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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "//www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="//www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width; initial-scale=1.0;"/><title>2 Kings 22 Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers</title><link rel="canonical" href="https://biblehub.com/commentaries/expositors/2_kings/22.htm" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/5001com.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 4800px), only screen and (max-device-width: 4800px)" href="/4801.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1550px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1550px)" href="/1551.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1250px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1250px)" href="/1251.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1050px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1050px)" href="/1051.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 900px), only screen and (max-device-width: 900px)" href="/901.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 800px), only screen and (max-device-width: 800px)" href="/801.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 575px), only screen and (max-device-width: 575px)" href="/501.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-height: 450px), only screen and (max-device-height: 450px)" href="/h451.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/print.css" type="text/css" media="Print" /><script type="application/javascript" src="https://scripts.webcontentassessor.com/scripts/8a2459b64f9cac8122fc7f2eac4409c8555fac9383016db59c4c26e3d5b8b157"></script><script src='https://qd.admetricspro.com/js/biblehub/biblehub-layout-loader-revcatch.js'></script><script id='HyDgbd_1s' src='https://prebidads.revcatch.com/ads.js' type='text/javascript' async></script><script>(function(w,d,b,s,i){var cts=d.createElement(s);cts.async=true;cts.id='catchscript'; cts.dataset.appid=i;cts.src='https://app.protectsubrev.com/catch_rp.js?cb='+Math.random(); document.head.appendChild(cts); }) (window,document,'head','script','rc-anksrH');</script></head> <script async src="https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=G-LR4HSKRP2H"></script> <script> window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; function gtag(){dataLayer.push(arguments);} gtag('js', new Date()); gtag('config', 'G-LR4HSKRP2H'); </script><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/2_kings/22.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="//biblehu.com/bmcom/2_kings/22-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="//biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="/commentaries/">Commentary</a> > <a href="../">Ellicott</a> > <a href="../2_kings/">2 Kings</a></div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../2_kings/21.htm" title="2 Kings 21">◄</a> 2 Kings 22 <a href="../2_kings/23.htm" title="2 Kings 23">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading">Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers</div><div class="chap"> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_kings/22-1.htm">2 Kings 22:1</a></div><div class="verse">Josiah <i>was</i> eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned thirty and one years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name <i>was</i> Jedidah, the daughter of Adaiah of Boscath.</div><span class= "bld">XXII.<p>THE REIGN OF JOSIAH</span> (2 Kings 22, <a href="/2_kings/23-30.htm" title="And his servants carried him in a chariot dead from Megiddo, and brought him to Jerusalem, and buried him in his own sepulcher. And the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah, and anointed him, and made him king in his father's stead.">2Kings 23:30</a>; comp. 2 Chronicles 24, 25)<p>(1) <span class= "bld">Josiah.</span>—The name seems to mean “Jah healeth.” (Comp. <a href="/exodus/15-26.htm" title="And said, If you will diligently listen to the voice of the LORD your God, and will do that which is right in his sight, and will give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases on you, which I have brought on the Egyptians: for I am the LORD that heals you.">Exodus 15:26</a>; <a href="/isaiah/30-26.htm" title="Moreover the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day that the LORD binds up the breach of his people, and heals the stroke of their wound.">Isaiah 30:26</a>.)<p><span class= "bld">Eight years old.</span>—The queen-mother was probably paramount in the government during the first years of the reign.<p><span class= "bld">Boscath.</span>—In the lowland of Judah (<a href="/joshua/15-39.htm" title="Lachish, and Bozkath, and Eglon,">Joshua 15:39</a>).<p><span class= "bld">He reigned thirty and one years.</span>—And somewhat over. (Comp. <a href="/jeremiah/1-2.htm" title="To whom the word of the LORD came in the days of Josiah the son of Amon king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign.">Jeremiah 1:2</a>; <a href="/jeremiah/25-1.htm" title="The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, that was the first year of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon;">Jeremiah 25:1</a>; <a href="/jeremiah/25-3.htm" title="From the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon king of Judah, even to this day, that is the three and twentieth year, the word of the LORD has come to me, and I have spoken to you, rising early and speaking; but you have not listened.">Jeremiah 25:3</a>; according to which passages it was twenty-three years from the thirteenth of Josiah to the fourth of Jehoiakim.)<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_kings/22-2.htm">2 Kings 22:2</a></div><div class="verse">And he did <i>that which was</i> 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.</div>(2) <span class= "bld">And walked</span> <span class= "bld">. . .</span>—See Note on <a href="/2_chronicles/34-2.htm" title="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.">2Chronicles 34:2</a>.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_kings/22-3.htm">2 Kings 22:3</a></div><div class="verse">And it came to pass in the eighteenth year of king Josiah, <i>that</i> the king sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah, the son of Meshullam, the scribe, to the house of the LORD, saying,</div>(3) <span class= "bld">In the eighteenth year.</span>—See the Notes on <a href="/2_chronicles/34-3.htm" title="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.">2Chronicles 34:3</a>, <span class= "ital">seq.</span> The discourses of Jeremiah, who began his prophetic ministry in the thirteenth year of Josiah, to which Thenius refers as incomprehensible on the assumption that idolatry was extirpated throughout the country in the twelfth year of this king, would be quite reconcilable even with that assumption, which, however, it is not necessary to make, as is shown in the Notes on Chronicles. Josiah did not succeed, any more than Hezekiah, in rooting out the spirit of apostasy. (See <a href="/jeremiah/2-1.htm" title="Moreover the word of the LORD came to me, saying,">Jeremiah 2:1</a>; <a href="/jeremiah/4-2.htm" title="And you shall swear, The LORD lives, in truth, in judgment, and in righteousness; and the nations shall bless themselves in him, and in him shall they glory.">Jeremiah 4:2</a>). The young king was, no doubt influenced for good by the discourses of Jeremiah and Zephaniah; but it is not easy to account for his heeding the prophetic teachings, considering that, as the grandson of a Manasseh and the son of an Amon he must have been brought up under precisely opposite influences (<span class= "ital">Thenius</span>)<span class= "ital">.</span><p><span class= "bld">The king sent Shaphan . . . the scribe.</span>—Chronicles mentions beside Maaseiah, the governor of the city, and Joah the recorder. Thenius pronounces these personages fictitious, because (1) only the scribe is mentioned in <a href="/2_kings/12-10.htm" title="And it was so, when they saw that there was much money in the chest, that the king's scribe and the high priest came up, and they put up in bags, and told the money that was found in the house of the LORD.">2Kings 12:10</a> (?); (2) Joshua was the then governor of the city (but this is not quite clear: the Joshua of <a href="/2_kings/23-8.htm" title="And he brought all the priests out of the cities of Judah, and defiled the high places where the priests had burned incense, from Geba to Beersheba, and broke down the high places of the gates that were in the entering in of the gate of Joshua the governor of the city, which were on a man's left hand at the gate of the city.">2Kings 23:8</a> <span class= "ital">may</span> have been a former governor; or, as Maaseiah and Joshua are very much alike in Hebrew, one name may be a corruption of the other); (3) Maaseiah <span class= "ital">seems</span> to have been manufactured out of the Asahiah of <a href="/2_kings/22-12.htm" title="And the king commanded Hilkiah the priest, and Ahikam the son of Shaphan, and Achbor the son of Michaiah, and Shaphan the scribe, and Asahiah a servant of the king's, saying,">2Kings 22:12</a> (but Asahiah is mentioned as a distinct person in <a href="/2_chronicles/34-20.htm" title="And the king commanded Hilkiah, and Ahikam the son of Shaphan, and Abdon the son of Micah, and Shaphan the scribe, and Asaiah a servant of the king's, saying,">2Chronicles 34:20</a>); and (4) Joah the recorder seems to have been borrowed from <a href="/2_kings/18-18.htm" title="And when they had called to the king, there came out to them Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, which was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph the recorder.">2Kings 18:18</a> (as if anything could be inferred from a recurrence of the same name; and that probably in the same family !). Upon such a basis of mere conjecture, the inference is raised that the chronicler invented these names, in order “to give a colour of genuine history to his narrative.” It is obvious to reply that Shaphan only is mentioned here, as the chief man in the business. (Comp, also <a href="/2_kings/18-17.htm" title="And the king of Assyria sent Tartan and Rabsaris and Rabshakeh from Lachish to king Hezekiah with a great host against Jerusalem. And they went up and came to Jerusalem. And when they were come up, they came and stood by the conduit of the upper pool, which is in the highway of the fuller's field.">2Kings 18:17</a>; <a href="/2_kings/19-8.htm" title="So Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah: for he had heard that he was departed from Lachish.">2Kings 19:8</a>).<p><span class= "bld">Go up to Hilkiah the priest.</span>—The account of the repair of the Temple under Josiah naturally resembles that of the same proceeding under Joash (<a href="/2_kings/12-10.htm" title="And it was so, when they saw that there was much money in the chest, that the king's scribe and the high priest came up, and they put up in bags, and told the money that was found in the house of the LORD.">2Kings 12:10</a>, <span class= "ital">seq.</span>) More than 200 years had since elapsed, so that the fabric might well stand in need of repair, apart from the defacements which it had undergone at the hands of heathenish princes (<a href="/2_chronicles/34-2.htm" title="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.">2Chronicles 34:2</a>). The text does not say that the repair of the Temple had been “longtemps négligée par l’incurie des prêtres” (<span class= "ital">Reuss</span>)<span class= "ital">,</span><p><span class= "bld">Hilkiah.</span>—See <a href="/1_chronicles/6-13.htm" title="And Shallum begat Hilkiah, and Hilkiah begat Azariah,">1Chronicles 6:13</a> for this high priest. He is a different person from Hilkiah, the father of Jeremiah, who was <span class= "ital">a</span> priest, but not high priest (<a href="/jeremiah/1-1.htm" title="The words of Jeremiah the son of Hilkiah, of the priests that were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin:">Jeremiah 1:1</a>).<p><span class= "bld">That he may sum</span>—<span class= "ital">i.e.,</span> make up, ascertain the amount of . . . The LXX. reads, <span class= "ital">seal up</span> (<span class= "greekheb">σφράγισον</span>), which implies a Hebrew verb, of which that in the present Hebrew text might be a corruption.<p><span class= "bld">Which the keepers of the door.</span>—See the Notes on <a href="/2_kings/12-9.htm" title="But Jehoiada the priest took a chest, and bored a hole in the lid of it, and set it beside the altar, on the right side as one comes into the house of the LORD: and the priests that kept the door put therein all the money that was brought into the house of the LORD.">2Kings 12:9</a>; <a href="/context/2_kings/12-11.htm" title="And they gave the money, being told, into the hands of them that did the work, that had the oversight of the house of the LORD: and they laid it out to the carpenters and builders, that worked on the house of the LORD,">2Kings 12:11-12</a>, as to the contents of this and the next verse.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_kings/22-7.htm">2 Kings 22:7</a></div><div class="verse">Howbeit there was no reckoning made with them of the money that was delivered into their hand, because they dealt faithfully.</div>(7) <span class= "bld">Howbeit there was.</span>—<span class= "ital">Only let there be</span>. The words of <a href="/context/2_kings/22-6.htm" title="To carpenters, and builders, and masons, and to buy timber and hewn stone to repair the house.">2Kings 22:6-7</a> are part of the royal mandate.<p><span class= "bld">That was delivered . . .</span> <span class= "bld">they dealt</span>.—<span class= "ital">That is given . . . they deal</span>. In <a href="/2_kings/12-14.htm" title="But they gave that to the workmen, and repaired therewith the house of the LORD.">2Kings 12:14</a>; <a href="/2_kings/12-16.htm" title="The trespass money and sin money was not brought into the house of the LORD: it was the priests'.">2Kings 12:16</a> the same construction is used in a different sense. (See the Notes there.)<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_kings/22-8.htm">2 Kings 22:8</a></div><div class="verse">And Hilkiah the high priest said unto Shaphan the scribe, I have found the book of the law in the house of the LORD. And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, and he read it.</div>(8) <span class= "bld">I have found.</span>—Literally, <span class= "ital">the book of the Torah have I found</span>. The definite form of the expression proves that what the high priest found was something already known; it was not a book, but <span class= "ital">the</span> book of the Law. How little the critics are agreed as to the precise character and contents of the book in question is well shown by Thenius: “Neither the entire then existing Scripture (Sebastian Schmidt), nor the Pentateuch (Josephus, Clericus, Von Lengerke, Keil, Bähr,) nor the ordered collection of Mosaic laws contained in Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers (Bertheau), nor the book of Exodus (Gramberg), nor the book of Deuteronomy (Reuss, Ewald, Hitzig) is to be understood by this expression. All these must have been brought into their present shape at a later time. What is meant is a <span class= "ital">collection of the statutes and ordinances of Moses</span>, which has been worked up (<span class= "ital">verarbeitet</span>) in the Pentateuch, and especially in Deuteronomy. This work is referred to by Jeremiah (<a href="/context/jeremiah/11-1.htm" title="The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD saying,">Jeremiah 11:1-17</a>),and was called “The Book of the Covenant” (<a href="/2_kings/23-2.htm" title="And the king went up into the house of the LORD, and all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem with him, and the priests, and the prophets, and all the people, both small and great: and he read in their ears all the words of the book of the covenant which was found in the house of the LORD.">2Kings 23:2</a>). According to <a href="/2_chronicles/17-9.htm" title="And they taught in Judah, and had the book of the law of the LORD with them, and went about throughout all the cities of Judah, and taught the people.">2Chronicles 17:9</a> it already existed in the time of Jehoshaphat (comp. <a href="/2_kings/11-12.htm" title="And he brought forth the king's son, and put the crown on him, and gave him the testimony; and they made him king, and anointed him; and they clapped their hands, and said, God save the king.">2Kings 11:12</a>, “the Testimony”); was probably preserved in the Ark (<a href="/deuteronomy/31-26.htm" title="Take this book of the law, and put it in the side of the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, that it may be there for a witness against you.">Deuteronomy 31:26</a>), along with which in the reign of Manasseh it was put on one side. When after half a century of disuse it was found again by the high priest in going through the chambers of the Temple with a view to the intended repairs, in the Ark which, though cast aside, was still kept in the Temple, it appeared like something <span class= "ital">new</span>, because it had been wholly forgotten (for a time), so that Shaphan could say: ‘Hilkiah has given me <span class= "ital">a book</span>’ (<a href="/2_kings/22-10.htm" title="And Shaphan the scribe showed the king, saying, Hilkiah the priest has delivered me a book. And Shaphan read it before the king.">2Kings 22:10</a>).” (See also the Notes on <a href="/2_chronicles/34-14.htm" title="And when they brought out the money that was brought into the house of the LORD, Hilkiah the priest found a book of the law of the LORD given by Moses.">2Chronicles 34:14</a>.)<p><span class= "bld">And he read it.</span>—Thenius thinks that this indicates that the book was of no great size, as Shaphan made his report to the king immediately after the execution of his commission (<a href="/2_kings/22-9.htm" title="And Shaphan the scribe came to the king, and brought the king word again, and said, Your servants have gathered the money that was found in the house, and have delivered it into the hand of them that do the work, that have the oversight of the house of the LORD.">2Kings 22:9</a>). But neither does <a href="/2_kings/22-9.htm" title="And Shaphan the scribe came to the king, and brought the king word again, and said, Your servants have gathered the money that was found in the house, and have delivered it into the hand of them that do the work, that have the oversight of the house of the LORD.">2Kings 22:9</a> say <span class= "ital">immediately</span>, nor does this phrase necessarily mean that Shaphan read the book <span class= "ital">through</span>.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_kings/22-9.htm">2 Kings 22:9</a></div><div class="verse">And Shaphan the scribe came to the king, and brought the king word again, and said, Thy servants have gathered the money that was found in the house, and have delivered it into the hand of them that do the work, that have the oversight of the house of the LORD.</div>(9) <span class= "bld">Thy servants.</span>—Hilkiah and I.<p><span class= "bld">Have gathered.</span>—Rather, <span class= "ital">have poured out</span>—<span class= "ital">i.e.</span>, from the alms-chest into the bags.<p><span class= "bld">In the house.</span>—In the wider sense of the word, as including the outer court (<a href="/2_kings/12-9.htm" title="But Jehoiada the priest took a chest, and bored a hole in the lid of it, and set it beside the altar, on the right side as one comes into the house of the LORD: and the priests that kept the door put therein all the money that was brought into the house of the LORD.">2Kings 12:9</a>). Chronicles reads “in the house of the Lord,” which is probably right. So LXX., Vulg., Arabic here.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_kings/22-10.htm">2 Kings 22:10</a></div><div class="verse">And Shaphan the scribe shewed the king, saying, Hilkiah the priest hath delivered me a book. And Shaphan read it before the king.</div>(10) <span class= "bld">Read it before the king.</span>—Keil suggests such passages as Deuteronomy 28 and Leviticus 26. If it were meant that Shaphan read <span class= "ital">the whole</span> of the book, as Thenius alleges, we should expect “<span class= "ital">all</span> the words of the book” in <a href="/2_kings/22-11.htm" title="And it came to pass, when the king had heard the words of the book of the law, that he rent his clothes.">2Kings 22:11</a>.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_kings/22-12.htm">2 Kings 22:12</a></div><div class="verse">And the king commanded Hilkiah the priest, and Ahikam the son of Shaphan, and Achbor the son of Michaiah, and Shaphan the scribe, and Asahiah a servant of the king's, saying,</div>(12) <span class= "bld">And the king commanded</span> <span class= "bld">. . .</span>—Comp. the similar embassy to Isaiah (<a href="/2_kings/19-2.htm" title="And he sent Eliakim, which was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz.">2Kings 19:2</a>).<p>As to <span class= "ital">Ahikam</span> see <a href="/jeremiah/26-24.htm" title="Nevertheless the hand of Ahikam the son of Shaphan was with Jeremiah, that they should not give him into the hand of the people to put him to death.">Jeremiah 26:24</a>; <a href="/jeremiah/40-5.htm" title="Now while he was not yet gone back, he said, Go back also to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan, whom the king of Babylon has made governor over the cities of Judah, and dwell with him among the people: or go wherever it seems convenient to you to go. So the captain of the guard gave him victuals and a reward, and let him go.">Jeremiah 40:5</a>; and for <span class= "ital">Achbor</span>, <a href="/jeremiah/26-22.htm" title="And Jehoiakim the king sent men into Egypt, namely, Elnathan the son of Achbor, and certain men with him into Egypt.">Jeremiah 26:22</a>; <a href="/jeremiah/36-12.htm" title="Then he went down into the king's house, into the scribe's chamber: and, see, all the princes sat there, even Elishama the scribe, and Delaiah the son of Shemaiah, and Elnathan the son of Achbor, and Gemariah the son of Shaphan, and Zedekiah the son of Hananiah, and all the princes.">Jeremiah 36:12</a>.<p><span class= "bld">Asahiah a servant of the king’s.</span>—Probably the same officer as “the knight” or <span class= "ital">aide-de-camp</span> who attended on the king (<a href="/2_kings/7-2.htm" title="Then a lord on whose hand the king leaned answered the man of God, and said, Behold, if the LORD would make windows in heaven, might this thing be? And he said, Behold, you shall see it with your eyes, but shall not eat thereof.">2Kings 7:2</a>; <a href="/2_kings/9-25.htm" title="Then said Jehu to Bidkar his captain, Take up, and cast him in the portion of the field of Naboth the Jezreelite: for remember how that, when I and you rode together after Ahab his father, the LORD laid this burden on him;">2Kings 9:25</a>.)<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_kings/22-13.htm">2 Kings 22:13</a></div><div class="verse">Go ye, inquire of the LORD for me, and for the people, and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book that is found: for great <i>is</i> the wrath of the LORD that is kindled against us, because our fathers have not hearkened unto the words of this book, to do according unto all that which is written concerning us.</div>(13) <span class= "bld">Enquire of the Lord.</span>—Or, <span class= "ital">seek ye Jehovah</span>. Josiah wished to know whether any hope remained for himself and his people, or whether the vengeance must fall speedily.<p><span class= "bld">For the people.</span>—Of Jerusalem.<p><span class= "bld">Written concerning us.</span>—Thenius conjectures <span class= "ital">written therein</span>, a slight change in the Hebrew. But Josiah identifies the people and their fathers as one nation. (Comp. also <a href="/exodus/20-5.htm" title="You shall not bow down yourself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;">Exodus 20:5</a>.) However Chronicles has “in this book,” and the Arabic here “in it.”<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_kings/22-14.htm">2 Kings 22:14</a></div><div class="verse">So Hilkiah the priest, and Ahikam, and Achbor, and Shaphan, and Asahiah, went unto Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of Tikvah, the son of Harhas, keeper of the wardrobe; (now she dwelt in Jerusalem in the college;) and they communed with her.</div>(14) <span class= "bld">Went unto Huldah the prophetess.</span>—Why not to Jeremiah or Zephaniah? Apparently because Huldah “dwelt in Jerusalem,” and they did not, at least at this time. Anathoth in Benjamin was Jeremiah’s town. Huldah, however, must have enjoyed a high reputation, as <span class= "ital">prophets</span> are mentioned in <a href="/2_kings/23-2.htm" title="And the king went up into the house of the LORD, and all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem with him, and the priests, and the prophets, and all the people, both small and great: and he read in their ears all the words of the book of the covenant which was found in the house of the LORD.">2Kings 23:2</a>.<p><span class= "bld">Keeper of the wardrobe.</span>—Either the royal wardrobe or that of the priests in the Temple. (Comp. <a href="/2_kings/10-22.htm" title="And he said to him that was over the vestry, Bring forth vestments for all the worshippers of Baal. And he brought them forth vestments.">2Kings 10:22</a>.) In either case Shallum was a person of consideration, as is further shown by the careful specification of his descent.<p><span class= "bld">In the college.</span>—This is the rendering of the Targum, as if <span class= "ital">mishneh</span> (“second”) were equivalent to the later Mishna. The word really means the <span class= "ital">second part of the city</span>—<span class= "ital">i.e.</span>, the lower city. (See <a href="/nehemiah/11-9.htm" title="And Joel the son of Zichri was their overseer: and Judah the son of Senuah was second over the city.">Nehemiah 11:9</a>; <a href="/zephaniah/1-10.htm" title="And it shall come to pass in that day, said the LORD, that there shall be the noise of a cry from the fish gate, and an howling from the second, and a great crashing from the hills.">Zephaniah 1:10</a>.)<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_kings/22-16.htm">2 Kings 22:16</a></div><div class="verse">Thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will bring evil upon this place, and upon the inhabitants thereof, <i>even</i> all the words of the book which the king of Judah hath read:</div>(16) <span class= "bld">I will bring evil upon</span> <span class= "bld">. . .</span>—Literally, <span class= "ital">I am about to bring evil unto</span> . . . Instead of <span class= "ital">unto</span>, the LXX., Vulg., and Chronicles rightly read <span class= "ital">upon</span>, which follows in the next phrase.<p><span class= "bld">Which the king of Judah hath read.</span>—The book had been read to him as the chronicler explains. The freedom of expression here warns us against pressing the words of <a href="/2_kings/22-8.htm" title="And Hilkiah the high priest 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, and he read it.">2Kings 22:8</a>; <a href="/2_kings/22-10.htm" title="And Shaphan the scribe showed the king, saying, Hilkiah the priest has delivered me a book. And Shaphan read it before the king.">2Kings 22:10</a> (“he read it”).<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_kings/22-17.htm">2 Kings 22:17</a></div><div class="verse">Because they have forsaken me, and have burned incense unto other gods, that they might provoke me to anger with all the works of their hands; therefore my wrath shall be kindled against this place, and shall not be quenched.</div>(17) <span class= "bld">With all the works</span> (work) <span class= "bld">of their hands.</span>—With the idols they have made. See <a href="/1_kings/16-7.htm" title="And also by the hand of the prophet Jehu the son of Hanani came the word of the LORD against Baasha, and against his house, even for all the evil that he did in the sight of the LORD, in provoking him to anger with the work of his hands, in being like the house of Jeroboam; and because he killed him.">1Kings 16:7</a>, where the same phrase occurs. (Comp. also <a href="/context/isaiah/44-9.htm" title="They that make a graven image are all of them vanity; and their delectable things shall not profit; and they are their own witnesses; they see not, nor know; that they may be ashamed.">Isaiah 44:9-17</a>; <a href="/psalms/115-4.htm" title="Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men's hands.">Psalm 115:4</a> <span class= "ital">seq</span>.).<p><span class= "bld">Shall not be quenched</span>.—Comp. <a href="/jeremiah/4-4.htm" title="Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, and take away the foreskins of your heart, you men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem: lest my fury come forth like fire, and burn that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.">Jeremiah 4:4</a>; <a href="/amos/5-6.htm" title="Seek the LORD, and you shall live; lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph, and devour it, and there be none to quench it in Bethel.">Amos 5:6</a>; <a href="/isaiah/1-31.htm" title="And the strong shall be as wick, and the maker of it as a spark, and they shall both burn together, and none shall quench them.">Isaiah 1:31</a>.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_kings/22-19.htm">2 Kings 22:19</a></div><div class="verse">Because thine heart was tender, and thou hast humbled thyself before the LORD, when thou heardest what I spake against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof, that they should become a desolation and a curse, and hast rent thy clothes, and wept before me; I also have heard <i>thee</i>, saith the LORD.</div>(19) <span class= "bld">Tender.</span>—See <a href="/1_chronicles/29-1.htm" title="Furthermore David the king said to all the congregation, Solomon my son, whom alone God has chosen, is yet young and tender, and the work is great: for the palace is not for man, but for the LORD God.">1Chronicles 29:1</a>; <a href="/1_chronicles/13-7.htm" title="And they carried the ark of God in a new cart out of the house of Abinadab: and Uzza and Ahio drove the cart.">1Chronicles 13:7</a>; <a href="/deuteronomy/20-8.htm" title="And the officers shall speak further to the people, and they shall say, What man is there that is fearful and fainthearted? let him go and return to his house, lest his brethren's heart faint as well as his heart.">Deuteronomy 20:8</a>.<p><span class= "bld">Hast humbled thyself.</span>—Comp. the behaviour of Ahab (<a href="/1_kings/21-27.htm" title="And it came to pass, when Ahab heard those words, that he rent his clothes, and put sackcloth on his flesh, and fasted, and lay in sackcloth, and went softly.">1Kings 21:27</a> <span class= "ital">seq</span>.).<p><span class= "bld">Become a desolation and a curse.</span>—See <a href="/jeremiah/44-22.htm" title="So that the LORD could no longer bear, because of the evil of your doings, and because of the abominations which you have committed; therefore is your land a desolation, and an astonishment, and a curse, without an inhabitant, as at this day.">Jeremiah 44:22</a>. “A curse” is not so much an instance of <span class= "ital">causa pro effectu</span> (Thenius), as a specification of the type such as would be made in blessing and cursing. (Comp. <a href="/jeremiah/29-22.htm" title="And of them shall be taken up a curse by all the captivity of Judah which are in Babylon, saying, The LORD make you like Zedekiah and like Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire;">Jeremiah 29:22</a>; <a href="/genesis/48-20.htm" title="And he blessed them that day, saying, In you shall Israel bless, saying, God make you as Ephraim and as Manasseh: and he set Ephraim before Manasseh.">Genesis 48:20</a>; <a href="/context/ruth/4-11.htm" title="And all the people that were in the gate, and the elders, said, We are witnesses. The LORD make the woman that is come into your house like Rachel and like Leah, which two did build the house of Israel: and do you worthily in Ephratah, and be famous in Bethlehem:">Ruth 4:11-12</a>.)<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_kings/22-20.htm">2 Kings 22:20</a></div><div class="verse">Behold therefore, I will gather thee unto thy fathers, and thou shalt be gathered into thy grave in peace; and thine eyes shall not see all the evil which I will bring upon this place. And they brought the king word again.</div>(20) <span class= "bld">Thy grave.</span>—So some MSS. and the old versions. But the ordinary Hebrew text, <span class= "ital">thy graves</span>, may be right, as referring to the burial-place formed by Manasseh, which would contain a number of chambers and niches (<a href="/2_kings/21-18.htm" title="And Manasseh slept with his fathers, and was buried in the garden of his own house, in the garden of Uzza: and Amon his son reigned in his stead.">2Kings 21:18</a>).<p><span class= "bld">In peace.</span>—These words are limited by those which follow: “thine eyes shall not see all the evil,” &c. Josiah was slain in battle, as the next chapter relates (<a href="/2_kings/23-29.htm" title="In his days Pharaohnechoh king of Egypt went up against the king of Assyria to the river Euphrates: and king Josiah went against him; and he slew him at Megiddo, when he had seen him.">2Kings 23:29</a>); but he was spared the greater calamity of witnessing the ruin of his people.<p><span class= "bld"><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center">Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers<br /><br />Text Courtesy of <a href="//biblesupport.com" target="_top">BibleSupport.com</a>. 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