Bible Commentaries

Reign of Josiah

The chapter narrates how Josiah suppressed idolatry and repaired the Temple; how a book of the Law, found in the Temple, was read to the king and the people; and how the nation's covenant with the Lord was renewed.

This chapter and the following are, in general, parallel to 2 Kings 22, 2 Kings 23:1-30 with some unimportant variants; but the Chronicler gives more prominence than the writer of 2 Kings to the passover celebrated by Josiah.

3. In the twelfth year] In 2 Ki the abolition of the 'high places' is described as subsequent to the repair of the Temple, and the latter is assigned to Josiah's 'eighteenth' year: 2 Kings 22:3; 2 Kings 23:5, 2 Kings 23:8.

5. Burnt the bones] This was believed to afflict the souls of the dead priests, as well as to desecrate the shrines at which they had ministered. The condition of the spirit after death depended in a large measure upon the treatment sustained by the body.

6. With their mattocks] A slight alteration gives 'in their ruins' (so RV), i.e. the desolate sites of the cities destroyed by the Assyrians.

9. And they returned to Jerusalem] Another reading is 'and of the inhabitants of Jerusalem.'

11. The houses] i.e. the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies: cp. 1 Chronicles 28:11; 1 Chronicles 29:4.

22. In the college] RV 'in the second quarter' (of the city). It has been suggested that this may have occupied the upper end of the Tyropoean valley, W. of the Temple.