Bible Commentaries

2 Chronicles 24:4-5, 2 Chronicles 24:13

Consider what reason we have for regarding a place of Christian worship with peculiar reverence.

I. The Biblical history of a place where God is worshipped represents it as one of peculiar and awful sanctity.

II. The Bible represents the building and repairing of the Lord's house as acts of eminent piety. The historian says of Joash in the context that he was a godly man as long as he had the guidance of the celebrated priest Jehoiada. Yet the only thing thought worthy of mention in that part of his reign is that "he was minded to repair the house of the Lord."

III. It is the instinct of a devout heart everywhere and always to revere the house in which God is publicly worshipped.

IV. The associations of the Lord's house are an incalculable help to the culture of religious character. We are creatures of association. We are moved more profoundly than we think by our surroundings. The recollection of our experiences in the house of God may be among the most precious treasures that memory hoards.

V. A Christian church is the most significant emblem that we have of heaven. "This is the gate of heaven," said the astonished patriarch. He had seen angels. Heaven seemed very near to him.

A. Phelps, The Old Testament a Living Book, p. 67.

Reference: 2 Chronicles 24:8-10.—Sermons for Boys and Girls, p. 221.

2 Chronicles 24

I. Josiah was an early seeker. At the age of eight he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, and at sixteen he began to seek the God of his father David with more earnestness than ever. And he found Him, and became a wonder unto many, a royal miracle of grace. This boy will condemn you if you are not an early seeker of God, you who have so many more encouragements than he had. God expects you to seek early; you can seek early, and early seekers are sure finders.

II. Josiah was also a hearty hater of evil. He hated idols just as much as he loved Jehovah; his hatred sprang from love, and was steeped in love. He did not love from a softness or easiness of nature, but the fire of God within him burnt into hatred and melted into love. Holy hatred kept his feet from falling, his eyes from tears, and his soul from death.

III. Josiah was a real hero. A hero is one who in doing duty scorns great dangers. Nearly all the people were against Josiah's reforms, which put his life in peril; but he pushed boldly forward. Conscience was his king; and he felt that it was not necessary for him to live, but that it was necessary for him to do his work. The fear of God drove the fear of man out of Josiah's heart, and made him a true hero.

IV. Josiah was missed and mourned when he died. There is a night in the history of Spain which is known as "the sad night," and so in the history of Judah the death of Josiah was "the sad day." Many young lives are like a shattered column: unhewn from top to bottom. But Josiah's life was like a well-chiselled pillar, though snapped in the middle by the rude shock of battle. Hence he was sorely missed and mourned.

J. Wells, Bible Children, p. 159.

Reference: 2 Chronicles 24:19, 2 Chronicles 24:21.—Clergyman's Magazine, vol. ix., p. 338.