2 Chronicles 34:3

3 7 (cp. 2 Chronicles 34:33; 2 Kings 13:4-20). Josiah destroys the Symbols of Idolatry

3. in the eighth year … and in the twelfth The two dates given in this verse seem to be "doublettes," i.e. various readings bothof which have been adopted and placed side by side in the text. Moreover it is probable that neither reading is original, for both seem to have been derived by some transcriptional error or other from 2 Kings 22:3, where the account of Josiah's doings begins with the date, in the eighteenth year.

Thus we get:

(a) 2 Kings 22:3 (2 Chronicles 34:8):

bishĕmôneh esreh"eighteenth" (the original reading).

(b) 2 Chronicles 34:3 a:

bishĕmôneh"eighth" (defective reading; esrehhaving dropped out).

(c) 2 Chronicles 34:3 b:

bishtçym esreh, "twelfth" (attempted correction, perhaps from memory, of the defective reading).

It should also be noticed that the order of the events of Josiah's reign given in Chron. varies from that given in 2 Kin. Thus we have in 2 Chr.:

(1) Destruction of idolatrous symbols throughout Jerusalem, Judah and Israel; 2 Chronicles 34:3-7.

(2) Repair of the Temple and Finding of the Law; ib.2 Chronicles 34:8-28.

(3) Renewal of the Covenant with Jehovah; ib.2 Chronicles 34:29-32.

(4) Great Passover kept; 2 Chronicles 35:1-19.

(5) Death of Josiah; ib.2 Chronicles 35:20-27.

In 2 Kin. on the other hand (2), (3) precede (1), and there can be little doubt that this order is right.

while he was yet young There is no clause corresponding to this in 2 Kin., and the statement rests on the probably faulty reading "eighth." Yet his early piety is probably a fact, for though in 2 Kin. his reformation is dated in the eighteenth year of his reign, i.e. when he was 25 years of age (hardly "young" for a king), the favourable judgement passed on him (2 Kings 12:2) is unqualified by any suggestion that he was tardy in turning to Jehovah.

in the twelfth year he began The Chronicler spreads the cleansing of the land over six years, i.e. from the twelfthto the eighteenth; cp. 2 Chronicles 34:8.

to purge Josiah's measures are more fully enumerated and described in 2 Kings 23; notice e.g. the removal of the Asherah from the Temple (2 Chronicles 34:6), the destruction of the houses of the Ḳĕdeshim(cp. Deuteronomy 23:17-18) which were in the House of the Lord (2 Chronicles 34:7), the deportation of priests from the cities of Judah into Jerusalem (2 Chronicles 34:8-9), and the defiling of Topheth and of Beth-el (2 Chronicles 34:10; 2 Chronicles 34:15-16).

the groves R.V. the Asherim; cp. 2 Chronicles 14:3 (note).

carved images R.V. graven, images; as 2 Chronicles 33:7; 2 Chronicles 33:22.