki 25:27-30) closes with a notice of the release of the captive king Jehoiachin in the middle of the exile, by the grace of the Babylonian king Evilmerodach, and thus, in correspondence with his paramount interest in the personal fate of the king, reports a mere prelude of the final release of Judah from the exile, and not the very release itself, our work closes with a notice, though brief, of the cessation of servitude in a foreign land by the gracious edict of Cyrus. In this characteristic trait is exhibited the historian who bears on his priestly heart the fortune of the whole people, not merely of the royal house. As he had set forth immediately before the divinely decreed and prophetically attested necessity of a servitude of seventy years, to compensate for the past neglect of seventy sabbath-years, so he cannot but point, at the close of his work, to the final fulfilment of this prediction. The internal organic connection of this closing notice, by which the fair perspective opens into a new and more fruitful beginning of the history of the covenant people after the exile, with that which was recorded immediately before concerning the last kings before the exile and their downfall, is as clear as day, and precludes any such opinion as that the contents of 2Ch 36:22-23 stood originally only at the beginning of Ezra, and was afterwards Added at the close of our work by a later hand (comp. Introd. 3, p. 7). But these closing Verses betray their originality and integral connection with the whole preceding work not only by the manifest reference to predictions of Jeremiah and Moses quoted in ver. 21, but also by this, that they add to that earlier testimony from the mouth of Necho to the fate of Israel-Judah as divinely decreed and carried on (2Ch 35:21) by the counsels of the supreme living God, the God of heaven (2Ch 36:22), a second such testimony on the part of a holder of the heathen world-power; as if it were intended to prove to superfluity that Gods judicially strict but also gracious rule over His deeply guilty and corrupt people might be known in its reality, and according to its salutary effect on the people, even on the part of the heathen executors of His judgments. Necho and Cyrus appearing as witnesses of the divine truth, as involuntary and more or less unconscious heathen prophetic announcers of the severity and the goodness of God in reference to the destiny of His people, as prophetic dispensers of blessing to Israel,as Balaam formerly,the one as a foe, but the other as a friend and protector, yea, as the type of its future Messiah (comp. Isa 45:1);in this light the close of our history presents the relations of the heathen world-powers to the people of God when entering the period of its development after the exile. His representation in this respect corresponds with the mode of thought of the prophets before the exile, especially Jeremiah, to whom the world-power external to Israel had ceased to appear as something absolutely opposed to God, so that they frequently warn their people against foolish opposition to it, and inculcate willing submission to its authority (comp. Bibelw. XV. p. X. ff., and especially E. Vilmar, Der Prophet Jeremia, in the monthly journal Bew, des Glaubens, Bd. v. 1869, p. 19 ff.); and on the other hand, with the view of the world taken by the prophetic men of God of and after the exile, as Daniel, Zechariah, etc., in accordance with which the dependence of the destiny of Israel on such of the world-powers as were occasional executors of the judicial and beneficent providence of God is presupposed as a thing understood of itself, a certain mission-call of Israel in reference to the heathen nations around is preached, and the continuance of this state to the entrance of the Messianic era is announced (comp. Bibelw. Bd. xvii. pp. 3 f., 37 f., 41; also Hengstenb. Gesch. des Reiches Gottes, ii. 2, p. 277 ff.). It is of no small consequence that the Old Testament Chronicles, the most comprehensive historical work of sacred literature, closes with such universalistic views of Israels call of salvation to all nations, and of the future union of all in faith in Jehovah as the one and only true God. Its end thus turns to its beginning. Setting out from the first Adam, the author concludes his work with the consoling expectation of the future and not far distant, but rather, in the reconstruction of the theocracy promoted by the edict of Cyrus, already guaranteed and necessarily involved restitution of the blessed kingdom of the second Adam, the Redeemer of the world.
Footnotes:
[1] is probably an error of transcription for
[2]Instead of the Keri , that appears formed after Eze 26:9, or Neh 4:7, but yields not suitable sense, we should point , in ruinis eorum (comp. Psa 109:10). The Kethib: , he chose (examined, searched) their houses, is scarcely warranted by the usage of speech.
[3]The Kethib is undoubtedly to be preferred to the Keri , and they returned.
[4]For the Syr. presents , which seems to be the original reading according to 2Ki 22:12.
[5]For is to be read, according to the Sept: , and whom the king had commanded.,
[6] Kethib , have burned offerings; Piel, as 2Ki 22:17 : have burned incense.
[7] Kethib , perhaps only a slip of the pen for (Keri), the teaching, instructing; some mss. give this directly as the Kethib; some have , which is perhaps only another way of miswriting the original .
[8]The Kethib (imp. Niph. make you ready) is undoubtedly to be preferred to the Keri , prepare ye (comp. 2Ch 35:6).
[9]The difficult phrase is not translated by the Sept.; the Vulg. gives the very free rendering: sed contra aliam pugno domum. The original text is perhaps still to be discovered from 1Es 1:25 : , namely, (comp. also Josephus, Antiq. x. 5, 1). So at least O. F. Fritzsche (on 1 Esdras), Berth., and Kamph.
[10]Instead of , disfigured, unrobed himself, the Sept. read () (comp. 2Ch 25:11); the Vulg. (prparavit) and 1 Esdras () appear only to have run into the indefinite.
[11]Instead of , and removed, put him down, the Sept. read () , agreeing with 2Ki 23:33. But the Vulg., Syr., and 1 Esdras confirm the Masoretic reading The last (1Es 1:33) seems to have read , with a supplement which Berth., Kamp., and others pronounce necessary before .
[12]The Sept., Vulg., and 1 Esdras change into the past ; comp. Exeg. Expl.
[13] , though the Sept. and Vulg. give the number 8, is certainly an error of the pen for ; comp 2Ki 24:8, also some Hebr. manuscripts, the Syr. and Arab. in our passage.
[14]For the parallels Ezr 1:3 and 1Es 2:5 present , which is perhaps the original form.
[15]Not Harham, as Luther and after him also Bhr (changing the into ) write
[16]Recently G. Maspero (De Carchemis oppidi situ et historia antiquissima, Lut. Par. 1872) has attempted to identify Carchemish with the town Mabug = k or Hierapolis, north-east of Aleppo, following the lead of Ephraem on 2Ki 23:30.
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange
CONTENTS
This chapter brings us acquainted with the reign of Josiah. He destroyeth idolatry; repaireth the temple; the book of the law being found in the house of the Lord, Josiah causeth it to be read. The king reneweth the covenant.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
The parallel history of this we have, 2Ki 23 to which I refer the Reader, and for shortness sake shall only call the attention of the Reader to such points in the history as were not noticed in that.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
King Josiah
2Ch 34
WE have been accustomed to the play of light and shade in these historic studies; we have had a good deal of shade in the last two reigns. Now comes light. Josiah was next made king.
“And he reigned in Jerusalem one and thirty years” ( 2Ch 34:1 ).
“And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, and walked in the ways of David his father, and declined neither to the right hand, nor to the left” ( 2Ch 34:2 ).
Then he had more fathers than one. That is the explanation. You are not the son of the man that went immediately before you; you are his son only in a very incidental manner. Josiah was the son of “David his father,” the larger father, the deeper root, the elect of God; a sun fouled by many a black spot, but a shining orb notwithstanding.
We must enlarge our view if we would come to right conclusions regarding many mysteries. Amon was but a link in the chain. The bad man here, or the good man there, taken in his solitariness, is but a comparatively trivial incident in life’s tragedy. Heredity is not from one to two; it is from one to the last; from the beginning to the ending. In every man there lives all the humanity that ever lived. We are fearfully and wonderfully made not physically only, but morally, religiously, temperamentally. All the kings live in the last king or the reigning monarch. We are one humanity. Solidarity has its lessons as well as individuality. We know not which of our ancestors comes up in us at this moment or that now the tiger, now the eagle; now the praying mother, now the daring sire; now some mean soul that got into the current by a mystery never to be explained; now the cunning, watchful, patient deceiver, who can wait for nights at a time and never complain of the dark or the cold; and now the hero that never had a fear; the philanthropist that loved the world; the mother that never looked otherwise than God himself would have her look. We can never tell which of our ancestors is really thinking in us, speaking through us; we cannot tell the accent of the immediate consciousness; these are mysteries, and when the judgment comes it will be based upon all the ground, and not upon incidental points here and there, which by their very solitariness may be easily misjudged. Blessed be God for some men who take us back into ancient history. Josiah, like some other of the kings of Judah, is traced immediately, as it were, to David. There are men who seem to come up from centuries: how quaint they are! what unique views they take of life, education, discipline, and destiny! how curiously, with what a sub-consciousness, they think and pray and work! They are mysteries, they are called eccentricities, they are never denominated commonplaces; they speak in the nineteenth century the language of four thousand years ago; and let the news of the day be what it may, when they relate it it has about it all the flavour of an Old Testament story. We cannot tell, let us repeat, who may be uppermost in us at any particular moment.
Beautiful is the picture of Josiah’s reign
“While he was yet young he began to seek after the God of David his father” ( 2Ch 34:3 ).
What are these home instincts? What are these filial inspirations? What is this mysterious spirit of groping that is in some men? They move as if they were blind, yet as if they saw with their finger tips, for they seem to know in what direction to move; they say, The right God is not here; it is another God we want larger, the living and true God; all these wooden images, all these carved figures, have no look of recognition in their faces; there is no “speculation in their eyes,” there is no flush of blood-colour in their cheeks; it is another God O that we knew where we might find him! Put the two pictures together: Amon was young, Josiah was younger still in years; the one was trespassing more and more, and the other whilst yet young “began to seek.” Sweet words are these! to “begin “; not only to begin, but to “begin to seek.” What suggestions of modesty, lowliness, and insignificance of effort! What determination expressed in simple patience! There is no violence, no demonstrativeness, nothing of the nature of ostentation, but inquiry, waiting, expectancy, a look at the heavens that has a moral telescope to aid its searching; a look that means: I know not from what part of the heavens the Lord God may come, but from some point he will presently descend, and it is for me to be seeking after him, to be prepared to receive him, come whence he may. We can surely begin to seek God; we can at least ask very serious questions; we can at least express dissatisfaction with the gods that are ruling the modern age; we must never rest until we have seen, in the highest sense of vision, the God of eternity. Let “David” here stand, not for a mere personality, but as a sign, pointing to a still remoter antiquity, and that antiquity referring us to eternity itself. Beware of the gods of speculation, the little idols of conjecture, invented gods, dressed and decorated for a plain sum in the current money of the day. The God whom we worship must come up from eternity, and must absorb the present time and glorify it by his condescension. There will be mystery. Certainly there will be mystery, and mystery is no small part of true religion. Mystery may be a cloud in which things are done which could not be done in the glare of white light. It is impossible to have religion without mystery, and without mystery it is impossible to have any great life. We are so made that we must look up. The constitution of man is such that merely looking round does not satisfy him. Call it an ambition, if you are afraid of real names. Yet there it is a spirit that makes man look up and mutely ask questions of the highest point he can see. Does the ox gaze upon the stars? Does the beast of the field look for the whitening of the east, and revel when the sun sinks on his couch of glory like a dying king? What is this in man that says, There is something more than we see: the dawn is but the indication of a dawn behind it; what is seen is but a door, not yet open, covering that which is unseen and eternal? Along this line of inquiry let us find encouragement, illumination, comfort, hope.
In the time of Josiah a great discovery was made. When the house of the Lord was being repaired, a great prize was found: “Hilkiah the priest found a book” ( 2Ch 34:14 ). That is the greatest finding in all history, so far as the education of the race is concerned. He found a book: what book was it? “A book of the law of the Lord given by Moses.” Hilkiah communicated with Shaphan the scribe, and said, “I have found the book of the law in the house of the Lord. And Hilkiah delivered the book to Shaphan. And Shaphan carried the book to the king, and brought the king word back again,” and when the law was read by Huldah the prophetess, she uttered words that made the king and the people pale. There was judgment yet to be poured out; wrath had only been slumbering, and it was to express itself upon all the people. But Josiah was to be saved from the storm. Said that motherly voice: “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.”
“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…. And he caused all that were present in Jerusalem and Benjamin to stand to it”( 2Ch 34:31-32 ).
There must be times of consecration; there must be solemn hours in life in which the universal consciousness is touched with a sense of penitence and obligation, and when the whole people pray, in silence if not in speech. This is always the result of finding the “book of the law of the Lord.” There are different ways of finding that book; we come upon it in Nature; we see it page by page in Providence; we read some of its more solemn lessons in penalties, in issues that indicate that life is watched and not unwatched; that life will be judged and not allowed to go for want of criticism; we find it in a written form in what is called the Bible, the Book; a most wondrous composition, written by men who never saw one another, written in different ages of the world’s history, written in different languages, yet with a marvellous consensus of moral opinion and moral demand; verily a book of righteousness, hating all sin, never hesitating to dig hell for unrepented guilt. We have not to invent a Bible; we have not to invent a morality; we are not called upon to refer to one another, saying deferentially, What is your view of moral goodness moral purity, social righteousness? Blessed be God, no man is consulted about this; it is ours to obey. Practice soon goes wrong when there is no spiritual revelation. Let the Bible be withdrawn from society, and morality will soon withdraw along with it. Morality will then become a subject of speculation and controversy, and will be so cobwebbed by different opinions and contradictory criticisms, that men will say, Seeing there is so much discussion about what is right and what is wrong, let us do what is good in our own eyes.
We need the Book stern, definite, authoritative book saying, “Thou shalt thou shalt not.” Spiritual revelation can only be rightly interpreted by spiritual minds. That is the priestly authority which we need namely, spirituality, moral sympathy. The man whose heart is purest will read the Bible with the most perfect comprehension of its meaning, and in the long run he will be the reigning critic. The time will come when letters will be divine as to their presence, when literary criticism will be valued at its proper price, and set down in its proper sphere, a very high and important sphere; but the time will also come when he will be pre-eminently consulted who has the genius of a pure heart; who has the inspiration of grace; who, mayhap not knowing so much as many others about the letter, can see the meaning, feel it, touch it, take it out, and show it; and all men shall say when looking upon it, This is none other than the beauty of the Lord; this is the very vision of God. When we find the book of the law, let us not shrink from finding its judgments as well as its gospels. The prophecies must all be fulfilled, when they indicate that the wicked shall be destroyed: shall be driven away in the wrath of God. The Bible is not all gospel; or where it is all gospel it involves the element of judgment and the certainty of doom. It is all gospel in that it never allows one good man to die, to perish, to be punished. It searches, criticises, distinguishes, discriminates, takes away the jewel from the common pebble, and loses nothing, and allows nothing to be lost but “the son of perdition,” and when he sinks into his destiny there is no soul but says Amen.
Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker
XVIII
THE REIGNS OF MANASSEH, AMON, AND JOSIAH
2Ki 21:1-23
We take up in this chapter the reigns of Manasseh, Amon, and Josiah. We saw at the close of the last chapter the complete vindication of Isaiah as a prophet, the miraculous deliverance of Judah and Jerusalem from the hand of the Assyrians by the destruction of the army, and the apparent triumph of the principles of right and of good in the kingdom of Judah, the continued prosperity of the reign of Hezekiah, and the paramount influence of the prophet Isaiah.
One would naturally expect a period of great religious revival and national prosperity to follow such a good king as Hezekiah; that he would leave an heir worthy of his name, also that Judah would now enter upon a long career of prosperity and ascendancy among the nations of the world. But we must not deceive ourselves as to the condition of the people in Judah and Jerusalem. We read in Isaiah a description of the people: “In that day did the Lord God of Hosts, call to weeping and to mourning, and to baldness, and to girding with sackcloth: and, behold, joy and gladness, slaying oxen and killing sheep, eating flesh and drinking wine: Let us eat and drink for tomorrow we may die.” There is still an utter absence of faith in Jehovah: “And it was revealed in mine ears by the Lord of hosts. Surely this iniquity shall not be purged from you till ye die, said the Lord God of Israel.” We see by this that the masses of the people were still practically incorrigible in their religious deterioration. “Wherefore, the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honor me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men, therefore behold, I will proceed to do a marvelous work among this people.” These passages give a little glimpse into the inner life of the people. But the magnificent work of Isaiah and the goodness of Hezekiah have had one splendid result, viz: Judah and Jerusalem have been saved from the yoke of the Assyrians. They are now free and for many years they pay no tribute to that foreign power.
Manasseh was twelve years old when he came to the throne and his was the longest reign fifty and five years of any king of Judah. Uzziah reigned fifty-two years altogether. We would expect a good boy to be raised up in such a home as that of Hezekiah, but instead, he was just the opposite of his father in almost every respect, which shows that, perhaps, even in the palace of Jerusalem there was a taint of Baal worship and there were those who adhered to it and taught it to the young prince. The description of Manasseh’s reign is terrible. The idolatrous party attains the ascendancy almost as soon as he comes to the throne, and Manasseh begins at once to undo all the work that had been done by Isaiah and Hezekiah. There is a great revival of idolatry. We are reminded of Rev 20:1-10 , the first resurrection representing a great revival of righteousness throughout the world as if there were life from the dead, and the second resurrection the loosing of Satan ushering in a revival of evil. This is on a small scale the same thing. Notice what Manasseh did: “For he built again the high places which Hezekiah destroyed; and he reared up altars for Baal, and made an Asherah” an image representing the female deity, the worship of which was really licentiousness. He worshiped all the hosts of heaven, something apparently new among those kings. Probably this kind of worship was imported from Assyria or from Babylon, quite probably from Babylon. We recall that Ahaz imported something from Damarcus, a new style of altar. Now Manasseh imports the new system of worship of the hosts of heaven from Assyria or Babylon. He built altars in the house of Jehovah, equaling Ahaz in his desecration of that sacred place. He built altars for all the hosts of heaven in the two courts of the house of the Lord, “And he made his son to pass through the fire, and practiced augury, and used enchantments, and dealt with them that had familiar spirits, and with wizards” went after the fortunetellers, which is about as sure a sign of the deterioration of character as we find. It is a great offense against Almighty God to go to these people to find out his will, when he has given right ways of finding it out. “And he set the graven image of Asherah, that he made, in the house of which the Lord said to David and to Solomon his son. In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, will I put my name forever.” Thus we see the idol worship re-established in Judah with its center in the Temple, and the result is: “And Manasseh made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to err, so that they did evil more than did the nations whom the Lord destroyed before the children of Israel.”
Next we notice the change of rulers in Assyria. Sennacherib was slain by his two sons in an insurrection that was intended to place a new monarch on the throne of Assyria. They escaped, and after five months of insurrection and revolt and disturbance Esarhaddon, another son, took his place upon the throne. We are told in one of the lists of Esarhaddon that Manasseh king of Judah paid him tribute. We are not sure just when Manasseh began to pay tribute, but in one of his western expeditions Esarhaddon must have come close to Judah and Jerusalem, and Manasseh in order to keep his throne, began to pay him regular tribute. How long he did this we are not told, but we know that Esarhaddon conquered Egypt with all the western states of Asia and made them pay tribute, and we know also that when his son succeeded him upon the throne, that was a signal for a general revolt among those nations, and it seems almost certain that Manasseh was one of those who revolted and refused to pay tribute. As a consequence Manasseh was taken captive by the king of Assyria and led away in chains to Babylon. During all this time there were some servants of God, prophets, warning him: “And the Lord spake by his servants the prophets, saying, Because Manasseh king of Judah hath done these abominations, and hath done wickedly above all that the Amorites did, which were before him and hath made Judah also to sin with his idols: therefore thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel, Behold I bring such evil upon Jerusalem and Judah, and whosoever hears of it, both his ears shall tingle. And I will stretch over Jerusalem the line of Samaria, and the plummet of the house of Ahab: and I will wipe Jerusalem as a man wipeth a dish, wiping it and turning it upside down. And I will cast off the remnant of mine inheritance, and deliver them into the hand of their enemies.” That was to be the result of Manasseh’s idolatry and wicked reign. The doom is settled, the fate of Jerusalem is inevitable. The seeds of idolatry have been sown in the people’s hearts, and so grown in their hearts and lives that they are incorrigible and salvation is impossible. It is possible for a nation to go so far into sin that God must withdraw his mercy from it; it is also possible for an individual to go so far that even the Spirit of God cannot stem the tide of evil within him.
As a result of this rebellion Manasseh is taken captive by the king of Assyria, and as a result of his captivity and imprisonment Manasseh comes to himself and repents. When he was in distress “He sought the Lord his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers and he prayed unto him.” In the Apocrypha we have that prayer. Here is a part of it: “O Lord Almighty, that art in heaven, thou God of our fathers, of Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and of their righteous seed. . . . Thou, O Lord, according to thy great goodness hast promised repentance and forgiveness to them that have sinned against thee: and of thine infinite mercies hast appointed repentance unto sinners, that they may be saved. Thou therefore, O Lord, thou art the God of the just, hast not appointed repentance to the just, to Abraham, and Jacob, which have not sinned against thee. But thou hast appointed repentance unto me that am a sinner: for I have sinned above the number of the sands of the sea. My transgressions are multiplied, O Lord: my transgressions are multiplied and I am not worthy to behold and see the height of heaven for the multitude of iniquities. . . . I have provoked thy wrath and done that which is evil in thy sight. I did not thy will neither kept I thy commandments. . . . I bow the knee of mine heart, beseeching thee of grace; I have sinned, O Lord, I have sinned, and I acknowledge mine iniquities: but, I humbly beseech thee, forgive me, O Lord, forgive me, and destroy me not with mine iniquities.” That prayer may or may not be genuine, but it certainly is a penitent one. It is not an inspired prayer. Manasseh was restored to his kingdom on his pledge of fealty and payment of tribute to the Assyrian monarch, for under no other conditions would an Assyrian king release him and restore him to his kingdom.
Now he seeks to undo in the rest of his life all the evil that he had done. He builds the outer wall of the city of David, which had doubtless been thrown down or injured by the Assyrians. He compassed about Ophel, which is the southeastern division of the city of Jerusalem, put captains in all the fenced cities of Judah, “And he took away the strange gods, and the idol out of the house of the Lord, and all the altars that he had built in the mount of the house of the Lord, and in Jerusalem, and cast them out of the city. And he built up the altar of the Lord, and offered thereon sacrifices of peace offerings and of thanksgiving, and commanded Judah to serve the Lord, the God of Israel.” But it was too late. Manasseh died, having to some extent redeemed the evil of his early reign, but was not buried in the sepulchers of the kings. During that terrible revival of idolatry and of evil, there was a severe persecution against all the righteous people, especially the prophets, so severe that the blood of the prophets and righteous people was spilled like water in Jerusalem. During that period, tradition says, Isaiah was sawn asunder. It is a tradition which goes far back, and is probably true. Thus during that terrible persecution in the reign of Manasseh, Isaiah met his death.
Now we take up the reign of Amon, son of Manasseh. He reigned but two years and walked in the footsteps of his father Manasseh, kept up the idolatrous worship, promulgated heathenism, learned no lessons from his father’s sins, repentance, remorse, and reformation, and at the end of two years by means of a palace insurrection not an insurrection among the people, but a palace insurrection he was put to death. Why this insurrection came, and why they sought to put Amon to death we do not know. Certainly it could not have been the work of the prophetic class, who were true to Jehovah. That class of men do not murder, and yet what class of people were there who desired the death of Amon since he favored idolatry? We have so little light that we cannot settle the question. The people at once rose up and the murderers of the king were put to death, and Josiah, only eight years old) the son of Amon was put on the throne.
So now we come to the reign of Josiah, the best of all the kings, a man against whom nothing can be said; we have a description of his character: “And he did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord, and walked in all the ways of David his father, and turned not aside to the right hand or to the left.
And like unto him was there no king before him, that turned to the Lord with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his might, according to the law of Moses; neither after him arose there any like him.” But in spite of the fact that there was such a king upon the throne, as nearly perfect in character as any king ever was, the sin of Judah still remained, too deep dyed and too great to be forgiven by the Lord, though God defers the evil day till Josiah has passed from the earth. Josiah began in the eighth year of his reign to make reformations in his kingdom, and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem from all its high places, and the image of Asherah, and the graven images and the molten images, and brake down the altars of Baalim in his presence, and even took the bones of the priests that were buried there, and burned them upon the altars, desecrating them so that they would not use them any more. He carried on a drastic reformation as early as he was able to do so, beginning at sixteen years of age, and when twenty, redoubling his vigor. The next work was to repair the Temple. When twenty-six years of age he gave orders for it to be repaired, and the man that carried on the reformation and renovation of the Temple was Hilkiah of whom we shall speak later. Behind Josiah, working with and among the people, is another great prophet, Jeremiah. No doubt he was one of the powers behind the throne, one of the great forces which inspired Josiah to carry on his work, for in this period Jeremiah was in the first part of his career. So Josiah, helped by Hilkiah and Jeremiah, repaired the Temple, built it, rededicated it, sacrificed and kept the Passover, etc.
While that was going on one of the principal events of his reign occurred. The Temple had been desecrated for nearly forty years. It had been broken down, and now while they were repairing it, clearing away the rubbish from the altars, perhaps into the holy of holies, and to the ark of the covenant, Hilkiah the high priest found a book. It was the book of the Law given by the hand of Moses. Hilkiah at once spoke to Shaphan the scribe and handed the book to him, and Shaphan took it before the king. It is certain that the book discovered there contained the book of Deuteronomy. The book of Deuteronomy (Deuteronomy 27-28) contains the curses that would come upon the nation (Israel) if it forsook the law of God. I have no doubt that this section was read before king Josiah, and no monarch could but tremble and shudder if he heard those words of Moses. Josiah rent his clothes, and he sent for the prophetess, Huldah. Josiah remembered that the kingdom had committed all the sins Moses here mentioned. He knew that the evils threatened must inevitably come, and that meant his kingdom and his throne would go down in utter and overwhelming shame.
They went to the prophetess, Huldah, and she said, “These things are true; they shall come to pass,” but adds this: “Thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel, Tell ye the man that sent you unto 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 is my wrath poured out upon this place, and it shall not be quenched. But unto the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of the Lord, thus shall ye say to him, Thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel: as touching the words which thou hast heard, because thine heart was tender, and thou didst humble thyself before God, when thou heardest his word against this place and against the inhabitants thereof, and hast humbled thyself before me, and hast rent thy clothes, and wept before me, I also have heard thee, 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.”
Thus Josiah trembling beneath the terrible curse that must inevitably come, had this assurance, which leaves some hope and courage in his heart, that it would not come in his day, but that he should see peace. Then what does Josiah do? The next thing is to gather together all the elders of all Judah and Jerusalem and have the book read before them. There were probably many idolatrous men among them, but when summoned thus by the king they came and on hearing the book of the law read with curses there pronounced, they concurred with Josiah and the nation thus represented, renewed its covenant with God. The old covenant that had been broken was now renewed and they vowed that they would keep his commandments and testimonies and statutes with all their heart and soul. This was an epoch in the life of Josiah and of the nation and in the life of Jeremiah also, for we find in Jer 11 that it had a great effect upon his preaching. He had been prophesying several years before this, and in chapter II we see that his preaching took a new turn: “Thus saith the Lord, hear ye the words of his covenant, and speak unto the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.”
This furnished Jeremiah with a text, and he goes forth preaching with marvelous power on the basis of this great covenant renewed because of the finding of the Law. As soon as the Law was found Josiah carried on his reformation even more drastically than before. The work had never been completed. Now Josiah carries it to completion. Notice what he does: brings forth out of the Temple of the Lord all the vessels that were made for the worship of Baal and for the Asherah and all the hosts of heaven; put down all the idolatrous priests; brought out the image of Asherah from the Temple; broke down the houses of the Sodomites where they carried on their abominations under the name of religion; degraded the priests that bad been officiating at the high places; defiled Topheth, the place where they had been causing their sons to pass through the fire to the god, Molech; took away the horses that the king of Judah had made and had given to the sun, images of horses representing a part of the idolatrous worship of some of their deities; removed all the altars and destroyed the high places and desecrated them by burning the bones of the priests thereon. It was as drastic and as complete as could be made.
But it is only outward. Josiah didn’t turn the people’s hearts, and Jeremiah who had been prophesying all this time at last comes to the conclusion the first man in the history of revelation that “The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, who can know it?” And the only way that Israel could be saved was to be saved through a new covenant which would write the laws of God upon their hearts and put them in their minds.
In connection with his great reformation Josiah went to the Northern Kingdom and defiled the altar of Bethel in fulfilment of the prophecy of the old man of God who had come up from Judah and warned Jeroboam against his departure from the worship of Jehovah in going after the calves of Dan and Bethel. But he spared the old prophet’s monument. Now he kept the Passover as it had not been kept for many years; he gathered together all the people of Israel far and near, even from the north. Notice in 2Ch 35:7 that he “gave to the children of the people, of the flock, lambs and kids, all of them for the passover.” To the poor people who could not afford it, Josiah gave offerings for the passover, “and the princes gave freewill offerings.” The Passover was kept, as it had not been kept since the days of Samuel.
Now we would expect this to result in a revival, a long period of blessing and of the true worship of God, but it was only outward; it was not deep in heart; it was not lasting; Josiah did his noblest, and his name is one of the most blessed in all the annals of kings. He tried to prevent the awful doom of Judah, but “the times were out of joint,” and the sin of Judah was so deep and terrible that nothing could check it. The tears of Jeremiah, the most pathetic of all the figures in prophetic history, after forty years of effort, failed to do it.
We now come to the death of Josiah. It is quite probable that Josiah had to pay tribute to the kingdom of Assyria during all his reign. Manasseh did, and it is quite probable that Josiah felt himself under obligation to the king of Assyria, and this fact may account for the strange action which led to his death. During this time Egypt had risen to power; a very able king was on the throne, Pharaoh-necoh, and the old time rivalry between Egypt and Assyria had revived. Egypt wanted all the world and Assyria wanted all the land next to hers, and those two great nations, one in the Nile Valley and the other in the Mesopotamian Valley, were always trying to conquer each other. Now Pharaoh-necho was coming up the coast of Palestine to meet the Assyrians. It seems that Josiah felt himself duty bound to help Assyria and check Pharaoh’s progress, for he marched out against him to fight a little kingdom, Judah, little more than the city of Jerusalem itself against the king of Egypt. The king of Egypt warned him: “Now, don’t you meddle with me. I come not against thee this day, but against the house wherewith I have war; and God hath commanded me to make haste: forbear thee from meddling with God, who is with me: that he destroy thee not.” For some reason Josiah determined to fight him and check him on his way. They met in the valley of Esdraelon, then called the valley of Megiddo; the battle was joined; Josiah, though he disguised himself, was wounded by the archers and turned about to flee to Jerusalem and died. He was cut off after a reign of not more than thirty years, in the middle of one of the most glorious and useful reigns that Judah ever witnessed. There was great grief. All Jerusalem and Judah mourned for Josiah. Jeremiah lamented sorely, and we can understand why. Jeremiah wept because he could see plainly the hope of the kingdom was gone, and the doom now was swift and sure. “All the singing men and singing women speak of Josiah in their lamentations until this day,” meaning, of course, when this was written. “And they made them an ordinance in Israel: and, behold, they are written in the lamentations.” The book of Lamentations written by Jeremiah, is not referred to here; it must have been a collection of songs of that nature written and preserved. We do not possess them now, as they have been lost. It seemed that the light of Judah had gone out, and the only thing to be done was to wait patiently until the end came, and it came before very long.
QUESTIONS
1. Give a general statement of the condition of Judah at the end of Hezekiah’s reign.
2. What was the result of the work of Isaiah and Hezekiah?
3. Who succeeded Hezekiah, what was his mother’s name and what its meaning?
4. What was his character and work?
5. What change in the throne of Assyria during his reign?
6. What was Jehovah’s message to Judah through the prophets?
7. Give an account of Manasseh’s further crimes, imprisonment, and
8. What was the spiritual condition of the people at this time?
9. What of his repentance and where do we find his prayer recorded?
10. Who succeeded Manasseh and what was his character and death?
11. Who succeeded Amon, and what his character, how old was he when he began to reign and when was he converted?
12. What of his early reformation?
13. What book found m repairing the Temple and what effect of the discovery on Josiah?
14. What great prophet begins his work in this period and what other contemporaneous with him?
15. What prophetess appears here and what were her prophecies?
16. Give an account of the making of the covenant.
17. What was Josiah’s further reformation?
18. Why did he send the ashes of the images of Baal to Bethel?
19. What did he do with the powder of Asherah?
20. What was the meaning of “horses given to the sun”?
21. What prophecy fulfilled in Josiah’s acts at Bethel?
22. Who was the prophet “that came out of Samaria”?
23. Give an account of Josiah’s passover.
24. What circumstances of Josiah’s death?
Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible
2Ch 34:1 Josiah [was] eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem one and thirty years.
Ver. 1. Josiah was eight years old. ] Woe to that land whose prince is a child, saith Solomon; Ecc 10:16 but Josiah was an extraordinary child, and a great blessing to his people. So was our Edward VI, that second Josiah, who began early likewise, and lived much in a little time, in brevi vitae spacio tempora virtutum multa replevit. a See 2Ki 22:1 .
a Jerome.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
2 Chronicles Chapter 34
Josiah, then, and his reformation is brought before us (2Ch 34 ). He was young when he began to reign – only eight years old – and “in the eighth year of his reign, while he was yet young, he began to seek alter the God of David his father: and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem from the high places and the groves, and the carved images, and the molten images. And they brake down the altars of Baalim in his presence, and the images that were on high above them, he cut down: and the groves, and the carved 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” – nothing could be more thorough-going than this action against the false gods – “and cleansed Judah and Jerusalem. And so did he in the cities of Manasseh and Ephraim and Simeon, even unto Naphtali, with their mattocks round about. And when he had broken down the altars and the groves, and had beaten the graven images into powder, and cut down all the idols throughout all the land of Israel, he returned to Jerusalem.”
For, you observe, he goes beyond his own sphere. He goes out into “the cities of Manasseh and Ephraim and Simeon, even unto Naphtali.”
There is amazing vigour in this young king. “And in the eighteenth year of his reign, when he had purged the land, and the house, he sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah, and Maaseiah the governor of the city, and Joah the son of Joahaz the recorder, to repair the house of Jehovah his God.” And God shows him signal mercy, for there it was that the priest Hilkiah found the book of the law of Jehovah given to 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.” The king hears of it and, just as I have said, his conscience is the remarkable part of this good king; for when he hears the words of Jehovah, he rends his clothes. Had he not been pious? Had he not been faithful? Yes, but he forgot the things that were behind, and he pressed toward those that were before. He did not think of the good that he had done, but of the evil that, alas! was still around him, and of the good that he had not done and that remained before him.
So he sends, saying, “Go, enquire of Jehovah for me, and for them that are left in Israel and in Judah, concerning the words of the bock 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 after all that is written in this bock.” And God answers his desires. “And Hilkiah, and they that the king had appointed, went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of Tikvath,” and she gives the answer from Jehovah, and the king acts upon it, and humbles himself before the Lord. “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.”
Fuente: William Kelly Major Works (New Testament)
2 Chronicles
JOSIAH
2Ch 34:1 – 2Ch 34:13
Another boy king, even younger than his grandfather Manasseh had been at his accession, and another reversal of the father’s religion! These vibrations from idolatry to Jehovah-worship, at the pleasure of the king, sadly tell how little the people cared whom they worshipped, and how purely a matter of ceremonies and names both their idolatry and their Jehovah-worship were. The religion of the court was the religion of the nation, only idolatry was more congenial than the service of God. How far the child monarch Josiah had a deeper sense of what that service meant we cannot decide, but the little outline sketch of him in 2Ch 34:2 – 2Ch 34:3 is at least suggestive of his having it, and may well stand as a fair portrait of early godliness.
A child eight years old, who had been lifted on to the throne of a murdered father, must have had a strong will and a love of goodness to have resisted the corrupting influences of royalty in a land full of idols. Here again we see that, great as may be the power of circumstances, they do not determine character; for it is always open to us either to determine whether we yield to them or resist them. The prevailing idolatry influenced the boy, but it influenced him to hate it with all his heart. So out of the nettle danger we may pluck the flower safety. The men who have smitten down some evil institution have generally been brought up so as to feel its full force.
‘He did that which was right in the eyes of Jehovah’-that may mean simply that he worshipped Jehovah by outward ceremonies, but it probably means more; namely, that his life was pure and God-pleasing, or, as we should say, clean and moral, free from the foul vices which solicit a young prince. ‘He walked in the ways of David his father’-not being one of the ‘emancipated’ youths who think it manly to throw off the restraints of their fathers’ faith and morals. He ‘turned not aside to the right hand or to the left’-but marched right onwards on the road that conscience traced out for him, though tempting voices called to him from many a side-alley that seemed to lead to pleasant places. ‘While he was yet young, he began to seek after the God of David his father’-at the critical age of sixteen, when Easterns are older than we, in the flush of early manhood, he awoke to deeper experiences and felt the need for a closer touch of God. A career thus begun will generally prelude a life pure, strenuous, and blessed with a clearer and clearer vision of the God who is always found of them that seek Him. Such a childhood, blossoming into such a boyhood, and flowering in such a manhood, is possible to every child among us. It will ‘still bring forth fruit in old age.’
The two incidents which the passage narrates, the purging of the land and the repair of the Temple, are told in inverted order in 2 Kings, but the order here is probably the more accurate, as dates are given, whereas in 2 Kings, though the purging is related after the Temple restoration, it is not said to have occurred after. But the order is of small consequence. What is important is the fiery energy of Josiah in the work of destruction of the idols. Here, there, everywhere, he flames and consumes. He darts a flash even into the desolate ruins of the Israelitish kingdom, where the idols had survived their devotees and still bewitched the scanty fragments of Israel that remained. The altars of stone were thrown down, the wooden sun-pillars were cut to pieces, the metal images were broken and ground to powder. A clean sweep was made.
A dash of ferocity mingled with contempt appears in Josiah’s scattering the ‘dust’ of the images on the graves of their worshippers, as if he said: ‘There you lie together, pounded idols and dead worshippers, neither able to help the other!’ The same feelings prompted digging up the skeletons of priests and burning the bones on the very altars that they had served, thus defiling the altars and executing judgment on the priests. No doubt there were much violence and a strong strain of the ‘wrath of man’ in all this. Iconoclasts are wont to be ‘violent’; and men without convictions, or who are partisans of what the iconoclasts are rooting out, are horrified at their want of ‘moderation.’ But though violence is always unchristian, indifference to rampant evils is not conspicuously more Christian, and, on the whole, you cannot throttle snakes in a graceful attitude or without using some force to compress the sinuous neck.
The restoration of the Temple comes after the cleansing of the land, in Chronicles, and naturally in the order of events, for the casting out of idols must always precede the building or repairing of the Temple of God. Destructive work is very poor unless it is for the purpose of clearing a space to build the Temple on. Happy the man or the age which is able to do both! Josiah and Joash worked at restoring the Temple in much the same fashion, but Josiah had a priesthood more interested than Joash had.
But we may note one or two points in his restoration. He had put his personal effort into the preparatory extirpation of idols, but he did not need to do so now. He could work this time by deputy. And it is noteworthy that he chose ‘laymen’ to carry out the restoration. Perhaps he knew how Joash had been balked by the knavery of the priests who were diligent in collecting money, but slow in spending it on the Temple. At all events, he delegated the work to three highly-placed officials, the secretary of state, the governor of Jerusalem, and the official historian.
It appears that for some time a collection had been going on for Temple repairs; probably it had been begun six years before, when the ‘purging’ of the land began. It had been carried on by the Levites, and had been contributed to even by ‘the remnant of Israel’ in the northern kingdom, who, in their forlorn weakness, had begun to feel the drawings of ancient brotherhood and the tie of a common worship. This fund was in the keeping of the high priest, and the three commissioners were instructed to require it from him. Here 2 Kings is clearer than our passage, and shows that what the three officials had mainly to do was to get the money from Hilkiah, and to hand it over to the superintendents of the works.
There are two remarkable points in the narrative; one is the observation that ‘the men did the work faithfully,’ which comes in rather enigmatically here, but in 2 Kings is given as the reason why no accounts were kept. Not an example to be imitated, and the sure way to lead subordinates sooner or later to deal unfaithfully; but a pleasant indication of the spirit animating all concerned.
Surely these men worked ‘as ever in the great Taskmaster’s eye.’ That is what makes us work faithfully, whether we have any earthly overseer or audit or no. Another noteworthy matter is that not only were the superintendents of the work-the ‘contractors,’ as we might say-Levites, but so were also the inferior superintendents, or, as we might say, ‘foremen.’
And not only so, but they were those that ‘were skilful with instruments of music.’ What were musicians doing there? Did the building rise
‘with the sound
Of dulcet symphonies and voices sweet?’
Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren
Josiah. These two chapters are complementary to 2Ki 22:1, 2Ki 23:30. See App-56.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Chapter 34
Josiah was only eight years old when he began to reign, he reigned in Jerusalem for thirty-one years ( 2Ch 34:1 ).
Josiah instituted reformations.
In the eighth year of his reign, while he was yet young, [which means he was sixteen years old] 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 groves, and the carved images, and the molten images ( 2Ch 34:3 ).
So eight years old when he started to reign. By the time he was sixteen, he started seeking the Lord. By the time he was twenty, he began to purge the land of the false images. When he was twenty-one years old, the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet. And so now you’re into the period of Jeremiah. For in the thirteenth year of the reign of Josiah, the word of the Lord came unto Jeremiah the prophet, calling Jeremiah. So Jeremiah was about seventeen years old when the word of the Lord came to him. So it means that he was about four years difference between Jeremiah and Josiah this king. And Josiah did institute spiritual reforms among the people.
And yet, Jeremiah the prophet of God at this time could see that the spiritual reforms were only surface reforms. It was only because the king was serving God that the people followed, but not with their whole heart. And Jeremiah cried out against the superficiality of their conversion and of their worship of God, declaring that they had only turned in a surface way but not with all of their hearts to the Lord. So Jeremiah, if you can remember now, this period of history when you get to Jeremiah, you’ll really understand the prophecy of Jeremiah so much better, because Jeremiah began his prophecy right at this point. The purging of Jerusalem, the re-establishing of the temple worship and so forth by Josiah, that’s when Jeremiah began his period of prophecy and he prophesied through the rest of the history of the nation prior to the Babylonian captivity. So from II Chronicles here on is the period of Jeremiah’s ministry.
So he broke down the altars of Baalim; the images, he cut down the groves. He burnt the bones of the priests and their altars. And so he did up in the cities of the north, and Ephraim, and Simeon, even unto Naphtali. And when he had broken down the altars and the groves, and had beaten the graven images into powder, and cut down all the idols throughout all the land of Israel, he returned to Jerusalem ( 2Ch 34:4-7 ).
They began the repairing of the temple in the eighteenth year of his reign after he had purged the land. Jeremiah now had been prophesying for five years. They sent out a message to prepare the temple. They hired the workmen to come in and they began to restore the building that had fallen into great disrepair under his father Amon and his grandfather Manasseh.
Now as they were cleaning out the temple, they found a book of the law of the Lord. One of the scrolls upon which the law of God was written and the priest brought it out to Josiah and he began to read to him out of this scroll. And as he read to him, and of course, no doubt the portion of Deuteronomy really got to him where God pronounced the curses that would come upon the people should they turn away from God. And Josiah cried out and he said, “Oh, this is terrible.” He realized that because of the iniquity and the sin of these people who had been called by God to be a special people and because of their failure that these are the curses God said that I will bring upon the land. And so when they read this scroll to Josiah, it came to pass when he heard the words that he tore his clothes and he said,
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: 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 all that is written in this book. And so they came to Huldah the prophetess, (who was there in the college of prophets in Jerusalem;) ( 2Ch 34:21-22 )
And she said, yes, the nation was going to fall but that it would not fall during the reign of Josiah because of his righteousness and turning unto the Lord. And so he was promised that he would be brought to the grave in peace. So then he had the law of the Lord read to the people. And he read in their ears all of the words of the book of the covenant which was found in the house of the Lord.
And the king stood in his place, and he made a covenant before the LORD, to walk after the LORD, and to keep his commandments, and his testimonies, and his statutes, with all of his heart, and with all of his soul, and to perform the words of the covenant which are written in the book. And Josiah took away all of the abominations out of the countries that pertained to the children of Israel, and he 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 fathers ( 2Ch 34:31 , 2Ch 34:33 ).
And then he instituted a tremendous Passover that even superseded that of his great grandfather’s Hezekiah. In fact, there was no Passover in all of the land as great as this one since the time of Samuel. Now in Hezekiah, he had the biggest ones from Solomon, but Josiah even superseded those of Solomon, David’s period, nothing like this since the time of Samuel.
“
Fuente: Through the Bible Commentary
2Ch 34:1-7
Introduction
THE DISCOVERY OF THE BOOK OF MOSES IN THE TEMPLE
JOSIAH (640-609 B.C.)
With the exception of 2Ch 34:3-7,2Ch 36:22-23, all of the events in these three concluding chapters of Second Chronicles we have already discussed in the parallel accounts in 2Ki 22:1 to 2Ki 25:12, where we have devoted pages to our comments. We shall be content here, in the principal part, to refer the reader to our Commentary on Second Kings. There are variations, to be sure; but there are no irreconcilable differences.
2Ch 34:1-7
THE REFORMS OF JOSIAH
“Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign; and he reigned thirty one years in Jerusalem. And he did that which was right in the eyes of Jehovah, and walked in the ways of David his father, and turned not aside to the right hand or to the left. For 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 of 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.”
This paragraph, of course, contains material not mentioned in the parallel accounts; but all that is stated here is fully in keeping with the character and purpose of this zealous young king who was intent on turning Israel back to their true worship. All of those images, pillars, high places, Asherim, etc., were specifically condemned, not only in the Decalogue, but in the commandment of God through Moses that all such things were to be destroyed by the Israelites when they came into the land of Canaan. The shame of all Israel was that they not only disobeyed God’s commandments in these particulars, but they adopted the licentious pagan worship of their predecessors in Canaan; and even sinned worse than the people whom God had driven out before Israel (2Ch 33:9).
E.M. Zerr:
2Ch 34:1. In stating the length of a reign, all of the years are counted from the time the king became the legal occupant of the throne until he quit it, either by death or otherwise. But in case he is too young to act in person, the high priest who is in service acts for him until such time that he can take upon himself the duties of a ruler. There was such a case in the reign of Joash or Jehoash. (2Ki 12:2; 2Ch 24:2.) That is what was done in the case of Josiah, for he was but 8 years old when he became king, and his entire reign continued 31 years.
2Ch 34:2. These commendations of Josiah apply to his reign after he became ready to take active part in the affairs of the kingdom, and hence after he was old enough to be held accountable for his conduct; this will appear evident in the next verse.
2Ch 34:3. The eighth year of his reign would be when he was 16 years of age, and when he would be considered responsible. It was at that time that he began to seek after the God of David. But he still was not very forward in the affairs of the kingdom. Like a judicious person, he spent 4 years in seeking after God, in which time he grew in years and knowledge. Such a preparation would qualify a king to act wisely. Accordingly, after 12 years of preparation, and in the 20th year of his life, he began to take action. He started a work that was destined to develop into one of the greatest reformations in the history of that nation. He began by purging out the high places that had been devoted to idolatrous sacrifices, and destroying the groves that had been used to shelter the images of the false gods. Not only did he destroy all of the actual trees and groves of trees that were so used, but he destroyed all of the images of those trees that had been made in imitation of such plants. He also destroyed the statues that had been erected to the heathen gods, whether they had been made by casting or chiseling.
Verse 4. In his presence. Josiah ordered his men to destroy the altars of Baalim while he looked on, making sure thereby that the work was done. The images or statues had been erected over the altars, as if the gods were present and beholding the service rendered to them; all of such were destroyed. Made dust is said of the groves in the same sense as it is said of the images, thereby implying that they were made of metal. It will be well to quote from Smith’s Bible Dictionary on this subject. “Grove. A word used in the Authorized Version, with two exceptions, to translate the mysterious term ASHERAH, which is not a grove, but probably an idol or image of some kind. It is also probable that there was a connection between this symbol or image, whatever it was, and the sacred public tree, the representation of which occurs so frequently on the Assyrian sculptures.” There was nothing strange about the making of such metal images for worship. If the heathen nations worshiped certain trees, it would be consistent to make images of them. As a result of that practice, we will read of instances where the groves were cut down and destroyed, when it means these metallic images of the trees. They were first burnt so as to have them in a corroded condition, then ground into dust and strewn on the graves of the ones who had been worshipers of them. That was done in contempt of such gods, to demonstrate their utter helplessness. Those gods not only were unable to save their followers from death, but could not defend themselves from being crushed and consigned to the last resting place of their deluded devotees.
2Ch 34:5. This is a very brief account of the subject concerning the burning of these bones. Read the prophecy about it, with the fulfillment, in 1Ki 13:1-2, and 2Ki 23:16-17. This treatment of the bones of the priests would be for the same purpose as that done to the dust of the grove, recorded in the preceding verse.
2Ch 34:6. The cities named were in the former possessions of the 10 tribes. Those tribes had been in Assyrian captivity for almost a century, but many of the traces of their great corruption were left in the land, and Josiah extended his purging reformation into that territory. It was fitting that he do so, for the nation of the 10 tribes was then toiling in slavery among the heathen, and it was in punishment for the worship of these false gods. How appropriate, then, for him to destroy the images.
2Ch 34:7. Having completed his tour of reformation through the communities of the places named, Josiah returned to his own capital. Land of Israel sometimes applied to the whole of Palestine, but in this instance refers to the territory of the 10 tribes, of which Samaria was the capital.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
The story of Josiah’s reign is full of brightness. The conditions around were very terrible, but in this boy king, especially as he developed to manhood, testimony to the government of God was unmistakable. Ascending to the throne when eight years old, at the age of sixteen he began to seek after God. Four years later he set himself to the actual work of reformation, and there is terrific force in the story of his methods. There was no pity in his heart for the evil things about him, and with the strongest hand, so far as he was able, he swept out the abominations.
At the age of twenty-six he set himself to repair the house of God, during which a remarkable thing happened. While the Temple was being cleansed the book of the Law was discovered. It is impossible to tell whether Hilkiah had known of it, but the story would certainly lead us to suppose that Josiah was quite ignorant of it. When by comparison with its ideals he learned the facts concerning his people, Josiah gathered them together, and publicly made a covenant with God and insisted that the people should abide by it.
Fuente: An Exposition on the Whole Bible
a Toting Kings Noble Leadership
2Ch 34:1-11
Josiah was as much better than his father Amon, as Manasseh had been worse than Hezekiah. How strange to find such a pure young soul in the heart of Amons court! What led the boy to such moral and religious attainments? Perhaps his grandfather, Manasseh, unable to change his son, focused his prayers and influence on his grandson. It is probable, also, that considerable influence for good resulted from the discovery that he had been the subject of prophecy. See 1Ki 13:2. He felt encouraged to apprehend that for which he had been apprehended years before. Though no prophets voice has predicted the program and attainments of our lives, they are well known in heaven, and we are summoned to realize Gods great ideals for us.
The call of Jeremiah, also so nearly coincides with the commencement of Josiahs reforms that we can scarcely regard the two facts as unconnected. At any rate the kings earlier efforts seem to have been coincident with the first appearance of the prophet-statesman in the kings court at Jerusalem.
Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary
2Ch 34:1-3
I. The story of Josiah shows that a child may become a Christian very early in life. He was but fifteen years old when he is spoken of as “seeking the God of his father David.”
That was the first that people knew of it. But probably he had been a prayerful boy long before that.
II. The narrative of this young king shows also that young persons may become Christians without the excitement of a revival. When Josiah began the reformation of his kingdom, he stood absolutely alone. He started the revival by being the first convert.
III. King Josiah’s conversion shows that a young person may become a Christian just at the time when the pleasures of the world are most attractive.
IV. The story of Josiah shows that a child may be a Christian without being unmanly or unwomanly. Judah never had a more spirited and gallant prince. He put down the bad men of the realm right and left most valiantly. Not one of them dared to insult him.
V. The story of Josiah suggests also that one who becomes a Christian early in life is likely to become a better man than one who first lives through a career of sin.
VI. The story of Josiah suggests that the way for a young person to become a Christian is to make a business of doing right.
A. Phelps, The Old Testament a Living Book, p. 161.
Reference: 2Ch 34:1-4.-Sermons for Boys and Girls, p. 338.
2Ch 34:3
Notice:-
I. When Josiah’s religious life began. The text tells us it was “while he was yet young.” As a mere boy, he evinced a beautiful character, and gave promise of a virtuous life. His religious life really began about his sixteenth year.
II. What was the complexion of Josiah’s piety? There is something suggestive in the expression “He began to seek the God of David his father.” (1) It is an unspeakable blessing to have been born in the line of a Christian parentage. (2) It is no dishonour to a young man to believe in the religion of his fathers. It is always a hopeful and promising sign of a young man’s character that, without absolutely pinning himself down to the faith of his fathers, he treats that faith with the profoundest respect, and will not easily be persuaded to surrender it.
III. What was the practical outcome of Josiah’s piety? His whole life was spent in setting things right throughout his kingdom. All his energy was devoted to promoting the happiness of his people and the glory of God.
J. Thain Davidson, Talks with Young Men, p. 203.
2Ch 34:14, 2Ch 34:20-21
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. In the loss of the Bible and its fruits, we should lose the knowledge of the true God. History proves this beyond reasonable dispute. God must speak, or man does not find Him. Mankind needs a book to keep alive in the earth the knowledge of a spiritual and personal God.
II. By the loss of the Scriptures and their results from the knowledge of mankind, we should lose sooner or later our institutions of benevolence. Benevolence on any large scale, and in the form of permanent institutions, and for all classes of mankind is a Biblical idea.
III. In the loss of the Bible and its fruits, we should sooner or later suffer the loss of our institutions for popular education. Culture has existed without a revelation from heaven. Schools are not the product of the Bible only. But it is beyond question that popular education is of Bible origin. Other than Christian religions build themselves on the ignorance of the masses.
IV. By the loss of the Scriptures and their creations, we should sooner or later part with 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, The Old Testament a Living Book, p. 187.
References: 2Ch 34:14-33.-Homiletic Magazine, vol. xiii., p. 295. 2Ch 34:27.-I. Williams, Characters of the Old Testament, p. 244; Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xiii., No. 748. 2Ch 35:2.-Ibid., vol. xxvi., No. 1513. 2Ch 36:1-23.-Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. v., p. 94. 2Ch 36:12.-Preacher’s Monthly, vol. ii., p. 265.
Fuente: The Sermon Bible
8. Reformation under Josiah
CHAPTER 34 The Reign of Josiah and the Reformation
1. The record of his reign (2Ch 34:1-2)
2. The beginning of the reformation (2Ch 34:3-7)
3. The house of the LORD repaired (2Ch 34:8-13)
4. The law of Moses found and read (2Ch 34:14-21)
5. Hulda, the prophetess (2Ch 34:22-28)
6. The law read and the covenant (2Ch 34:29-33)
The contents of this chapter are found also in Second Kings, chapters 22:1-23:30. Inasmuch as this has been covered by our annotation, we do not need to repeat it here. However, we add a paragraph from the Synopsis of the Bible.
We find in Josiah a tender heart, subject to the word, and a conscience that respected the mind and will of God: only at last he had too much confidence in the effect of this to secure blessing from God, without the possession of that faith which gives intelligence in His ways to understand the position of Gods people. God, however, makes use of this confidence to take Josiah away from the evil He was preparing in the judgments which were to fall upon Judah, the knowledge of which should have made Josiah walk more humbly. At the age of sixteen he began by the grace of God to seek Jehovah; and at twenty he had acquired the moral strength necessary for acting with energy against idolatry, which he destroyed even unto Naphtali. We see here how sovereign grace came in; for both Hezekiah and Josiah were the sons of extremely wicked fathers.
Having cleansed the land from idolatry, Josiah begins to repair the temple; and there the book of the law was found. The kings conscience, and his heart also, are bowed under the authority of the word of his God. He seeks for the prophetic testimony of God with respect to the state in which he sees Israel to be, and God makes known to him by Huldah the judgment about to fall upon Israel; but tells him at the same time that his eyes shall not see the evil.
Fuente: Gaebelein’s Annotated Bible (Commentary)
am 3363-3394, bc 641-610
Josiah: 2Ch 33:25, 1Ki 13:2, 2Ki 22:1-20, 1Ch 3:14, 1Ch 3:15, Jer 1:2, Zep 1:1, Mat 1:10, Mat 1:11, Josias
eight years: 2Ch 24:1, 2Ch 26:1, 2Ch 33:1, 1Sa 2:18, 1Sa 2:26, 1Ki 3:7-9, Ecc 4:13
Reciprocal: 2Ch 34:7 – beaten Isa 3:4 – children Mat 25:16 – went
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
2Ch 34:1. Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign The reader will find the principal parts of this chapter explained at large in the notes on 2 Kings 22. and 23., to which he is referred.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
2Ch 34:5. He burnt the bones of the priests, and so, perhaps without intending it, he fulfilled the prophecy of the man of God that came to Bethel. 1Ki 13:2.
REFLECTIONS.
As the nipping frosts of winter spoil the glory of the summer, and as the spring comes and revives nature again, so were the good and the bad kings in their succession on the throne of Judah; only with this sad difference, vice and idolatry grew stronger and stronger, and reformation became more and more difficult till there was no more remedy. The old idolatrous princes, who had seduced Manasseh to every crime, being either slain or dead, the new generation was not so forward to corrupt Josiah the infant king. He received a religious education; and at the age of sixteen, taking the reins of government wholly into his own hands, he discovered a strong propensity to piety. He began so early, even at the age of twelve, to purge his capital, by repairing the Lords house, which the wicked apostates of the late reign had either pillaged, or after it was pillaged by the Babylonians, they had done nothing to repair it. His zeal exceeded the zeal of Jehoshaphat, of Asa, and of Hezekiah. He destroyed the statues of Ashtaroth, that is, Astart or Venus, wherever he found them: Baal also, and the horses of the sun; that is, the chariot and horses dedicated to the sun. He demolished in like manner the retiring houses for wickedness which cannot be named. The image of the grove, that is, of Astart, which was in the house of God, he utterly destroyed, and put down the priests of those profane altars; and many of them he slew for the murders and sorceries they had committed, and defiled their altars with their bones, it is good when we begin for God, to do his work heartily: a glory attends it which remains for ever.
After the house was repaired, and the reserve of the money employed for this purpose, Hilkiah found a treasure preferable to gold. He found concealed in the side of the ark, or in some chest, the copy of the law which Moses wrote with his own hand. This was a treasure indeed; for it was supposed to have been destroyed, or stolen in idolatrous times. And though neither the king nor the priests were unacquainted with the law; yet on this occasion, Josiah was so affected by hearing the curses of the law read, and probably those in the latter part of Deuteronomy, that he rent his robes, and sent to enquire of the Lord for the remnant which was left in Israel and in Judah. Hence we learn, that we should most diligently read the law of the Lord, and feelingly weep under its violated precepts.
It was some consolation to the weeping king, that there was in Jerusalem a Huldah, a woman highly honoured with the prophetic gift, and so reputable that she was preferred to the judgment of the Urim. She was not the first who had predicted the ruin of Jerusalem, but she joined her testimony to theirs: and though unable to reverse the high decrees of heaven, she at last gave the king of Judah some token for good; and perceiving that his heart was tender, she comforted him with the assurance that in his days there should be no evil.
The pious king, trembling for his sinful country, hasted to convene the elders of Jerusalem and Judah to hear the law, and renew the covenant, which was enjoined to be done every seventh year, anxiously desirous of exciting in them alarms for their safety, and true repentance for their sins. After the solemnities of this covenant, fresh efforts were made to destroy if possible every vestige of idolatry. The hopes of Judah now assumed a smiling aspect; and who would not have augured that God, delighted with the repentance of his people, would now turn away his fierce anger? But ah, the devotion was too much that of the lips; the hearts of the people were still attached to their idols and their sins. Therefore they gradually began, and on the open hills, to practise their abominations again. Jer 3:7; Jer 3:10. Well did Isaiah say, why should ye be striken any more? Ye will revolt yet more and more. So it is with the old and hardened sinner, whom mercy and judgment have failed to reform. Let the righteous be sanctified by the thought, and cleave the closer to the Lord and to one another.
Fuente: Sutcliffe’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
2Ch 34:1 to 2Ch 35:27. The Reign of Josiah.See notes on 2 Kings 22, 2Ki 23:1-30, which form the basis of the Chroniclers account; but he has made many alterations in accordance with his general tendencies. One important difference between the two accounts is that, according to the Chronicler, Josiahs Reformation takes place before the finding of the book of the Law, an obviously illogical sequence; but the Chronicler desires to emphasize Josiahs piety even in his tender years. The description of the celebration of the Passover (2Ch 35:1-19) is far fuller than that given in 2Ki 23:21-23.
2Ch 36:1-4. The Reign of Jehoahaz (see notes on 2Ki 23:30-34).
2Ch 36:5-8. The Reign of Jehoiakim (see notes on 2Ki 23:36 f.).
2Ch 36:9 f. The Reign of Jehoiachin (see notes on 2Ki 24:8-17).
2Ch 36:11-21. The Reign of Zedekiah; the Destruction of Jerusalem (see notes on 2Ki 24:18-20; 2Ki 25:1-7; 2Ki 25:13-15).
2Ch 36:22 f. The Decree of Cyrus (see Ezr 1:1-3).
(See also Supplement)
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
JOSIAH BEGINS HIS GOOD REIGN
(vv.1-7)
Josiah was only eight years old when put on the throne (v.1). His father at this time (when he died) was 24 years old, so that he must have been only 16 when Josiah was born. But Josiah reigned 31 years in Jerusalem. What a contrast he was to his father Amon! He did what was right in the sight of the Lord, choosing to walk in the ways of David, maintaining a consistent path, not turning to either side, right or left (v 2). Indeed, he was the last king in Judah to have a good record, which shows us that even when the condition of the people generally has sunk to a low ebb, there may still be bright exceptions to the general trend. At the tender age of 16 he began to seek the Lord, and at 20 years he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem of the high places, the carved and moulded images, and had the altars of Baal broken down, the incense altars cut down, breaking in pieces the wooden, carved and moulded images, grinding them to dust which was scattered on the graves of those who had sacrificed to them (vv.3-4)
Thus he made sure that those images would never again be introduced into Jerusalem. Though Manasseh had taken away the images he had before made, he did not destroy them, so Amon had brought them back. Josiah would allow no such thing.
Josiah also burned the bones of the idolatrous priests on their altars. Evidently these were the bones of those who had before died. But be did not stop with cleansing Judah and Jerusalem: he did the same in the cities of Manasseh, Ephraim, Simeon and Naphthali, for those tribes had been so reduced as to have no king (v.5). When he had accomplished this work of breaking down the altars and images, reducing them practically to powder, and had cut down all the incense altars throughout the land, he returned to Jerusalem (vv.6-7), which means “the foundation of peace.” All this took place before Josiah even knew of God’s law. He had not needed the law to tell him that idolatry was sin against God. Why not? Because the practice of idolatry is sin against God as Creator, as everyone should know, not only sin against His law.
THE BOOK OF THE LAW FOUND
(vv.8-28)
When one acts rightly on the light he has, God will certainly further enlighten him. The evil in Judah having been judged, at the age of 26 Josiah was concerned about repairing the house of the Lord. He sent three qualified men with instructions to do the repair work. They came to Hilkiah the high priest and delivered him money that had been gathered from Manasseh, Ephraim, Judah and Benjamin. (v.9).
Those who were overseers of the material needed for the house of God used this money for the hiring of workmen to repair the house and for craftsmen and builders, to buy hewn stone and timber for beams and for the floor the house (v.10). This was evidently a large project, for the ungodly kings previous to Josiah had been guilty of destroying a great deal of that which was not their own property, but God’s.
Josiah’s influence was good, for the men did the work faithfully (v.12). The names of those who supervised the work are recorded in verse 11. Thus God highly commends those who are true builders, and surely no less today if we have concern for the building up of the saints of God, thus building the assembly. Levites are mentioned here as being skilful with musical instruments. This is symbolical of skill in ministering the Word of God for the refreshment and encouragement of saints. They may have played their instruments while the men were working, picturing servants willing to help those serving in practical matters by ministering the Word of God to them.
There were overseers set over the burden bearers also. How good for us if we are burden bearers. But we need instruction as to how to do such good work. Also some of the Levites were scribes, officers and gatekeepers (v.13). Though there was diversity in the work, yet it was done in unity. Scribes were needed to keep things orderly; gatekeepers were required to see that only that was allowed in which ought to be in. These are all necessities in the Church of God today, though none are by man’s appointment. Rather, the Spirit of God moves those He sees fit to carry out such functions with no one assuming any special place for this.
However, in the course of doing the repair work, Hilkiah the priest found the Book of the Law of the Lord, given by Moses. How sad that the book had been given no place of honour, but was obscured in the house of God! (v.14). In that book it was written that when one ruled as king over Israel he should write a copy of this law in a book and read it all the days of his life (Deu 17:18-19). But by the time Josiah took the throne, he did not even know that this book existed! Who was to blame for this? No doubt both earlier kings and priests.
Shaphan received the book from Hilkiah and brought the message to the king that his orders were being carried out in reference to repairing the temple, but also told that Hilkiah had given him this book (vv.16-18). Shaphan (a scribe) then read from this book before Josiah.
How profoundly serious was the effect upon the godly king Josiah in hearing the Word of God! In a spirit of deep self-judgment he tore his clothes, then commanded five men, including Hilkiah and Shaphan, to go and enquire of the Lord for him and for the small number left in Israel and Judah. For he recognised that Israel was under the great wrath of God because their fathers had not kept the Word of the Lord (vv.20-2 1). He did not attempt to rationalise, but faced directly the truth declared in scripture, and wanted to know just how God was now going to deal with his nation.
The condition of Israel was so low at this time that there was no prophet whom they could consult, but a prophetess named Huldah was available and they went to her (v.22). She faithfully gave them God’s answer that He would bring calamity upon Israel, all the curses written in the book Josiah had heard read. The reason is given plainly, “because they have forsaken Me and burned incense to other gods, that they might provoke Me to anger with all the works of their hands. Therefore My wrath will be poured out on this place, and not be quenched” (vv.24-25). Not even the exceptional faithfulness of Josiah could avert this judgment.
However, God would still show His appreciation of the character and work of Josiah. Because Josiah’s heart was tender and he had humbled himself before God when he heard what had been written in the book of the law, had torn his clothes and wept before Him, the Lord would respond kindly toward him, allowing him to die before the threatened judgment fell on Judah, so that he would not see all the calamity that was the result of Judah’s sin (vv.27-18). This is a striking case of which Isaiah speaks, “The righteous perishes, and no man takes it to heart; merciful men are taken away, while no one considers that the righteous is taken away from the evil.” Is this not true today also? The condition of the professing Church today is so seriously evil that there is no remedy. God will judge this condition: but He will take away the godly by rapturing them Home to heaven before His judgment is poured out.
PURPOSE TO SERVE GOD FOR THE TIME
The prediction of future judgment against Israel’s sin did not discourage Josiah from serving God during whatever little time was left for this. He gathered all the elders of Judah, the priests and Levites and all the people of Jerusalem, to read to them all the word of the Book of the Law. Whether or not they were all affected by this as he was, he considered it necessary that all the people should hear God’s Word. This was the basis of any relationship with God.
He then made a covenant before the Lord, requiring all the people to ratify it (vv.31-32). This was simply a renewal of the covenant of law, in spite of the fact that they had broken that law. Was there really any hope they would now keep it? No, but it was the only basis of blessing that God had given them at the time, and they were still responsible, God was allowing them every opportunity to change if it had been possible.
Thus, we are told, “Josiah removed all the abominations from all the country that belonged to the children of Israel, and made all who were present in Israel diligently serve the Lord their God. All his days they did not depart from following the Lord God of their fathers” (v.33). This illustrates what the devoted energy of faith on the part of one man can accomplish. He was a leader whose influence was great, though the eventual results among the people were not good. In the days of Josiah the Lord told Jeremiah, “Judah has not turned to Me with her whole heart, but in pretence” (Jer 3:10. Josiah had turned to God with his whole heart, but not so with the people generally. They could (and did) easily go in the opposite direction when Josiah died.
Fuente: Grant’s Commentary on the Bible
1. Josiah’s reforms ch. 34
The godly in Judah may have regarded Josiah as the most likely candidate to fulfill the promises God had given to David. His early life and reign were spiritually exemplary (2Ch 34:2-3). He sought to purge idolatry from the whole territory of Israel as well as Judah (2Ch 34:4-7). Many of the Simeonites (2Ch 34:6) had allied themselves with Israel religiously (cf. 2Ch 15:9). [Note: Keil, p. 431.]
In Jerusalem, Josiah embarked on a renovation of the temple because Manasseh and Amon had abused it (2Ch 34:8-13). The "book of the law" that Hilkiah found (2Ch 34:14) may have been the Book of Deuteronomy, [Note: See Dillard, 2 Chronicles, p. 280, for seven supporting reasons.] another portion of the Pentateuch, or the whole Pentateuch. [Note: Payne, "Second Chronicles," p. 418.] Most scholars believe the book found was Deuteronomy.
It may be hard for us to understand how the people could have lost the Law of Moses and how they could have forgotten it in just two generations. However, written copies were scarce. Moreover, parents and the Levites conducted most instruction orally (2Ch 17:9). Only one generation separated the people from ignorance of God’s will (cf. Deu 6:6-7; Deu 17:18). This has been true throughout history. Josiah’s response to the reading of Torah (the Law) shows his heart to please God (2Ch 34:19; 2Ch 34:27).
Huldah announced that God had decreed captivity for Judah (2Ch 34:25). Nevertheless, Josiah would experience mercy because of his tender heart and humility (2Ch 34:27). He would die before Judah went into captivity (2Ch 34:28). Another view of the prediction that he would die in peace is that it refers to what would have happened if Josiah had not violated the will of God by engaging Neco in battle. [Note: See McConville, p. 264.]
The announcement of God’s coming judgment led the king and the nation to commit anew to follow God’s Word (2Ch 34:29-33). Perhaps He would postpone captivity.
The temple had been the protector of the Law (2Ch 34:14), as it had earlier protected David’s heir, Joash (2Ch 22:10-12). It had preserved the two foundational elements in Israel’s life: God’s Word and God’s vice-regent. As mentioned before, the temple represented God. The preservation of these two essential elements was an act of Israel’s faithful God. Concern for the things of God resulted in the discovery of God’s will (cf. 2Ch 7:14).
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
P. Josiah chs. 34-35
Like Amon’s death (2Ch 33:24), Josiah’s was unnecessarily premature. However, unlike Amon, Josiah was one of Judah’s reformers.
"Josiah instituted the most thorough of all the OT reforms . . ." [Note: Idem, "1, 2 Chronicles," p. 549.]
"Despite this, however, Josiah is not so significant a monarch overall for the Chronicler as he is for the earlier historian [i.e., the writer of Kings]. Much that he records is now to be understood as recapitulation of Hezekiah’s work, who stands out as the real innovator in Chronicles." [Note: Williamson, 1 and 2 . . ., p. 396.]
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
THE LAST KINGS OF JUDAH
2Ch 34:1-33; 2Ch 35:1-27; 2Ch 36:1-23
WHATEVER influence Manassehs reformation exercised over his people generally, the taint of idolatry was not removed from his own family. His son Amon succeeded him at the age of two-and-twenty. Into his reign of two years he compressed all the varieties of wickedness once practiced by his father, and undid the good work of Manassehs later years. He recovered the graven images which Manasseh had discarded, replaced them in their shrines, and worshipped them instead of Jehovah. But in his case there was no repentance, and he was cut off in his youth.
In the absence of any conclusive evidence as to the date of Manassehs reformation, we cannot determine with certainty whether Amon received his early training before or after his father returned to the worship of Jehovah. In either case Manassehs earlier history would make it difficult for him to counteract any evil influence that drew Amon towards idolatry. Amon could set the example and perhaps the teaching of his fathers former days against any later exhortations to righteousness. When a father has helped to lead his children astray, he cannot be sure that he will carry them with him in his repentance.
After Amons assassination the people placed his son Josiah on the throne. Like Joash and Manasseh, Josiah was a child, only eight years old. The chronicler follows the general line of the history in the book of Kings, modifying, abridging, and expanding, but introducing no new incidents; the reformation, the repairing of the Temple, the discovery of the book of the Law, the Passover, Josiahs defeat and death at Megiddo, are narrated by both historians. We have only to notice differences in a somewhat similar treatment of the same subject.
Beyond the general statement that Josiah “did that which was right in the eyes of Jehovah” we hear nothing about him in the book of Kings till the eighteenth year of his reign, and his reformation and putting away of idolatry are placed in that year. The chroniclers authorities corrected the statement that the pious king tolerated idolatry for eighteen years. They record bow in the eighth year of his reign, when he was sixteen, he began to seek after the God of David; and in his twelfth year he set about the work of utterly destroying idols throughout the whole territory of Israel, in the cities and ruins of Manasseh, Ephraim, and Simeon, even unto Naphtali, as well as in Judah and Benjamin. Seeing that the cities assigned to Simeon were in the south of Judah, it is a little difficult to understand why they appear with the northern tribes, unless they are reckoned with them technically to make up the ancient number.
The consequence of this change of date is that in Chronicles the reformation precedes the discovery of the book of the Law, whereas in the older history this discovery is the cause of the reformation. The chroniclers account of the idols and other apparatus of false worship destroyed by Josiah is much less detailed than that of the book of Kings. To have reproduced the earlier narrative in full would have raised serious difficulties. According to the chronicler, Manasseh had purged Jerusalem of idols and idol altars; and Amon alone was responsible for any that existed there at the accession of Josiah: but in the book of Kings Josiah found in Jerusalem the altars erected by the kings of Judah and the horses they had given to the sun. Manassehs altars still stood in the courts of the Temple; and over against Jerusalem there still-remained the high places that Solomon had built for Ashtoreth, Chemosh, and Milcom. As the chronicler in describing Solomons reign carefully omitted all mention of his sins, so he omits this reference to his idolatry. Moreover, if he had inserted it, he would have had to explain how these high places escaped the zeal of the many pious kings who did away with the high places. Similarly, having omitted the account of the man of God who prophesied the ruin of Jeroboams sanctuary at Bethel, he here omits the fulfillment of that prophecy.
The account of the repairing of the Temple is enlarged by the insertion of various details as to the names, functions, and zeal of the Levites, amongst whom those who had skill in instruments of music seem to have had the oversight of the workmen. We are reminded of the walls of Thebes, which rose out of the ground while Orpheus played upon his flute. Similarly in the account of the assembly called to hear the contents of the book of the Law the Levites are substituted for the prophets. This book of the Law is said in Chronicles to have been given by Moses, but his name is not connected with the book in the parallel narrative in the book of Kings.
The earlier authority simply states that Josiah held a great passover; Chronicles, as usual, describes the festival in detail. First of all, the king commanded the priests and Levites to purify themselves and take their places in due order, so that they might be ready to perform their sacred duties. The narrative is very obscure, but it seems that either during the apostasy of Amon or on account of the recent Temple repairs the Ark had been removed from the Holy of holies. The Law had specially assigned to the Levites the duty of carrying the Tabernacle and its furniture, and they seem to have thought that they were only bound to exercise the function of carrying the Ark; they perhaps proposed to bear it in solemn procession round the city as part of the celebration of the Passover, forgetting the words of David that the Levites should no more carry the Tabernacle and its vessels. They would have been glad to substitute this conspicuous and honorable service for the laborious and menial work of flaying the victims. Josiah, however, commanded them to put the Ark into the Temple and attend to their other duties.
Next, the king and his nobles provided beasts of various kinds for the sacrifices and the Passover meal. Josiahs gifts were even more munificent than those of Hezekiah. The latter had given a thousand bullocks and ten thousand sheep; Josiah gave just three times as many. Moreover, at Hezekiahs passover no offerings of the princes are mentioned, but now they added their gifts to those of the king. The heads of the priesthood provided three hundred Oxen and two thousand six hundred small cattle for the priests, and the chiefs of the Levites five hundred oxen and five thousand small cattle for the Levites. But numerous as were the victims at Josiahs passover, they still fell far short of the great sacrifice of twenty-two thousand oxen and a hundred and twenty thousand sheep which Solomon offered at the dedication of the Temple.
Then began the actual work of the sacrifices: the victims were killed and flayed, and their blood was sprinkled on the altar; the burnt-offerings were distributed among the people; the Passover lambs were roasted, and the other offerings boiled, and the Levites “carried them quickly to all the children of the people.” Apparently private individuals could not find the means of cooking the bountiful provision made for them; and, to meet the necessity of the case, the Temple courts were made kitchen as well as slaughterhouse for the assembled worshippers. The other offerings would not be eaten with the Passover lamb, but would serve for the remaining days of the feast.
The Levites not only provided for the people, for themselves, and the priests, but the Levites who ministered in the matter of the sacrifices also prepared for their brethren who were singers and porters, so that the latter were enabled to attend undisturbed to their own special duties; all the members of the guild of porters were at the gates maintaining order among the crowd of worshippers; and the full strength of the orchestra and choir contributed to the beauty and solemnity of the services. It was the greatest Passover held by any Israelite king.
Josiahs passover, like that of Hezekiah, was followed by a formidable foreign invasion; but whereas Hezekiah was rewarded for renewed loyalty by a triumphant deliverance, Josiah was defeated and slain. These facts subject the chroniclers theory of retribution to a severe strain. His perplexity finds pathetic expression in the opening words of the new section, “After all this,” after all the idols had been put away, after the celebration of the most magnificent Passover the monarchy had ever seen. After all this, when we looked for the promised rewards of piety-for fertile seasons, peace and prosperity at home, victory and dominion abroad, tribute from subject peoples, and wealth from successful commerce – after all this, the rout of the armies of Jehovah at Megiddo, the flight and death of the wounded king, the lamentation over Josiah, the exaltation of a nominee of Pharaoh to the throne, and the payment of tribute to the Egyptian king. The chronicler has no complete explanation of this painful mystery, but he does what he can to meet the difficulties of the case. Like the great prophets in similar instances, he regards the heathen king as charged with a Divine commission. Pharaohs appeal to Josiah to remain neutral should have been received by the Jewish king as an authoritative message from Jehovah. It was the failure to discern in a heathen king the mouthpiece and prophet of Jehovah that cost Josiah his life and Judah its liberty.
The chronicler had no motive for lingering over the last sad days of the monarchy; the rest of his narrative is almost entirely abridged from the book of Kings. Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin, and Zedekiah pass over the scene in rapid and melancholy succession. In the case of Jehoahaz, who only reigned three months, the chronicler omits the unfavorable judgment recorded in the book of Kings; but he repeats it for the other three, even for the poor lad of eight who was carried away captive after a reign of three months and ten days. The chronicler had not learnt that kings can do no wrong; on the other hand, the ungodly policy of Jehoiachins ministers is labeled with the name of the boy-sovereign.
Each of these kings in turn was deposed and carried away into captivity, unless indeed Jehoiakim is an exception. In the book of Kings we are told that he slept with his fathers, i.e., that he died and was buried in the royal tombs at Jerusalem, a statement which the LXX inserts here also, specifying, however, that he was buried in the garden of Uzza. If the pious Josiah were punished for a single error by defeat and death, why was the wicked Jehoiakim allowed to reign till the end of his life and then die in his bed? The chroniclers information differed from that of the earlier narrative in a way that removed, or at any rate suppressed the difficulty. He omits the statement that Jehoiakim slept with his fathers, and tells us that Nebuchadnezzar bound him in fetters to carry him to Babylon. Casual readers would naturally suppose that this purpose was carried out, and that the Divine justice was satisfied by Jehoiakims death in captivity; and yet if they compared this passage with that in the book of Kings, it might occur to them that after the king had been put in chains something might have led Nebuchadnezzar to change his mind, or, like Manasseh, Jehoiakim might have repented and been allowed to return. But it is very doubtful whether the chroniclers authorities contemplated the possibility of such an interpretation; it is scarcely fair to credit them with all the subtle devices of modern commentators.
The real conclusion of the chroniclers history of the kings of the house of David is a summary of the sins of the last days of the monarchy and of the history of its final ruin in 2Ch 36:14-20. All the chief of the priests and of the people were given over to the abominations of idolatry; and in spite of constant and urgent admonitions from the prophets of Jehovah, they hardened their hearts, and mocked the messengers of God, and despised His words, and misused His prophets, until the wrath of Jehovah arose against His people, and there was no healing.
However, to this peroration a note is added that the length of the Captivity was fixed at seventy years, in order that the land might “enjoy her sabbaths.” This note rests upon Lev 25:1-7, according to which the land was to be left fallow every seventh year. The seventy years captivity would compensate for seventy periods of six years each during which no sabbatical years had been observed. Thus the Captivity, with the four hundred and twenty previous years of neglect, would be equivalent to seventy sabbatical periods. There is no economy in keeping back what is due to God.
Moreover, the editor who separated Chronicles from the book of Ezra and Nehemiah was loath to allow the first part of the history to end in a gloomy record of sin and ruin. Modern Jews, in reading the last chapter of Isaiah, rather than conclude with the ill-omened words of the last two verses, repeat a previous portion of the chapter. So here to the history of the ruin of Jerusalem the editor has appended two verses from the opening of the book of Ezra, which contain the decree of Cyrus authorizing the return from the Captivity. And thus Chronicles concludes in the middle of a sentence which is completed in the book of Ezra: “Who is there among you of all his people? Jehovah his God be with him, and let him go up.” {2Ch 36:23}
Such a conclusion suggests two considerations which will form a fitting close to our exposition. Chronicles is not a finished work; it has no formal end; it rather breaks off abruptly like an interrupted diary. In like manner the book of Kings concludes with a note as to the treatment of the captive Jehoiachin at Babylon: the last verse runs, “And for his allowance there was a continual allowance given him of the king, every day a portion, all the days of his life.” The book of Nehemiah has a short final prayer: “Remember me, O my God, for good”; but the preceding paragraph is simply occupied, with the arrangements for the wood offering and the firstfruits. So in the New Testament the history of the Church breaks off with the statement that St. Paul abode two whole years in his own hired house, preaching the kingdom of God. The sacred writers recognize the continuity of Gods dealings with His people; they do not suggest that one period can be marked off by a clear dividing line or interval from another. Each historian leaves, as it were, the loose ends of his work ready to be taken up and continued by his successors. The Holy Spirit seeks to stimulate the Church to a forward outlook, that it may expect and work for a future wherein the power and grace of God will be no less manifest than in the past. Moreover, the final editor of Chronicles has shown himself unwilling that the book should conclude with a gloomy record of sin and ruin, and has appended a few lines to remind his readers of the new life of faith and hope that lay beyond the Captivity. In so doing, he has echoed the key-note of prophecy: ever beyond mans transgression and punishment the prophets saw the vision of his forgiveness and restoration to God.