IN THE EIGHTEENTH YEAR - This is the date of the finding of the Book of the Law and of the Passover (marginal reference, and 2 Kings 23:23), but is not meant to apply to all the various reforms of Josiah as related in 2 Kings 23:4. The true chronology of Josiah’s reign is to be learned from 2Ch 34:3... [ Continue Reading ]
HILKIAH - Hilkiah was the father (or grandfather) of Seraiah (compare 1 Chronicles 6:13, with Nehemiah 11:11), high priest at the time of the captivity 2 Kings 25:18. and ancestor of Ezra the scribe Ezra 7:1. It is evident from the expressions of this verse that a collection for the repairs of the t... [ Continue Reading ]
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 I... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY DEALT FAITHFULLY - Compare the marginal reference. The names of these honest overseers are given in Chronicles 2 Chronicles 34:12.... [ Continue Reading ]
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... [ Continue Reading ]
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 2 Kings 12:9.... [ Continue Reading ]
HE RENT HIS CLOTHES - Partly grief and horror, like Reuben Genesis 37:29 and Job Job 1:20, partly in repentance, like Ahab 1 Kings 21:27.... [ Continue Reading ]
ENQUIRE OF THE LORD - As inquiry by Urim and Thummim had ceased - apparently because superseded by prophecy - this order was equivalent to an injunction to seek the presence of a prophet (compare 2 Kings 3:11; 1 Kings 22:5). BECAUSE OUR FATHERS HAVE NOT HEARKENED - Josiah, it will be observed, assu... [ Continue Reading ]
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 Jeremiah 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... [ Continue Reading ]
ALL THE WORDS OF THE BOOK - The “words” here intended are no doubt the threatenings of the Law, particularly those of Leviticus 26:16 and Deuteronomy 28:15. Josiah had probably only heard a portion of the Book of the Law; but that portion had contained those awful denunciations of coming woe. Hence,... [ Continue Reading ]
HAVE BURNED INCENSE - In the marginal reference the corresponding phrase is: “have served other gods, and worshipped them.” Its alteration to “have bnrned incense” points to the fact that the favorite existing idolatry was burning incense on the housetops to Baal Jeremiah 19:13; Jeremiah 32:29 and t... [ Continue Reading ]
See the marginal references.... [ Continue Reading ]
IN PEACE - The death of Josiah in battle 2 Kings 23:29 is in verbal contradiction to this prophecy, but not in real opposition to its spirit, which is simply that the pious prince who has sent to inquire of the Lord, shall be gathered to his fathers before the troubles come upon the land which are t... [ Continue Reading ]