When they brought out the money that was brought into Yahweh’s house, Hilkiah the priest found the book of Yahweh’s law given by Moses. Hilkiah answered Shaphan the scribe, “I have found the book of the law in Yahweh’s house.” So Hilkiah delivered the book to Shaphan.
Shaphan carried the book to the king, and moreover brought back word to the king, saying, “All that was committed to your servants, they are doing. They have emptied out the money that was found in Yahweh’s house, and have delivered it into the hand of the overseers, and into the hand of the workmen.” Shaphan the scribe told the king, saying, “Hilkiah the priest has delivered me a book.” Shaphan read from it to the king.
When the king had heard the words of the law, he tore his clothes. The king commanded Hilkiah, Ahikam the son of Shaphan, Abdon the son of Micah, Shaphan the scribe, and Asaiah the king’s servant, saying, “Go inquire of Yahweh for me, and for those who are left in Israel and in Judah, concerning the words of the book that is found; for great is Yahweh’s wrath that is poured out on us, because our fathers have not kept Yahweh’s word, to do according to all that is written in this book.”
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 lived in Jerusalem in the second quarter), and they spoke to her to that effect.
She said to them, “Yahweh, the God of Israel says: ‘Tell the man who sent you to me, “Yahweh says, ‘Behold, I will bring evil on this place, and on its inhabitants, 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 to other gods, that they might provoke me to anger with all the works of their hands; therefore my wrath is poured out on this place, and it will not be quenched.’ ” ’ But to the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of Yahweh, you shall tell him this, ‘Yahweh, the God of Israel says: “About the words which you have heard, because your heart was tender, and you humbled yourself before God, when you heard his words against this place, and against its inhabitants, and have humbled yourself before me, and have torn your clothes, and wept before me, I also have heard you,” says Yahweh. “Behold, I will gather you to your fathers, and you will be gathered to your grave in peace. Your eyes won’t see all the evil that I will bring on this place and on its inhabitants.” ’ ” They brought back word to the king.
Then the king sent and gathered together all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem. The king went up to Yahweh’s house, with all the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the priests, the Levites, and all the people, both great and small; and he read in their hearing all the words of the book of the covenant that was found in Yahweh’s house. The king stood in his place, and made a covenant before Yahweh, to walk after Yahweh, 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 that were written in this book. He caused all who were found in Jerusalem and Benjamin to stand. The inhabitants of Jerusalem did according to the covenant of God, the God of their fathers. Josiah took away all the abominations out of all the countries that belonged to the children of Israel, and made all who were found in Israel to serve, even to serve Yahweh their God. All his days they didn’t depart from following Yahweh, the God of their fathers.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv14, 16, 19, 21, 22, 23, 25, 27, 28, 30, 33 Read 2 Kings 22:8.
Read 2 Kings 22:8.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv14, 16, 17, 22, 27, 28, 29, 33 2Ch 34:14 And when they brought out the money…
2Ch 34:14 And when they brought out the money that was brought into the house of the LORD, Hilkiah the priest found a book of the law of the LORD [given] by Moses.
2Ch 34:15 And Hilkiah answered and said to Shaphan the scribe, I have found the book of the law in the house of the LORD. And Hilkiah delivered the book to Shaphan.
Read full note →
Ver. 14, 15. Hilkiah the priest found a book of the law.] See 2Ki 22:8.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On v32 To stand to it; to own or maintain it,…
To stand to it; to own or maintain it, or persist in it, as this phrase is used, Deu 25:1. He caused them to engage themselves by an oath or covenant, that they would observe and obey the laws of God, as his godly predecessors had formerly done, and which indeed they were before obliged to do. They complied with God’s and the king’s command, as to the outward acts of God’s worship, though not with an upright heart, as appears by the history.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On vv14, 29 This whole paragraph we had, just as it is…
This whole paragraph we had, just as it is here related, Kg2 22:8-20, and have nothing to add here to what was there observed. But, 1. We may hence take occasion to bless God that we have plenty of Bibles, and that they are, or may be, in all hands, - that the book of the law and gospel is not lost, is not scarce, - that, in this sense, the word of the Lord is not precious. Bibles are jewels, but, thanks be to God, they are not rarities. The fountain of the waters of life is not a spring shut up or a fountain sealed, but the streams of it, in all places, make glad the city of our God. Usus communis aquarum - These waters flow for general use. What a great deal shall we have to answer for if the great things of God's law, being thus made common, should be accounted by us as strange things! 2. We may hence learn, whenever we read or hear the word of God, to affect our hearts with it, and to get them possessed with a holy fear of that wrath of God which is there revealed against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, as Josiah's tender heart was. When he heard the words of the law he rent his clothes (Ch2 34:19), and God was well pleased with his doing so, Ch2 34:27. Were the things contained in the scripture new to us, as they were here to Josiah, surely they would make deeper impressions upon us than commonly they do; but they are not the less weighty, and therefore should not be the less considered by us, for their being well known. Rend the heart therefore, not the garments. 3. We are here directed when we are under convictions of sin, and apprehensions of divine wrath, to enquire of the Lord; so Josiah did, Ch2 34:21. It concerns us to ask (as they did, Act 2:37), Men and brethren, what shall we do? and more particularly (as the jailor), What must I do to be saved? Act 16:30. If you will thus enquire, enquire (Isa 21:12); and, blessed be God, we have the lively oracles to which to apply with these enquiries. 4. We are here warned of the ruin that sin brings upon nations and kingdoms. Those that forsake God bring evil upon themselves (Ch2 34:24, Ch2 34:25), and kindle a fire which shall not be quenched. Such will the fire of God's wrath be when the decree has gone forth against those that obstinately and impenitently persist in their wicked ways. 5. We are here encouraged to humble ourselves before God and seek unto him, as Josiah did. If we cannot prevail thereby to turn away God's wrath from our land, yet we shall deliver our own souls, Ch2 34:27, Ch2 34:28. And good people are here taught to be so far from fearing death as to welcome it rather when it takes them away from the evil to come. See how the property of it is altered by making it the matter of a promise: Thou shalt be gathered to thy grave in peace, housed in that ark, as Noah, when a deluge is coming.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On v14 Then the king sent and gathered,.... From hence, to…
Then the king sent and gathered,.... From hence, to the end of Ch2 34:32, the same account is given of the reading of the law to the people, and of the covenant the king and they made to serve the Lord, as in Kg2 23:1.
2 Chronicles 34:33
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv19, 32, 33 Rent his clothes - Were the things contained in…
Rent his clothes - Were the things contained in scripture new to us, as they were here to Josiah, surely they would make deeper impressions upon us than they commonly do. But they are not the less weighty, and therefore should not be the less regarded, because they are well known.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv14, 22, 27, 28, 30, 31, 32 Verse 14. Found a book of the law] See…
Verse 14. Found a book of the law] See on 2Kg 22:8.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv19, 32 2Ch 34:19. When the king had heard the words…
2Ch 34:19. When the king had heard the words he rent his clothes — Were the things contained in Scripture new to us, as they were here to Josiah, surely they would make deeper impressions upon us than they commonly do. But they are not the less weighty, and therefore should not be the less regarded, because they are well known.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv21, 30, 32, 33 For them, that are left in Israel and in…
For them, that are left in Israel and in Judah - Compare the words in Kings 2Ki 22:13. in both records the intention is to show that the king regarded the ten tribes as being under his care, no less than the two.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv17, 22, 25, 28, 33 Together: literally, "melted down," as the Heb. and Sept.…
Together: literally, "melted down," as the Heb. and Sept. signify. Coin was not yet used. C. --- But the pieces of money, of whatever description, were collected. H.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On v19 AND, CAUSING THE LAW TO BE READ, RENEWS THE…
AND, CAUSING THE LAW TO BE READ, RENEWS THE COVENANT BETWEEN GOD AND THE PEOPLE. (Ch2 34:19-33)
when the king had heard the words of the law, &c.--(See on Kg2 22:11-20; Kg2 23:1-3).
Read full note →
Next: 2 Chronicles Chapter 35
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On v33 33. All his days they departed not from… the…
33. All his days they departed not from… the Lord — He succeeded in keeping down all open idolatry, but he did not root its evil leaven out of the hearts of all the people. See the note at 2Ki_23:25.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv14–33 14. This verse has no parallel in 2 Kin.
14. This verse has no parallel in 2 Kin.
a book of the law] R.V. the book of the law. This book was not the complete Pentateuch in its present shape, for the redaction of the Pentateuch as a whole, is attributed by the ablest critics to a later period than this. Similarly it cannot have been the book of Deuteronomy in the complete form in which we have it, for there are traces in Deuteronomy of the work of an editor who must have lived at a later time than the days of Josiah. This “book of the law” seems to have consisted (roughly reckoned) of Deuteronomy 5-26 with 28.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv14, 16, 17, 18, 20, 21, 22, 24, 25, 26, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33 (14) And when they brought out.—This verse is not…
(14) And when they brought out.—This verse is not in Kings. It supplements the older account, by assigning the occasion of the discovery.
Josephus makes Hilkiah find the book in the treasure-chamber of the Temple which he had entered to get gold and silver for making some sacred vessels. According to Rabbinical tradition it was found hidden under a heap of stones, where it had been placed to save it from being burnt by king Ahaz.
Read full note →
A book.—The book.
Given by Moses.—The Hebrew phrase, “by the hand of Moses,” belongs not to “the book,” but to “the Law (or teaching) of Jehovah”; and the meaning of the whole expression is, “the Law of Jehovah communicated through the medium or instrumentality of Moses.” (Comp. 2Ch_33:8.)
To Shaphan.—Kings adds, “and he read it.” Those words need not mean that Shaphan read the book through, as Thenius suggests. (See Note on 2Ki_22:3.)
(14-19) Hilkiah finds the Book of the Law, and delivers it to Shaphan, who reads it before the king. (Comp. 2Ki_22:8-11.)
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv14, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 25, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33 The time of this verse is not free from…
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.
Vers. 14-28.
Read full note →
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 (ver. 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. (Vers. 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.
Vers. 14-28.
The book of the Law.
I THE FINDING OF THE BOOK. (Vers. 14, 15.)
1. The finder. Hilkiah the priest (ver. 18), the high priest (ver. 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
2. Gemariah; (Jer_29:3) and certainly to be distinguished from the father of Eliakim, Hezekiah"s house-steward. (Isa_22:20)
3. The place. The temple (ver. 15), though in what part is not stated (ver. 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.
1. The time. The eighteenth year of Josiah"s reign, when he was in the middle of his reformation work (ver. 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.
2. 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 book of the Law" (ver. 15), "a book of the Law of the Lord" (ver. 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" (ver. 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 (ver. 18), it is hardly likely to have been the whole Pentateuch, but may have been Deuteronomy. But the revised translation, "therein" (ver. 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 book the principle, viz., of the abolition of local sanctuaries and the centralization of worship in the temple at Jerusalem corresponds 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 thereof unless, indeed, it be assumed that Deuteronomy was only then for the first time written against 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 (ver. 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" (Cheyne, "Jeremiah: his Life and Times," p. 85).
(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 (ibid., p. 78).
(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. (Vers. 18, 19)
1. The reader. Shaphan the scribe, the son of Azaliah (ver. 8), the son of Meshullam 2Ki_22:3-7, one of Josiah"s commissioners for the repairing of the temple.
2. The auditor. Josiah (ver. 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.; (Lev_26:14-46) warnings against idolatry (Lev_26:1-30; Deu_4:15 Deu_27:15) and perhaps also the directions relating to the observance of the Passover Exo_12:7 and the making of a covenant. (Ex 24)
4. The impression. Josiah rent his clothes (ver. 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 (ver. 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 sanctuaries an acknowledgment the sincerity of which was attested by the tears with which it was accompanied (ver. 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. (Vers. 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" (ver. 217. God is the only Being competent to direct how man may escape the infliction of Divine wrath on account of sin. Schemes of salvation only of man"s devising are of no value. Salvation, in its conception, inception, conduction, and perfection, belongeth unto God (Psa_3:8 Psa_37:39; Isa_43:11; (Jeremiah (2Co_5:18; 1Ti_2:3) 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 prophetess a title given to Miriam (Exo_15:20) and Deborah (Jud_1:4:4) 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 (ver. 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 Micah Achbor, (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. (1Ti_2:5)
4. The answer returned to this inquiry.
(1) Concerning the city and the temple a sentence of doom (ver. 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 (ver. 25). Had Josiah consulted Jeremiah, the reply would in all probability have been similar. (Jer 5) 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 (ver. 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 (Mat_4:17; Mar_6:12; Luk_24:37; Act_2:38) 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 hisWord.
7. The certainty that God never loses sight of the Bible, thoughman often does. W.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv14, 27, 28 And when they brought out the money that was…
2Ch_34:14-33
And when they brought out the money that was brought into the house of the Lord.
Read full note →
Restoring Gods house
I. Spiritual desolation.
1. The negligent priesthood (2Ch_34:5).
2. The dilapidated temple (2Ch_34:7).
3. The perverted utensils (2Ch_34:7).
II. Abundant offerings.
1. Opportunity to give (2Ch_34:8).
2. Called to give (2Ch_34:9).
3. Giving cheerfully (2Ch_34:10).
III. Effective work.
1. Skilled workmen (2Ch_34:12).
2. Diligent service (2Ch_34:13).
3. Renewed devotion (2Ch_34:14). (Sunday School Times.)
The book of the law found
1. We to-day are in some danger of losing the Scriptures. Not as a volume of literature.
(1) It is possible for the Word of God to sink out of our consciousness through our indifference.
(2) We may also make so much of prayer-books and creeds, of systems of doctrine and religious treatises, that the Scriptures themselves are seen only by a reflected light.
(3) Because we have been acquainted with the Scriptures from childhood, as we grow older we may fancy that we know what they contain, and leave them unstudied and unread.
(4) It is not unusual in public worship for the devotional services and the sermon to come between the soul and Gods Word.
(5) It is not unusual to find men so wedded to traditional interpretations, having origin in some theological theory, that when they read the Bible they are like one looking upon a landscape through coloured spectacles. When this tendency rules we are in danger of losing the Bible.
2. The discovery of the book of the law gave Josiah a new basis for faith. He must have felt when he read it, that he was supernaturally strengthened in his great task of reformation. There are few of us who do not desire to have our various undertakings approved by those in whose sagacity and moral discernment we trust. Josiah undertook his work with a new heart, for he felt that the Lord was with him.
3. We have here suggested the broad distinction between our certainty of what seems to be true and our certainty of what is vouched for as true by the Word of God.
4. This discovery of the law enlarged Josiahs conception of duty. The knowledge that came to him and to the nation, through this book, was what a flash of light is to a ship on a dangerous coast; the light reveals the rocks upon which she nearly struck; it also reveals the safe channel and the course to the harbour. The Bible performs this double office for all to whom it comes. It reveals sin; and it discloses the path to a better life. Gods prohibitions are not restrictions upon life, but protections to it. Gods calls to men are calls to blessedness.
5. This narrative illustrates the way truth enters a human life and recreates it.
6. Two reflections.
(1) The large importance to each one of us of our finding the truth of God.
(2) The chief blessing we can confer on others is to give them the truth God has given us. The men who went to the temple treasury came back with more than money. (G. E. Horr.)
The book of the law found
I. The results of losing the law.
1. Knowledge of the truth was lost.
2. True religion passed away.
3. The services of the temple ceased.
4. The sanctuary was polluted.
5. False religion came in like a flood. The land was full of idols.
6. Crimes of violence and deeds of oppression abounded everywhere. When man ceases to fear God he begins to hate his fellow-man.
7. Immorality was rampant. Morality does not live without religion.
8. Misery and final destruction followed.
II. The results of finding the law.
1. False religion was put away.
2. The people repented and turned to God.
3. The truth was learned.
4. The temple was beautified and opened for services.
5. A measure of mercy was found.
6. The truth was handed down to other ages.
Miscellaneous lessons:
1. Temple and services are vain without the truth.
2. Those who seek to serve God discover his will
3. When men desire to do wrong they hate the Word of God.
4. The Bible will survive all efforts of man to destroy it.
5. Where leaders set an example of piety the people follow.
6. Sin, vice, misery, and destruction come where the truth is not possessed.
7. If the times are bad we should hold up the law of God.
8. The Bible is a lost book to those who
(a) neglect it;
(b) disbelieve it;
(c) disobey it.
9. Every child should own, read, and love the Bible.
10. One can be loyal to God amid the most opposing surroundings.
11. Ones course in childhood generally determines what the youth and manhood will be.
12. The world greatly needs the services of children and men and women of righteousness. (J. E. Jacklin.)
Josiah and the newly found law
I. The discovery of the book of the law. We see here--
1. A striking instance of the indestructibleness of Gods Word. It has a charmed life.
2. That honest efforts after reformation are usually rewarded by clearer knowledge of Gods will. If Hilkiah had not been busy in setting wrong things right, he would not have found the book in its dark hiding-place. We are told that the coincidence of the discovery at the nick of time is suspicious. So it is, if you do not believe in Providence. If you do, the coincidence is but one instance of his sending gifts of the right sort at the right moment.
3. That the true basis of all religious reform is the Word of God. The nearest parallel is Luthers finding the dusty Latin Bible among the neglected convent books. Faded flowers will lift up their heads when plunged into water. The old Bible, discovered and applied anew, must underlie all real renovation of dead or moribund Christianity.
II. The effect of the rediscovered law. If a man will give Gods Word a fair hearing, and be honest with himself, it will bring him to his knees. No man rightly uses Gods law who is not convinced by it of his sin, and impelled to that self-abased sorrow of which the rent royal robes were the passionate expression. The first function of the law is to arouse the knowledge of sin, as Paul profoundly teaches. Without that penitential knowledge religion is superficial, and reformation merely external.
III. The double-eyed message of the prophetess. Josiah does not seem to have told his messengers where to go; but they knew, and went to a very unlikely person, the wife of an obscure man, only known as his fathers son. Where was Jeremiah of Anathoth? Perhaps not in the city at the time. This embassy to Huldah is in full accord with the high position which women held in that state, of which the framework was shaped by God Himself. In Christ Jesus there is neither male nor female, and Judaism approximated much more closely to that ideal than other lands did. Huldahs message has two parts.
1. The confirmation of the threatenings of the law.
2. The assurance to Josiah of the acceptance of his repentance and gracious promise of escape from the coming storm.
These two are precisely equivalent to the double aspect of the gospel, which completes the law, endorsing its sentence and pointing the way of escape. (A. Maclaren, D.D.)
\
The Scriptures found and searched
I. The bible lost.
1. It is lost to nations. Sometimes kings and governments forbid its circulation.
2. In communities where it freely circulates in the vernacular of the people--by misconstruction, false teaching and disregard.
3. It is lost to individuals by the way they treat it. How many a man suffers the Bible to lie in his home unused, dust-covered, like the sacred roll in the Temple, until it be almost forgotten! How many cast it away because it reproves them as it reproved the wicked kings of Judah!
II. Degeneracy inevitable without it. The Word of God is the great source and conservator of moral life and health. It is sunlight to the moral world. It is the invigorating element in the moral atmosphere. No more surely do plants grow pale without sunlight, or animal life grow feeble without oxygen, than all that makes a worthy life in man, individual or collective, wanes and fails when deprived of the Word of God. How true was this of Judah! When the Word of God was lost, the nation sunk rapidly into wickedness and consequent weakness. False religion ran riot. The smoke of incense to heathen gods filled the land. The consciences of the people were debauched. And whenever the Word of God has been lost by prohibition or neglect, the downward tendency of national life has been marked. Other elements of strength may have withstood it, and, for a time, upheld with seeming success the fabric of state. But, the best elements being wanting, degeneracy and feebleness sooner or later inevitably appear. But illustrations of the matter under consideration are more open to observation in regard to communities. Whenever the Word of God is not set on high, and honoured as the arbiter in morals, the teacher in religion, and the guide in life, there wickedness and vice will prevail. But individual life furnishes the best illustration. Without the word of God abiding in the mind and regnant in the life, deterioration in all things good certainly supervenes. Take out of a mans life the distinctive truths of the Divine revelation, and he is utterly exposed. Every avenue of his being is open to temptation. He will surely run down, sink to a lower plane, and ordinarily to a plane lower and lower the longer he lives. How many parents weep over sons and daughters tarnished, degraded, lost, because they would not heed the voice of God!
III. Its effect when found.
1. In the case of Josiah, it was astonishment. That such a book should have existed, stating so clearly the Divine will, so full of denunciations against the sins of the land, filled him with amazement. This is natural and legitimate. Only let men to whom the Bible has been lost wake to the solemn reality that its statements are everlasting truth, and that they will hold with unrelaxing energy in life, in death, and in eternity, and amazement must overwhelm them. Is it possible that these things are true and I have not realised them?
2. Another effect was to set him to earnest study. God was speaking. It was necessary for him to know what was said that he might order his conduct accordingly. Investigation of the Bible follows naturally a realisation of its nature.
3. Another result was to awaken anxiety. Study of the book of the law revealed his true condition. And so it is always. The Bible does not create the facts of our existence, but it does reveal them. In it we see our necessities and our danger. The past is marked with sin, the present full of corruption; the future forbidding, through fear of coming doom.
4. Again, the Bible found leads to repentance and reformation. How thorough was it in the case of Josiah! How deeply he deplored the sins of the land, how strenuously put them away! So it is always. It shows men what they are, and what they have done. It reveals the intensity of their sinfulness and the multitude of their sins. New thoughts, new desires, new affections, new purposes dwell within; new conduct, new habits mark the external life. And the same thing occurs in a wider field. Communities are waked to newness of life by finding the Bible. All this is true of tribes and nations. Many are the nations which have been revolutionised by it in the past, and it is doing the same to-day. Freedom of conscience attends the Bible, and civil liberty follows close behind. The Bible is the charter of the worlds hope and the mainspring of its reformation. How sad is the thought that to so many of our race there is no Bible! (Monday Club Sermons.)
Finding the book of the law
1. Many precious things are found when we set to work at repairs. Try to remove the dust from old sanctuaries of life and memory, and see what you will light upon.
2. How one good thing leads to another. First walking in the way of the Lord; then interest in the house of the Lord; then the book found.
3. The connection between pecuniary integrity and the Divine blessing. When they brought the money they found the book.
4. How many old things are new to us when we are in trouble and distress of mind.
5. The age of sixteen is a time of his life which no man ever forgets.
6. Devotedness to God at sixteen is so great a step in the life of a youth that it cannot be alone; you must make another onward into the sphere of spirit and of life.
7. God always finds some work to do for those who are His.
8. There is no deeper distress possible to us than that which pierces us in the discovery of our enmity to God. (B. Kent, M.A.)
The loss of the Scriptures
Consider what we should lose if we were to part with the Christian Scriptures, and with all the institutions and blessings for which we are indebted to them.
I. We should lose the knowledge of the true god. Mankind needs a book to keep alive in the earth the knowledge of a spiritual and personal God.
II. We should lose sooner or later our institutions of benevolence.
III. We should lose our institutions for popular education. Popular education is of Bible origin. Other than Christian religions build themselves on the ignorance of the masses.
IV. We should lose sooner or later our institutions of civil liberty. History shows that the great charter of freedom in the world is the Word of God. The great free nations of the earth are the great Christian nations. (A. Phelps.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain On v14 2 Chronicles
2 Chronicles
JOSIAH AND THE NEWLY FOUND LAW
Read full note →
2Ch 34:14 - 2Ch 34:18.
About one hundred years separated Hezekiah’s restoration from Josiah’ s. Neither was more than a momentary arrest of the strong tide running in the opposite direction; and Josiah’s was too near the edge of the cataract to last, or to avert the plunge. There is nothing more tragical than the working of the law which often sets the children’s teeth on edge by reason of the fathers’ eating of sour grapes.
I. The first point in this passage is the discovery of the book of the Law.
The book had been lost before it was found. For how long we do not know, but the fact that it had been so carelessly kept is eloquent of the indifference of priests and kings, its appointed guardians. Lawbreakers have a direct interest in getting rid of lawbooks, just as shopkeepers who use short yardsticks and light weights are not anxious the standards should be easily accessible. If we do not make God’s law our guide, we shall wish to put it out of sight, that it may not be our accuser. What more sad or certain sign of evil can there be than that we had rather not ‘hear what God the Lord will speak’?
The straightforward story of our passage gives a most natural explanation of the find. Hilkiah was likely to have had dark corners cleared out in preparation for repairs and in storing the subscriptions, and many a mislaid thing would turn up. If it be possible that the book of the Law should have been neglected {and the religious corruption of the last hundred years makes that only too certain}, its discovery in some dusty recess is very intelligible, and would not have been doubted but for the exigencies of a theory. ‘Reading between the lines’ is fascinating, but risky; for the reader is very likely unconsciously to do what Hilkiah is said to have done-namely, to invent what he thinks he finds.
Accepting the narrative as it stands, we may see in it a striking instance of the indestructibleness of God’s Word. His law is imperishable, and its written embodiment seems as if it, too, had a charmed life. When we consider the perils attending the transmission of ancient manuscripts, the necessary scarcity of copies before the invention of printing, the scattering of the Jewish people, it does appear as if a divine hand had guarded the venerable book. How came this strange people, who never kept their Law, to swim through all their troubles, like Caesar with his commentaries between his teeth, bearing aloft and dry, the Word which they obeyed so badly? ‘Write it . . . in a book, that it may be for the time to come for ever and ever.’ The permanence of the written Word, the providence that has watched over it, the romantic history of its preservation through ages of neglect, and the imperishable gift to the world of an objective standard of duty, remaining the same from age to age, are all suggested by this reappearance of the forgotten Law.
It may suggest, too, that honest efforts after reformation are usually rewarded by clearer knowledge of God’s will. If Hilkiah had not been busy in setting wrong things right, he would not have found the book in its dark hiding-place. We are told that the coincidence of the discovery at the nick of time is suspicious. So it is, if you do not believe in Providence. If you do, the coincidence is but one instance of His sending gifts of the right sort at the right moment. It is not the first time nor the last that the attempt to keep God’s law has led to larger knowledge of the law. It is not the first time nor the last that God has sent to His faithful servants an opportune gift. What the world calls accidental coincidence deeper wisdom discerns to be the touch of God’s hand.
Again, the discovery reminds us that the true basis of all religious reform is the Word of God. Josiah had begun to restore the Temple, but he did not know till he heard the Law read how great the task was which he had taken in hand. That recovered book gave impulse and direction to his efforts. The nearest parallel is the rediscovery of the Bible in the sixteenth century, or, if we may take one incident as a symbol of the whole, Luther’s finding the dusty Latin Bible among the neglected convent books. The only reformation for an effete or secularised church is in its return to the Bible. Faded flowers will lift up their heads when plunged in water. The old Bible, discovered and applied anew, must underlie all real renovation of dead or moribund Christianity.
II. The next point here is the effect of the rediscovered Law. Shaphan was closely connected with Josiah, as his office made him a confidant. It is ordinarily taken for granted that he and the other persons named in this lesson formed a little knot of earnest Jehovah worshippers, fully sympathising with the Reformation, and that among them lay the authorship of the book. But we know nothing about them except what is told here and in the parallel in Kings. One of them, Ahikam, was a friend and protector of Jeremiah, and Shaphan the scribe was the father of another of Jeremiah’s friends. They may all have been in accord with the king, or they may not.
At all events, Shaphan took the book to Josiah. We can picture the scene-the deepening awe of both men as the whole extent of the nation’s departure from God became clearer and clearer, the tremulous tones of the reader, and the silent, fixed attention of the listener as the solemn threatenings came from Shaphan’s reluctant, pallid lips. There was enough in them to touch a harder heart than Josiah’ s. We cannot suppose that, knowing the history of the past, and being sufficiently enlightened to ‘seek after the God of David his father,’ he did not know in a general way that sin meant sorrow, and national disobedience national death. But we all have the faculty of blunting the cutting edge of truth, especially if it has been familiar, so that some novelty in the manner of its presentation, or even its repetition without novelty sometimes, may turn commonplace and impotent truth into a mighty instrument to shake and melt.
So it seems to have been with Josiah. Whether new or old, the Word found him as it had never done before. The venerable copy from which Shaphan read, the coincidence of its discovery just then, the dishonour done to it for so long, may all have helped the impression. However it arose, it was made. If a man will give God’s Word a fair hearing, and be honest with himself, it will bring him to his knees. No man rightly uses God’s law who is not convinced by it of his sin, and impelled to that self-abased sorrow of which the rent royal robes were the passionate expression. Josiah was wise when he did not turn his thoughts to other people’s sins, but began with his own, even whilst he included others. The first function of the law is to arouse the knowledge of sin, as Paul profoundly teaches. Without that penitent knowledge religion is superficial, and reformation merely external. Unless we ‘abhor ourselves, and repent in dust and ashes,’ Scripture has not done its work on us, and all our reading of it is in vain. Nor is there any good reason why familiarity with it should weaken its power. But, alas! it too often does. How many of us would stand in awe of God’s judgments if we heard them for the first time, but listen to them unmoved, as to thunder without lightning, merely because wo know them so well! That is a reason for attending to them, not for neglecting.
Josiah’s sense of sin led him to long for a further word from God; and so he called these attendants named in 2Ch 34:20, and sent them to ‘enquire of the Lord . . . concerning the words of the book.’ What more did he wish to know? The words were plain enough, and their application to Israel and him indubitable. Clearly, he could only wish to know whether there was any possibility of averting the judgments, and, if so, what was the means. The awakened conscience instinctively feels that threatenings cannot be God’s last words to it, but must have been given that they might not need to be fulfilled. We do not rightly sorrow for sin unless it quickens in us a desire for a word from God to tell us how to escape. The Law prepares for the Gospel, and is incomplete without it. ‘The soul that sinneth, it shall die,’ cannot be all which a God of pity and love has to say. A faint promise of life lies in the very fact of threatening death, faint indeed, but sufficient to awaken earnest desire for yet another word from the Lord. We rightly use the solemn revelations of God’s law when we are driven by them to cry, ‘What must I do to be saved?’ III. So we come to the last point, the double-edged message of the prophetess. Josiah does not seem to have told his messengers where to go; but they knew, and went straight to a very unlikely person, the wife of an obscure man, only known as his father’s son. Where was Jeremiah of Anathoth? Perhaps not in the city at the time. There had been prophetesses in Israel before. Miriam, Deborah, the wife of Isaiah, are instances of ‘your daughters’ prophesying; and this embassy to Huldah is in full accord with the high position which women held in that state, of which the framework was shaped by God Himself. In Christ Jesus ‘there is neither male nor female,’ and Judaism approximated much more closely to that ideal than other lands did.
Huldah’s message has two parts: one the confirmation of the threatenings of the Law; one the assurance to Josiah of acceptance of his repentance and gracious promise of escape from the coming storm. These two are precisely equivalent to the double aspect of the Gospel, which completes the Law, endorsing its sentence and pointing the way of escape.
Note that the former part addresses Josiah as ‘the man that sent you,’ but the latter names him. The embassy had probably not disclosed his name, and Huldah at first keeps up the veil, since the personality of the sender had nothing to do with her answer; but when she comes to speak of pardon and God’s favour, there must be no vagueness in the destination of the message, and the penitent heart must be tenderly bound up by a word from God straight to itself. The threatenings are general, but each single soul that is sorry for sin may take as its very own the promise of forgiveness. God’s great ‘Whosoever’ is for me as certainly as if my name stood on the page.
The terrible message of the inevitableness of the destruction hanging over Jerusalem is precisely parallel with the burden of all Jeremiah’s teaching. It was too late to avert the fall. The external judgments must come now, for the emphasis of the prophecy is in its last words, it ‘shall not be quenched.’ But that did not mean that repentance was too late to alter the whole character of the punishment, which would be fatherly chastisement if meekly accepted. So, too, Jeremiah taught, when he exhorted submission to the ‘Chaldees.’ It is never too late to seek mercy, though it may be too late to hope for averting the outward consequences of sin.
As for Josiah, his penitence was accepted, and he was assured that he would be gathered to his fathers. That expression, as is clear from the places where it occurs, is not a synonym for either death or burial, from both of which it is distinguished, but is a dim promise of being united, beyond the grave, with the fathers, who, in some one condition, which we may call a place, are gathered into a restful company, and wander no more as pilgrims and sojourners in this lonely and changeful life.
Josiah died in battle. Was that going to his grave in peace? Surely yes! if, dying, he felt God’s presence, and in the darkness saw a great light. He who thus dies, though it be in the thick of battle, and with his heart’s blood pouring from an arrow-wound down on the floor of the chariot, dies in peace, and into peace.
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v14 The Finding of the Book of the Law and…
The Finding of the Book of the Law and its Effects
v. 14. And when they brought out the money that was brought into the house of the Lord, and when the Temple itself had thoroughly been searched in order to estimate the extent of the damage, Hilkiah, the priest, found a Book of the Law of the Lord given by Moses, very likely the Temple copy, the authentic copy by the hand of Moses, which had been lost during the profanation of the Temple under Manasseh.
Read full note →
v. 15. And Hilkiah answered and said to Shaphan, the scribe, the king’s secretary, I have found the Book of the Law in the house of the Lord, all the books of Moses being included in this designation. And Hilkiah delivered the book to Shaphan, this being in the form of a roll, as books were then written.
v. 16. And Shaphan carried the book to the king and brought the king word back again, saying, All that is committed to thy servants, they do it. he was able to report that the king’s orders were being executed with proper care.
v. 17. And they have gathered together, poured out, weighed out 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.
v. 18. Then Shaphan, the scribe, told the king, saying, Hilkiah, the priest, hath given me a book. And Shaphan read it before the king, that is, certain sections of it, probably Deuteronomy 28-30.
v. 19. And it came to pass, when the king had heard the words of the Law, that he rent his clothes, not that he was unfamiliar with the sacred book, which had certainly been copied frequently, but because the words of the original made a much greater impression upon him, that his heart was affected more deeply than ever before. He showed the great grief and sorrow of his heart by his act of tearing open his garments at the breast.
v. 20. And the king commanded Hilkiah and Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, who later was the father of Gedaliah and the protector of Jeremiah, and Abdon (or Achbor), the son of Micah, and Shaphan, the scribe, and Asaiah, a servant of the king’s, his faithful body-guard, saying,
v. 21. Go, inquire of the Lord for me and for them that are left in Israel and in Judah, all the members of the Jewish Church and of the southern nation in particular, concerning the words of the book that is found; for great is the wrath of the Lord that is poured out upon us, having been kindled by the many acts of idolatry and wickedness, because our fathers have not kept the word of the Lord to do after all that is written in this book.
v. 22. And Hilkiah, and they that the king had appointed, went to Huldah, the prophetess, the wife of Shallum, the son of Tikvath (or Tokehath), the son of Hasrah (or Harhas), keeper of the wardrobe, either the royal vestments or those of the Temple; (now she dwelt in Jerusalem, in the college, the second quarter, or district, of the lower city;) and they spake to her to that effect, as Josiah had commanded them.
v. 23. And she answered them, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Tell ye the man that sent you to me,
v. 24. Thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will bring evil upon this place and upon the inhabitants thereof, even all the curses that are written in the book which they have read before the king of Judah, Leviticus 26; Deuteronomy 28,
v. 25. because they have forsaken Me and have burned incense unto other gods, that they might provoke Me to anger with all the works of their hands, in their entire behavior; therefore My wrath shall be poured out upon this place, like a burning liquid from a vessel, and shall not be quenched.
v. 26. And as for the king of Judah who sent you to inquire of the Lord, so shall ye say unto him, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel concerning the words which thou hast heard:
v. 27. Because thine heart was tender, and thou didst humble thyself before God, when thou heardest His words against this place and against the inhabitants thereof, and humbledst thyself before Me, and didst rend thy clothes and weep before Me, with all indications of true grief over the transgressions of Israel and Judah, I have even heard thee also, saith the Lord.
v. 28. Behold, I will gather thee to thy fathers, and thou shalt be gathered to thy grave in peace, neither shall thine eyes see all the evil that I will bring upon this place and upon the inhabitants of the same, Josiah was to be spared the sight of the punishment and sorrow which would come upon Judah-Jerusalem. So they brought the king word again.
v. 29. Then the king sent and gathered together all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem, for a service of prayer and penitence.
v. 30. And the king went up into the house of the Lord, and all the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and the priests, and the Levites, and all the people, great and small, those of the rich and influential class together with the poor and unknown; and he read in their ears all the words of the Book of the Covenant that was found in the house of the Lord, in one of the most impressive services ever held in the Temple.
v. 31. And the king stood in his place, probably on the pulpit like platform used by Solomon, and made a covenant before the Lord to walk after the Lord, and to keep His commandments and His testimonies and His statutes, whether these precepts pertained to the covenant relation or to the general relation of the people to all men, with all his heart and with all his soul, to perform the words of the covenant which are written in this book.
v. 32. And he caused all that were present in Jerusalem and Benjamin to stand to it, to arise in token of their agreement to this pledge. And the inhabitants of Jerusalem did according to the covenant of God, the God of their fathers.
v. 33. And Josiah took away all the abominations out of all the countries that pertained to the children of Israel, removing all evidences of idolatry as far as his authority extended, and made all that were present in Israel to serve, even to serve the Lord, their God; he was very emphatic in binding them to serve the true God. And all his days they departed not from following the Lord, the God of their fathers. With Josiah’s example in mind, every Christian congregation will oppose all offenses, every abomination of ungodliness, every indication of worldliness, and strive to walk without blemish before the Lord.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv14, 17, 20, 22, 23, 26, 29, 31, 33 General Information:
General Information:
See: How to Translate Names
Read full note →
When they brought out the money that was brought into
The word "they" refers to Hilkiah and whoever was helping him. This can be stated in active form. AT: "When they brought out the money for the supervisors from" (See: Active or Passive)
that had been given through Moses
This can be stated in active form. AT: "that Yahweh had given to the people through Moses" (See: Active or Passive)
Shaphan
This is the name of a man. (See: How to Translate Names)
the book of the law
Most likely these laws were written on a scroll. A scroll was a type of book made of one long, rolled-up sheet of papyrus or leather.
everything that has been entrusted to them
This can be stated in active form. AT: "everything that you entrusted to them to do" or "everything that you gave them the responsibility to do" (See: Active or Passive)
translationWords
law
Moses
scribe
king
report
servant
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv14, 24, 27, 29 34:14-18 The discovery of the Book of the Law…
34:14-18 The discovery of the Book of the Law of the Lord was one of the rewards for faithfulness. • The book that was written by Moses was probably Deuteronomy. It might have been neglected and lost during the apostasies of Manasseh or Amon.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.