331 lines
26 KiB
XML
331 lines
26 KiB
XML
|
<div2 id="iiCh.xxxv" n="xxxv" next="iiCh.xxxvi" prev="iiCh.xxxiv" progress="88.25%" title="Chapter XXXIV">
|
|||
|
<h2 id="iiCh.xxxv-p0.1">S E C O N D C H R O N I C L E
|
|||
|
S</h2>
|
|||
|
<h3 id="iiCh.xxxv-p0.2">CHAP. XXXIV.</h3>
|
|||
|
<p class="intro" id="iiCh.xxxv-p1">Before we see Judah and Jerusalem ruined we shall
|
|||
|
yet see some glorious years, while good Josiah sits at the helm. By
|
|||
|
his pious endeavours for reformation God tried them yet once more;
|
|||
|
if they had known in this their day, the day of their visitation,
|
|||
|
the things that belonged to their peace and improved them, their
|
|||
|
ruin might have been prevented. But after this reign they were
|
|||
|
hidden from their eyes, and the next reigns brought an utter
|
|||
|
desolation upon them. In this chapter we have, I. A general account
|
|||
|
of Josiah's character, <scripRef id="iiCh.xxxv-p1.1" osisRef="Bible:2Chr.34.1-2Chr.34.2" parsed="|2Chr|34|1|34|2" passage="2Ch 34:1,2">ver. 1,
|
|||
|
2</scripRef>. II. His zeal to root out idolatry, <scripRef id="iiCh.xxxv-p1.2" osisRef="Bible:2Chr.34.3-2Chr.34.7" parsed="|2Chr|34|3|34|7" passage="2Ch 34:3-7">ver. 3-7</scripRef>. III. His care to repair the
|
|||
|
temple, <scripRef id="iiCh.xxxv-p1.3" osisRef="Bible:2Chr.34.8-2Chr.34.13" parsed="|2Chr|34|8|34|13" passage="2Ch 34:8-13">ver. 8-13</scripRef>. IV.
|
|||
|
The finding of the book of the law and the good use made of it,
|
|||
|
<scripRef id="iiCh.xxxv-p1.4" osisRef="Bible:2Chr.34.14-2Chr.34.28" parsed="|2Chr|34|14|34|28" passage="2Ch 34:14-28">ver. 14-28</scripRef>. V. The
|
|||
|
public reading of the law to the people and their renewing their
|
|||
|
covenant with God thereupon, <scripRef id="iiCh.xxxv-p1.5" osisRef="Bible:2Chr.34.29-2Chr.34.33" parsed="|2Chr|34|29|34|33" passage="2Ch 34:29-33">ver.
|
|||
|
29-33</scripRef>. Much of this we had <scripRef id="iiCh.xxxv-p1.6" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.22.1-2Kgs.22.20" parsed="|2Kgs|22|1|22|20" passage="2Ki 22:1-20">2 Kings xxii.</scripRef></p>
|
|||
|
<scripCom id="iiCh.xxxv-p0.1_1" osisRef="Bible:2Chr.34" parsed="|2Chr|34|0|0|0" passage="2Ch 34" type="Commentary"/>
|
|||
|
<scripCom id="iiCh.xxxv-p0.2_1" osisRef="Bible:2Chr.34.1-2Chr.34.7" parsed="|2Chr|34|1|34|7" passage="2Ch 34:1-7" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:2Chr.34.1-2Chr.34.7">
|
|||
|
<h4 id="iiCh.xxxv-p1.9">The Reign of Josiah. (<span class="smallcaps" id="iiCh.xxxv-p1.10">b. c.</span> 623.)</h4>
|
|||
|
<p class="passage" id="iiCh.xxxv-p2">1 Josiah <i>was</i> eight years old when he
|
|||
|
began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem one and thirty years.
|
|||
|
2 And he did <i>that which was</i> right in the sight of the
|
|||
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="iiCh.xxxv-p2.1">Lord</span>, and walked in the ways of
|
|||
|
David his father, and declined <i>neither</i> to the right hand,
|
|||
|
nor to the left. 3 For in the eighth year of his reign,
|
|||
|
while he was yet young, he began to seek after the God of David his
|
|||
|
father: and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and
|
|||
|
Jerusalem from the high places, and the groves, and the carved
|
|||
|
images, and the molten images. 4 And they brake down the
|
|||
|
altars of Baalim in his presence; and the images, that <i>were</i>
|
|||
|
on high above them, he cut down; and the groves, and the carved
|
|||
|
images, and the molten images, he brake in pieces, and made dust
|
|||
|
<i>of them,</i> and strowed <i>it</i> upon the graves of them that
|
|||
|
had sacrificed unto them. 5 And he burnt the bones of the
|
|||
|
priests upon their altars, and cleansed Judah and Jerusalem.
|
|||
|
6 And <i>so did he</i> in the cities of Manasseh, and Ephraim, and
|
|||
|
Simeon, even unto Naphtali, with their mattocks round about.
|
|||
|
7 And when he had broken down the altars and the groves, and had
|
|||
|
beaten the graven images into powder, and cut down all the idols
|
|||
|
throughout all the land of Israel, he returned to Jerusalem.</p>
|
|||
|
<p class="indent" id="iiCh.xxxv-p3">Concerning Josiah we are here told, 1. That
|
|||
|
he came to the crown when he was very young, only eight years old
|
|||
|
(yet his infancy did not debar him from his right), and he reigned
|
|||
|
<i>thirty-one years</i> (<scripRef id="iiCh.xxxv-p3.1" osisRef="Bible:2Chr.34.1" parsed="|2Chr|34|1|0|0" passage="2Ch 34:1"><i>v.</i>
|
|||
|
1</scripRef>), a considerable time. I fear, however, that in the
|
|||
|
beginning of his reign things went much as they had done in his
|
|||
|
father's time, because, being a child, he must have left the
|
|||
|
management of them to others; so that it was not till his twelfth
|
|||
|
year, which goes far in the number of his years, that the
|
|||
|
reformation began, <scripRef id="iiCh.xxxv-p3.2" osisRef="Bible:2Chr.34.3" parsed="|2Chr|34|3|0|0" passage="2Ch 34:3"><i>v.</i>
|
|||
|
3</scripRef>. He could not, as Hezekiah did, fall about it
|
|||
|
immediately. 2. That he reigned very well (<scripRef id="iiCh.xxxv-p3.3" osisRef="Bible:2Chr.34.2" parsed="|2Chr|34|2|0|0" passage="2Ch 34:2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>), approved himself to God, trod
|
|||
|
in the steps of David, and did not decline either <i>to the right
|
|||
|
hand of to the left:</i> for there are errors on both hands. 3.
|
|||
|
That while he was young, about sixteen years old, he <i>began to
|
|||
|
seek after God,</i> <scripRef id="iiCh.xxxv-p3.4" osisRef="Bible:2Chr.34.3" parsed="|2Chr|34|3|0|0" passage="2Ch 34:3"><i>v.</i>
|
|||
|
3</scripRef>. We have reason to think he had not so good an
|
|||
|
education as Manasseh had (it is well if those about him did not
|
|||
|
endeavour to corrupt and debauch him); yet he thus sought God when
|
|||
|
he was young. It is the duty and interest of young people, and will
|
|||
|
particularly be the honour of young gentlemen, as soon as they come
|
|||
|
to years of understanding, to <i>begin to seek God;</i> for those
|
|||
|
that seek him early shall find him. 4. That in the twelfth year of
|
|||
|
his reign, when it is probable he took the administration of the
|
|||
|
government entirely into his own hands, he <i>began to purge his
|
|||
|
kingdom from the remains of idolatry;</i> he destroyed the high
|
|||
|
places, groves, images, altars, all the utensils of idolatry,
|
|||
|
<scripRef id="iiCh.xxxv-p3.5" osisRef="Bible:2Chr.34.3-2Chr.34.4" parsed="|2Chr|34|3|34|4" passage="2Ch 34:3,4"><i>v.</i> 3, 4</scripRef>. He not
|
|||
|
only cast them out as Manasseh did, but broke them to pieces, and
|
|||
|
made dust of them. This destruction of idolatry is here said to be
|
|||
|
in his twelfth year, but it was said (<scripRef id="iiCh.xxxv-p3.6" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.23.23" parsed="|2Kgs|23|23|0|0" passage="2Ki 23:23">2 Kings xxiii. 23</scripRef>) to be in his eighteenth
|
|||
|
year. Something was probably done towards it in his twelfth year;
|
|||
|
then he began to purge out idolatry, but that good work met with
|
|||
|
opposition, so that it was not thoroughly done till they had found
|
|||
|
the book of the law six years afterwards. But here the whole work
|
|||
|
is laid together briefly which was much more largely and
|
|||
|
particularly related in the <i>Kings.</i> His zeal carried him out
|
|||
|
to do this, not only in Judah and Jerusalem, but in the cities of
|
|||
|
Israel too, as far as he had any influence upon them.</p>
|
|||
|
</div><scripCom id="iiCh.xxxv-p0.3" osisRef="Bible:2Chr.34.8-2Chr.34.13" parsed="|2Chr|34|8|34|13" passage="2Ch 34:8-13" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:2Chr.34.8-2Chr.34.13">
|
|||
|
<p class="passage" id="iiCh.xxxv-p4">8 Now in the eighteenth year of his reign, when
|
|||
|
he had purged the land, and the house, he sent Shaphan the son of
|
|||
|
Azaliah, and Maaseiah the governor of the city, and Joah the son of
|
|||
|
Joahaz the recorder, to repair the house of the <span class="smallcaps" id="iiCh.xxxv-p4.1">Lord</span> his God. 9 And when they came to
|
|||
|
Hilkiah the high priest, they delivered the money that was brought
|
|||
|
into the house of God, which the Levites that kept the doors had
|
|||
|
gathered of the hand of Manasseh and Ephraim, and of all the
|
|||
|
remnant of Israel, and of all Judah and Benjamin; and they returned
|
|||
|
to Jerusalem. 10 And they put <i>it</i> in the hand of the
|
|||
|
workmen that had the oversight of the house of the <span class="smallcaps" id="iiCh.xxxv-p4.2">Lord</span>, and they gave it to the workmen that
|
|||
|
wrought in the house of the <span class="smallcaps" id="iiCh.xxxv-p4.3">Lord</span>, to
|
|||
|
repair and amend the house: 11 Even to the artificers and
|
|||
|
builders gave they <i>it,</i> to buy hewn stone, and timber for
|
|||
|
couplings, and to floor the houses which the kings of Judah had
|
|||
|
destroyed. 12 And the men did the work faithfully: and the
|
|||
|
overseers of them <i>were</i> Jahath and Obadiah, the Levites, of
|
|||
|
the sons of Merari; and Zechariah and Meshullam, of the sons of the
|
|||
|
Kohathites, to set <i>it</i> forward; and <i>other of</i> the
|
|||
|
Levites, all that could skill of instruments of music. 13
|
|||
|
Also <i>they were</i> over the bearers of burdens, and <i>were</i>
|
|||
|
overseers of all that wrought the work in any manner of service:
|
|||
|
and of the Levites <i>there were</i> scribes, and officers, and
|
|||
|
porters.</p>
|
|||
|
<p class="indent" id="iiCh.xxxv-p5">Here, 1. Orders are given by the king for
|
|||
|
the repair of the temple, <scripRef id="iiCh.xxxv-p5.1" osisRef="Bible:2Chr.34.8" parsed="|2Chr|34|8|0|0" passage="2Ch 34:8"><i>v.</i>
|
|||
|
8</scripRef>. When he had purged the house of the corruptions of it
|
|||
|
he began to fit it up for the services that were to be performed in
|
|||
|
it. Thus we must do by the spiritual temple of the heart, get it
|
|||
|
cleansed from the pollutions of sin, and then renewed, so as to be
|
|||
|
transformed into the image of God. Josiah, in this order, calls God
|
|||
|
<i>the Lord his God.</i> Those that truly love God will <i>love the
|
|||
|
habitation of his house.</i> 2. Care is taken about it, effectual
|
|||
|
care. The Levites went about the country and gathered money towards
|
|||
|
it, which was returned to the three trustees mentioned, <scripRef id="iiCh.xxxv-p5.2" osisRef="Bible:2Chr.34.8" parsed="|2Chr|34|8|0|0" passage="2Ch 34:8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>. They brought it to
|
|||
|
Hilkiah the high priest (<scripRef id="iiCh.xxxv-p5.3" osisRef="Bible:2Chr.34.9" parsed="|2Chr|34|9|0|0" passage="2Ch 34:9"><i>v.</i>
|
|||
|
9</scripRef>), and he and they put it into the hands of workmen,
|
|||
|
both overseers and labourers, who undertook to do it by the great,
|
|||
|
as we say, or <i>in the gross,</i> <scripRef id="iiCh.xxxv-p5.4" osisRef="Bible:2Chr.34.10-2Chr.34.11" parsed="|2Chr|34|10|34|11" passage="2Ch 34:10,11"><i>v.</i> 10, 11</scripRef>. It is observed that the
|
|||
|
workmen were industrious and honest: They <i>did the work
|
|||
|
faithfully</i> (<scripRef id="iiCh.xxxv-p5.5" osisRef="Bible:2Chr.34.12" parsed="|2Chr|34|12|0|0" passage="2Ch 34:12"><i>v.</i>
|
|||
|
12</scripRef>); and workmen are not completely faithful if they are
|
|||
|
not both careful and diligent, for a confidence is reposed in them
|
|||
|
that they will be so. It is also intimated that the overseers were
|
|||
|
ingenious; for it is said that all those were employed to inspect
|
|||
|
this work who were skilful in <i>instruments of music;</i> not that
|
|||
|
their skill in music could be of any use in architecture, but it
|
|||
|
was an evidence that they were men of sense and ingenuity, and
|
|||
|
particularly that their genius lay towards the mathematics, which
|
|||
|
qualified them very much for this trust. Witty men are then wise
|
|||
|
men when they employ their wit in doing good, in helping their
|
|||
|
friends, and, as they have opportunity, in serving the public.
|
|||
|
Observe, in this work, how God dispenses his gifts variously; here
|
|||
|
were some that were <i>bearers of burdens,</i> cut out for bodily
|
|||
|
labour and fit to work. Here were others (made <i>meliori luto—of
|
|||
|
finer materials</i>) that had skill in music, and they were
|
|||
|
<i>overseers of those that laboured,</i> and scribes and officers.
|
|||
|
The former were the hands: these were the heads. They had need of
|
|||
|
one another, and the work needed both. Let not the overseers of the
|
|||
|
work despise the bearers of burdens, nor let those that work in the
|
|||
|
service grudge at those whose office it is to direct; but let each
|
|||
|
esteem and serve the other in love, and let God have the glory and
|
|||
|
the church the benefit of the different gifts and dispositions of
|
|||
|
both.</p>
|
|||
|
</div><scripCom id="iiCh.xxxv-p0.4" osisRef="Bible:2Chr.34.14-2Chr.34.28" parsed="|2Chr|34|14|34|28" passage="2Ch 34:14-28" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:2Chr.34.14-2Chr.34.28">
|
|||
|
<p class="passage" id="iiCh.xxxv-p6">14 And when they brought out the money that was
|
|||
|
brought into the house of the <span class="smallcaps" id="iiCh.xxxv-p6.1">Lord</span>,
|
|||
|
Hilkiah the priest found a book of the law of the <span class="smallcaps" id="iiCh.xxxv-p6.2">Lord</span> <i>given</i> by Moses. 15 And
|
|||
|
Hilkiah answered and said to Shaphan the scribe, I have found the
|
|||
|
book of the law in the house of the <span class="smallcaps" id="iiCh.xxxv-p6.3">Lord</span>. And Hilkiah delivered the book to Shaphan.
|
|||
|
16 And Shaphan carried the book to the king, and brought the
|
|||
|
king word back again, saying, All that was committed to thy
|
|||
|
servants, they do <i>it.</i> 17 And they have gathered
|
|||
|
together the money that was found in the house of the <span class="smallcaps" id="iiCh.xxxv-p6.4">Lord</span>, and have delivered it into the hand of the
|
|||
|
overseers, and to the hand of the workmen. 18 Then Shaphan
|
|||
|
the scribe told the king, saying, Hilkiah the priest hath given me
|
|||
|
a book. And Shaphan read it before the king. 19 And it came
|
|||
|
to pass, when the king had heard the words of the law, that he rent
|
|||
|
his clothes. 20 And the king commanded Hilkiah, and Ahikam
|
|||
|
the son of Shaphan, and Abdon the son of Micah, and Shaphan the
|
|||
|
scribe, and Asaiah a servant of the king's, saying, 21 Go,
|
|||
|
enquire of the <span class="smallcaps" id="iiCh.xxxv-p6.5">Lord</span> for me, and for
|
|||
|
them that are left in Israel and in Judah, concerning the words of
|
|||
|
the book that is found: for great <i>is</i> the wrath of the <span class="smallcaps" id="iiCh.xxxv-p6.6">Lord</span> that is poured out upon us, because
|
|||
|
our fathers have not kept the word of the <span class="smallcaps" id="iiCh.xxxv-p6.7">Lord</span>, to do after all that is written in this
|
|||
|
book. 22 And Hilkiah, and <i>they</i> that the king <i>had
|
|||
|
appointed,</i> went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum
|
|||
|
the son of Tikvath, the son of Hasrah, keeper of the wardrobe; (now
|
|||
|
she dwelt in Jerusalem in the college:) and they spake to her to
|
|||
|
that <i>effect.</i> 23 And she answered them, Thus saith the
|
|||
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="iiCh.xxxv-p6.8">Lord</span> God of Israel, Tell ye the man
|
|||
|
that sent you to me, 24 Thus saith the <span class="smallcaps" id="iiCh.xxxv-p6.9">Lord</span>, Behold, I will bring evil upon this place,
|
|||
|
and upon the inhabitants thereof, <i>even</i> all the curses that
|
|||
|
are written in the book which they have read before the king of
|
|||
|
Judah: 25 Because they have forsaken me, and have burned
|
|||
|
incense unto other gods, that they might provoke me to anger with
|
|||
|
all the works of their hands; therefore my wrath shall be poured
|
|||
|
out upon this place, and shall not be quenched. 26 And as
|
|||
|
for the king of Judah, who sent you to enquire of the <span class="smallcaps" id="iiCh.xxxv-p6.10">Lord</span>, so shall ye say unto him, Thus saith the
|
|||
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="iiCh.xxxv-p6.11">Lord</span> God of Israel <i>concerning</i>
|
|||
|
the words which thou hast heard; 27 Because thine heart was
|
|||
|
tender, and thou didst humble thyself before God, when thou
|
|||
|
heardest his words against this place, and against the inhabitants
|
|||
|
thereof, and humbledst thyself before me, and didst rend thy
|
|||
|
clothes, and weep before me; I have even heard <i>thee</i> also,
|
|||
|
saith the <span class="smallcaps" id="iiCh.xxxv-p6.12">Lord</span>. 28 Behold, I
|
|||
|
will gather thee to thy fathers, and thou shalt be gathered to thy
|
|||
|
grave in peace, neither shall thine eyes see all the evil that I
|
|||
|
will bring upon this place, and upon the inhabitants of the same.
|
|||
|
So they brought the king word again.</p>
|
|||
|
<p class="indent" id="iiCh.xxxv-p7">This whole paragraph we had, just as it is
|
|||
|
here related, <scripRef id="iiCh.xxxv-p7.1" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.22.8-2Kgs.22.20" parsed="|2Kgs|22|8|22|20" passage="2Ki 22:8-20">2 Kings xxii.
|
|||
|
8-20</scripRef>, and have nothing to add here to what was there
|
|||
|
observed. But, 1. We may hence take occasion to bless God that we
|
|||
|
have plenty of Bibles, and that they are, or may be, in all
|
|||
|
hands,—that the book of the law and gospel is not lost, is not
|
|||
|
scarce,—that, in this sense, the <i>word of the Lord</i> is not
|
|||
|
<i>precious.</i> Bibles are jewels, but, thanks be to God, they are
|
|||
|
not rarities. The fountain of the waters of life is not a spring
|
|||
|
shut up or a fountain sealed, but the streams of it, in all places,
|
|||
|
<i>make glad the city of our God. Usus communis aquarum—These
|
|||
|
waters flow for general use.</i> What a great deal shall we have to
|
|||
|
answer for if the great things of God's law, being thus made
|
|||
|
common, should be accounted by us as strange things! 2. We may
|
|||
|
hence learn, whenever we read or hear the word of God, to affect
|
|||
|
our hearts with it, and to get them possessed with a holy fear of
|
|||
|
that wrath of God which is there revealed against all ungodliness
|
|||
|
and unrighteousness of men, as Josiah's tender heart was. When he
|
|||
|
heard the words of the law he <i>rent his clothes</i> (<scripRef id="iiCh.xxxv-p7.2" osisRef="Bible:2Chr.34.19" parsed="|2Chr|34|19|0|0" passage="2Ch 34:19"><i>v.</i> 19</scripRef>), and God was well
|
|||
|
pleased with his doing so, <scripRef id="iiCh.xxxv-p7.3" osisRef="Bible:2Chr.34.27" parsed="|2Chr|34|27|0|0" passage="2Ch 34:27"><i>v.</i>
|
|||
|
27</scripRef>. Were the things contained in the scripture new to
|
|||
|
us, as they were here to Josiah, surely they would make deeper
|
|||
|
impressions upon us than commonly they do; but they are not the
|
|||
|
less weighty, and therefore should not be the less considered by
|
|||
|
us, for their being well known. Rend the heart therefore, not the
|
|||
|
garments. 3. We are here directed when we are under convictions of
|
|||
|
sin, and apprehensions of divine wrath, to enquire of the Lord; so
|
|||
|
Josiah did, <scripRef id="iiCh.xxxv-p7.4" osisRef="Bible:2Chr.34.21" parsed="|2Chr|34|21|0|0" passage="2Ch 34:21"><i>v.</i> 21</scripRef>.
|
|||
|
It concerns us to ask (as they did, <scripRef id="iiCh.xxxv-p7.5" osisRef="Bible:Acts.2.37" parsed="|Acts|2|37|0|0" passage="Ac 2:37">Acts ii. 37</scripRef>), <i>Men and brethren, what shall
|
|||
|
we do?</i> and more particularly (as the jailor), <i>What must I do
|
|||
|
to be saved?</i> <scripRef id="iiCh.xxxv-p7.6" osisRef="Bible:Acts.16.30" parsed="|Acts|16|30|0|0" passage="Ac 16:30">Acts xvi.
|
|||
|
30</scripRef>. <i>If you will</i> thus <i>enquire, enquire</i>
|
|||
|
(<scripRef id="iiCh.xxxv-p7.7" osisRef="Bible:Isa.21.12" parsed="|Isa|21|12|0|0" passage="Isa 21:12">Isa. xxi. 12</scripRef>); and,
|
|||
|
blessed be God, we have the lively oracles to which to apply with
|
|||
|
these enquiries. 4. We are here warned of the ruin that sin brings
|
|||
|
upon nations and kingdoms. Those that forsake God bring evil upon
|
|||
|
themselves (<scripRef id="iiCh.xxxv-p7.8" osisRef="Bible:2Chr.34.24-2Chr.34.25" parsed="|2Chr|34|24|34|25" passage="2Ch 34:24,25"><i>v.</i> 24,
|
|||
|
25</scripRef>), and kindle a fire <i>which shall not be
|
|||
|
quenched.</i> Such will the fire of God's wrath be when the decree
|
|||
|
has gone forth against those that obstinately and impenitently
|
|||
|
persist in their wicked ways. 5. We are here encouraged to humble
|
|||
|
ourselves before God and seek unto him, as Josiah did. If we cannot
|
|||
|
prevail thereby to turn away God's wrath from our land, yet we
|
|||
|
shall deliver our own souls, <scripRef id="iiCh.xxxv-p7.9" osisRef="Bible:2Chr.34.27-2Chr.34.28" parsed="|2Chr|34|27|34|28" passage="2Ch 34:27,28"><i>v.</i> 27, 28</scripRef>. And good people are
|
|||
|
here taught to be so far from fearing death as to welcome it rather
|
|||
|
when it <i>takes them away from the evil to come.</i> See how the
|
|||
|
property of it is altered by making it the matter of a promise:
|
|||
|
<i>Thou shalt be gathered to thy grave in peace,</i> housed in that
|
|||
|
ark, as Noah, when a deluge is coming.</p>
|
|||
|
</div><scripCom id="iiCh.xxxv-p0.5" osisRef="Bible:2Chr.34.29-2Chr.34.33" parsed="|2Chr|34|29|34|33" passage="2Ch 34:29-33" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:2Chr.34.29-2Chr.34.33">
|
|||
|
<p class="passage" id="iiCh.xxxv-p8">29 Then the king sent and gathered together all
|
|||
|
the elders of Judah and Jerusalem. 30 And the king went up
|
|||
|
into the house of the <span class="smallcaps" id="iiCh.xxxv-p8.1">Lord</span>, and all
|
|||
|
the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and the
|
|||
|
priests, and the Levites, and all the people, great and small: and
|
|||
|
he read in their ears all the words of the book of the covenant
|
|||
|
that was found in the house of the <span class="smallcaps" id="iiCh.xxxv-p8.2">Lord</span>. 31 And the king stood in his place,
|
|||
|
and made a covenant before the <span class="smallcaps" id="iiCh.xxxv-p8.3">Lord</span>,
|
|||
|
to walk after the <span class="smallcaps" id="iiCh.xxxv-p8.4">Lord</span>, and to keep
|
|||
|
his commandments, and his testimonies, and his statutes, with all
|
|||
|
his heart, and with all his soul, to perform the words of the
|
|||
|
covenant which are written in this book. 32 And he caused
|
|||
|
all that were present in Jerusalem and Benjamin to stand <i>to
|
|||
|
it.</i> And the inhabitants of Jerusalem did according to the
|
|||
|
covenant of God, the God of their fathers. 33 And Josiah
|
|||
|
took away all the abominations out of all the countries that
|
|||
|
<i>pertained</i> to the children of Israel, and made all that were
|
|||
|
present in Israel to serve, <i>even</i> to serve the <span class="smallcaps" id="iiCh.xxxv-p8.5">Lord</span> their God. <i>And</i> all his days they
|
|||
|
departed not from following the <span class="smallcaps" id="iiCh.xxxv-p8.6">Lord</span>, the God of their fathers.</p>
|
|||
|
<p class="indent" id="iiCh.xxxv-p9">We have here an account of the further
|
|||
|
advances which Josiah made towards the reformation of his kingdom
|
|||
|
upon the hearing of the law read and the receipt of the message God
|
|||
|
sent him by the prophetess. Happy the people that had such a king;
|
|||
|
for here we find that, 1. They were well taught. He did not go
|
|||
|
about to force them to do their duty, till he had first instructed
|
|||
|
them in it. He called all the people together, great and small,
|
|||
|
young and old, rich and poor, high and low. <i>He that hath ears to
|
|||
|
hear, let him hear</i> the words of <i>the book of the
|
|||
|
covenant;</i> for they are all concerned in those words. To put an
|
|||
|
honour upon the service, and to engage attention the more, though
|
|||
|
there were priests and Levites present, the king himself read the
|
|||
|
book to the people (<scripRef id="iiCh.xxxv-p9.1" osisRef="Bible:2Chr.34.30" parsed="|2Chr|34|30|0|0" passage="2Ch 34:30"><i>v.</i>
|
|||
|
30</scripRef>), and he read it, no doubt, in such a manner as to
|
|||
|
show that he was himself affected with it, which would be a means
|
|||
|
of affecting the hearers. 2. They were well fixed. The articles of
|
|||
|
agreement between God and Israel being read, that they might
|
|||
|
intelligently covenant with God, both king and people with great
|
|||
|
solemnity did as it were subscribe the articles. The king in his
|
|||
|
place covenanted to keep God's commandments with all his heart and
|
|||
|
soul, according to what was <i>written in the book</i> (<scripRef id="iiCh.xxxv-p9.2" osisRef="Bible:2Chr.34.31" parsed="|2Chr|34|31|0|0" passage="2Ch 34:31"><i>v.</i> 31</scripRef>), and urged the people
|
|||
|
to declare their consent likewise to this covenant, and solemnly to
|
|||
|
promise that they would faithfully perform, fulfil, and keep, all
|
|||
|
and every thing that was on their part to be done, according to
|
|||
|
this covenant: this they did; they could not for shame do
|
|||
|
otherwise. He caused <i>all that were present</i> to <i>stand to
|
|||
|
it</i> (<scripRef id="iiCh.xxxv-p9.3" osisRef="Bible:2Chr.34.32" parsed="|2Chr|34|32|0|0" passage="2Ch 34:32"><i>v.</i> 32</scripRef>), and
|
|||
|
made them all <i>to serve, even to serve the Lord their God</i>
|
|||
|
(<scripRef id="iiCh.xxxv-p9.4" osisRef="Bible:2Chr.34.33" parsed="|2Chr|34|33|0|0" passage="2Ch 34:33"><i>v.</i> 33</scripRef>), to do it
|
|||
|
and to <i>make a business</i> of it. He did all he could to bring
|
|||
|
them to it—<i>to serve, even to serve;</i> the repetition denotes
|
|||
|
that this was the only thing his heart was set on; he aimed at
|
|||
|
nothing else in what he did but to engage them to God and their
|
|||
|
duty. 3. They were well tended, were honest with good looking to.
|
|||
|
<i>All his days they departed not from following the Lord;</i> he
|
|||
|
kept them, with much ado, from running into idolatry again. <i>All
|
|||
|
his days</i> were days of restraint upon them; but this intimated
|
|||
|
that there was in them a <i>bent to backslide,</i> a strong
|
|||
|
inclination to idolatry. Many of them wanted nothing but to have
|
|||
|
him out of the way, and then they would have their high places and
|
|||
|
their images up again. And therefore we find that <i>in the days of
|
|||
|
Josiah</i> (<scripRef id="iiCh.xxxv-p9.5" osisRef="Bible:Jer.3.6" parsed="|Jer|3|6|0|0" passage="Jer 3:6">Jer. iii. 6</scripRef>) God
|
|||
|
charged it upon treacherous Judah that she <i>had not returned to
|
|||
|
him with all her heart, but feignedly</i> (<scripRef id="iiCh.xxxv-p9.6" osisRef="Bible:2Chr.34.10" parsed="|2Chr|34|10|0|0" passage="2Ch 34:10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>), nay, had <i>played the
|
|||
|
harlot</i> (<scripRef id="iiCh.xxxv-p9.7" osisRef="Bible:2Chr.34.8" parsed="|2Chr|34|8|0|0" passage="2Ch 34:8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>)
|
|||
|
and thereby had even <i>justified backsliding Israel,</i> <scripRef id="iiCh.xxxv-p9.8" osisRef="Bible:2Chr.34.11" parsed="|2Chr|34|11|0|0" passage="2Ch 34:11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>. In the twenty-third
|
|||
|
year of this reign, four or five years after this, they had <i>gone
|
|||
|
on to provoke God to anger with the works of their hands</i>
|
|||
|
(<scripRef id="iiCh.xxxv-p9.9" osisRef="Bible:Jer.25.3-Jer.25.7" parsed="|Jer|25|3|25|7" passage="Jer 25:3-7">Jer. xxv. 3-7</scripRef>); and,
|
|||
|
which is very observable, it is from the beginning of Josiah's
|
|||
|
reformation, his twelfth or thirteenth year, that <i>the iniquity
|
|||
|
of the house of Judah,</i> which brought ruin upon them, and which
|
|||
|
the prophet was to bear lying on his right side, was dated
|
|||
|
(<scripRef id="iiCh.xxxv-p9.10" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.4.6" parsed="|Ezek|4|6|0|0" passage="Eze 4:6">Ezek. iv. 6</scripRef>), for thence to
|
|||
|
the destruction of Jerusalem was just forty years. Josiah was
|
|||
|
sincere in what he did, but the generality of the people were
|
|||
|
averse to it and hankered after their idols still; so that the
|
|||
|
reformation, though well designed and well prosecuted by the
|
|||
|
prince, had little or no effect upon the people. It was with
|
|||
|
reluctancy that they parted with their idols; still they were in
|
|||
|
heart joined to them, and wished for them again. This God saw, and
|
|||
|
therefore from that time, when one would have thought the
|
|||
|
foundations had been laid for a perpetual security and peace, from
|
|||
|
that very time did the decree go forth for their destruction.
|
|||
|
Nothing hastens the ruin of a people nor ripens them for it more
|
|||
|
than the baffling of hopeful attempts for reformation and a
|
|||
|
hypocritical return to God. <i>Be not deceived, God is not
|
|||
|
mocked.</i></p>
|
|||
|
</div></div2>
|