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whereas the compiler of Kings groups them all together, in connection with the repair of the Temple and finding of the Book of the Law, in the eighteenth year of the reign. Our account, moreover, briefly describes the suppression of idolatry, and dwells at great length on the celebration of the Passover; in Kings the contrary is the case.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_chronicles/34-1.htm">2 Chronicles 34:1</a></div><div class="verse">Josiah <i>was</i> eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem one and thirty years.</div>(1<span class= "ital">,</span> 2) Length and character of the reign.<p>(1) <span class= "bld">Josiah was eight years old.</span>—So <a href="/2_kings/22-1.htm" title="Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned thirty and one years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Jedidah, the daughter of Adaiah of Boscath.">2Kings 22:1</a>, which adds, “and his mother’s name was Jedidah, the daughter of Adaiah of Boscath.”<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_chronicles/34-2.htm">2 Chronicles 34:2</a></div><div class="verse">And he did <i>that which was</i> right in the sight of the LORD, and walked in the ways of David his father, and declined <i>neither</i> to the right hand, nor to the left.</div>(2) <span class= "bld">And declined . . . the left.</span>—So Kings. Josiah is the only king upon whom this encomium is pronounced. It is equivalent to saying that his observance of the law was perfect. Comp. <a href="/deuteronomy/5-32.htm" title="You shall observe to do therefore as the LORD your God has commanded you: you shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left.">Deuteronomy 5:32</a>; <a href="/deuteronomy/17-20.htm" title="That his heart be not lifted up above his brothers, and that he turn not aside from the commandment, to the right hand, or to the left: to the end that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he, and his children, in the middle of Israel.">Deuteronomy 17:20</a> (the law of the king), 28:14.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_chronicles/34-3.htm">2 Chronicles 34:3</a></div><div class="verse">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.</div>(3-7) Idolatry extirpated. This brief account is parallel to <a href="/context/2_kings/23-4.htm" title="And the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest, and the priests of the second order, and the keepers of the door, to bring forth out of the temple of the LORD all the vessels that were made for Baal, and for the grove, and for all the host of heaven: and he burned them without Jerusalem in the fields of Kidron, and carried the ashes of them to Bethel.">2Kings 23:4-20</a>.<p>(3) <span class= "bld">For.</span>—<span class= "ital">Now.</span><p><span class= "bld">In the eighth year.</span>—The specifications of time in this verse are peculiar to the chronicler.<p><span class= "bld">While he was yet young.</span>—Being about sixteen.<p><span class= "bld">He began to seek.</span>—<a href="/context/2_chronicles/17-3.htm" title="And the LORD was with Jehoshaphat, because he walked in the first ways of his father David, and sought not to Baalim;">2Chronicles 17:3-4</a>; <a href="/1_chronicles/13-3.htm" title="And let us bring again the ark of our God to us: for we inquired not at it in the days of Saul.">1Chronicles 13:3</a>.<p><span class= "bld">And in the twelfth year.</span>—When, perhaps, he began to govern alone.<p><span class= "bld">He began to purge.</span>—It is not said that the whole work was completed in the twelfth year; indeed, <a href="/2_chronicles/34-33.htm" title="And Josiah took away all the abominations out of all the countries that pertained to the children of Israel, and made all that were present in Israel to serve, even to serve the LORD their God. And all his days they departed not from following the LORD, the God of their fathers.">2Chronicles 34:33</a> implies the contrary. But the writer having begun the story of the destruction of idolatrous objects, naturally continues it to its close, though that properly belongs to Josiah’s eighteenth year (<a href="/2_kings/22-3.htm" title="And it came to pass in the eighteenth year of king Josiah, that the king sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah, the son of Meshullam, the scribe, to the house of the LORD, saying,">2Kings 22:3</a>, compared with <a href="/2_kings/23-4.htm" title="And the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest, and the priests of the second order, and the keepers of the door, to bring forth out of the temple of the LORD all the vessels that were made for Baal, and for the grove, and for all the host of heaven: and he burned them without Jerusalem in the fields of Kidron, and carried the ashes of them to Bethel.">2Kings 23:4</a> <span class= "ital">seq.</span>)<span class= "ital">.</span> It is <span class= "ital">not,</span> therefore, clear (as Thenius asserts) that the chronicler has put the extirpation of idolatry first, simply to show that the <span class= "ital">pious</span> king needed no special prompting to such a course; or that, as Noldeke supposes, the writer meant to clear this highly-extolled king from the reproach of having quietly put up with the abomination for full eighteen years.<p><span class= "bld">The</span> <span class= "bld">high places.</span>—<a href="/2_kings/23-5.htm" title="And he put down the idolatrous priests, whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense in the high places in the cities of Judah, and in the places round about Jerusalem; them also that burned incense to Baal, to the sun, and to the moon, and to the planets, and to all the host of heaven.">2Kings 23:5</a>; <a href="/context/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 23:8-9</a>; <a href="/2_kings/23-13.htm" title="And the high places that were before Jerusalem, which were on the right hand of the mount of corruption, which Solomon the king of Israel had built for Ashtoreth the abomination of the Zidonians, and for Chemosh the abomination of the Moabites, and for Milcom the abomination of the children of Ammon, did the king defile.">2Kings 23:13</a>.<p><span class= "bld">The</span> <span class= "bld">groves.</span>—<span class= "ital">The Asherim</span> (<a href="/2_kings/23-4.htm" title="And the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest, and the priests of the second order, and the keepers of the door, to bring forth out of the temple of the LORD all the vessels that were made for Baal, and for the grove, and for all the host of heaven: and he burned them without Jerusalem in the fields of Kidron, and carried the ashes of them to Bethel.">2Kings 23:4</a>; <a href="/2_kings/6-7.htm" title="Therefore said he, Take it up to you. And he put out his hand, and took it.">2Kings 6:7</a>; <a href="/2_kings/6-14.htm" title="Therefore sent he thither horses, and chariots, and a great host: and they came by night, and compassed the city about.">2Kings 6:14</a>). There was an Asherah in the Temple, as well as in the high places which Solomon built for Ashtoreth, Chemosh, and Milcom. The carved and molten images are not mentioned in the parallel passage, which, however, gives a much clearer and more original description of the different kinds of idolatry abolished by Josiah. (The Syriac has, “he began to root out the altars, and idols, and leopards, and chapels, and collars, and bells, and all the trees which they made for the idols.”)<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_chronicles/34-4.htm">2 Chronicles 34:4</a></div><div class="verse">And they brake down the altars of Baalim in his presence; and the images, that <i>were</i> 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 <i>of them</i>, and strowed <i>it</i> upon the graves of them that had sacrificed unto them.</div>(4) <span class= "bld">Of Baalim.</span>—<span class= "ital">Of the Baals.</span> <a href="/context/2_kings/23-4.htm" title="And the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest, and the priests of the second order, and the keepers of the door, to bring forth out of the temple of the LORD all the vessels that were made for Baal, and for the grove, and for all the host of heaven: and he burned them without Jerusalem in the fields of Kidron, and carried the ashes of them to Bethel.">2Kings 23:4-5</a>, “the Baal.”<p><span class= "bld">In his presence.</span>—Comp. <a href="/2_kings/23-16.htm" title="And as Josiah turned himself, he spied the sepulchers that were there in the mount, and sent, and took the bones out of the sepulchers, and burned them on the altar, and polluted it, according to the word of the LORD which the man of God proclaimed, who proclaimed these words.">2Kings 23:16</a>, from which it appears that Josiah personally superintended the work of demolition.<p><span class= "bld">The images.</span>—<span class= "ital">Sun statues</span> (<a href="/2_chronicles/14-4.htm" title="And commanded Judah to seek the LORD God of their fathers, and to do the law and the commandment.">2Chronicles 14:4</a>).<p><span class= "bld">That were on high above them, he cut down.</span>—Or, <span class= "ital">that were above, from off them he hewed.</span><p><span class= "bld">The molten images.</span>—Rather, <span class= "ital">the ma</span>çç<span class= "ital">ebuth,</span> or sacred <span class= "ital">pillars.</span> (See <a href="/2_kings/23-14.htm" title="And he broke in pieces the images, and cut down the groves, and filled their places with the bones of men.">2Kings 23:14</a>.)<p><span class= "bld">Made dust of them.</span>—<a href="/2_kings/23-6.htm" title="And he brought out the grove from the house of the LORD, without Jerusalem, to the brook Kidron, and burned it at the brook Kidron, and stamped it small to powder, and cast the powder thereof on the graves of the children of the people.">2Kings 23:6</a> (of an Asherah).<p><span class= "bld">And showed . . . unto them.</span>—Literally, <span class= "ital">and sprinkled upon the face of the graves that used to sacrifice unto them,</span> as if the graves were guilty. <a href="/2_kings/23-6.htm" title="And he brought out the grove from the house of the LORD, without Jerusalem, to the brook Kidron, and burned it at the brook Kidron, and stamped it small to powder, and cast the powder thereof on the graves of the children of the people.">2Kings 23:6</a> relates this of the temple Asherah only.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_chronicles/34-5.htm">2 Chronicles 34:5</a></div><div class="verse">And he burnt the bones of the priests upon their altars, and cleansed Judah and Jerusalem.</div>(5) <span class= "bld">And he burnt . . . upon their altar.</span>—See <a href="/context/2_kings/23-13.htm" title="And the high places that were before Jerusalem, which were on the right hand of the mount of corruption, which Solomon the king of Israel had built for Ashtoreth the abomination of the Zidonians, and for Chemosh the abomination of the Moabites, and for Milcom the abomination of the children of Ammon, did the king defile.">2Kings 23:13-14</a>; <a href="/2_kings/23-16.htm" title="And as Josiah turned himself, he spied the sepulchers that were there in the mount, and sent, and took the bones out of the sepulchers, and burned them on the altar, and polluted it, according to the word of the LORD which the man of God proclaimed, who proclaimed these words.">2Kings 23:16</a>; <a href="/2_kings/23-20.htm" title="And he slew all the priests of the high places that were there on the altars, and burned men's bones on them, and returned to Jerusalem.">2Kings 23:20</a> for details. Literally, <span class= "ital">and bones of priests he burnt.</span> They were bones taken from the graves of the idolatrous priests, who were thus punished, while their altars were irreparably defiled. (For the horror with which such a violation of the dead was then regarded, see <a href="/amos/2-1.htm" title="Thus said the LORD; For three transgressions of Moab, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because he burned the bones of the king of Edom into lime:">Amos 2:1</a>.)<p><span class= "bld">And cleansed</span> (<span class= "ital">i.e.,</span> “purged,” <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= "bld">Judah and Jerusalem.</span>—This phrase does not occur at all in the parallel account.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_chronicles/34-6.htm">2 Chronicles 34:6</a></div><div class="verse">And <i>so did he</i> in the cities of Manasseh, and Ephraim, and Simeon, even unto Naphtali, with their mattocks round about.</div>(6) <span class= "bld">And so did he in the cities</span> <span class= "bld">. . .</span> <span class= "bld">unto Naphtali.</span>—Sec <a href="/2_kings/23-15.htm" title="Moreover the altar that was at Bethel, and the high place which Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, had made, both that altar and the high place he broke down, and burned the high place, and stamped it small to powder, and burned the grove.">2Kings 23:15</a>; <a href="/2_kings/23-19.htm" title="And all the houses also of the high places that were in the cities of Samaria, which the kings of Israel had made to provoke the Lord to anger, Josiah took away, and did to them according to all the acts that he had done in Bethel.">2Kings 23:19</a>, according to which Josiah destroyed the sanctuary of Bethel, and the high places “in the cities of Samaria,” <span class= "ital">i.e.,</span> the northern kingdom.<p>Simeon is again mentioned somewhat strangely, as in <a href="/2_chronicles/15-9.htm" title="And he gathered all Judah and Benjamin, and the strangers with them out of Ephraim and Manasseh, and out of Simeon: for they fell to him out of Israel in abundance, when they saw that the LORD his God was with him.">2Chronicles 15:9</a>, no doubt because Beersheba, a famous sanctuary within its territory, was a place of pilgrimage for the northern tribes.<p><span class= "bld">Manasseh and Ephraim,</span> i.e., the northern kingdom, as in <a href="/2_chronicles/31-1.htm" title="Now when all this was finished, all Israel that were present went out to the cities of Judah, and broke the images in pieces, and cut down the groves, and threw down the high places and the altars out of all Judah and Benjamin, in Ephraim also and Manasseh, until they had utterly destroyed them all. Then all the children of Israel returned, every man to his possession, into their own cities.">2Chronicles 31:1</a>; <a href="/isaiah/9-21.htm" title="Manasseh, Ephraim; and Ephraim, Manasseh: and they together shall be against Judah. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.">Isaiah 9:21</a>.<p><span class= "bld">With their mattocks.</span>—Rather, <span class= "ital">in their ruins</span>; reading <span class= "ital">behorbuthêhem,</span> instead of <span class= "ital">behorbôth</span>ê<span class= "ital">hem,</span> which means “with their swords.” (Comp. <a href="/ezekiel/26-9.htm" title="And he shall set engines of war against your walls, and with his axes he shall break down your towers.">Ezekiel 26:9</a>.) The phrase qualifies the word “cities.” The cities of Israel had been ruined by the Assyrians, Sargon. and Shalmaneser, the latter of whom took Samaria, after a three years’ siege, and carried the people captive to Assyria, in 721 B.C., replacing them by foreign colonists. This explains how it was that Josiah was able to desecrate the northern sanctuaries, and slay their priests (<a href="/2_kings/23-20.htm" title="And he slew all the priests of the high places that were there on the altars, and burned men's bones on them, and returned to Jerusalem.">2Kings 23:20</a>). The ordinary Hebrew text divides the word thus: <span class= "ital">behar bûtthêhem,</span> so as to suggest the reading <span class= "ital">behar bûtthêhem,</span> “in the hill of their houses.” The LXX. has “in their places round about”; the Vulg. omits the phrase; and the Syriac reads “in their streets around.” The whole verse should be connected with <a href="/2_chronicles/34-7.htm" title="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.">2Chronicles 34:7</a>, thus: “And in the cities of Manasseh and Ephraim and Simeon, even unto Naphtali, to wit, in their ruins round about, he pulled down the altars and the Asherim; and the carven images he dashed into pieces unto pulverising.” <span class= "ital">Hedaq</span> is an unusual form of the infinitive, not a perfect, as Bertheau supposes.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_chronicles/34-7.htm">2 Chronicles 34:7</a></div><div class="verse">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.</div>(7) <span class= "bld">The idols.</span>—<span class= "ital">Sun-statues</span> (<a href="/2_chronicles/34-4.htm" title="And they broke 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 broke in pieces, and made dust of them, and strewed it on the graves of them that had sacrificed to them.">2Chronicles 34:4</a>). The word does not occur in the parallel account; but <a href="/2_chronicles/34-5.htm" title="And he burnt the bones of the priests on their altars, and cleansed Judah and Jerusalem.">2Chronicles 34:5</a> mentions sun-worship.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_chronicles/34-8.htm">2 Chronicles 34:8</a></div><div class="verse">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 the LORD his God.</div>(8-13) The cleansing and repair of the Temple. (Comp. <a href="/context/2_kings/22-3.htm" title="And it came to pass in the eighteenth year of king Josiah, that the king sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah, the son of Meshullam, the scribe, to the house of the LORD, saying,">2Kings 22:3-7</a>; and the similar account of the restoration by Joash in <a href="/context/2_chronicles/24-11.htm" title="Now it came to pass, that at what time the chest was brought to the king's office by the hand of the Levites, and when they saw that there was much money, the king's scribe and the high priest's officer came and emptied the chest, and took it, and carried it to his place again. Thus they did day by day, and gathered money in abundance.">2Chronicles 24:11-13</a>).<p><span class= "bld">When he had purged.</span>—Omit <span class= "ital">had.</span> (<span class= "ital">Lĕtah</span>ē<span class= "ital">r</span> is apparently co-ordinate with <span class= "ital">lĕmolkû,</span> “in the eighteenth year to his reigning, to purging the land “; as if the work of purification had been co-extensive with the reign. The LXX., however, has, “in order to purge the land,” which may be right.)<p><span class= "bld">He sent Shaphan.</span>—Who was secretary of state (<a href="/2_kings/22-3.htm" title="And it came to pass in the eighteenth year of king Josiah, that the king sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah, the son of Meshullam, the scribe, to the house of the LORD, saying,">2Kings 22:3</a>, “the scribe”).<p><span class= "bld">Maaseiah . . . Joah.</span>—Kings mentions Shaphan only.<p><span class= "bld">The governor of the city.</span>—Sar <span class= "ital">ha’îr; praefectus urois.</span> (Conp. <a href="/1_chronicles/11-6.htm" title="And David said, Whoever smites the Jebusites first shall be chief and captain. So Joab the son of Zeruiah went first up, and was chief.">1Chronicles 11:6</a>.)<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_chronicles/34-9.htm">2 Chronicles 34:9</a></div><div class="verse">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, and of all Judah and Benjamin; and they returned to Jerusalem.</div>(9) <span class= "bld">And when they came . . . they delivered.</span>—<span class= "ital">And they came</span> <span class= "bld">. . .</span> <span class= "ital">and they gave.</span> In <a href="/context/2_kings/22-3.htm" title="And it came to pass in the eighteenth year of king Josiah, that the king sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah, the son of Meshullam, the scribe, to the house of the LORD, saying,">2Kings 22:3-7</a>, the contents of <a href="/context/2_chronicles/34-9.htm" title="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, and of all Judah and Benjamin; and they returned to Jerusalem.">2Chronicles 34:9-12</a> a are given in the form of the king’s instructions to Shaphan. Here we are told that those instructions were carried out. “They delivered (<span class= "ital">wayyittĕnû</span>) is substituted for the difficult <span class= "ital">wĕyatt</span>ē<span class= "ital">m</span> of Kings (<span class= "ital">i.e.,</span> “and let him pay out”).<p><span class= "bld">From the hand of Manasseh . . . Benjamin.</span>—Kings, “from the people.” Reuss oddly imagines that these words denote “a kind of organised collection throughout all Palestine,” and then proceeds to draw an inference unfavourable to the chronicler.<p><span class= "bld">And they returned to Jerusalem.</span>—This is the meaning of the <span class= "ital">Qri</span> or Hebrew margin. The Hebrew text has, “and the inhabitants of Jerusalem,” which is correct.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_chronicles/34-10.htm">2 Chronicles 34:10</a></div><div class="verse">And they put <i>it</i> in the hand of the workmen that had the oversight of the house of the LORD, and they gave it to the workmen that wrought in the house of the LORD, to repair and amend the house:</div>(10) <span class= "bld">Put it</span> <span class= "bld">in.</span>—<span class= "ital">Gave it into.</span><p><span class= "bld">The workmen.</span>—<span class= "ital">The doers of the work, i.e.,</span> the overseers or contractors. See Note on <a href="/2_chronicles/24-12.htm" title="And the king and Jehoiada gave it to such as did the work of the service of the house of the LORD, and hired masons and carpenters to repair the house of the LORD, and also such as worked iron and brass to mend the house of the LORD.">2Chronicles 24:12</a>.<p><span class= "bld">And they gave it to the workmen . . . the house.</span>—So LXX. and Syriac. The Hebrew text says, <span class= "ital">and the doers of the work who were working in thehouse of Jehovah gave it for restoring and repairing the house.</span> To whom the masters gave it is stated in <span class= "ital">next</span> verse.<p><span class= "bld">To repair.</span>—<span class= "ital">Libd</span>ō<span class= "ital">q,</span> here only. The term is so used in Syriac. The original form of the verse is <a href="/2_kings/22-5.htm" title="And let them deliver it into the hand of the doers of the work, that have the oversight of the house of the LORD: and let them give it to the doers of the work which is in the house of the LORD, to repair the breaches of the house,">2Kings 22:5</a>, where “the doers of the work” are first the masters, and then the men.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_chronicles/34-11.htm">2 Chronicles 34:11</a></div><div class="verse">Even to the artificers and builders gave they <i>it</i>, to buy hewn stone, and timber for couplings, and to floor the houses which the kings of Judah had destroyed.</div>(11) <span class= "bld">Even to . . . builders.</span>—<span class= "ital">And they gave it to the craftsmen and to the builders.</span><p><span class= "bld">For couplings.</span>—<span class= "ital">For the couplings</span> or girders; an explanation added by the chronicler.<p><span class= "bld">And to floor . . . destroyed.</span>—Kings, “to repair the house.” The reference to the defacement of the Temple buildings by idolatrous kings may be compared with the similar notice concerning Athaliah’s sons, <a href="/2_chronicles/24-7.htm" title="For the sons of Athaliah, that wicked woman, had broken up the house of God; and also all the dedicated things of the house of the LORD did they bestow on Baalim.">2Chronicles 24:7</a>, and Ahaz, <a href="/2_chronicles/28-24.htm" title="And Ahaz gathered together the vessels of the house of God, and cut in pieces the vessels of the house of God, and shut up the doors of the house of the LORD, and he made him altars in every corner of Jerusalem.">2Chronicles 28:24</a>. Perhaps, however, the expression “destroyed” does not mean more than “allowed to go to ruin.”<p><span class= "bld">To floor.</span>—<span class= "ital">To rafter,</span> or <span class= "ital">joist.</span> (See margin.)<p><span class= "bld">The houses.</span>—<span class= "ital">The chambers.</span><p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_chronicles/34-12.htm">2 Chronicles 34:12</a></div><div class="verse">And the men did the work faithfully: and the overseers of them <i>were</i> Jahath and Obadiah, the Levites, of the sons of Merari; and Zechariah and Meshullam, of the sons of the Kohathites, to set <i>it</i> forward; and <i>other of</i> the Levites, all that could skill of instruments of musick.</div>(12) <span class= "bld">And the men did the work faithfully.</span>—Literally, <span class= "ital">And the men were working</span> (or <span class= "ital">dealing</span>)<span class= "ital"> in good faith in the work.</span> In <a href="/2_kings/22-7.htm" title="However, there was no reckoning made with them of the money that was delivered into their hand, because they dealt faithfully.">2Kings 22:7</a> Josiah bids the High Priest not to require any account of the money delivered to the master-workmen, “because they work in good faith.”<p><span class= "bld">And the overseers of them were.</span>—<span class= "ital">And over them were set.</span> The names of the overseers, and the details added in next verse, are peculiar to and characteristic of the chronicler.<p><span class= "bld">To set it forward.</span>—<span class= "ital">To lead, conduct, preside;</span> usually a musical term. (Comp. <a href="/1_chronicles/23-4.htm" title="Of which, twenty and four thousand were to set forward the work of the house of the LORD; and six thousand were officers and judges:">1Chronicles 23:4</a><span class= "ital">.</span>)<p><span class= "bld">And other . . . music.</span>—Literally, <span class= "ital">and the Levites,</span> to wit, <span class= "ital">every one skilled in the instruments of song.</span> (Comp. <a href="/1_chronicles/15-16.htm" title="And David spoke to the chief of the Levites to appoint their brothers to be the singers with instruments of music, psalteries and harps and cymbals, sounding, by lifting up the voice with joy.">1Chronicles 15:16</a>; <a href="/1_chronicles/25-7.htm" title="So the number of them, with their brothers that were instructed in the songs of the LORD, even all that were cunning, was two hundred fourscore and eight.">1Chronicles 25:7</a>.)<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_chronicles/34-13.htm">2 Chronicles 34:13</a></div><div class="verse">Also <i>they were</i> over the bearers of burdens, and <i>were</i> overseers of all that wrought the work in any manner of service: and of the Levites <i>there were</i> scribes, and officers, and porters.</div>(13) <span class= "bld">Also.</span>—<span class= "ital">And.</span><p><span class= "bld">They.</span>—The Levitical musicians-<p><span class= "bld">Were over the bearers of burdens.</span>—They probably cheered their labours with song and music; as was the practice in ancient Egypt.<p><span class= "bld">And were overseers.</span>—<span class= "ital">Leaders, conductors;</span> see Note on <a href="/2_chronicles/34-12.htm" title="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 other of the Levites, all that could skill of instruments of music.">2Chronicles 34:12</a>. Notice the honourable position here assigned to the musical guilds of Levites.<p><span class= "bld">And of the Levites . . . porters.</span>—In connection, that is, with the work of restoration. But comp. <a href="/context/1_chronicles/23-4.htm" title="Of which, twenty and four thousand were to set forward the work of the house of the LORD; and six thousand were officers and judges:">1Chronicles 23:4-5</a>. The writer may only intend to say that there were Levitical guilds of “scribes, officers, and porters,” as well as of musicians.<p><span class= "bld">Scribes.</span>—<a href="/1_chronicles/2-55.htm" title="And the families of the scribes which dwelled at Jabez; the Tirathites, the Shimeathites, and Suchathites. These are the Kenites that came of Hemath, the father of the house of Rechab.">1Chronicles 2:55</a>.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_chronicles/34-14.htm">2 Chronicles 34:14</a></div><div class="verse">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 <i>given</i> by Moses.</div>(14-19) Hilkiah finds the Book of the Law, and delivers it to Shaphan, who reads it before the king. (Comp. <a href="/context/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 22:8-11</a>.)<p>(14) <span class= "bld">And when they brought out.</span>—This verse is not in Kings. It supplements the older account, by assigning the occasion of the discovery.<p>Josephus makes Hilkiah find the book in the treasure-chamber of the Temple which he had entered to get gold and silver for making some sacred vessels. According to Rabbinical tradition it was found hidden under a heap of stones, where it had been placed to save it from being burnt by king Ahaz.<p><span class= "bld">A book.</span>—<span class= "ital">The book.</span><p><span class= "bld">Given by Moses.</span>—The Hebrew phrase, “by the hand of Moses,” belongs not to “the book,” but to “the Law (or teaching) of Jehovah”; and the meaning of the whole expression is, “the Law of Jehovah communicated through the medium or instrumentality of Moses.” (Comp. <a href="/2_chronicles/33-8.htm" title="Neither will I any more remove the foot of Israel from out of the land which I have appointed for your fathers; so that they will take heed to do all that I have commanded them, according to the whole law and the statutes and the ordinances by the hand of Moses.">2Chronicles 33:8</a>.)<p><span class= "bld">To Shaphan.</span>—Kings adds, “and he read it.” Those words need not mean that Shaphan read the book <span class= "ital">through,</span> as Thenius suggests. (See Note on <a href="/2_kings/22-3.htm" title="And it came to pass in the eighteenth year of king Josiah, that the king sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah, the son of Meshullam, the scribe, to the house of the LORD, saying,">2Kings 22:3</a>.)<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_chronicles/34-16.htm">2 Chronicles 34:16</a></div><div class="verse">And Shaphan carried the book to the king, and brought the king word back again, saying, All that was committed to thy servants, they do <i>it</i>.</div>(16) <span class= "bld">Carried.</span>—<span class= "ital">Brought in.</span><p><span class= "bld">Again.</span>—<span class= "ital">Further, besides.</span><p><span class= "bld">Committed to thy servants.</span>—<span class= "ital">Given into the hand of thy servants</span>; viz. the overseers of the repairs.<p><span class= "bld">They do</span> <span class= "bld">it<span class= "ital">.</span></span>—<span class= "ital">They are doing.</span><p>“ And Shaphan brought the book in unto the king” is only a different pointing of, “and Shaphan the scribe came in unto the king,” <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>. The rest of the verse is an addition of the chronicler’s. Perhaps the Notes on <a href="/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</a> and 2chron xxiv, 11 apply hero.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_chronicles/34-17.htm">2 Chronicles 34:17</a></div><div class="verse">And they have gathered together the money that was found in the house of the LORD, and have delivered it into the hand of the overseers, and to the hand of the workmen.</div>(17) <span class= "bld">Gathered together.</span>—<span class= "ital">Poured out</span> from the chest or chests. See <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>, where “the doers of the work” are identified with “the overseers.”<p><span class= "bld">And to</span> <span class= "bld">. . .</span> <span class= "bld">the workmen.</span>—<span class= "ital">And to</span> . . . <span class= "ital">the doers of the work.</span><p>Perhaps the <span class= "ital">and</span> is explanatory (<span class= "ital">even,</span> or <span class= "ital">that is</span>)<span class= "ital">.</span><p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_chronicles/34-18.htm">2 Chronicles 34:18</a></div><div class="verse">Then Shaphan the scribe told the king, saying, Hilkiah the priest hath given me a book. And Shaphan read it before the king.</div>(18) <span class= "bld">Then.</span>—<span class= "ital">And.</span> The verse is identical with <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>, save that it substitutes “read in it” for “read it,” which may mean the same thing. It seems too much to assume that the chronicler altered the phrase, in order to insinuate that the book was of considerable size.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_chronicles/34-20.htm">2 Chronicles 34:20</a></div><div class="verse">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,</div>(20-28) The royal message to the prophetess Huldah, and her reply. Comp. <a href="/context/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 22:12-20</a>.<p><span class= "bld">Abdon the son of Micah.</span>—Kings, “Achbor the son of Micaiah,” which appears right. The Syriac has Abachûr. (See <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> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_chronicles/34-21.htm">2 Chronicles 34:21</a></div><div class="verse">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 <i>is</i> 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.</div>(21) <span class= "bld">Go, enquire of the Lord.</span>—The verse is virtually identical with <a href="/2_kings/22-13.htm" title="Go you, 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 is the wrath of the LORD that is kindled against us, because our fathers have not listened to the words of this book, to do according to all that which is written concerning us.">2Kings 22:13</a>.<p><span class= "bld">For them that are left . . . Judah.</span>—An alteration of, “and for the people and for all Judah” (Kings). The chronicler thinks of the remnant in the northern kingdom.<p><span class= "bld">Poured out.</span>—Kings, “kindled against.” (So LXX.) This was probably the original reading, as the wrath which Josiah dreaded had not yet been <span class= "ital">poured out</span> upon <span class= "ital">Judah.</span> But the chronicler remembered the ruin of the ten tribes.<p><span class= "bld">Kept.</span>—Kings, “hearkened to” <span class= "ital">shamĕ’û,</span> as here, instead of <span class= "ital">shāmĕrû;</span> and so LXX. and Syriac.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_chronicles/34-22.htm">2 Chronicles 34:22</a></div><div class="verse">And Hilkiah, and <i>they</i> that the king <i>had appointed</i>, went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of Tikvath, the son of Hasrah, keeper of the wardrobe; (now she dwelt in Jerusalem in the college:) and they spake to her to that <i>effect</i>.</div>(22) <span class= "bld">And they that the king had appointed.</span>—The Hebrew text is defective. We may restore it from the LXX., “and they whom the king had commanded”; or better, perhaps, from the Syriac and Vulg., “and all they whom the king sent,” Three MSS. read, “and the king’s princes,” a plausible correction. <a href="/2_kings/22-14.htm" title="So Hilkiah the priest, and Ahikam, and Achbor, and Shaphan, and Asahiah, went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of Tikvah, the son of Harhas, keeper of the wardrobe; (now she dwelled in Jerusalem in the college;) and they communed with her.">2Kings 22:14</a> adds the names (<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> <span class= "ital">supra</span>)<span class= "ital">.</span><p><span class= "bld">Son of Tikvath.</span>—Heb., <span class= "ital">Tûkahath.</span> Kings, “Tikvah.” The LXX., <span class= "greekheb">Θεκωε</span>, the Syriac, <span class= "ital">Tekwa,</span> and the Vulg., Thecuath, show that Tikvah or Tikvath is right. (The final <span class= "ital">h</span> and <span class= "ital">th</span> of Chronicles arise from blending these two equivalent spellings.)<p><span class= "bld">Son of Hasrah.</span>—Kings, <span class= "ital">son of Harhas.</span> So the LXX., Apày; but the Syriac (<span class= "ital">Hasdâ</span>) and Vulg. support Hasrah.<p><span class= "bld">In the college.</span>—<span class= "ital">In the second quarter y i.e.,</span> the lower city.<p><span class= "bld">To that effect.</span>—<a href="/2_chronicles/32-15.htm" title="Now therefore let not Hezekiah deceive you, nor persuade you on this manner, neither yet believe him: for no god of any nation or kingdom was able to deliver his people out of my hand, and out of the hand of my fathers: how much less shall your God deliver you out of my hand?">2Chronicles 32:15</a> (“on this manner”). Added by the chronicler. The differences in the text of the oracle which follows are mostly due to alteration of the original, which is more exactly given in Kings.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_chronicles/34-24.htm">2 Chronicles 34:24</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 curses that are written in the book which they have read before the king of Judah:</div>(24) <span class= "bld">I will bring.</span>—<span class= "ital">I am about to bring</span> (participle).<p><span class= "bld">All the curses . . . the book.</span>—An explanatory paraphrase of “all the words of the book” (Kings). (See <a href="/deuteronomy/27-15.htm" title="Cursed be the man that makes any graven or molten image, an abomination to the LORD, the work of the hands of the craftsman, and puts it in a secret place. And all the people shall answer and say, Amen.">Deuteronomy 27:15</a> <span class= "ital">seq.,</span> 28:16 <span class= "ital">seq.,</span> 29:20, 21, 27, 30:19; and comp. <a href="/joshua/8-34.htm" title="And afterward he read all the words of the law, the blessings and cursings, according to all that is written in the book of the law.">Joshua 8:34</a>.)<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_chronicles/34-25.htm">2 Chronicles 34:25</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 poured out upon this place, and shall not be quenched.</div>(25) <span class= "bld">Works.</span>—“Work” (Kings), and some MSS. and the Syriac version here.<p><span class= "bld">Poured out.</span>—“Shall be kindled” (Kings), which agrees better with “shall not be quenched.” (See <a href="/2_chronicles/34-21.htm" title="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 on us, because our fathers have not kept the word of the LORD, to do after all that is written in this book.">2Chronicles 34:21</a> for the same alteration. The LXX. here has (<span class= "greekheb">ἐξεκαύθη</span>)<span class= "ital"> “</span>was kindled.”<p><span class= "bld">Burned incense.</span>—<span class= "ital">Hiphil,</span> which is much commoner in the chronicle than <span class= "ital">piel,</span> the form in Kings (the forms <span class= "ital">piel</span> and <span class= "ital">hiphil</span> of this word <span class= "ital">qatar</span> are about equally used in Kings.)<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_chronicles/34-26.htm">2 Chronicles 34:26</a></div><div class="verse">And as for the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of the LORD, so shall ye say unto him, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel <i>concerning</i> the words which thou hast heard;</div>(26) <span class= "bld">To enquire of the Lord.</span>—Strictly, <span class= "ital">through the Lord.</span> Kings has the accusative.<p><span class= "bld">Against this place.</span>—Kings adds, “that it should become an astonishment and a curse.”<p><span class= "bld">And humbledst thyself before me.</span>—Not in Kings. A characteristic repetition.<p><span class= "bld">And weep.</span>—Shorter form of the verb; a correction of Kings (<span class= "ital">wattēbk</span> for <span class= "ital">wattebkeh</span>)<span class= "ital">.</span><p><span class= "bld">I.</span>—Emphatic. (Kings has the longer form <span class= "ital">‘anokî</span> for our <span class= "ital">‘anî.</span>)<p><span class= "bld">Saith the Lord.</span>—<span class= "ital">Is the utterance of Jehovah</span> (<span class= "ital">ne’ûm Iahweh</span>)<span class= "ital">.</span><p><span class= "bld">Grave.</span>—Heb., <span class= "ital">graves.</span> (Comp. <a href="/2_chronicles/16-14.htm" title="And they buried him in his own sepulchers, which he had made for himself in the city of David, and laid him in the bed which was filled with sweet odors and divers kinds of spices prepared by the apothecaries' are: and they made a very great burning for him.">2Chronicles 16:14</a>.)<p><span class= "bld">And upon the inhabitants of the same.</span>—Added by the chronicler.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_chronicles/34-29.htm">2 Chronicles 34:29</a></div><div class="verse">Then the king sent and gathered together all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem.</div>(29-33) The king reads the Book to the assembly, and renews the covenant. (Comp. <a href="/2_kings/23-1.htm" title="And the king sent, and they gathered to him all the elders of Judah and of Jerusalem.">2Kings 23:1</a>)<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_chronicles/34-30.htm">2 Chronicles 34:30</a></div><div class="verse">And the king went up into the house of the LORD, and all the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and the priests, and the Levites, and all the people, great and small: and he read in their ears all the words of the book of the covenant that was found in the house of the LORD.</div>(30) <span class= "bld">The Levites.</span>—The chronicler substituted this for “the prophets” (Kings). It was a natural change to make, seeing that the prophetic order had long been extinct in his day. It may even be the result of an unconscious error, as the phrase “priests and Levites” is so frequent in his pages.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_chronicles/34-31.htm">2 Chronicles 34:31</a></div><div class="verse">And the king stood in his place, and made a covenant before the LORD, to walk after the LORD, and to keep his commandments, and his testimonies, and his statutes, with all his heart, and with all his soul, to perform the words of the covenant which are written in this book.</div>(31) <span class= "bld">In his place.</span>—‘<span class= "ital">Al ‘omdô,</span> “on his stand;” <a href="/2_chronicles/23-13.htm" title="And she looked, and, behold, the king stood at his pillar at the entering in, and the princes and the trumpets by the king: and all the people of the land rejoiced, and sounded with trumpets, also the singers with instruments of music, and such as taught to sing praise. Then Athaliah rent her clothes, and said, Treason, Treason.">2Chronicles 23:13</a> (Authorised Version, “at his pillar”). Kings has <span class= "ital">‘al hā’ammûd,</span> which appears to be synonymous; “on the dais.”<p><span class= "bld">A covenant.</span>—<span class= "ital">The covenant.</span><p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_chronicles/34-32.htm">2 Chronicles 34:32</a></div><div class="verse">And he caused all that were present in Jerusalem and Benjamin to stand <i>to it</i>. And the inhabitants of Jerusalem did according to the covenant of God, the God of their fathers.</div>(32) <span class= "bld">And he caused . . . stand to it.</span>—Kings, “and all the people stood into (i.e., came into) the covenant.” So Syriac: “And everyone that was found in Jerusalem and in Benjamin rose, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem entered into the covenant of the Lord God of their fathers.” (The chronicler’s reading may be accounted for by the fact that the verbs “he stood and” he caused to stand “differ only in the vowels, which anciently were not written at all. “All that were present in Jerusalem and Benjamin” is an unusual phrase; and it is likely that “and Benjamin” is really a corruption of “into the covenant” which is required by the context here as much as in Kings.)<p><span class= "bld">And the</span> <span class= "bld">inhabitants . . . fathers</span>—<span class= "ital">i.e.,</span> after they had thus solemnly taken it upon them to do so. The statement is not read in Kings.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_chronicles/34-33.htm">2 Chronicles 34:33</a></div><div class="verse">And Josiah took away all the abominations out of all the countries that <i>pertained</i> to the children of Israel, and made all that were present in Israel to serve, <i>even</i> to serve the LORD their God. <i>And</i> all his days they departed not from following the LORD, the God of their fathers.</div>(33) <span class= "bld">And Josiah took away all the abominations.</span>—Of idolatry.<p><span class= "bld">Out of all the countries . . . Israel.</span>—Out of the territories of the Ten Tribes. The statement glances back to <a href="/2_chronicles/34-6.htm" title="And so did he in the cities of Manasseh, and Ephraim, and Simeon, even to Naphtali, with their mattocks round about.">2Chronicles 34:6</a>, and summarises the account of the abolition of heathenish worships, which follows here in <a href="/context/2_kings/23-4.htm" title="And the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest, and the priests of the second order, and the keepers of the door, to bring forth out of the temple of the LORD all the vessels that were made for Baal, and for the grove, and for all the host of heaven: and he burned them without Jerusalem in the fields of Kidron, and carried the ashes of them to Bethel.">2Kings 23:4-20</a>.<p><span class= "bld">And made . . . to serve, even to serve.</span>—<span class= "ital">And made to serve . . .</span> <span class= "ital">so as to serve;</span> a unique phrase. The style of the verse is the chronicler’s.<p><span class= "bld">All his days they departed not.</span>—The king’s will secured an outward conformity to the legitimate <span class= "ital">cultus,</span> and open idolatry was for the time being a peril too serious to be thought of. But the unreality of these reformations by royal mandate is proved by the relapse which immediately followed upon the death of Josiah. The moral corruption which at this epoch was preying upon the vitals of the nation, and hurrying it swiftly to destruction, is revealed in the pathetic pages of the prophet Jeremiah. (See <a href="/context/jeremiah/11-1.htm" title="The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD saying,">Jeremiah 11:1-23</a>; <a href="/jeremiah/13-27.htm" title="I have seen your adulteries, and your neighings, the lewdness of your prostitution, and your abominations on the hills in the fields. Woe to you, O Jerusalem! will you not be made clean? when shall it once be?">Jeremiah 13:27</a>; <a href="/jeremiah/16-20.htm" title="Shall a man make gods to himself, and they are no gods?">Jeremiah 16:20</a>; <a href="/context/jeremiah/17-1.htm" title="The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron, and with the point of a diamond: it is graven on the table of their heart, and on the horns of your altars;">Jeremiah 17:1-2</a>, &c.)<p><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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