Text -- 2 Kings 22:1-14 (NET)

Josiah Repents

22:1 Josiah was eight years old when he became king, and he reigned for thirty-one years in Jerusalem. His mother was Jedidah, daughter of Adaiah, from Bozkath. 22:2 He did what the Lord approved and followed in his ancestor David’s footsteps; he did not deviate to the right or the left. 22:3 In the eighteenth year of King Josiah’s reign, the king sent the scribe Shaphan son of Azaliah, son of Meshullam, to the Lord’s temple with these orders: 22:4 “Go up to Hilkiah the high priest and have him melt down the silver that has been brought by the people to the Lord’s temple and has been collected by the guards at the door. 22:5 Have them hand it over to the construction foremen assigned to the Lord’s temple. They in turn should pay the temple workers to repair it, 22:6 including craftsmen, builders, and masons, and should buy wood and chiseled stone for the repair work. 22:7 Do not audit the foremen who disburse the silver, for they are honest.” 22:8 Hilkiah the high priest informed Shaphan the scribe, “I found the law scroll in the Lord’s temple.” Hilkiah gave the scroll to Shaphan and he read it. 22:9 Shaphan the scribe went to the king and reported, “Your servants melted down the silver in the temple and handed it over to the construction foremen assigned to the Lord’s temple.” 22:10 Then Shaphan the scribe told the king, “Hilkiah the priest has given me a scroll.” Shaphan read it out loud before the king. 22:11 When the king heard the words of the law scroll, he tore his clothes. 22:12 The king ordered Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam son of Shaphan, Acbor son of Micaiah, Shaphan the scribe, and Asaiah the king’s servant, 22:13 “Go, seek an oracle from the Lord for me and the people– for all Judah. Find out about the words of this scroll that has been discovered. For the Lord’s fury has been ignited against us, because our ancestors have not obeyed the words of this scroll by doing all that it instructs us to do.” 22:14 So Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam, Acbor, Shaphan, and Asaiah went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shullam son of Tikvah, the son of Harhas, the supervisor of the wardrobe. (She lived in Jerusalem in the Mishneh district.) They stated their business,

Commentary -- Word/Phrase Notes (per phrase)

Wesley: 2Ki 22:3

The secretary of state.

Wesley: 2Ki 22:8

That original book of the law of the Lord, given or written by the hand of Moses, as it is expressed, 2Ch 34:14, which by God's command was put beside the ark, Deu 31:26, and probably taken from thence and hid, by the care of some godly priest, when some of the idolatrous kings of Judah persecuted the true religion, and defaced the temple, and (which the Jewish writers affirm) burnt all the copies of God's law which they could find. It was now found among the rubbish, or in some secret place.

Wesley: 2Ki 22:11

The dreadful comminations against them for the sins still reigning among the people. If Josiah had seen and read it before, which seems more probable, yet the great reverence which he justly bare to the original book, and the strange, and remarkable, and seasonable finding of it, had awakened and quickened him to a more serious and diligent consideration of all the passages contained in it. And what a providence was this, that it was still preserved! Yea, what a providence, that the whole book of God is preserved to us. If the holy scriptures had not been of God, they had not been in being at this day. God's care of the bible, is a plain proof of his interest in it. It was a great instance of God's favour, that the book of the law was thus seasonably brought to light, to direct and quicken that blessed reformation, which Joash had begun. And it is observable, they were about a good work, repairing the temple, when it was found. They that do their duty according to their knowledge, shall have their knowledge increased.

Wesley: 2Ki 22:13

What we shall do to appease his wrath, and whether the curses here threatened must come upon us without remedy, or whether there be hope in Israel concerning the prevention of them.

Wesley: 2Ki 22:14

The king's earnest affection required great haste; and she was in Jerusalem, which is therefore noted in the following part of the verse, when Jeremiah might at this time be at Anathoth, or in some more remote part of the kingdom; and the like may be said of Zephaniah, who also might not be a prophet at this time, though he was afterward, in the days of Josiah.

Wesley: 2Ki 22:14

Where the sons of the prophets, or others, who devoted themselves to the study of God's word, used to meet and discourse of the things of God, and receive the instructions of their teachers.

JFB: 2Ki 22:1-2

Happier than his grandfather Manasseh, he seems to have fallen during his minority under the care of better guardians, who trained him in the principles and practice of piety; and so strongly had his young affections been enlisted on the side of true and undefiled religion, that he continued to adhere all his life, with undeviating perseverance, to the cause of God and righteousness.

JFB: 2Ki 22:3-4

Previous to this period, he had commenced the work of national reformation. The preliminary steps had been already taken; not only the builders were employed, but money had been brought by all the people and received by the Levites at the door, and various other preparations had been made. But the course of this narrative turns on one interesting incident which happened in the eighteenth year of Josiah's reign, and hence that date is specified. In fact the whole land was thoroughly purified from every object and all traces of idolatry. The king now addressed himself to the repair and embellishment of the temple and gave directions to Hilkiah the high priest to take a general survey, in order to ascertain what was necessary to be done (see on 2Ch 34:8-15).

JFB: 2Ki 22:8-11

That is, the law of Moses, the Pentateuch. It was the temple copy which, had been laid (Deu 31:25-26) beside the ark in the most holy place. During the ungodly reigns of Manasseh and Amon--or perhaps under Ahaz, when the temple itself had been profaned by idols, and the ark also (2Ch 35:3) removed from its site; it was somehow lost, and was now found again during the repair of the temple [KEIL]. Delivered by Hilkiah the discoverer to Shaphan the scribe [2Ki 22:8], it was by the latter shown and read to the king. It is thought, with great probability, that the passage read to the king, and by which the royal mind was so greatly excited, was a portion of Deuteronomy, the twenty-eighth, twenty-ninth, and thirtieth chapters, in which is recorded a renewal of the national covenant, and an enumeration of the terrible threats and curses denounced against all who violated the law, whether prince or people. The impressions of grief and terror which the reading produced on the mind of Josiah have seemed to many unaccountable. But, as it is certain from the extensive and familiar knowledge displayed by the prophets, that there were numbers of other copies in popular circulation, the king must have known its sacred contents in some degree. But he might have been a stranger to the passage read him, or the reading of it might, in the peculiar circumstances, have found a way to his heart in a manner that he never felt before. His strong faith in the divine word, and his painful consciousness that the woeful and long-continued apostasies of the nation had exposed them to the infliction of the judgments denounced, must have come with overwhelming force on the heart of so pious a prince.

JFB: 2Ki 22:12-15

The agitated feelings of the king prompted him to ask immediate counsel how to avert those curses under which his kingdom lay; and forthwith a deputation of his principal officers was sent to one endowed with the prophetic spirit.

JFB: 2Ki 22:12-15

A friend of Jeremiah (Jer 26:24).

JFB: 2Ki 22:14

Or Abdon (2Ch 34:20), a man of influence at court (Jer 26:22). The occasion was urgent, and therefore they were sent--not to Zephaniah (Zep 1:1), who was perhaps young--nor to Jeremiah, who was probably absent at his house in Anathoth, but to one who was at hand and known for her prophetic gifts--to Huldah, who was probably at this time a widow. Her husband Shallum was grandson of one Harhas, "keeper of the wardrobe." If this means the priestly wardrobe, [Harhas] must have been a Levite. But it probably refers to the royal wardrobe.

JFB: 2Ki 22:14

Rather, "in the Misnah," taking the original word as a proper name, not a school or college, but a particular suburb of Jerusalem. She was held in such veneration that Jewish writers say she and Jehoiada the priest were the only persons not of the house of David (2Ch 24:15-16) who were ever buried in Jerusalem.

Clarke: 2Ki 22:1

Josiah was eight years old - He was one of the best, if not the best, of all the Jewish kings since the time of David. He began well, continued well, and ended well.

Clarke: 2Ki 22:4

That he may sum the silver - As Josiah began to seek the Lord as soon as he began to reign, we may naturally conclude that the worship of God that was neglected and suppressed by his father, was immediately restored; and the people began their accustomed offerings to the temple. Ten years therefore had elapsed since these offerings began; no one had, as yet, taken account of them; nor were they applied to the use for which they were given, viz., the repairing the breaches of the temple.

Clarke: 2Ki 22:8

I have found the book of the law - Was this the autograph of Moses? It is very probable that it was, for in the parallel place; 2Ch 34:14, it is said to be the book of the law of the Lord by Moses. It is supposed to be that part of Deuteronomy (28, 29, 30, and 31), which contains the renewing of the covenant in the plains of Moab, and which contains the most terrible invectives against the corrupters of God’ s word and worship

The rabbins say that Ahaz, Manasseh, and Amon endeavored to destroy all the copies of the law, and this only was saved by having been buried under a paving-stone. It is scarcely reasonable to suppose that this was the only copy of the law that was found in Judea; for even if we grant that Ahaz, Manasseh, and Amon had endeavored to destroy all the books of the law, yet they could not have succeeded so as to destroy the whole. Besides, Manasseh endeavored after his conversion to restore every part of the Divine worship, and in this he could have done nothing without the Pentateuch; and the succeeding reign of Amon was too short to give him opportunity to undo every thing that his penitent father had reformed. Add to all these considerations, that in the time of Jehoshaphat teaching from the law was universal in the land, for he set on foot an itinerant ministry, in order to instruct the people fully: for "he sent to his princes to teach in the cities of Judah; and with them he sent Levites and priests; and they went about through all the cities of Judah, and taught the people, having the book of the Lord with them;"see 2Ch 17:7-9. And if there be any thing wanting to show the improbability of the thing, it must be this, that the transactions mentioned here took place in the eighteenth year of the reign of Josiah, who had, from the time he came to the throne, employed himself in the restoration of the pure worship of God; and it is not likely that during these eighteen years he was without a copy of the Pentateuch. The simple fact seems to be this, that this was the original of the covenant renewed by Moses with the people in the plains of Moab, and which he ordered to be laid up beside the ark; (Deu 31:26); and now being unexpectedly found, its antiquity, the occasion of its being made, the present circumstances of the people, the imperfect state in which the reformation was as yet, after all that had been done, would all concur to produce the effect here mentioned on the mind of the pious Josiah.

Clarke: 2Ki 22:14

Went unto Huldah the prophetess - This is a most singular circumstance: At this time Jeremiah was certainly a prophet in Israel, but it is likely he now dwelt at Anathoth and could not be readily consulted; Zephaniah also prophesied under this reign, but probably he had not yet begun; Hilkiah was high priest, and the priest’ s lips should retain knowledge. Shaphan was scribe, and must have been conversant in sacred affairs to have been at all fit for his office; and yet Huldah, a prophetess, of whom we know nothing but by this circumstance, is consulted on the meaning of the book of the law; for the secret of the Lord was neither with Hilkiah the high priest, Shaphan the scribe, nor any other of the servants of the king, or ministers of the temple! We find from this, and we have many facts in all ages to corroborate it, that a pontiff, a pope, a bishop, or a priest, may, in some cases, not possess the true knowledge of God; and that a simple woman, possessing the life of God in her soul, may have more knowledge of the Divine testimonies than many of those whose office it is to explain and enforce them

On this subject Dr. Priestley in his note makes the following very judicious remark: -

"It pleased God to distinguish several women with the spirit of prophecy, as well as other great attainments, to show that in his sight, and especially in things of a spiritual nature, there is no essential pre-eminence in the male sex, though in some things the female be subject to the male."

Defender: 2Ki 22:11

For the fifty-five years of Manasseh's evil reign, the Scriptures had been ignored and all but forgotten. Nevertheless, "the Word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword" (Heb 4:12). When it is read or heard with a sincere heart, it will change the life, for "by the law is the knowledge of sin" (Rom 3:20).

Defender: 2Ki 22:11

Evidently Josiah had not previously read the inspired words of Moses before this lost copy of the Pentateuch was found hidden in the temple. His wicked grandfather, King Manasseh, had done all he could to stamp out the worship of Jehovah in Israel, no doubt trying to destroy as many copies of the Scriptures as he could find. God has always preserved His Word, however, and some faithful scribe or priest had hidden this particular copy somewhere in the temple where it could be preserved until it was finally rediscovered by Hilkiah the high priest when the temple was being renovated at Josiah's orders. Even though Josiah had not previously seen the Scriptures himself, he had evidently been instructed therein to some degree by faithful priests, so that he had desired while still young to restore the temple and its worship. Undoubtedly other copies of the Scriptures had also been preserved at various locations in Judah. When Josiah saw the book himself, however, and realized that God had kept it safe in the temple all those years, he was profoundly moved and the great revival under his leadership was the result."

TSK: 2Ki 22:1

am 3363-3394, bc 641-610

Josiah : This prince was one of the best, if not the best, of all the Jewish kings since the time of David. He began well, continued well, and ended well. 1Ki 13:2; 2Ch 34:1, 2-33; Jer 1:2; Zep 1:1; Mat 1:10, Josias

eight years old : 2Ki 11:21, 2Ki 21:1; Psa 8:2; Ecc 10:16; Isa 3:4

Boscath : This was a city in the plain country of the tribe of Judah; and is mentioned in the parallel passage along with Lachish and Eglon. Jos 15:39, Bozkath

TSK: 2Ki 22:2

right : 2Ki 16:2, 2Ki 18:3; 2Ch 17:3, 2Ch 29:2; Pro 20:11

walked : 1Ki 3:6, 1Ki 11:38, 1Ki 15:5

turned : Deu 5:32; Jos 1:7; Pro 4:27; Eze 18:14-17

TSK: 2Ki 22:3

am 3380, bc 642

in the : 2Ch 34:3-8, 9-33

TSK: 2Ki 22:4

Hilkiah : 1Ch 6:13, 1Ch 9:11; 2Ch 34:9-18

that he may : Ten years seem to have elapsed since the people began to present the accustomed offerings; yet no one had taken an account of them, nor were they applied to the purpose for which they were given.

sum the silver : 2Ki 12:4, 2Ki 12:8-11; 2Ch 24:8-12; Mar 12:41, Mar 12:42

the keepers : 1Ch 9:19, 1Ch 26:13-19; 2Ch 8:14; Neh 11:19; Psa 84:10

door : Heb. threshold

TSK: 2Ki 22:5

deliver : 2Ki 12:11-14

to repair : 2Ki 12:5; 2Ch 24:7, 2Ch 24:12, 2Ch 24:13, 2Ch 24:27; Ezr 3:7

TSK: 2Ki 22:6

carpenters : or, artificers, Exo 28:11, Exo 35:35, Exo 38:23

builders : 2Ki 12:11; Gen 4:17; 1Ki 5:18, 1Ki 6:12

masons : or, repairers of the wall, 2Ki 12:12; Isa 58:12; Eze 22:30

TSK: 2Ki 22:7

Howbeit : 2Ki 12:15; 2Ch 24:14

they dealt faithfully : Exo 36:5, Exo 36:6; Neh 7:2; Pro 28:20; Luk 16:10-12; 1Co 4:2; 2Co 8:20, 2Co 8:21; 2Ti 2:2; 3Jo 1:5

TSK: 2Ki 22:8

I have found : This certainly was a genuine copy of the divine law, and probably the autograph of Moses, as it is said, in the parallel place of Chronicles, to be the book of the law of the Lord by Moses. It is not probable that this was the only copy of the law in the land, or that Josiah had never before seen the book of Moses; but the fact seems to be, that this was the original of the covenant renewed by Moses in the plains of Moab, and now being unexpectedly found, its antiquity, the occasion of its being made, the present circumstances of the people, the imperfect state in which the reformation was as yet, after all that had been done, would all concur to produce the effect here mentioned on the mind of the pious Josiah. Deu 31:24-26; 2Ch 34:14, 2Ch 34:15-28

TSK: 2Ki 22:9

Shaphan : 2Ki 22:3, 2Ki 22:12, 2Ki 25:22; Jer 26:24, Jer 29:3, Jer 36:10-12, Jer 39:14, Jer 40:11, Jer 41:2; Eze 8:11

the scribe : 2Ki 18:18

gathered : Heb. melted

TSK: 2Ki 22:10

Shaphan : Deu 31:9-13; 2Ch 34:18; Neh 8:1-7, Neh 8:14, Neh 8:15, Neh 8:18, Neh 13:1; Jer 36:6, Jer 36:15, Jer 36:21

the king : Deu 17:18-20; Jer 13:18, Jer 22:1, Jer 22:2

TSK: 2Ki 22:11

that he rent : 2Ki 22:19; 2Ch 34:19; Jer 36:24; Joe 2:13; Jon 3:6, Jon 3:7

TSK: 2Ki 22:12

the king : 2Ki 19:2, 2Ki 19:3; 2Ch 34:19-21; Isa 37:1-4

Ahikam : 2Ki 22:9; Jer 26:22, Jer 26:24

Achbor : 2Ch 34:20, Abdon

Michaiah : or, Micah

TSK: 2Ki 22:13

inquire : 2Ki 3:11; 1Ki 22:7, 1Ki 22:8; 1Ch 10:13, 1Ch 10:14; Psa 25:14; Pro 3:6; Jer 21:1, Jer 21:2, Jer 37:17; Eze 14:3, Eze 14:4, Eze 20:1-3; Amo 3:7

great : Exo 20:5; Deu 4:23-27, Deu 29:23-28, Deu 31:17, Deu 31:18; Neh 8:8, Neh 8:9, Neh 9:3; Psa 76:7; Dan 9:5-7; Nah 1:6; Rom 3:20, Rom 4:15, Rom 7:9; Rev 6:17

because our fathers : 2Ch 29:6, 2Ch 34:21; Psa 106:6; Jer 16:12, Jer 44:17; Lam 5:7; Dan 9:8, Dan 9:10; Jam 1:22-25

TSK: 2Ki 22:14

prophetess : Exo 15:20; Jdg 4:4; Mic 6:4; Luke 1:41-56, Luk 2:36; Act 21:9; 1Co 11:5

Tikvah : 2Ch 34:22, Tikvath, Hasrah

wardrobe : Heb. garments, 2Ki 10:22; Neh 7:72

college : or, second part

Commentary -- Word/Phrase Notes (per Verse)

Barnes: 2Ki 22:3

In the eighteenth year - This is the date of the finding of the Book of the Law and of the Passover (marginal reference, and 2Ki 23:23), but is not meant to apply to all the various reforms of Josiah as related in 2 Kings 23:4-20. The true chronology of Josiah’ s reign is to be learned from 2Ch 34:3-8; 2Ch 35:1. From these places it appear that at least the greater part of his reforms preceded the finding of the Book of the Law. He began them in the 12th year of his reign, at the age of 20, and had accomplishied all, or the greater part, by his 18th year, when the Book of the Law was found.

Shaphan is mentioned frequently by Jeremiah. He was the father of Ahikam, Jeremiah’ s friend and protector at the court of Jehoiakim Jer 26:24, and the grandfather of Gedaliah, who was made governor of Judaea by the Babylonians after the destruction of Jeruslem 2Ki 25:22. Several others of his sons and grandsons were in favor with the later Jewish kings Jer 29:3; Jer 36:10-12, Jer 36:25; Eze 8:11. Shaphan’ s office was one of great importance, involving very confidential relations with the king 1Ki 4:3.

Barnes: 2Ki 22:4

Hilkiah - Hilkiah was the father (or grandfather) of Seraiah (compare 1Ch 6:13-14, with Neh 11:11), high priest at the time of the captivity 2Ki 25:18. and ancestor of Ezra the scribe Ezr 7:1.

It is evident from the expressions of this verse that a collection for the repairs of the temple, similar to that established in the reign of Joash 2Ki 12:9-10, had been for some considerable time in progress (compare 2Ch 34:3), and the king now sent to know the result.

Barnes: 2Ki 22:5

See the marginal reference. The "doers"of the first part of the verse are the contractors, or overseers, who undertook the general superintendence; they are to be distinguished from a lower class of "doers,"the actual laborers, carpenters, and masons of the latter portion of the verse.

Which is in the house of the Lord - Rather, "who are,"etc.; i. e., the persons who were actually employed in the temple.

Barnes: 2Ki 22:7

They dealt faithfully - Compare the marginal reference. The names of these honest overseers are given in Chronicles 2Ch 34:12.

Barnes: 2Ki 22:8

Some have concluded from this discovery, either that no "book of the law"had ever existed before, the work now said to have been "found"having been forged for the occasion by Hilkiah; or that all knowledge of the old "book"had been lost, and that a work of unknown date and authorship having been at this time found was accepted as the Law of Moses on account of its contents, and has thus come down to us under his name. But this is to see in the narrative far more than it naturally implies. If Hilkiah had been bold enough and wicked enough to forge, or if he had been foolish enough to accept hastily as the real "book of the law"a composition of which he really knew nothing, there were four means of detecting his error or his fraud:

(1) The Jewish Liturgies, which embodied large portions of the Law;

(2) The memory of living men, which in many instances may have extended to the entire five books, as it does now with the modern Samaritans;

(3) Other copies, entire or fragmentary, existing among the more learned Jews, or in the Schools of the prophets; and

(4) Quotations from the Law in other works, especially in the Psalmists and prophets, who refer to it on almost every page.

The copy of the Book of the Law found by Hilkiah was no doubt that deposited, in accordance with the command of God, by Moses, by the side of the ark of the covenant, and kept ordinarily in the holy of holies (marginal reference). It had been lost, or secreted, during the desecration of the temple by Manasseh, but had not been removed out of the temple building.

Barnes: 2Ki 22:9

Have gathered - Rather, "have poured out"or "emptied out."The allusion probably is to the emptying of the chest in which all the money collected had been placed 2Ki 12:9.

Barnes: 2Ki 22:11

He rent his clothes - Partly grief and horror, like Reuben Gen 37:29 and Job Job 1:20, partly in repentance, like Ahab 1Ki 21:27.

Barnes: 2Ki 22:13

Enquire of the Lord - As inquiry by Urim and Thummim had ceased - apparently because superseded by prophecy - this order was equivalent to an injunction to seek the presence of a prophet (compare 2Ki 3:11; 1Ki 22:5).

Because our fathers have not hearkened - Josiah, it will be observed, assumes that preceding generations had had full opportunity of hearing and knowing the Law. He thus regards the loss as comparatively recent (compare 2Ki 22:8 note).

Barnes: 2Ki 22:14

Went unto Huldah - It might have been expected that the royal commissioners would have gone to Jeremiah, on whom the prophetic spirit had descended in Josiah’ s 13th year Jer 1:2, or five years previous to the finding of the Law. Perhaps he was at some distance from Jerusalem at the time; or his office may not yet have been fully recognized.

The prophetess - Compare the cases of Miriam Exo 15:20; Num 12:2 and Deborah Jdg 4:4.

Keeper of the wardrobe - literally, "of the robes."Shallum had the superintendence, either of the vestments of the priests who served in the temple, or of the royal robe-room in which dresses of honor were stored, in case of their being needed for presents (see 2Ki 5:5 note).

In the college - The marginal translation "in the second part"is preferable; and probably refers to the new or outer city - that which had been enclosed by the wall of Manasseh, to the north of the old city 2Ch 33:14.

Poole: 2Ki 22:3

In the eighteenth year not of his life, but of his reign , as it is expressed, 2Ch 34:3,8 . What he did before this time, see 2Ch 34:3 , &c. The scribe; the king’ s secretary.

Poole: 2Ki 22:4

That he may sum the silver i.e. take an exact account how much it is, and then dispose it in manner following.

The keepers of the door were priests or Levites, as appears from 2Ki 12:9 2Ch 8:14 23:4 34:9 .

Poole: 2Ki 22:5

The oversight of the house of the Lord i.e. the care and oversight of the workmen; which also were Levites, 2Ch 34:12 .

Poole: 2Ki 22:6

Either hewed or cut out of the quarries, or to be hewed and fitted to the building.

Poole: 2Ki 22:7

i.e. Because it was found by experience that they dealt faithfully. Verbs signifying the being of a thing are oft put for the manifestation of it.

Poole: 2Ki 22:8

The book of the law that original

book of the law of the Lord given or written by the hand of Moses, as it is expressed, 2Ch 34:14 , which by God’ s command was put beside the ark, Deu 31:26 , and probably taken from thence and hid, by the care of some godly priest, when some of the idolatrous kings of Judah persecuted the true religion, and defaced the temple, and (which the Jewish writers affirm) burnt all the copies of God’ s law which they could find, and now found among the rubbish, or in some secret place.

Poole: 2Ki 22:11

The words of the book of the law i. e. the dreadful comminations against them for the sins still reigning among the people.

Quest. Did Josiah never see and read a copy of this book before this time? If he did not, how could he do so much towards the reformation of religion, as he did before? if he did, why was he not sooner convinced and humbled by it?

Answ If Josiah had not yet seen a copy of this book, (which is not impossible,) yet there was so much of the law left in the minds and memories of many of the people, as might easily persuade and direct him to all that he did till this time; or if Josiah had seen and read it before, which seems more probable, yet the great reverence which he justly bore to the original book, and the strange, and remarkable, and seasonable finding of it, had very much awakened and quickened him to a more serious and diligent reading, and attentive consideration, of all the passages contained in it, than he used before.

Poole: 2Ki 22:12

A servant of the king’ s who most constantly waited upon the king’ s person; otherwise all of them were the king’ s servants.

Poole: 2Ki 22:13

Inquire of the Lord either what he intends to do with us, or what we shall do to him, to appease his wrath.

Concerning the words of this book whether the curses here threatened must come upon us without remedy, or whether there be hope in Israel concerning the prevention of them.

Poole: 2Ki 22:14

Unto Huldah the prophetess for we read of women prophetesses, both in the Old and New Testament; as Miriam, Exo 15:20 , Deborah, Jud 4:4 , Hannah, 1Sa 2 , Elisabeth, and the blessed Virgin, Lu 1 , and Philip’ s daughters, Act 21:9 .

Quest. But why did he send to this woman, and not rather to Zephaniah, or Jeremiah, who were prophets in Josiah’ s days?

Answ Either, first, Because the king’ s earnest affection in this business required great haste; and she was in Jerusalem, which is therefore noted in the following part of the verse, when Jeremiah might at this time be at Anathoth, or in some more remote part of the kingdom; and the like may be said of Zephaniah, who also might not be a prophet at this time, though he was afterward, in the days of Josiah , which is all that is affirmed of him, Zep 1:1 . Or,

2. Because the king or his courtiers had longer and greater experience of the eminency of her prophetical gifts than of Jeremiah’ s, who began not to prophesy till the thirteenth year of Josiah, Jer 1:2 ; and being well assured of her fidelity in delivering the mind and counsel of God to those that inquired of her, they rightly concluded that it was much more considerable what message God sent, than by whom it was conveyed to them. In the college ; where the sons of the prophets, or others who devoted themselves to the study of God’ s word, used to meet and discourse of the things of God, and receive the instructions of their teachers. Others both ancient and modern render it, in another or the second part, to wit, of the city, i.e. in the suburbs, which also were fortified and walled about by Hezekiah, 2Ch 32:5 .

Haydock: 2Ki 22:1

Peace, before these horrors overtake the city. Josias was interred with all the usual honours, have[having?] fallen in battle, chap. xxiii. 29. (Calmet) ---

Instead of peace, the Alexandrian Septuagint reads, "in Jerusalem," to which city Josias was brought from Mageddo, where he had perhaps rashly attacked the king of Egypt, with whom he had not been engaged in war. (Haydock) ---

This last good king was given to Juda, that he people might not pretend that they were forced to embrace idolatry by the royal power. (St. Jerome) (Du Hamel)

Haydock: 2Ki 22:1

Eight years. After he had reigned other eight, being still but a boy, he began more seriously to seek the Lord, and purified his dominions, and the neighbouring country, from all the vestiges of idolatry, 2 Paralipomenon xxxiii. 3. He was one of the three most excellent kings of Juda, (Haydock) and might be said to be the last; as those who followed were displaced at pleasure by Egypt, &c. (Du Hamel)

Haydock: 2Ki 22:3

Scribe of. Hebrew, "to the temple." (Chaldean; Syriac, &c.) It is not certain that there was such an officer as scribe of the temple; but the king's secretary was ordered by Joas to take an account of the money contributed, chap. xii. 10. (Calmet) ---

Josias followed the same plan. (Tirinus)

Haydock: 2Ki 22:4

Together, so as to be reduced into a mass, and refined by fire. (Pagnin) ---

Septuagint, "seal up the money." Protestants, "that he may sum the silver which," &c. (Haydock) ---

Let him make all be paid up that is due, (Piscator) and cease to demand any more. ---

Door-keepers. Their office was of some consequence, 1 Paralipomenon ix. 26, 29. (Calmet)

Haydock: 2Ki 22:5

Overseers, or undertakers. (Grotius) ---

People of the great respectability were selected, so that no reckoning with them was requisite, ver. 7. (Haydock) ---

They were thus encouraged to do the work with greater perfection. (Calmet)

Haydock: 2Ki 22:8

The book of the law, (that is, Deuteronomy.; Challoner.; St. Chrysostom, hom. 9. in Matthew) or the Pentateuch. (Josephus) ---

Achaz, Manasses, and Amon, had burnt (R. Solomon) as many copies as they could, (Haydock) but some zealous priests had concealed this copy, in a box, in the wall of the temple, (Lyranus) or in the treasury adjoining it. The very hand writing of Moses, containing the record of the covenant, (or the 28, 29, 30, and 31st chapters of Deuteronomy) which was placed in (Calmet) or beside the ark, was now happily discovered. (Haydock) ---

It seems it had been misplaced, as the ark itself had been removed, 2 Paralipomenon xxiv. 14., and xxxv. 3. This venerable monument, and the dreadful menaces which it denounced, made the deepest impression upon all, as we should read the autographs of St. Matthew, &c., with far greater respect and emotion than we do the printed copies. It is not at all probably that all the books of Scripture had been destroyed, as there were always some religious souls in both kingdoms; and if some kings had already made the impious attempt, (Haydock) of which, however, they are never accused in Scripture, they would not have been able to carry their malicious designs into effect. Josias had, before his 18th year, made many excellent regulations, conformably to the law, which was well understood, and carefully preserved by the priests and prophets, (Calmet) 2 Paralipomenon xvii. 9. ---

Read it. Scribes were generally chosen from among the Levites. (Calmet)

Haydock: 2Ki 22:11

Garments, through zeal for God's honour, and fear of his indignation. (Menochius)

Haydock: 2Ki 22:14

Holda. She is known only by this honourable embassy. It is rather wonderful that Jeremias was not consulted, as he had began to prophesy five years before. But he probably resided at Anathoth. Sophonias appeared, perhaps, only towards the end of the reign of Josias. (Calmet) ---

The Second, a street, or part of the city so called; in Hebrew, Massem. (Challoner) ---

The Septuagint retain this word, (Menochius) or rather, "in Masena;" Hebrew mishne. (Haydock) ---

Manasses inclosed Jerusalem with a second wall, (2 Paralipomenon xxxiii. 14.; Calmet) unless this was done by his father, 2 Paralipomenon xxxii. 5. (Tirinus) ---

Here Holda is said to have kept a school. (Calmet) ---

Chaldean, "the house of doctrine," a lace next in importance to the temple. (Vatable) ---

St. Jerome speaks of this Second, as of a gate, or part of Jerusalem, between the inner and the outer wall. (Contra Pelag, 2 Irad. in 2 Par. and in Sophon. i. 10.) (Menochius)

Gill: 2Ki 22:1

Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign,.... And must be born when his father was but sixteen, for Amon lived but twenty four years, 2Ki 21:19,

and he reigned thirty and one years in Jerusalem; and so must die at thirty nine years of age:

and his mother's name was Jedidah, the daughter of Adaiah of Boscath; a city of the tribe of Judah; see Gill on Jos 15:39.

Gill: 2Ki 22:2

And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord,.... In the affair of religious worship especially, as well as in other things:

and walked in all the ways of David his father; in his religious ways, in which he never departed from his God:

and turned not aside to the right hand or to the left; but kept an even, constant, path of worship and duty, according to the law of God.

Gill: 2Ki 22:3

And it came to pass in the eighteenth year of King Josiah,.... Not of his age, but of his reign, as appears from 2Ch 34:8 nor is what follows the first remarkable act he did in a religious way; for elsewhere we read of what he did in the eighth and twelfth years of his reign, 2Ch 34:3,

that the king sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah, the son of Meshullam the scribe, to the house of the Lord; the king's secretary; the Septuagint version is, the scribe of the house of the Lord, and so the Vulgate Latin version; that kept the account of the expenses of the temple; with him two others were sent, 2Ch 34:8,

saying: as follows.

Gill: 2Ki 22:4

Go up to Hilkiah the high priest,.... Who had an apartment in the temple; there was an Hilkiah, a priest, in those times, who was the father of Jeremiah the prophet, Jer 1:1, whom an Arabic writer ^l takes to be the same with this; but it is not likely:

that he may sum the silver which is brought into the house of the Lord which the people voluntarily offered for the repairing of it; this he would have the priest take an account of, that the sum total might be known; his meaning is, that he should take it out of the chest in which it was put, and count it, that it might be known what it amounted to; see 2Ki 12:9, some understand this of melting and coining the silver thus given

which the keepers of the door have gathered of the people: who were Levites, 2Ch 34:9, either porters of the door, or rather the treasurers, as the Targum; the keepers of the vessels of the sanctuary, that had the care of them, as the Jewish commentators generally interpret it.

Gill: 2Ki 22:5

And let them deliver it into the hand of the doers of the work,

that have the oversight of the house of the Lord,.... That were overseers of the workmen, whose names are mentioned, 2Ch 34:12 into their hands the money was to be delivered by the high priest, when he had taken the account of it, and perhaps along with the king's scribe, see 2Ki 12:10,

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 as their wages for their work; it seems it had not been repaired from the times of Jehoash, a space of two hundred and eighteen years, according to the Jewish chronology ^m; but Kimchi and Abarbinel make it two hundred and twenty four.

Gill: 2Ki 22:6

Unto carpenters, and builders, and masons,.... Who were employed, some in mending the woodwork, and others in repairing the stone walls

and to buy timber and hewn stone to repair the house; not only money was to be given them for their workmanship, but to buy timber and stone to work with.

Gill: 2Ki 22:7

Howbeit, there was no reckoning made with them of the money that was delivered into their hand,.... No account was kept between the high priest, and the king's scribe who delivered the money and the overseers of the workmen, who received it from them the latter were not called to any account by the former, nor any audit made of their accounts:

because they dealt faithfully: they were persons of such known honour and integrity, that their fidelity was not in the least called in question, but were trusted without examining their accounts, and how they disposed of the money committed to them, see 2Ki 12:15.

Gill: 2Ki 22:8

And Hilkiah the high priest said unto Shaphan the scribe,.... Not at the first time of his message to him, but afterwards that he attended on him upon the same business; after the high priest had examined the temple to know what repairs it wanted, and where:

I have found the book of the law in the house of the Lord; some think this was only the book of Deuteronomy, and some only some part of that; rather the whole Pentateuch, and that not a copy of it, but the very autograph of Moses, written with his own hand, as it seems from 2Ch 34:14. Some say he found it in the holy of holies, on the side of the ark; there it was put originally; but, indeed, had it been there, he might have found it before, and must have seen it, since, as high priest, he entered there once every year; more probably some pious predecessor of his had taken it from thence in a time of general corruption, as in the reign of Manasseh, and hid it in some private place, under a lay of stones, as Jarchi, in some hole in the wall, which upon search about repairs was found there:

and Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, and he read it; and though there might be some copies of it in private hands, yet scarce; and perhaps Shaphan had never seen one, at least a perfect one, or however had never read it through, as now he did.

Gill: 2Ki 22:9

And Shaphan the scribe came to the king, and brought the king word again,.... Of the delivery of his message to the high priest, and of what had been done upon it:

and said, thy servants have gathered the money that was found in the house; meaning Hilkiah and himself, who had examined the chest in the temple, into which the money was put for the repairs of it, and had taken it out, and told it:

and have delivered it into the hand of them that do the work, that have the oversight of the house of the Lord; according to the king's orders.

Gill: 2Ki 22:10

And Shaphan showed the king,.... Further related to him what follows:

saying, Hilkiah the high priest hath delivered me a book; but did not say what book it was:

and Shaphan read it before the king; part of it; and it is thought by Kimchi and Ben Gersom that he particularly read the reproofs and threatenings in the book of Deuteronomy; they suppose that Hilkiah read those to Shaphan, and directed him to read them to the king, that he might take into consideration a further reformation.

Gill: 2Ki 22:11

And it came to pass, when the king had heard the words of the book of the law,.... From whence it appears that he had never wrote out a copy of it, as the kings of Israel were ordered to do, when they came to the throne, Deu 17:18 nor had read it, at least not the whole of it; and yet it seems strange that he should be twenty six years of age, as he now was, and had proceeded far in the reformation of worship, and yet be without the book of the law, and the high priest also; it looks as if it was, as some have thought, that they had till now only some abstracts of the law, and not the whole: and perhaps the reformation hitherto carried on chiefly lay in abolishing idolatry, and not so much in restoring the ordinances of worship to their purity; for it was after this that the ordinance of the passover was ordered to be kept; and when the king observed, on hearing the law read, that it had not been kept as it should, that such severe threatenings were denounced against the transgressors of it;

that he rent his clothes; as expressive of the rending of his heart, and of his humiliation and sorrow for the sins he and his people were guilty of.

Gill: 2Ki 22:12

And the king commanded Hilkiah the priest,.... The high priest, as he is called, 2Ki 22:4.

and Ahikam the son of Shaphan; whether the same with Shaphan the scribe, before mentioned, or another of the same name, is not certain:

and Achbor the son of Michaiah; who is called Abdon, the son of Micah, 2Ch 34:20.

and Shaphan the scribe; who brought and read the book to the king:

and Asahiah, a servant of the king's; that waited on him constantly:

saying; as follows.

Gill: 2Ki 22:13

Go ye, inquire of the Lord,.... Of some of his prophets, as Jeremiah, who began to prophesy in the thirteenth year of Josiah's reign, and had been a prophet five years, Jer 1:1,

for me, and for the people, and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book that is found; for he observed that this book threatened and foretold not only the captivity of the ten tribes, but of Judah, and of their king; and Jarchi thinks, he had a particular respect to that passage:

the Lord shall bring thee and thy king, &c. Deu 28:36 and therefore was desirous of knowing what he and his people must do to avert those judgments:

for great is the wrath of the Lord that is kindled against us; which he concluded from the threatenings denounced:

because that our fathers have not hearkened unto the words of this book, to do according to all which is written concerning us: he clearly saw that his ancestors more remote and immediate had been very deficient in observing the laws, commands, and ordinances enjoined them in that book; and therefore feared that what was threatened would fall upon him and his people, who, he was sensible, came short of doing their duty.

Gill: 2Ki 22:14

So Hilkiah the priest, and Ahikam, and Achbor, and Shaphan, and Asahiah, went down to Huldah the prophetess,.... Such as were Miriam and Deborah; in imitation of those Satan had very early his women prophetesses, the Sibyls, so called from their being the council and oracle of God, and consulted as such on occasion, as Huldah now was; and the first of the Sibyls, according to Suidas ⁿ, was a Chaldean or a Persian; and some say an Hebrew; and Pausanias expressly says ^o, that with the Hebrews above Palestine was a woman prophetess, whose name was Sabba, whom some called the Babylonian, others the Egyptian Sibyl. Aelian relates ^p that one of them was a Jewess:

the wife of Shallum, the son of Tikvah, the son of Harhas, keeper of the wardrobe; but whether the king's wardrobe in the palace, or the priest's in the temple, is not certain; he is called Hasrah, 2Ch 34:22 who is here called Harhas:

now she dwelt in Jerusalem in the college; in the college of the prophets; in the house of instruction, as the Targum; the school where the young prophets were instructed and trained up; though Jarchi observes, that some interpret this "within the two walls"; Jerusalem it seems had three walls, and within the second this woman lived; there were gates in the temple, as he also observes, called the gates of Huldah ^q, but whether from her cannot be said: this place of her dwelling seems to be mentioned as a reason why these messengers went to her, because she was near, as well as well known for her prophetic spirit, prudence, and faithfulness, and not to Jeremiah, who in all probability was at Anathoth; and so also is the reason why they went not to Zephaniah, if he as yet had begun to prophesy, because he might be at a distance also: and they communed with her; upon the subject the king sent them about.

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: 2Ki 22:1

¹ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

² tn Heb “the name of his mother.”

NET Notes: 2Ki 22:2

¹ tn Heb “he did what was proper in the eyes of the Lord.”

² tn Heb “and walked in all the way of David his father.”

NET Notes: 2Ki 22:3

¹ tn Heb “with these orders, saying.”

NET Notes: 2Ki 22:4

¹ tc The MT has וְיַתֵּם (vÿyattem), “and let them add up” (Hiphil of תָּמָם [tammam], “be complete”), but the appearance of הִתִּיכוּ (hitikhu), “they melted down” (Hiphil of נָתַךְ [natakh], “pour out”) in v. 9 suggests that the verb form should be emended to וְיַתֵּךְ (vÿyattekh), “and let him melt down” (a Hiphil of נָתַךְ [natakh]). For a discussion of this and other options see M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 281.

NET Notes: 2Ki 22:5

¹ tn Heb “doers of the work.”

² tn Heb “and let them give it to the doers of the work who are in the house of the Lord to repair the damages to the house.”

NET Notes: 2Ki 22:6

¹ tn Heb “and to buy wood and chiseled stone to repair the house.”

NET Notes: 2Ki 22:7

¹ tn Heb “only the silver that is given into their hand should not be reckoned with them, for in faithfulness they are acting.”

NET Notes: 2Ki 22:9

¹ tn Heb “returned the king a word and said.”

² tn Heb “that was found in the house.”

NET Notes: 2Ki 22:13

¹ tn Or “inquire of.”

² tn Heb “concerning.”

³ tn Heb “for great is the anger of the Lord which has been ignited against us.”

⁴ tn Heb “by doing all that is written concerning us.” Perhaps עָלֵינוּ (’alenu), “concerning us,” should be altered to עָלָיו (’alav), “upon it,” in which case one could translate, “by doing all that is written in it.”

NET Notes: 2Ki 22:14

¹ tn Heb “the keeper of the clothes.”

² tn Or “second.” For a discussion of the possible location of this district, see M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 283.

³ tn Heb “and they spoke to her.”

Geneva Bible: 2Ki 22:2

And he did [that which was] right in the sight of the LORD, and ^{( a )} walked in all the way of David his father, and turned not aside to the right hand or to the left.

^{( a )} His zeal was prophesied of, and his name mentioned by Iddo the prophet, more than 300 years before, (1Ki 13:2) and being but eight years old, he sought the God of his father David, (2Ch 34:3).

Geneva Bible: 2Ki 22:4

Go up to Hilkiah the high priest, that he may sum the silver which is brought into the house of the LORD, which the keepers of the ^{( b )} door have gathered of the people:

^{( b )} Certain of the priests were appointed to this office, as in (2Ki 12:9).

Geneva Bible: 2Ki 22:5

And let ^{( c )} 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,

^{( c )} From the time of Joash for the space of 244 years, the temple remained without repairs through the negligence of the priests. This shows that they who have a charge and do not execute it should have it taken from them.

Geneva Bible: 2Ki 22:7

Howbeit there was no reckoning made with them of the money that was delivered into their hand, because they dealt ^{( d )} faithfully.

^{( d )} So God provided him with faithful servants, seeing he went about so zealously to set forth the work of God.

Geneva Bible: 2Ki 22:8

And Hilkiah the high priest said unto Shaphan the scribe, I have found the ^{( e )} book of the law in the house of the LORD. And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, and he read it.

^{( e )} This was the copy that Moses left them, as it appears in (2Ch 34:14), which either by the negligence of the priests had been lost, or else by the wickedness of idolatrous kings had been abolished.

Geneva Bible: 2Ki 22:13

Go ye, ^{( f )} enquire 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 hearkened unto the words of this book, to do according unto all that which is written concerning us.

^{( f )} Meaning, to some prophet to whom God reveals the knowledge of things, as in (Jer 21:8), though at other times they enquired the Lord by Urim and Thummim.

Geneva Bible: 2Ki 22:14

So Hilkiah the priest, and Ahikam, and Achbor, and Shaphan, and Asahiah, went unto Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of Tikvah, the son of Harhas, keeper of the wardrobe; (now she dwelt in Jerusalem in the ^{( g )} college;) and they communed with her.

^{( g )} Or the house of doctrine, which was near the temple, and where the learned assembled to search the scriptures and the doctrine of the prophets.

Commentary -- Verse Range Notes

TSK Synopsis: 2Ki 22:1-20

1 Josiah's good reign.

3 He takes care for the repair of the temple.

8 Hilkiah having found a book of the law, Josiah sends to Huldah to enquire of the Lord.

15 Huldah prophesies the destruction of Jerusalem, but respite thereof in Josiah's time.

MHCC: 2Ki 22:1-10

The different event of Josiah's early succession from that of Manasseh, must be ascribed to the distinguishing grace of God; yet probably the persons that trained him up were instruments in producing this difference. His character was most excellent. Had the people joined in the reformation as heartily as he persevered in it, blessed effects would have followed. But they were wicked, and had become fools in idolatry. We do not obtain full knowledge of the state of Judah from the historical records, unless we refer to the writings of the prophets who lived at the time. In repairing the temple, the book of the law was found, and brought to the king. It seems, this book of the law was lost and missing; carelessly mislaid and neglected, as some throw their Bibles into corners, or maliciously concealed by some of the idolaters. God's care of the Bible plainly shows his interest in it. Whether this was the only copy in being or not, the things contained in it were new, both to the king and to the high priest. No summaries, extracts, or collections out of the Bible, can convey and preserve the knowledge of God and his will, like the Bible itself. It was no marvel that the people were so corrupt, when the book of the law was so scarce; they that corrupted them, no doubt, used arts to get that book out of their hands. The abundance of Bibles we possess aggravates our national sins; for what greater contempt of God can we show, than to refuse to read his word when put into our hands, or, reading it, not to believe and obey it? By the holy law is the knowledge of sin, and by the blessed gospel is the knowledge of salvation. When the former is understood in its strictness and excellence, the sinner begins to inquire, What must I do to be saved? And the ministers of the gospel point out to him Jesus Christ, as the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.

MHCC: 2Ki 22:11-20

The book of the law is read before the king. Those best honour their Bibles, who study them; daily feed on that bread, and walk by that light. Convictions of sin and wrath should put us upon this inquiry, What shall we do to be saved? Also, what we may expect, and must provide for. Those who are truly apprehensive of the weight of God's wrath, cannot but be very anxious how they may be saved. Huldah let Josiah know what judgments God had in store for Judah and Jerusalem. The generality of the people were hardened, and their hearts unhumbled, but Josiah's heart was tender. This is tenderness of heart, and thus he humbled himself before the Lord. Those who most fear God's wrath, are least likely to feel it. Though Josiah was mortally wounded in battle, yet he died in peace with God, and went to glory. Whatever such persons suffer or witness, they are gathered to the grave in peace, and shall enter into the rest which remaineth for the people of God.

Matthew Henry: 2Ki 22:1-10

Concerning Josiah we are here told,

I. That he was very young when he began to reign (2Ki 22:1), only eight years old. Solomon says, Woe unto thee, O land! when thy king is a child; but happy art thou, O land! when thy king is such a child. Our English Israel had once a king that was such a child, Edward VI. Josiah, being young, had not received any bad impressions from the example of his father and grandfather, but soon saw their errors, and God gave his grace to take warning by them. See Eze 18:14, etc.

II. That he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, 2Ki 22:2. See the sovereignty of divine grace - the father passed by and left to perish in his sin, the son a chosen vessel. See the triumphs of that grace - Josiah born of a wicked father, no good education nor good example given him, but many about him who no doubt advised him to tread in his father's steps and few that gave him any good counsel, and yet the grace of God made him an eminent saint, cut him off from the wild olive and grafted him into the good olive, Rom 11:24. Nothing is too hard for that grace to do. He walked in a good way, and turned not aside (as some of his predecessors had done who began well) to the right hand nor to the left. There are errors on both hands, but God kept him in the right way; he fell neither into superstition nor profaneness.

III. That he took care for the repair of the temple. This he did in the eighteenth year of his reign, 2Ki 22:3. Compare 2Ch 34:8. He began much sooner to seek the Lord (as appears, 2Ch 34:3), but it is to be feared the work of reformation went slowly on and met with much opposition, so that he could not effect what he desired and designed, till his power was thoroughly confirmed. The consideration of the time we unavoidably lost in our minority should quicken us, when we have come to years, to act with so much the more vigour in the service of God. Having begun late we have need work hard. He sent Shaphan, the secretary of state, to Hilkiah the high priest, to take an account of the money that was collected for this use by the door-keepers (2Ki 22:4); for, it seems, they took much the same way of raising the money that Joash took, 2Ki 12:9. When people gave by a little at a time the burden was insensible, and, the contribution being voluntary, it was not complained of. This money, so collected, he ordered him to lay out for the repair of the temple, 2Ki 22:5, 2Ki 22:6. And now, it seems, the workmen (as in the days of Joash) acquitted themselves so well that there was no reckoning made with them (2Ki 22:7), which is certainly mentioned to the praise of the workmen, that they gained such a reputation for honesty, but whether to the praise of those that employed them I know not; a man should count money (we say) after his own father; it would not have been amiss to have reckoned with the workmen, that others also might be satisfied of their honesty.

IV. That, in repairing the temple, the book of the law was happily found and brought to the king, 2Ki 22:8, 2Ki 22:10. Some think this book was the autograph, or original manuscript, of the five books of Moses, under his own hand; others think it was only an ancient and authentic copy. Most likely it was that which, by the command of Moses, was laid up in the most holy place, Deu 31:24, etc. 1. It seems, this book of the law was lost or missing. Perhaps it was carelessly mislaid and neglected, thrown by into a corner (as some throw their Bibles), by those that knew not the value of it, and forgotten there; or it was maliciously concealed by some of the idolatrous kings, or their agents, who were restrained by the providence of God or their own consciences from burning and destroying it, but buried it, in hopes it would never see the light again; or, as some think, it was carefully laid up by some of its friends, lest it should fall into the hands of its enemies. Whoever were the instruments of its preservation, we ought to acknowledge the hand of God in it. If this was the only authentic copy of the Pentateuch then in being, which had (as I may say) so narrow a turn for its life and was so near perishing, I wonder the hearts of all good people did not tremble for that sacred treasure, as Eli's for the ark, and I am sure we now have reason to thank God, upon our knees, for that happy providence by which Hilkiah found this book at this time, found it when he sought it not, Isa 65:1. If the holy scriptures had not been of God, they would not have been in being at this day; God's care of the Bible is a plain indication of his interest in it. 2. Whether this was the only authentic copy in being or no, it seems the things contained in it were new both to the king himself and to the high priest; for the king, upon the reading of it, rent his clothes. We have reason to think that neither the command for the king's writing a copy of the law, nor that for the public reading of the law every seventh year (Deu 17:18; Deu 31:10, Deu 31:11), had been observed for a long time; and when the instituted means of keeping up religion are neglected religion itself will soon go to decay. Yet, on the other hand, if the book of the law was lost, it seems difficult to determine what rule Josiah went by in doing that which was right in the sight of the Lord, and how the priests and people kept up the rites of their religion. I am apt to think that the people generally took up with abstracts of the law, like our abridgements of the statutes, which the priests, to save themselves the trouble of writing and the people of reading the book at large, had furnished them with - a sort of ritual, directing them in the observances of their religion, but leaving out what they thought fit, and particularly the promises and threatenings (Lev. 26 and Deu. 28, etc.), for I observe that these were the portions of the law which Josiah was so much affected with (2Ki 22:13), for these were new to him. No summaries, extracts, or collections, out of the Bible (though they may have their use) can be effectual to convey and preserve the knowledge of God and his will like the Bible itself. It was no marvel that the people were so corrupt when the book of the law was such a scarce thing among them; where that vision is not the people perish. Those that endeavoured to debauch them no doubt used all the arts they could to get that book out of their hands. The church of Rome could not keep up the use of images but by forbidding the use of the scripture. 3. It was a great instance of God's favour, and a token for good to Josiah and his people, that the book of the law was thus seasonably brought to light, to direct and quicken that blessed reformation which Josiah had begun. It is a sign that God has mercy in store for a people when he magnifies his law among them and makes that honourable, and furnishes them with means for the increase of scripture-knowledge. The translating of the scriptures into vulgar tongues was the glory, strength, and joy of the Reformation from Popery. It is observable that they were about a good work, repairing the temple, when they found the book of the law. Those that do their duty according to their knowledge shall have their knowledge increased. To him that hath shall be given. The book of the law was an abundant recompence for all their care and cost about the repair of the temple. 4. Hilkiah the priest was exceedingly well pleased with the discovery. "O,"says he to Shaphan, "rejoice with me, for I have found the book of the law, heurēka , heurēka , - I have found, I have found, that jewel of inestimable value. Here, carry it to the king; it is the richest jewel of his crown. Read it before him. He walks in the way of David his father, and, if he be like him, he will love the book of the law and bid that welcome; that will be his delight and his counsellor."

Matthew Henry: 2Ki 22:11-20

We hear no more of the repairing of the temple: no doubt that good work went on well; but the book of the law that was found in it occupies us now, and well it may. It is not laid up in the king's cabinet as a piece of antiquity, a rarity to be admired, but it is read before the king. Those put the truest honour upon their Bibles that study them and converse with them daily, feed on that bread and walk by that light. Men of honour and business must look upon an acquaintance with God's word to be their best business and honour. Now here we have,

I. The impressions which the reading of the law made upon Josiah. He rent his clothes, as one ashamed of the sin of his people and afraid of the wrath of God; he had long thought the case of his kingdom bad, by reason of the idolatries and impieties that had been found among them, but he never thought it so bad as he perceived it to be by the book of the law now read to him. The rending of his clothes signified the rending of his heart for the dishonour done to God, and the ruin he saw coming upon his people.

II. The application he made to God hereupon: Go, enquire of the Lord for me, 2Ki 22:13.

1. Two things we may suppose he desired to know: - "Enquire, (1.) What we shall do; what course we shall take to turn away God's wrath and prevent the judgments which our sins have deserved."Convictions of sin and wrath should put us upon this enquiry, What shall we do to be saved? Wherewithal shall we come before the Lord? If you will thus enquire, enquire quickly, before it be too late. (2.) "What we may expect and must provide for."He acknowledges, " Our fathers have not hearkened to the words of this book; if this be the rule of right, certainly our fathers have been much in the wrong."Now that the commandment came sin revived, and appeared sin; in the glass of the law, he saw the sins of his people more numerous and more heinous than he had before seen them, and more exceedingly sinful. He infers hence, "Certainly great is the wrath that is kindled against us; if this be the word of God, as no doubt it is, and he will be true to his word, as no doubt he will be, we are all undone. I never thought the threatenings of the law so severe, and the curses of the covenant so terrible, as now I find them to be; it is time to look about us if these be in force against us."Note, Those who are truly apprehensive of the weight of God's wrath cannot but be very solicitous to obtain his favour, and inquisitive how they may make their peace with him. Magistrates should enquire for their people, and study how to prevent the judgments of God that they see hanging over them.

2. This enquiry Josiah sent, (1.) By some of his great men, who are named 2Ki 22:12, and again 2Ki 22:14. Thus he put an honour upon the oracle, by employing those of the first rank to attend it. (2.) To Huldah the prophetess, 2Ki 22:14. The spirit of prophecy, that inestimable treasure, was sometimes put not only into earthen vessels, but into the weaker vessels, that the excellency of the power might be of God. Miriam helped to lead Israel out of Egypt (Mic 6:4), Deborah judged them, and now Huldah instructed them in the mind of God, and her being a wife was no prejudice at all to her being a prophetess; marriage is honourable in all. It was a mercy to Jerusalem that when Bibles were scarce they had prophets, as afterwards, when prophecy ceased, that they had more Bibles; for God never leaves himself without witness, because he will leave sinners without excuse. Jeremiah and Zephaniah prophesied at this time, yet the king's messengers made Huldah their oracle, probably because her husband having a place at court (for he was keeper of the wardrobe) they had had more and longer acquaintance with her and greater assurances of her commission than of any other; they had, it is likely, consulted her upon other occasions, and had found that the word of God in her mouth was truth. She was near, for she dwelt at Jerusalem, in a place called Mishneh, the second rank of buildings from the royal palace. The Jews say that she prophesied among the women, the court ladies, being herself one of them, who it is probable had their apartments in that place. Happy the court that had a prophetess within the verge of it, and knew how to value her.

III. The answer he received from God to his enquiry. Huldah returned it not in the language of a courtier - "Pray give my humble service to his Majesty, and let him know that this is the message I have for him from the God of Israel;"but in the dialect of a prophetess, speaking from him before whom all stand upon the same level - Tell the man that sent you to me, 2Ki 22:15. Even kings, though gods to us, are men to God, and shall so be dealt with; for with him there is no respect of persons.

1. She let him know what judgments God had in store for Judah and Jerusalem (2Ki 22:16, 2Ki 22:17): My wrath shall be kindled against this place; and what is hell itself but the fire of God's wrath kindled against sinners? Observe, (1.) The degree and duration of it. It is so kindled that it shall not be quenched; the decree has gone forth; it is too late now to think of preventing it; the iniquity of Jerusalem shall not be purged with sacrifice or offering. Hell is unquenchable fire. (2.) The reference it has, [1.] To their sins: "They have committed them, as it were, with design, and on purpose to provoke me to anger. It is a fire of their own kindling; they would provoke me, and at length I am provoked."[2.] To God's threatenings: "The evil I bring is according to the words of the book which the king of Judah has read; the scripture is fulfilled in it. Those that would not be bound by the precept shall be bound by the penalty."God will be found no less terrible to impenitent sinners than his word makes him to be.

2. She let him know what mercy God had in store for him. (1.) Notice is taken of his great tenderness and concern for the glory of God and the welfare of his kingdom (2Ki 22:19): Thy heart was tender. Note, God will distinguish those that distinguish themselves. The generality of the people were hardened and their hearts unhumbled, so were the wicked kings his predecessors, but Josiah's heart was tender. He received the impressions of God's word, trembled at it and yielded to it; he was exceedingly grieved for the dishonour done to God by the sins of his fathers and of his people; he was afraid of the judgments of God, which he saw coming upon Jerusalem, and earnestly deprecated them. This is tenderness of heart, and thus he humbled himself before the Lord, and expressed these pious affections by rending his clothes and weeping before God, probably in his closet; but he that sees in secret says it was before him, and he heard it, and put every tear of tenderness into his bottle. Note, Those that most fear God's wrath are least likely to feel it. It should seem that those words (Lev 26:32) much affected Josiah, I will bring the land into desolation; for when he heard of the desolation and of the curse, that is, that God would forsake them and separate them to evil (for till it came to that they were neither desolate nor accursed), then he rent his clothes: the threatening went to his heart. (2.) A reprieve is granted till after his death (2Ki 22:20): I will gather thee to thy fathers. The saints then, no doubt, had a comfortable prospect of happiness on the other side death, else being gathered to their fathers would not have been so often made the matter of a promise as we find it was. Josiah could not prevail to prevent the judgment itself, but God promised him he should not live to see it, which (especially considering that he died in the midst of his days, before he was forty years old) would have been but a small reward for his eminent piety if there had not been another world in which he should be abundantly recompensed, Heb 11:16. When the righteous is taken away from the evil to come he enters into peace, Isa 57:1, Isa 57:2. This is promised to Josiah here: Thou shalt go to thy grave in peace, which refers not to the manner of his death (for he was killed in a battle), but to the time of it; it was a little before the captivity in Babylon, that great trouble, in comparison with which the rest were as nothing, so that he might be truly said to die in peace that did not live to share in that. He died in the love and favour of God, which secure such a peace as no circumstances of dying, no, not dying in the field of war, could alter the nature of, or break in upon.

Keil-Delitzsch: 2Ki 22:1-2

Length and spirit of Josiah's reign. - Josiah (for the name, see at 1Ki 13:2), like Hezekiah, trode once more in the footsteps of his pious forefather David, adhering with the greatest constancy to the law of the Lord. He reigned thirty-one years. As a child he had probably received a pious training from his mother; and when he had ascended the throne, after the early death of his godless father, he was under the guidance of pious men who were faithfully devoted to the law of the Lord, and who turned his heart to the God of their fathers, as was the case with Joash in 2Ki 12:3, although there is no allusion to guardianship. His mother Jedidah , the daughter of Adaiah, was of Boscath , a city in the plain of Judah, of which nothing further is known (see at Jos 15:39). The description of his character, "he turned not aside to the right hand and to the left,"sc. from that which was right in the eyes of the Lord, is based upon Deu 5:29; Deu 17:11, Deu 17:20, and Deu 28:14, and expresses an unwavering adherence to the law of the Lord.

Keil-Delitzsch: 2Ki 22:3-7

Repairing of the temple, and discovery of the book of the law ( cf. 2Ch 34:8-18). - When Josiah sent Shaphan the secretary of state ( סופר , see at 2Sa 8:17) into the temple, in the eighteenth year of his reign, with instructions to Hilkiah the high priest to pay to the builders the money which had been collected from the people for repairing the temple by the Levites who kept the door, Hilkiah said to Shaphan, "I have found the book of the law."2Ki 22:3-8 form a long period. The apodosis to וגו ויהי , "it came to pass in the eighteenth year of king Josiah-the king had sent Shaphan,"etc., does not follow till 2Ki 22:8 : "that Hilkiah said,"etc. The principal fact which the historian wished to relate, was the discovery of the book of the law; and the repairing of the temple is simply mentioned because it was when Shaphan was sent to Hilkiah about the payment of the money to the builders that the high priest informed the king's secretary of state of the discovery of the book of the law in the temple, and handed it over to him to take to the king. המּלך שׁלח , in 2Ki 22:3, forms the commencement to the minor clauses inserted within the principal clause, and subordinate to it: "the king had sent Shaphan,"etc. According to 2Ch 34:8, the king had deputed not only Shaphan the state-secretary, but also Maaseiah the governor of the city and Joach the chancellor, because the repairing of the temple was not a private affair of the king and the high priest, but concerned the city generally, and indeed the whole kingdom. In 2Ki 22:4, 2Ki 22:5 there follows the charge given by the king to Shaphan: "Go up to Hilkiah the high priest, that he may make up the money, ... and hand it over to the workmen appointed over the house of Jehovah,"etc. יתּם , from תּמם , Hiphil , signifies to finish or set right, i.e., not pay out (Ges., Dietr.), but make it up for the purpose of paying out, namely, collect it from the door-keepers, count it, and bind it up in bags (see 2Ki 12:11). יתּם is therefore quite appropriate here, and there is no alteration of the text required. The door-keepers had probably put the money in a chest placed at the entrance, as was the case at the repairing of the temple in the time of Joash (2Ki 12:10). In 2Ki 22:5 the Keri יתנהוּ is a bad alteration of the Chethîb יתנה , "and give (it) into the hand,"which is perfectly correct. המּלאכה עשׁי might denote both the masters and the workmen (builders), and is therefore defined more precisely first of all by יי בּבית המּפקדים , "who had the oversight at the house of Jehovah,"i.e., the masters or inspectors of the building, and secondly by יי בּבית אשׁר , who were (occupied) at the house of Jehovah, whilst in the Chronicles it is explained by י עשׂים ב אשׁר . The Keri יי בּית is an alteration after 2Ki 22:9, whereas the combination בּבית מפקדים is justified by the construction of הפקיד c. acc. pers. and בּ rei in Jer 40:5. The masters are the subject to ויתּנוּ ; they were to pay the money as it was wanted, either to the workmen, or for the purchase of materials for repairing the dilapidations, as is more precisely defined in 2Ki 22:6. Compare 2Ki 12:12-13; and for 2Ki 22:7 compare 2Ki 12:16. The names of the masters or inspectors are given in 2Ch 34:12. - The execution of the king's command is not specially mentioned, that the parenthesis may not be spun out any further.

Keil-Delitzsch: 2Ki 22:8

Hilkiah the high priest (cf. 2Ch 34:15) said, "I have found the book of the law in the house of Jehovah." התּורה ספר , the book of the law (not a law-book or a roll of laws), cannot mean anything else, either grammatically or historically, than the Mosaic book of the law (the Pentateuch), which is so designated, as is generally admitted, in the Chronicles, and the books of Ezra and Nehemiah.

(Note: Thenius has correctly observed, that "the expression shows very clearly, that the allusion is to something already known, not to anything that had come to light for the first time;"but is he greatly mistaken when, notwithstanding this, he supposes that what we are to understand by this is merely a collection of the commandments and ordinances of Moses, which had been worked up in the Pentateuch, and more especially in Deuteronomy. For there is not the smallest proof whatever that any such collection of commandments and ordinances of Moses, or, as Bertheau supposes, the collection of Mosaic law contained in the three middle books of the Pentateuch, or Deuteronomy 1-28 (according to Vaihinger, Reuss, and others), was ever called התורה ספר , or that any such portions had had an independent existence, and had been deposited in the temple. These hypotheses are simply bound up with the attacks made upon the Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch, and ought to be given up, since De Wette, the great leader of the attack upon the genuineness of the Pentateuch, in §162 a of the later editions of his Introduction to the Old Testament , admits that the account before us contains the first certain trace of the existence of our present Pentateuch. The only loophole left to modern criticism, therefore, is that Hilkiah forged the book of the law discovered by him under the name of Moses,- a conclusion which can only be arrived at by distorting the words of the text in the most arbitrary manner, turning "find"into "forge,"but which is obliged either to ignore or forcibly to set aside all the historical evident of the previous existence of the whole of the Pentateuch, including Deuteronomy.)

The finding of the book of the law in the temple presupposes that the copy deposited there had come to light. But it by no means follows from this, that before its discovery there were no copies in the hands of the priests and prophets. The book of the law that was found was simply the temple copy,

(Note: Whether the original written by Moses'own hand, as Grotius inferred from the משה ביד of the Chronicles, or a later copy of this, is a very superfluous question; for, as Hävernick says, "even in the latter case it was to be regarded just in the same light as the autograph, having just the same claims, since the temple repaired by Josiah was the temple of Solomon still.")

deposited, according to Deu 31:26, by the side of the ark of the covenant, which had been lost under the idolatrous kings Manasseh and Amon, and came to light again now that the temple was being repaired. We cannot learn, either from the account before us, or from the words of the Chronicles (2Ch 34:14), "when they were taking out the money brought into the house of Jehovah, Hilkiah found the book of the law of the Lord,"in what part of the temple it had hitherto lain; and this is of no importance so far as the principal object of the history is concerned. Even the words of the Chronicles simply point out the occasion on which the book was discovered, and do not affirm that it had been lying in one of the treasure-chambers of the temple, as Josephus says. The expression ויּקראהוּ does not imply that Shaphan read the whole book through immediately.

Keil-Delitzsch: 2Ki 22:9-10

The reading of the book of the law to the king, and the inquiry made of the prophetess Huldah concerning it. - 2Ki 22:9, 2Ki 22:10. When Shaphan informed the king of the execution of his command, he also told him that Hilkiah had given him a book, and read it to the king. דּבר השׁיב , to bring an answer, to give a report as to a commission that has been received. התּיכוּ , they poured out the money, i.e., out of the chest in which it was collected, into bags. ויּקראהוּ , "he read it to the king,"is simplified in the Chronicles (2Ki 22:18) by בו יקרא , "he read therein."That יקראהו does not signify that the whole was read, is evident from a comparison of 2Ki 23:2, where the reading of the whole is expressed by כּל־דּברי ס . Which passages or sections Shaphan read by himself (2Ki 22:8), and which he read to the king, it is impossible to determine exactly. To the king he most likely read, among other things, the threats and curses of the law against those who transgressed it (Deut 28), and possibly also Lev 26, because the reading made such an impression upon him, that in his anguish of soul he rent his clo thes. Nor is it possible to decide anything with certainty, as to whether the king had hitherto been altogether unacquainted with the book of the law, and had merely a traditional knowledge of the law itself, or whether he had already had a copy of the law, but had not yet read it through, or had not read it with proper attention, which accounted for the passages that were read to him now making so deep and alarming an impression upon him. It is a well-known experience, that even books which have been read may, under peculiar circumstances, produce an impression such as has not been made before. But in all probability Josiah had not had in his possession any copy of the law, or even read it till now; although the thorough acquaintance with the law, which all the prophets display, places the existence of the Pentateuch in prophetical circles beyond the reach of doubt.

Keil-Delitzsch: 2Ki 22:11-12

In his alarm at the words of the book of the law that had been read to him, Josiah rent his clothes, and sent a deputation to the prophetess Huldah, to make inquiry of Jehovah through her concerning the things which he had heard from the law. The deputation consisted of the high priest Hilkiah, Ahikam the supporter of Jeremiah (Jer 26:24) and the father of Gedaliah the governor (2Ki 25:22; Jer 39:14, etc.), Achbor the son of Michaiah, Shaphan the state-secretary (2Ki 22:3), and Asahiah the servant (i.e., an officer) of the king.

Keil-Delitzsch: 2Ki 22:13

From the commission, "Inquire ye of Jehovah for me and for the people and for all Judah (i.e., the whole kingdom) concerning the words of this book of the law that has been found, for great is the wrath of the Lord which has been kindled against us, because our fathers have not heard ...,"we may infer that the curses of the law upon the despisers of the commandments of God in Lev 26; Deu 28:1, and other passages, had been read to the king. את־יי דּרשׁ means to inquire the will of the Lord, what He has determined concerning the king, his people, and the kingdom. על שׁמע signifies here to hearken to anything, to observe it, for which אל is used elsewhere. על כּתב , to prescribe for performance. עלינוּ , "prescribed for us,"is quite appropriate, since the law was not only given to the fathers to obey, but also to the existing generation-a fact which Thenius has overlooked with his conjecture עליו . To render the king's alarm and his fear of severe judgments from God intelligible, there is no need for the far-fetched and extremely precarious hypothesis, that just at that time the Scythians had invaded and devastated the land.

Keil-Delitzsch: 2Ki 22:14

Nothing further is known of the prophetess Huldah than what is mentioned here. All that we can infer from the fact that the king sent to her is, that she was highly distinguished on account of her prophetical gifts, and that none of the prophets of renown, such as Jeremiah and Zephaniah, were at that time in Jerusalem. Her father Shallum was keeper of the clothes , i.e., superintendent over either the priests' dresses that were kept in the temple (according to the Rabbins and Wits. de proph . in his Miscell. ss . i. p. 356, ed. 3), or the king's wardrobe. The names of his ancestors תּקוה and הרחס are written תּוקהת and חסרה in the Chronicles. Huldah lived at Jerusalem בּמּשׁנה , "in the second part"or district of the city, i.e., in the lower city, upon the hill Ἄκρα (Rob. Pal. i. p. 391), which is called המּשׁנה in Zep 1:10, and משׁנה העיר in Neh 11:9, and ἄλλη πόλις in Joseph. Ant. xv. 11, 5.

Constable: 2Ki 18:1--25:30

III. THE SURVIVING KINGDOM chs. 18--25

In this third major section of 1 and 2 Kings the writer showed that the captivity of Judah was also a natural consequence of not following the covenantal relationship with Yahweh. The remaining kings in 2 Kings all ruled over the Southern Kingdom. This part of the book concludes with events that happened in Judah immediately following the Babylonian Captivity in 586 B.C.

Constable: 2Ki 22:1--23:31

D. Josiah's Good Reign 22:1-23:30

Since Josiah was eight years old when his father died at age 22, he must have been born when Amon was only 14. It was very common both in the ancient Near East generally and in Israel for kings to marry very young and to father children when they were early teenagers.¹³²

The years Josiah ruled were 640-609 B.C., 31 years. During his reign Ninevah, the capital of Assyria, fell in 612 B.C., as did the Assyrian Empire in 609 B.C., to Babylon. Thus world leadership passed from Assyria to Babylon during Josiah's reign.¹³³

Constable: 2Ki 22:1-2

1. Josiah's goodness 22:1-2

Josiah was one of Judah's best kings. He was one of the reformers who followed David's good example (v. 2) all his life.

Constable: 2Ki 22:3--23:28

2. Josiah's reforms 22:3-23:27

Josiah began to seek Yahweh when he was 16 years old and began initiating religious reforms when he was 20 (2 Chron. 34:3-7). His reforms were more extensive than those of any of his predecessors. One of them was the repair of Solomon's temple (v. 5; cf. 12:4-16). He began this project when he was 26.

". . . Josiah rules during years in which Assyria fades but also those in which Babylon is not yet ready to rule as far west as Judah and in a time when Egypt does not yet attempt to rule the smaller nations north of the border. Judah thereby gets a rest from its constant role as political football."¹³⁴

It seems probable that Manasseh or Amon had destroyed existing copies of Israel's covenant constitution since there is every reason to believe that Hezekiah knew the Mosaic Law (cf. chs. 18-20). This would not have been difficult because in ancient times there were few copies of even official documents. Josiah's shock at hearing the Law read points to the fact that people had been unfamiliar with it for a long time. Verse 13 is especially helpful in understanding Josiah's perception of and response to God's will. He was a genuinely humble man who trembled at the Word of the Lord. Josiah made monotheism the official theology again, but it is hard to say how many of the people abandoned other gods. The prophets who wrote then bewailed the lack of true godliness in the nation.

Other prophets beside Huldah lived in and around Jerusalem at this time: Jeremiah (Jer. 1:1), Zephaniah (Zeph. 1:1), and perhaps Nahum and Habakkuk. Nevertheless for reasons unexplained in the text the king sought this prophetess in her residence in Jerusalem's Second Quarter (v. 14; i.e., the southern, lower part of the city topographically). His willingness to seek guidance from a woman demonstrates Josiah's humility. God would judge Judah, but He would spare Josiah because he humbled himself under Yahweh's authority (v. 19). The king would die in peace (v. 20). His death in 609 B.C. was four years before King Nebuchadnezzar's first attack on Jerusalem in 605 B.C.

Josiah died in battle (vv. 29-30). The promise of his dying in peace therefore probably means that he would die before God ended the peace of Jerusalem by bringing Nebuchadnezzar against it. Some commentators have taken the promise as referring to the fact that Josiah evidently died at peace with God.¹³⁵

Josiah did not wait for the completion of the temple renovation before he assembled the people and personally read some parts of the Mosaic Law to them (23:2). Perhaps he read the portions that dealt with God's covenant with Israel (i.e., Lev. 26; Deut. 28-30) or perhaps Deuteronomy 12-26 or 5-30.¹³⁶ He then rededicated himself to Yahweh, and the people renewed their commitment to the covenant as a nation (v. 3; cf. 2:3; Exod. 19:8; Josh. 24:21-24).

Putting the ashes that burning the relics connected with Baal worship created on the Bethel altar would have made it unclean (v. 4). Evidently Josiah scattered more ashes on the graves of the common people because they had been idolaters (v. 6). Male prostitutes had apparently been living in the side rooms of the temple (v. 7). The king excluded the Levitical priests who had offered sacrifices on the high places from serving at the rededicated altar. Nevertheless he permitted them to eat the unleavened bread the worshippers brought to the temple (v. 9; cf. Lev. 6:9 10, 16). Topheth was the place where child sacrifice had taken place (v. 10; cf. 16:3; Josh. 15:8). The people had also used horses and chariots to honor the sun (v. 11). This was a common practice in the ancient Near East.¹³⁷ The Mount of Destruction was the southern hill of the Mount of Olives, later known as the Hill of Corruption (cf. 1 Kings 11:5, 7).

Josiah finally destroyed Jeroboam's altar at Bethel (v. 15) and desecrated the site. The young prophet from Judah had predicted Josiah's actions back in Jeroboam's day (v. 16; cf. 1 Kings 13:2-3). The king even extended his purges into Israelite territory (vv. 19-20).

Josiah also replaced pagan worship with revived Yahweh worship. He conducted his Passover celebration with more attention to the Law than anyone had done since the days of the judges. Teraphim (v. 24) were household gods that some people thought were oracles and sources of prosperity. Josiah was Judah's most careful king regarding the Mosaic Covenant (v. 25). Hezekiah was remarkable for his trust in Yahweh (18:5), and Josiah excelled in obedience to Yahweh.

Notice that in the sequence of reforms that the writer narrated the discovery of the Law (22:8-13) that took place during the repairing of the temple (22:3-7) led to the other reforms. This order is another indication of the writer's purpose. He emphasized the centrality of the Law in Israel's life.¹³⁸

Guzik: 2Ki 22:1-20

2 Kings 22 - King Josiah Finds the Book of the Law

A. The beginnings of Josiah's reforms.

1. (1-2) A summary of the reign of Josiah, the son of Amon.

Josiah was eight years old when he became king, and he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Jedidah the daughter of Adaiah of Bozkath. And he did what was right in the sight of the LORD, and walked in all the ways of his father David; he did not turn aside to the right hand or to the left.

a. Josiah was eight years old when he became king: Unusually, this young boy came to the throne at eight years of age. This was because of the assassination of his father.

i. "At last, after more than three hundred years, the prophecy of 'the man of God out of Judah' is fulfilled (1 Kings 13:2)." (Knapp)

b. He did what was right in the sight of the LORD: This was true of Josiah at this young age; but it is really more intended as a general description of his reign rather than a description of him at eight years of age.

2. (3-7) Josiah tells Hilkiah to repair the temple.

Now it came to pass, in the eighteenth year of King Josiah, that the king sent Shaphan the scribe, the son of Azaliah, the son of Meshullam, to the house of the LORD, saying: "Go up to Hilkiah the high priest, that he may count the money which has been brought into the house of the LORD, which the doorkeepers have gathered from the people. And let them deliver it into the hand of those doing the work, who are the overseers in the house of the LORD; let them give it to those who are in the house of the LORD doing the work, to repair the damages of the house; to carpenters and builders and masons; and to buy timber and hewn stone to repair the house. However there need be no accounting made with them of the money delivered into their hand, because they deal faithfully."

a. In the eighteenth year of King Josiah: According to 2 Chronicles 34, this repair of the temple was preceded by a definite commitment to God when Josiah was 16, then some four years later an iconoclastic purge attacking idolatry in Judah.

i. "The Chronicler (2 Chronicles 34-35) appears to present a two-stage sequence of events: (i) the purification of religious practices in Judah, Jerusalem and Naphtali in Josiah's twelfth year, and (ii) a continuing reformation stimulated by the discovery of the Book of the Law in the eighteenth year. But this may be a presentation to fit in with the Chronciler's particular emphases." (Wiseman)

ii. "If Josiah had not yet seen a copy of this book, (which is not impossible,) yet there was so much of the law left in the minds and memories of the people, as might easily persuade and direct him to all that he did till this time." (Poole)

iii. It is possible that Josiah was motivated to rebuild the temple after hearing (or remembering) that this was what King Jehoash did many years before (2 Kings 12).

b. Let them give it to those who are in the house of the LORD doing the work, to repair the damages of the house: Josiah understood that the work of repair and rebuilding the temple needed organization and funding. He paid attention to both of these needs when he commanded Hilkiah to begin the work on the temple.

i. According to Jeremiah 1:1-2. the Prophet Jeremiah was the son of this particular priest Hilkiah. Jeremiah began his ministry during the reign of King Josah.

3. (8-10) The Book of the Law is found and read.

Then 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. So Shaphan the scribe went to the king, bringing the king word, saying, "Your servants have gathered the money that was found in the house, and have delivered it into the hand of those who do the work, who oversee the house of the LORD." Then Shaphan the scribe showed the king, saying, "Hilkiah the priest has given me a book." And Shaphan read it before the king.

a. I have found the Book of the Law in the house of the LORD: According to Deuteronomy 31:24-27, there was to be a copy of this Book of the Law beside the ark of the covenant, beginning in the days of Moses. The word of God was with Israel, but it was greatly neglected in those days.

i. This neglect could only happen because Judah was in prolonged disobedience to God.

· Deuteronomy 17:18-20 tells us that each king was to have a personal copy of the law, and he was to read it.

· Deuteronomy 31:9-13 tells us that the entire law was to be read to an assembly of the nation once every 7 years at the Feast of Tabernacles to keep the law before the people.

· The Levites, scattered among the country, also had the implied responsibility to teach the law to the people of Israel.

ii. The first we know of a public reading of the law is in Joshua 8:30. The next we hear of it is during the reign of Jehoshaphat (2 Chronicles 17:7), more than 500 years later. Then, in the reign of Josiah there was another public reading of the law (2 Chronicles 34:30), more than 250 years after Jehoshaphat. Of course, there might have been public readings of the law as commanded here which are not recorded; but the fact that some are recorded probably means they were unusual, not typical.

iii. Some believe that the particular portion of the law that was found and read before King Josiah was the Book of Deuteronomy. "The identification with Deuteronomy rests on the dependence of some of Josiah's actions on the book (e.g. 23:9, cf. Deuteronomy 18:6-8; and the impact of the prophecies predicting exile; the support Deuteronomy 17:14 gives to nationalistic aspirations, etc.)." (Wiseman)

iv. "Was this the autograph of Moses? It is very probable that it was; for in the parallel place, 2 Chronicles 34:14, it is said to be the book of the law of the Lord by Moses. It is supposed to be that part of Deuteronomy, (Deuteronomy 28-30, and 31,) which contains the renewing of the covenant in the plains of Moab, and which contains the most terrible invectives against the corrupters of God's word and worship." (Clarke)

b. And he read it: It seems remarkable that this was even worthy of mention - that the high priest found the word of God and a scribe read it. Yet the word of God was no neglected in those days that this was worthy of mention.

i. Shaphan simply told the king, "Hilkiah the priest has given me a book." "Shaphan did not despise the book, but he had not yet, like many a modern scribe, realized the importance of that blessed volume. Then - after 'money,' and 'overseers,' and 'workmen,' have all been mentioned - 'then Shaphan the scribe told the king, saying, Hilkiah the priest hath given me a book' - only a book!" (Knapp)

c. Shaphan read it before the king: Here the word of God spreads. It had been forgotten and regarded as nothing more than an old, dusty book. Now it was found, read, and spread. We should expect some measure of spiritual revival and renewal to follow.

i. Throughout the history of the God's people, when the word of God is recovered and spread, then spiritual revival follows. It can begin as simply as it did in the days of Josiah, with one man find and reading and believing and spreading the Book.

ii. Another example of this in history is the story of Peter Waldo and his followers, sometimes known as Waldenses. Waldo was a rich merchant who gave up his business to radically follow Jesus. He hired two priests to translate the New Testament into the common language and using this, he began to teach others. He taught in the streets or wherever he could find someone to listen. Many common people came to hear him and started to radically follow Jesus Christ. He taught them the text of the New Testament in the common language and was rebuked by church officials for doing so. He ignored the rebuke and continued to teach, eventually sending his followers out two by two into villages and market places, to teach and explain the scriptures. The scriptures were memorized by the Waldenses, and it was not unusual for their ministers to memorize the entire New Testament and large sections of the Old Testament. The word of God - when found, read, believed, and spread - has this kind of transforming power.

iii. "It is interesting to note the popularity of animal names for persons in this period. 'Shaphan' means 'rock badger' and 'Achbor' means 'mouse.' 'Huldah' the name of the prophetess introduced in the next section, means 'mole.'" (Dilday)

B. King Josiah is confronted with the Book of the Law.

1. (11) The initial reaction to the discovery of the Book of the Law.

Now it happened, when the king heard the words of the Book of the Law, that he tore his clothes.

a. When the king heard the words of the Book of the Law: The hearing of God's word did a spiritual work in King Josiah. It was not merely the transmission of information; the hearing of God's word had an impact of spiritual power on Josiah.

b. He tore his clothes: The tearing of clothing was a traditional expression of horror and astonishment. In the strongest possible, Josiah showed his grief on his own account and on account of the nation. This was an expression of deep conviction of sin, and a good thing.

i. Revival and spiritual awakening are marked by such expressions of the conviction of sin. Dr. J. Edwin Orr, in The Second Evangelical Awakening in Britain, recounted some examples from the great movement that impacted Britain and the world in 1859-1861:

· "At the commencement of the prayer-meeting, a sturdy looking man (who had been coming to the chapel every night but going away hardening his heart) jumped on to a form, and speaking out before all the people, said, 'Do you know me?' The praying men answered, 'Yes'. 'What am I then?' he said. They replied, 'A backslider'. 'Well, then,' said he, 'I will be a backslider no longer; all of you come to Jesus with me,' and he fell in an agony of prayer for God to have mercy on him; indeed the anguish and desire of his soul was too much for him, for he swooned away on the floor before us all. His wife was one of the first converted the previous week, and only that evening had sent up a request that God would save her husband, who was a poor miserable backslider. About thirty that night professed to obtain mercy . . ."

· In the town of Coleraine, Northern Ireland, a schoolboy was under so much conviction of sin that he couldn't continue on in class. The teacher sent him home in the company of another boy, who was already converted. On the way home to two boys noticed an empty house and stopped there to pray. The unhappy boy found peace and returned to the classroom immediately to tell the teacher: "I am so happy: I have the Lord Jesus in my heart!" His testimony had a striking effect on the class, and boy after boy slipped outside the classroom. The teacher peeked out the window and saw boys kneeling in prayer all around the schoolyard. The teacher was so convicted that he asked the first converted boy to minister to him. Finally the whole school was in such a state that the administrators sent for pastors to come and minister to the students, teachers, and parents and people were receiving ministry at the school until 11:00 that night.

· A high-ranking army officer described the conviction of sin in his Scottish town: "Those of you who are ease have little conception of how terrifying a sight it is when the Holy Spirit is pleased to open a man's eyes to see the real state of heart. . . . Men who were thought to be, and who thought themselves to be good, religious people . . . have been led to search into the foundation upon which they were resting, and have found all rotten, that they were self-satisfied, resting on their own goodness, and not upon Christ. Many turned from open sin to lives of holiness, some weeping for joy for sins forgiven."

ii. This conviction of sin is the special work of the Holy Spirit, even as Jesus said in John 16:8: "And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin."

2. (12-13) King Josiah seeks the LORD.

Then the king commanded Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam the son of Shaphan, Achbor the son of Michaiah, Shaphan the scribe, and Asaiah a servant of the king, saying, "Go, inquire of the LORD for me, for the people and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book that has been found; for great is the wrath of the LORD that is aroused against us, because our fathers have not obeyed the words of this book, to do according to all that is written concerning us."

a. Go, inquire of the LORD for me: It wasn't that King Josiah knew nothing of God or how to seek him. It was that he was so under the conviction of sin that he did not know what to do next.

b. For great is the wrath of the LORD that is aroused against us: Josiah knew that the kingdom of Judah deserved judgment from God. He could not hear the word of God and respond to the Spirit of God without seriously confronting the sin of his kingdom.

3. (14-17) God's word to the Kingdom of Judah: Judgment is coming.

So Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam, Achbor, Shaphan, and Asaiah went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of Tikvah, the son of Harhas, keeper of the wardrobe. (She dwelt in Jerusalem in the Second Quarter.) And they spoke with her. Then she said to them, "Thus says the LORD God of Israel, 'Tell the man who sent you to Me, "Thus says the LORD: 'Behold, I will bring calamity on this place and on its inhabitants; all the words of the book which the king of Judah has read; because they have forsaken Me and burned incense to other gods, that they might provoke Me to anger with all the works of their hands. Therefore My wrath shall be aroused against this place and shall not be quenched.' " ' "

a. Huldah the prophetess: We know little of this woman other than this mention here (and the similar account recorded in 2 Chronicles 34:22). With the apparent approval of King Josiah, Hilkiah the priest consulted this woman for spiritual guidance. It wasn't because of her own wisdom and spirituality, but that she was recognized as a prophetess and could reveal the heart and mind of God.

i. There were certainly other prophets in Judah. "Though the contemporary prophet Jeremiah is not mentioned, he commended Josiah (Jeremiah 22:15-16) and the prophet Zephaniah (1:1) was at work in this reign." (Wiseman) Yet for some reason - perhaps spiritual, perhaps practical - they chose to consul Huldah the prophetess.

ii. "We find from this, and we have many facts in all ages to corroborate it, that a pontiff, a pope, a bishop, or a priest, may, in some cases, not possess the true knowledge of God; and that a simple woman, possessing the life of God in her soul, may have more knowledge of the divine testimonies than many of those whose office it is to explain and enforce them." (Clarke)

b. I will bring calamity on this place and on its inhabitants: Josiah knew that Judah deserved judgment, and that judgment would indeed come. Judah and its leaders had walked against the LORD for too long, and would not genuinely repent so as to avoid eventual judgment.

c. All the words of the book: God's word was true, even in its promises of judgment. God's faithfulness is demonstrated as much by His judgment upon the wicked as it is by His mercy upon the repentant.

4. (18-20) God's word to King Josiah: The judgment will not come in your day.

"But as for the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of the LORD, in this manner you shall speak to him, 'Thus says the LORD God of Israel: "Concerning the words which you have heard; because your heart was tender, and you humbled yourself before the LORD when you heard what I spoke against this place and against its inhabitants, that they would become a desolation and a curse, and you tore your clothes and wept before Me, I also have heard you," says the LORD. Surely, therefore, I will gather you to your fathers, and you shall be gathered to your grave in peace; and your eyes shall not see all the calamity which I will bring on this place." ' " So they brought back word to the king.

a. Because your heart was tender: Josiah's heart was tender in two ways. First, it was tender to the word of God and was able to receive the convicting voice of the Holy Spirit. Second, it was tender to the message of judgment from Huldah in the previous verses.

b. You shall be gathered to your grave in peace: Though Josiah died in battle, there are at least three ways that this was true.

· He died before the great spiritual disaster and exile came to Judah.

· He was gathered to the spirits of his fathers, who were in peace.

· He died in God's favor, though by the hand of an enemy.

c. Your eyes shall not see all the calamity which I will bring on this place: This was God's mercy to Josiah. His own godliness and tender heart could not stop the eventual judgment of God, but it could delay it. Inevitable judgment is sometimes delayed because of the tender hearts of the people of God.

i. God delayed judgment even in the case of Ahab, who responded to a word of warning with a kind of repentance (1 Kings 21:25-29).

© 2006 David Guzik - No distribution beyond personal use without permission

Introduction / Outline

JFB: 2 Kings (Book Introduction)

THE FIRST AND SECOND BOOKS OF KINGS, in the ancient copies of the Hebrew Bible, constitute one book. Various titles have been given them; in the Septuagint and the Vulgate they are called the Third and Fourth Books of Kings. The authorship of these books is unknown; but the prevailing opinion is that they were compiled by Ezra, or one of the later prophets, from the ancient documents that are so frequently referred to in the course of the history as of public and established authority. Their inspired character was acknowledged by the Jewish Church, which ranked them in the sacred canon; and, besides, it is attested by our Lord, who frequently quotes from them (compare 1Ki 17:9; 2Ki 5:14 with Luk 4:24-27; 1Ki 10:1 with Mat 12:42).

JFB: 2 Kings (Outline)

• MOAB REBELS. (2Ki 1:1)
• AHAZIAH'S JUDGMENT BY ELIJAH. (2Ki 1:2-8)
• ELIJAH BRINGS FIRE FROM HEAVEN ON AHAZIAH'S MESSENGERS. (2Ki 1:9-16)
• AHAZIAH DIES, AND IS SUCCEEDED BY JEHORAM. (2Ki 1:17-18)
• ELIJAH DIVINES JORDAN. (2Ki 2:1-10)
• HE IS TAKEN UP TO HEAVEN IN A CHARIOT OF FIRE. (2Ki 2:11-18)
• ELISHA HEALS THE WATERS. (2Ki 2:19-25)
• JEHORAM'S EVIL REIGN OVER ISRAEL. (2Ki 3:1-3)
• MESHA, KING OF MOAB, REBELS. (2Ki 3:4-5)
• ELISHA PROMISES WATER AND VICTORY OVER MOAB. (2Ki. 3:6-24)
• ELISHA AUGMENTS THE WIDOW'S OIL. (2Ki 4:1-7)
• PROMISES A SON TO THE SHUNAMMITE. (2Ki 4:8-17)
• RAISES HER DEAD SON. (2Ki. 4:18-37)
• PURIFIES DEADLY POTTAGE. (2Ki 4:38-41)
• SATISFIES A HUNDRED MEN WITH TWENTY LOAVES. (2Ki 4:42-44)
• NAAMAN'S LEPROSY. (2Ki 5:1-7)
• ELISHA SENDS HIM TO JORDAN, AND HE IS HEALED. (2Ki 5:8-15)
• ELISHA REFUSES NAAMAN'S GIFTS. (2Ki 5:15-19)
• GEHAZI, BY A LIE, OBTAINS A PRESENT, BUT IS SMITTEN WITH LEPROSY. (2Ki 5:20-27)
• ELISHA CAUSES IRON TO SWIM. (2Ki 6:1-7)
• DISCLOSES THE KING OF SYRIA'S COUNSEL. (2Ki 6:8-17)
• HIS ARMY SMITTEN WITH BLINDNESS. (2Ki 6:18-23)
• BEN-HADAD BESIEGES SAMARIA. (2Ki 6:24-33)
• ELISHA PROPHESIES INCREDIBLE PLENTY IN SAMARIA. (2Ki. 7:1-16)
• THE UNBELIEVING LORD TRODDEN TO DEATH. (2Ki 7:17-20)
• THE SHUNAMMITE'S LAND RESTORED. (2Ki 8:1-6)
• HAZAEL KILLS HIS MASTER, AND SUCCEEDS HIM. (2Ki 8:7-15)
• JEHORAM'S WICKED REIGN. (2Ki 8:16-23)
• AHAZIAH SUCCEEDS HIM. (2Ki 8:24)
• JEHU IS ANOINTED. (2Ki. 9:1-23)
• AHAZIAH IS SLAIN. (2Ki 9:27-35)
• JEZEBEL EATEN BY DOGS. (2Ki 9:36-37)
• JEHU CAUSES SEVENTY OF AHAB'S CHILDREN TO BE BEHEADED. (2Ki. 10:1-17)
• HE DESTROYS THE WORSHIPPERS OF BAAL. (2Ki 10:18-29)
• JEHOASH SAVED FROM ATHALIAH'S MASSACRE. (2Ki 11:1-3)
• HE IS MADE KING. (2Ki 11:4-12)
• ATHALIAH SLAIN. (2Ki 11:13-16)
• JEHOIADA RESTORES GOD'S WORSHIP. (2Ki 11:17-20)
• JEHOASH REIGNS WELL WHILE JEHOIADA LIVED. (2Ki. 12:1-18)
• HE IS SLAIN. (2Ki 12:19-21)
• JEHOAHAZ'S WICKED REIGN OVER ISRAEL. (2Ki 13:1-7)
• JOASH SUCCEEDS HIM. (2Ki. 13:8-25)
• AMAZIAH'S GOOD REIGN OVER JUDAH. (2Ki 14:1-6)
• HE SMITES EDOM. (2Ki 14:7)
• JOASH DEFEATS HIM. (2Ki 14:8-16)
• HE IS SLAIN BY A CONSPIRACY. (2Ki 14:17-20)
• AZARIAH SUCCEEDS HIM. (2Ki 14:21-22)
• JEROBOAM'S WICKED REIGN OVER ISRAEL. (2Ki 14:23-29)
• AZARIAH'S REIGN OVER JUDAH. (2Ki 15:1-7)
• ZECHARIAH'S REIGN OVER ISRAEL. (2Ki 15:8-16)
• MENAHEM'S REIGN. (2Ki 15:17-21)
• PEKAHIAH'S REIGN. (2Ki 15:22-24)
• PEKAH'S REIGN. (2Ki 15:27-31)
• JOTHAM'S REIGN OVER JUDAH. (2Ki 15:32-38)
• AHAZ' WICKED REIGN OVER JUDAH. (2Ki. 16:1-16)
• HE SPOILS THE TEMPLE. (2Ki 16:17-19)
• HOSHEA'S WICKED REIGN. (2Ki 17:1-6)
• SAMARIA TAKEN, AND ISRAEL FOR THEIR SINS CARRIED CAPTIVE. (2Ki. 17:7-41)
• HEZEKIAH'S GOOD REIGN. (2Ki 18:1-3)
• HE DESTROYS IDOLATRY. (2Ki. 18:4-37)
• SENNACHERIB BESIEGES JERUSALEM. (2Ki. 18:17-37)
• HEZEKIAH IN DEEP AFFLICTION. (2Ki 19:1-5)
• COMFORTED BY ISAIAH. (2Ki 19:6-7)
• SENNACHERIB SENDS A BLASPHEMOUS LETTER TO HEZEKIAH. (2Ki 19:8-13)
• HEZEKIAH'S PRAYER. (2Ki. 19:14-34)
• AN ANGEL DESTROYS THE ASSYRIANS. (2Ki 19:35-36)
• SENNACHERIB SLAIN. (2Ki 19:37)
• HEZEKIAH'S LIFE LENGTHENED. (2Ki 20:1-7)
• THE SUN GOES TEN DEGREES BACKWARD. (2Ki 20:8-20)
• MANASSEH'S WICKED REIGN, AND GREAT IDOLATRY. (2Ki. 21:1-18)
• AMON'S WICKED REIGN. (2Ki 21:19-26)
• JOSIAH'S GOOD REIGN. (2Ki 22:1-2)
• HE PROVIDES FOR THE REPAIR OF THE TEMPLE. (2Ki 22:3-7)
• HILKIAH FINDS THE BOOK OF THE LAW. (2Ki 22:8-15)
• JOSIAH CAUSES THE LAW TO BE READ. (2Ki 23:1-3)
• HE DESTROYS IDOLATRY. (2Ki. 23:4-28)
• JEHOIAKIM PROCURES HIS OWN RUIN. (2Ki 24:1-7)
• JEHOIACHIN SUCCEEDS HIM. (2Ki 24:8-9)
• JERUSALEM TAKEN. (2Ki 24:10-16)
• ZEDEKIAH'S EVIL REIGN. (2Ki 24:17-20)
• JERUSALEM AGAIN BESIEGED. (2Ki 25:1-3)
• ZEDEKIAH TAKEN. (2Ki. 25:4-30)

TSK: 2 Kings (Book Introduction)

The events detailed in these books (Kings) are highly interesting and important. The account of the wisdom, magnificence, and extended commerce of Solomon; the rash and impolitic conduct of Rehoboam; the disobedient prophet; the widow of Zarephath; Elijah and the prophets of Baal; Ben-hadad’s pride and defeat; Elijah’s assumption into heaven; Elisha’s succession to his ministry, and the series of illustrious miracles he performed; the panic flight of the Syrians; the history of Ben-hadad and Hazael; and the predicted death of Ahab and Jezebel, and their children, are all pregnant with instruction, and have furnished themes for frequent dissertation. We perceive in these impressive histories the characters and qualities of men painted with the utmost fidelity, and the attributes of God displayed with great effect. we contemplate the exact accomplishment of God’s promises and threatenings, the wisdom of his dispensations, and the mingled justice and mercy of his government. The particulars and circumstances are sketched out with a brief and lively description, and the imagination lingers with pleasure in filling up the striking outlines presented to our view. The authenticity of these books is attested by the prophecies they contain, which were subsequently fulfilled; by the citation of our Saviour and his Apostles; by their universal reception by the Jewish and Christian churches; and by the corresponding testimonies of profane authors and ancient sculptures.

TSK: 2 Kings 22 (Chapter Introduction)

Overview

2Ki 22:1, Josiah’s good reign; 2Ki 22:3, He takes care for the repair of the temple; 2Ki 22:8, Hilkiah having found a book of the law, Josiah sends to Huldah to enquire of the Lord; 2Ki 22:15, Huldah prophesies the destruction of Jerusalem, but respite thereof in Josiah’s time.

Poole: 2 Kings 22 (Chapter Introduction)

KINGS CHAPTER 22 .

Josiah’ s good reign; his care for the repair of the temple, 2Ki 21:1-7 . Hilkiah found a book of the law; the king by it understandeth God’ s threatenings against backsliders, and by Huldah the prophetess inquireth of the Lord, 2Ki 21:8-14 . She prophesieth the destruction of Jerusalem, but not in Josiah’ s time, 2Ki 22:15-20 .

MHCC: 2 Kings 22 (Chapter Introduction)

(2Ki 22:1-10) Josiah's good reign, His care for repairing the temple, The book of the law found.

(2Ki 22:11-20) Josiah consults Huldah the prophetess.

Matthew Henry: 2 Kings (Book Introduction)

An Exposition, with Practical Observations, of The Second Book of Kings

This second book of the Kings (which the Septuagint, numbering from Samuel, called the fourth ) is a continuation of the former book; and, some think, might better have been made to begin with the fifty-first verse of the foregoing chapter, where the reign of Ahaziah begins. The former book had an illustrious beginning, in the glories of the kingdom of Israel, when it was entire; this has a melancholy conclusion, in the desolations of the kingdoms of Israel first, and then of Judah, after they had been long broken into two: for a kingdom divided against itself cometh to destruction. But, as Elijah's mighty works were very much the glory of the former book, towards the latter end of it, so were Elisha's the glory of this, towards the beginning of it. These prophets out-shone their princes; and therefore, as far as they go, the history shall be accounted for in them. Here is, I. Elijah fetching fire from heaven and ascending in fire to heaven, ch. 1 and 2. II. Elisha working many miracles, both for prince and people, Israelites and foreigners, ch. 3-7. III. Hazael and Jehu anointed, the former for the correction of Israel, the latter for the destruction of the house of Ahab and the worship of Baal, ch. 8-10. IV. The reign of several of the kings, both of Judah and Israel, ch. 11-16. V. The captivity of the ten tribes, ch. 17. VI. The good and glorious reign of Hezekiah, ch. 18-20. VII. Manassah's wicked reign, and Josiah's good one, ch. 21-23. VIII. The destruction of Jerusalem by the king of Babylon, ch. 24 and 25. This history, in the several passages of it, confirms that observation of Solomon, That righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is the reproach of any people.

Matthew Henry: 2 Kings 22 (Chapter Introduction)

This chapter begins the story of the reign of good king Josiah, whose goodness shines the brighter because it came just after so much wickedness, which he had the honour to reform, and just before so great a destruction, which yet he had not the honour to prevent. Here, after his general character (2Ki 22:1, 2Ki 22:2), we have a particular account of the respect he paid I. To God's house, which he repaired (2Ki 22:3-7). II. To God's book, which he was much affected with the reading of (2Ki 22:8-11). III. To God's messengers, whom he thereupon consulted (2Ki 22:12-14). And by whom he received from God an answer threatening Jerusalem's destruction (2Ki 22:15-17), but promising favour to him (2Ki 22:18-20), upon which he set about that glorious work of reformation which we have an account of in the next chapter.

Constable: 2 Kings (Book Introduction)

Introduction

Second Kings continues the narrative begun in 1 Kings. It opens with the translation of godly Elijah to heaven and closes with the transportation of the ungodly Jews to Babylon. For discussion of title, writer, date, and scope of 2 Kings, see the introductory section in my notes on 1 Kings.

Message¹

Second Kings is a sequel to 1 Kings. First Kings covers about one and a half centuries and 2 Kings about three centuries. In both books the two thrones are in view: the earthly and the heavenly.

First Kings emphasizes the facts of these thrones. The earthly throne consistently failed, but the heavenly throne consistently prevailed. Second Kings emphasizes the consequences that result from each of these situations. Its major value is its revelation of the failure of man and the victory of God.

The failure of man comes through the content of this book, but the victory of God comes through the pre-exilic prophets who wrote during the three centuries covered in 2 Kings. These prophets were Hosea, Amos, and Jonah in Israel. In Judah they were Isaiah, Jeremiah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah.

Notice first the revelation of this book concerning human failure.

The reason the nations failed was the people lost their vision of Yahweh. We can see this quite clearly in the attitudes and actions of the kings. Most of the kings were evil because they had no vision of the throne in heaven. They did not appreciate their position under God. A few of them were good, but even these fell short of the standard of devotion to God that David had set. Some of them conducted reforms, but none of them removed the places of pagan worship in the land (the "high places"). Essentially they conducted state business with little concern for God. Idolatry and foreign alliances are the evidence that the people lacked a vision of God. Another evidence of this is the people's inability to perceive their national setbacks as divine discipline. The prophets were constantly trying to help the people see this.

The method by which the nations failed was the people forgot their national vocation. They developed, on the one hand, an improper exclusiveness. They did not believe God could have any pity or mercy on any other people but themselves. Jonah demonstrated this attitude. On the other hand, they failed to be exclusive as God meant them to be. They formed alliances with other nations contrary to God's will. God intended His people to be a blessing to all other people and to trust in Him alone. The people not only lost their vision of God, they also lost their vision of their own vocation as a unique nation in the world (Exod. 19:5).

The evidence that the nations failed was the people lost their spiritual sensitivity. It is amazing but true that the ministry of the writing prophets that occupies so much space in the Old Testament was very ineffective in their own day (e.g., Isa. 53:1). The religious reformations that did take place were fairly superficial (cf. 2 Kings 22:8-20). When Hezekiah began his reform it took 16 days simply to carry the accumulated rubbish out of the temple (2 Chron. 29:17). In Josiah's day not even one copy of the Law was available until someone discovered one among the debris in the temple. When the people heard it read they were completely unfamiliar with it (2 Chron. 34:14-21).

Notice too in this book the revelation concerning the victory of God. There is much evidence of this as well.

The reason for God's victory is traceable to His promise, with an oath, to bless Abraham's descendants (Gen. 22:16-18). He will allow nothing to keep Him from fulfilling that promise. His covenant with Abraham underlies all of His dealings with the Israelites that this book documents. Remember that the Davidic Covenant grew out of the Abrahamic Covenant. God's covenants rested on His love.

The method by which God accomplished victory was by using the prophets as His messengers to communicate with His people and by using direct intervention to control their history.

The evidence of God's victory is the continued existence of the physical seed of Abraham. The Jews still exist today. Arnold Toynbe, the historian, called the Jews a fossil race. God has preserved them to fulfill His purposes on the earth. So even though they failed Him, He has not failed them.

I would summarize the message of 2 Kings, therefore, as follows. Though people fail God, God will not fail people. This is foundational to the doctrine of eternal security that the New Testament expounds more fully.

The main reason the Israelites failed God was they lost sight of Him. Proverbs 29:18 says, "Where there is no vision (of God) the people cast off restraint." When people lose sight of God their ideals deteriorate. They turn to idolatry to fill the vacuum left by God's absence. Also, their purposes suffer defeat. They do not achieve fulfillment or realize their destiny. Furthermore their consciences become dead. They become unresponsive to the Word of God. You have a high calling. Point people to God.

On the other hand, God will never fail humanity (Isa. 42:1, 4). The man who said this, Isaiah, could do so because He did not lose sight of God. His vision of God was clear and great (Isa. 1:1; 6:1). It enabled him to maintain confidence in the throne in heaven when the throne on earth was failing terribly (Isa. 40:27-31). Is your confidence in God? Many evangelicals are wringing their hand in distress because the Christian cause seems to be suffering in America. God is still on His throne.

If we are to serve our generation faithfully, we must see God. When we do, we will find inspiration in the certainty of His ultimate victory. How can we keep God in our view? Read the Word daily. Pray. Bring Him into all your decisions, your worries, your fears. Do not lose sight of Him for one day. Do not forget your vocation in life (Matt. 28:19-20). Ask God to keep you spiritually sensitive.

Constable: 2 Kings (Outline)

Outline

(Continued from notes on 1 Kings)

3. Ahaziah's evil reign in Israel -1 Kings 22:51-2 Kings 1:18

4. Jehoram's evil reign in Israel 2:1-8:15

5. Jehoram's evil reign in Judah 8:16-24

6. Ahaziah's evil reign in Judah 8:25-9:29

C. The second period of antagonism 9:30-17:41

1. Jehu's evil reign in Israel 9:30-10:36

2. Athaliah's evil reign in Judah 11:1-20

3. Jehoash's good reign in Judah 11:21-12:21

4. Jehoahaz's evil reign in Israel 13:1-9

5. Jehoash's evil reign in Israel 13:10-25

6. Amaziah's good reign in Judah 14:1-22

7. Jeroboam II's evil reign in Israel 14:23-29

8. Azariah's good reign in Judah 15:1-7

9. Zechariah's evil reign in Israel 15:8-12

10. Shallum's evil reign in Israel 15:13-16

11. Menahem's evil reign in Israel 15:17-22

12. Pekahiah's evil reign in Israel 15:23-26

13. Pekah's evil reign in Israel 15:27-31

14. Jotham's good reign in Judah 15:32-38

15. Ahaz's evil reign in Judah ch. 16

16. Hoshea's evil reign in Israel 17:1-6

17. The captivity of the Northern Kingdom 17:7-41

III. The surviving kingdom chs. 18-25

A. Hezekiah's good reign chs. 18-20

1. Hezekiah's goodness 18:1-12

2. Sennacherib's challenge to Hezekiah 18:13-37

3. Yahweh's immediate encouragement 19:1-13

4. Hezekiah's prayer 19:14-19

5. Yahweh's answer 19:20-37

6. Hezekiah's illness and recovery 20:1-11

7. The prophecy of Babylonian captivity 20:12-19

8. Hezekiah's death 20:20-21

B. Manasseh's evil reign 21:1-18

C. Amon's evil reign 21:19-26

D. Josiah's good reign 22:1-23:30

1. Josiah's goodness 22:1-2

2. Josiah's reforms 22:3-23:27

3. Josiah's death 23:28-30

E. Jehoahaz's evil reign 23:31-35

F. Jehoiakim's evil reign 23:36-24:7

G. Jehoiachin's evil reign 24:8-17

H. Zedekiah's evil reign 24:18-25:7

I. The captivity of the Southern Kingdom 25:8-30

Constable: 2 Kings

2 Kings

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Copyright 2003 by Thomas L. Constable

Haydock: 2 Kings (Book Introduction)

THE FOURTH BOOK OF KINGS.

INTRODUCTION.

This Book brings us to the conclusion of the kingdom of Israel, (chap. xvii.) and to the captivity of Juda, at Babylon, chap. xxv. We behold some virtuous princes reigning over the two tribes [of Juda and Benjamin], while the ten were uniformly governed by men of perverse morals. (Worthington) --- Yet there were some who adhered to the Lord in both kingdoms. David and his descendants (Haydock) occupy the throne near 480 years; and, after the captivity, continue in some degree of honour till the coming of Christ. (Worthington) --- But various families rule over Israel; some by usurpation, (Haydock) others by God's appointment: who thus chooses to chastise the wicked. He still watches over his Church, and sends his prophets for the instruction of all. (Worthington) --- We have enquired in the preface of the former Book, who composed this. (Haydock) --- The kingdom of Israel subsists about 250, (Worthignton) or 254 years. This Book contains the transactions of 308 years. (Calmet) --- But the chronology is extremely perplexed. To the sixth year of Ezechias, when Israel was led away captive, the kingdom of Juda seems to have lasted 260, and that of Israel only 241 years, though they both commenced at the same period. The errors regard the kings of Isreal, according to Houbigant, who would assign the following years to the respective kings of Juda and Israel. 1. Of Juda: Solomon, 40; Roboam, 17; Abiam, 3; Asa, 41, Josaphat, 25; Joram, 8; Ochozias, 1; (the same is said to have begun to reign in the preceding year, the 11th of Joram, 4 Kings ix. 29, incorrectly) Athalia, 6; Joas, 40; Amasias, 29p; (he reigns 15 after the death of Joas, king of Isreal) Azarias, 52; Joatham, 16; Achaz, 16; Ezechias, 6; in which year, the three hundredth from the commencement of Solomon's reign, and the two hundred and sixtieth of the kingdom of Juda, Samaria was taken. 2. The kings of Israel: Jeroboam, 22; Nadab, 2; Baasa, 24; Ela, 2; Zambri, 7 days; Amri, 12; Achab, 22; Ochozias, 2; Joram, 12; Jehu, 28; Joachaz, 17; Joas, 16; Jeroboam, 41; Zacharias, 10½; (in the text 10 is omitted.; Haydock) Sellum, 1 month; Manahem, 10; Phaceia, 2; Phacee, 30; (in the text, 20.; Haydock) Osee, 9; in all, 261½ years, (Houbigant, Chron. Sac.) or 261 years and 7 months. The variation of 19 months, which still appears, may be owing to some of the years being incomplete. (Haydock) --- 3. After a reign of 28 years over Juda, Ezechias is succeeded by Manasses, who reigns 55: Amon, 2; Josias, 31; Joachaz, a few months; Eliacim, or Joakim, 11; Joachin, Conias, or Jechonias, had reigned ten years with his father. After three months and ten days reigning alone, he is led away to Babylon with part of the people. Matthanias, or Sedecias, is appointed in his stead; but proving refractory, is also, after nine years, deprived of his sight, and conducted with 832 of his subjects to Babylon. Nabuchodonosor had already led away 3023, under Joachin. After the death of Godolias, who was left to govern the miserable remains of the people, the year of the world 3417, he made 745 more captives, and thus an end was put to the kingdom of Juda. The scourge had been retarded for some time, by the repentance of Manasses, and the prayers of the prophets. (Calmet)

Gill: 2 Kings (Book Introduction)

INTRODUCTION TO 2 KINGS

This, and the preceding book, are properly but one book divided into two parts, because of the size of it, as the book of Samuel; it is a continuation of the history of the kings of Israel and Judah; and for a further account of it the reader is referred to the title of the preceding book.

Gill: 2 Kings 22 (Chapter Introduction)

INTRODUCTION TO 2 KINGS 22

This chapter begins with the age and character of Josiah king of Judah, 2Ki 22:1, relates his orders for repairing the temple, 2Ki 22:3, his attention to the book of the law, which was found, and read to him, and the effect it had upon him, 2Ki 22:8, the command he gave to certain persons to inquire of the Lord about it, who applied to Huldah the prophetess, 2Ki 22:12, who returned an answer by them to the king, foretelling the destruction of Jerusalem, and giving the reason of it, and at the same time assuring the king it should not be in his days, 2Ki 22:15.