II Chronicles 34, Josiah, Another Boy King

The kings of Judah, after Solomon, have been 

• Rehoboam, 
• Abijah, 
• Asa, 
• Jehoshaphat, 
• Jehoram, 
• Ahaziah, 
• Joash, 
• Amaziah, 
• Uzziah,
• Jotham, 
• Ahaz,
• Hezekiah,
• Manasseh,
• Amon, and now
• Josiah

The date is about 640 BC. The northern kingdom is gone, conquered by Assyria. Babylon is growing in power in the east.

2 Chronicles 34:1-2, Another good boy king

Josiah was eight years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem thirty-one years. He did what was right in the eyes of the LORD and walked in the ways of his father David, not turning aside to the right or to the left.

Josiah is only 8 when his father, who reigned two years, is assassinated.

2 Chronicles 34:3-7

In the eighth year of his reign, while he was still young, he began to seek the God of his father David. In his twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem of high places, Asherah poles, carved idols and cast images. Under his direction the altars of the Baals were torn down; he cut to pieces the incense altars that were above them, and smashed the Asherah poles, the idols and the images. These he broke to pieces and scattered over the graves of those who had sacrificed to them. He burned the bones of the priests on their altars, and so he purged Judah and Jerusalem.

In the towns of Manasseh, Ephraim and Simeon, as far as Naphtali, and in the ruins around them, he tore down the altars and the Asherah poles and crushed the idols to powder and cut to pieces all the incense altars throughout Israel. Then he went back to Jerusalem.

The boy king Josiah, like the boy king Joash two centuries before, begins with enthusiasm for the worship of God and the removal of idols. Joash's influence reaches into the tribes to the north, now controlled by Assyria, with many foreign residents. 

The parallel passage in 2 Kings 22 does not include this young enthusiasm but instead begins Joash's account with the event that followed, below.

In comparison to the other tribes of Israel, little is said in the Old Testament records about the tribe of Simeon after the settlement in Canaan. The descendants of Simeon are described in 1 Chronicles 4:24-43, where some are identified as living during the time of Hezekiah, with descendants living in the hill country of Seir (Edom) in the days of the author.

2 Chronicles 34:8-11, Temple repairs

In the eighteenth year of Josiah's reign, to purify the land and the temple, he sent Shaphan son of Azaliah and Maaseiah the ruler of the city, with Joah son of Joahaz, the recorder, to repair the temple of the LORD his God. They went to Hilkiah the high priest and gave him the money that had been brought into the temple of God, which the Levites who were the doorkeepers had collected from the people of Manasseh, Ephraim and the entire remnant of Israel and from all the people of Judah and Benjamin and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

Then they entrusted it to the men appointed to supervise the work on the LORD's temple. These men paid the workers who repaired and restored the temple. They also gave money to the carpenters and builders to purchase dressed stone, and timber for joists and beams for the buildings that the kings of Judah had allowed to fall into ruin.

Again, a devoted king recognizes that the temple must be repaired. It was last repaired by Hezekiah, before Manasseh, around 700 BC, sixty or more years before.

2 Chronicles 34:12-13, Faithful Levites

The men did the work faithfully. Over them to direct them were Jahath and Obadiah, Levites descended from Merari, and Zechariah and Meshullam, descended from Kohath. The Levites--all who were skilled in playing musical instruments--had charge of the laborers and supervised all the workers from job to job. Some of the Levites were secretaries, scribes and doorkeepers.

Levites descended from Merari and Kohath, two of the three sons of Levi (Genesis 46:11, 1 Chronicles 6.) Among the many gifted Levites are, of course, musicians.

2 Chronicles 34:14-17, The Book of the Law

While they were bringing out the money that had been taken into the temple of the LORD, Hilkiah the priest found the Book of the Law of the LORD that had been given through Moses. Hilkiah said to Shaphan the secretary, "I have found the Book of the Law in the temple of the LORD." He gave it to Shaphan. 

Then Shaphan took the book to the king and reported to him: "Your officials are doing everything that has been committed to them. They have paid out the money that was in the temple of the LORD and have entrusted it to the supervisors and workers."

 

The Book of the Law has been lost or hidden for many decades, likely from before the reign of Manasseh. This is either the Pentateuch (the Torah, the Five books of Moses) or a subset of that work, the book of Deuteronomy or possibly the Covenant Law as given in Exodus.

In the documents discovered at Elephantine Island in Egypt are Hebrew writings from the time of King Manasseh (see this blog post.) The Hebrew soldiers in Egypt seemed to have no knowledge of the Mosaic Law, an absence that some scholars claim is evident that the books of Moses were written after the Babylonian exile. Yet we might notice that this ignorance of the Law might be expected, considering the history here of Manasseh's idolatrous reign and the fact that this Book of Law was lost or hidden throughout those decades, possibly even a century or more.

2 Chronicles 34:18-21, The Book is read

Then Shaphan the secretary informed the king, "Hilkiah the priest has given me a book." And Shaphan read from it in the presence of the king. When the king heard the words of the Law, he tore his robes.

He gave these orders to Hilkiah, Ahikam son of Shaphan, Abdon son of Micah, Shaphan the secretary and Asaiah the king's attendant: "Go and inquire of the LORD for me and for the remnant in Israel and Judah about what is written in this book that has been found. Great is the LORD's anger that is poured out on us because our fathers have not kept the word of the LORD; they have not acted in accordance with all that is written in this book."

The book of Deuteronomy includes a series of blessings and curses, of consequences for the kingdom of Israel, depending on the faithfulness of the people. Surely the condemnations for idolatry led to Josiah's distress. Josiah pleads for an update on these curses; he has been active in reform but is also aware of a long history of idolatry during the fifty-five years of his grandfather Manasseh.

2 Chronicles 34:22-28, Huldah's message

Hilkiah and those the king had sent with him went to speak to the prophetess Huldah, who was the wife of Shallum son of Tokhath, the son of Hasrah, keeper of the wardrobe. She lived in Jerusalem, in the Second District.

She said to them, 

"This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: Tell the man who sent you to me, `This is what the LORD says: I am going to bring disaster on this place and its people--all the curses written in the book that has been read in the presence of the king of Judah. Because they have forsaken me and burned incense to other gods and provoked me to anger by all that their hands have made, my anger will be poured out on this place and will not be quenched.'

Tell the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of the LORD, `This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says concerning the words you heard: Because your heart was responsive and you humbled yourself before God when you heard what he spoke against this place and its people, and because you humbled yourself before me and tore your robes and wept in my presence, I have heard you, declares the LORD.

Now I will gather you to your fathers, and you will be buried in peace. Your eyes will not see all the disaster I am going to bring on this place and on those who live here.'" 

So they took her answer back to the king.

The attendants of Josiah know of a prophetess, Huldah, wife of Shallum. (Shallum is described, as common in the ANE patriarchy, by his genealogy, but it is his wife who is the prophet.) Huldah brings to the attendants of Josiah a message from YHWH. She addresses these men who then quickly pass on the message to the king.

Huldah is one of many woman prophets in the Old Testament. There are at least four woman prophets mentioned favorably in Old Testament scripture. There is, in addition to Huldah, Miriam, sister of Moses (Exodus 15:20-21), Deborah (Judges 4:4-9) and a wife of Isaiah (Isaiah 8:1-4.) On the negative side, Noadiah (Nehemiah 6:14) was a woman among the "prophets" opposing Nehemiah's work after the return from Babylon. In the New Testament, there is Anna (Luke 2:36-38) and the daughters of Philip (Acts 21:8-9.)

Payne says that the location of the Second District, Huldah's home, is unknown.

Josiah will not see the impending doom descending on Jerusalem. (He will, however, die in battle in the next chapter.)

2 Chronicles 34:29-33, The king reads the Book

Then the king called together all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem. He went up to the temple of the LORD with the men of Judah, the people of Jerusalem, the priests and the Levites--all the people from the least to the greatest. He read in their hearing all the words of the Book of the Covenant, which had been found in the temple of the LORD. The king stood by his pillar and renewed the covenant in the presence of the LORD--to follow the LORD and keep his commands, regulations and decrees with all his heart and all his soul, and to obey the words of the covenant written in this book.

Then he had everyone in Jerusalem and Benjamin pledge themselves to it; the people of Jerusalem did this in accordance with the covenant of God, the God of their fathers.

Josiah removed all the detestable idols from all the territory belonging to the Israelites, and he had all who were present in Israel serve the LORD their God. As long as he lived, they did not fail to follow the LORD, the God of their fathers.

  

The Book of the Law, found in the temple, is here called the Book of the Covenant. The king reads it aloud to all the people and the people renew their commitment to that covenant.