HarperCollins Study Bible
Page 182
33.25 The people of the land, variously identified as free landowners, citizens, the population of provincial towns, a proletariat of common people, or a national council of elders.
2 CHRONICLES 34
Reign of Josiah
1Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign; he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem. 2He did what was right in the sight of the LORD, and walked in the ways of his ancestor David; he did not turn aside to the right or to the left. 3For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was still a boy, he began to seek the God of his ancestor David, and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem of the high places, the sacred poles,a and the carved and the cast images. 4In his presence they pulled down the altars of the Baals; he demolished the incense altars that stood above them. He broke down the sacred polesb and the carved and the cast images; he made dust of them and scattered it over the graves of those who had sacrificed to them. 5He also burned the bones of the priests on their altars, and purged Judah and Jerusalem. 6In the towns of Manasseh, Ephraim, and Simeon, and as far as Naphtali, in their ruinsc all around, 7he broke down the altars, beat the sacred polesd and the images into powder, and demolished all the incense altars throughout all the land of Israel. Then he returned to Jerusalem.
Discovery of the Book of the Law
8In the eighteenth year of his reign, when he had purged the land and the house, he sent Shaphan son of Azaliah, Maaseiah the governor of the city, and Joah son of Joahaz, the recorder, to repair the house of the LORD his God. 9They came to the high priest Hilkiah and delivered the money that had been brought into the house of God, which the Levites, the keepers of the threshold, had collected from Manasseh and Ephraim and from all the remnant of Israel and from all Judah and Benjamin and from the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 10They delivered it to the workers who had the oversight of the house of the LORD, and the workers who were working in the house of the LORD gave it for repairing and restoring the house. 11They gave it to the carpenters and the builders to buy quarried stone, and timber for binders, and beams for the buildings that the kings of Judah had let go to ruin. 12The people did the work faithfully. Over them were appointed the Levites Jahath and Obadiah, of the sons of Merari, along with Zechariah and Meshullam, of the sons of the Kohathites, to have oversight. Other Levites, all skillful with instruments of music, 13were over the burden bearers and directed all who did work in every kind of service; and some of the Levites were scribes, and officials, and gatekeepers.
14While they were bringing out the money that had been brought into the house of the LORD, the priest Hilkiah found the book of the law of the LORD given through Moses. 15Hilkiah said to the secretary Shaphan, “I have found the book of the law in the house of the LORD” and Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan. 16Shaphan brought the book to the king, and further reported to the king, “All that was committed to your servants they are doing. 17They have emptied out the money that was found in the house of the LORD and have delivered it into the hand of the overseers and the workers.” 18The secretary Shaphan informed the king, “The priest Hilkiah has given me a book.” Shaphan then read it aloud to the king.
19When the king heard the words of the law he tore his clothes. 20Then the king commanded Hilkiah, Ahikam son of Shaphan, Abdon son of Micah, the secretary Shaphan, and the king’s servant Asaiah: 21“Go, inquire of the LORD for me and for those who are left in Israel and in Judah, concerning the words of the book that has been found; for the wrath of the LORD that is poured out on us is great, because our ancestors did not keep the word of the LORD, to act in accordance with all that is written in this book.”
The Prophet Huldah Consulted
22So Hilkiah and those whom the king had sent went to the prophet Huldah, the wife of Shallum son of Tokhath son of Hasrah, keeper of the wardrobe (who lived in Jerusalem in the Second Quarter) and spoke to her to that effect. 23She declared to them, “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: Tell the man who sent you to me, 24Thus says the LORD: I will indeed bring disaster upon this place and upon its inhabitants, all the curses that are written in the book that was read before the king of Judah. 25Because they have forsaken me and have made offerings to other gods, so that they have provoked me to anger with all the works of their hands, my wrath will be poured out on this place and will not be quenched. 26But as to the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of the LORD, thus shall you say to him: Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: Regarding the words that you have heard, 27because your heart was penitent and you humbled yourself before God when you heard his words against this place and its inhabitants, and you have humbled yourself before me, and have torn your clothes and wept before me, I also have heard you, says the LORD. 28I will gather you to your ancestors and you shall be gathered to your grave in peace; your eyes shall not see all the disaster that I will bring on this place and its inhabitants.” They took the message back to the king.
The Covenant Renewed
29Then the king sent word and gathered together all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem. 30The king went up to the house of the LORD, with all the people of Judah, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the priests and the Levites, all the people both great and small; he read in their hearing all the words of the book of the covenant that had been found in the house of the LORD. 31The king stood in his place and made a covenant before the LORD, to follow the LORD, keeping his commandments, his decrees, and his statutes, with all his heart and all his soul, to perform the words of the covenant that were written in this book. 32Then he made all who were present in Jerusalem and in Benjamin pledge themselves to it. And the inhabitants of Jerusalem acted according to the covenant of God, the God of their ancestors. 33Josiah took away all the abominations from all the territory that belonged to the people of Israel, and made all who were in Israel worship the LORD their God. All his days they did not turn away from following the LORD the God of their ancestors.
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a Heb Asherim
b Heb Asherim
c Meaning of Heb uncertain
d Heb Asherim
34.1–7 Cf. 2 Kings 22.1–2; 23.4–20.
34.2 Josiah is the best of all Judean kings in following the example of David, although in Chronicles many of his activities merely repeat those of Hezekiah, who is identified as the real innovator.
34.3 According to Chronicles Josiah begins seeking God at the age of sixteen and his reforming activities at twenty. Note the similar early activities of Hezekiah (29.3). Kings places his main reform in his eighteenth year, after the discovery of the law book, when he was twenty-six. A careful reading of Kings, however, shows that reforming activities (e.g., the temple repair) begin earlier. The few parallels with 2 Kings in vv. 3–7 deal with Josiah’s reforms in his eighteenth year. Chronicles antedates the purification of the temple to the reign of Manasseh (33.15–16).
34.4–5 The text implies that Josiah kills the priests of Baal (cf. 2 Kings 10; 23.17).
34.6 Because Assyria’s power is rapidly deteriorating, Josiah’s reform, as in Kings, extends into the Northern Kingdom. Josiah’s territory in Chronicles nearly equals that of David and Solomon—from Simeon to Naphtali.
34.8–21 Cf. 2 Kings 22.3–13.
34.8 Maaseiah, Joah, names added by the Chronicler, or accidentally lost from 2 Kings.
34.9 The Chronicler identifies the Levites as the collectors of the temple contribution and includes both Northern and Southern tribes among the contributors.
34.11 Kings of Judah, perhaps Ahaz, Manasseh, and Amon.
34.12–13 The Chronicler places Levites, including the levitical singers, as supervisors and in other offices during the reform.
34.14 Hilkiah ’s discovery of the book of the law is a reward for Josiah’s generosity and faithfulness to the temple. Modern scholars identify the law book as some form of Deuteronomy; the Chronicler may take it to be the whole Pentateuch.
34.15 2 Kings 22.8 notes that Shaphan reads the book. The Chronicler may think
it unlikely that the Pentateuch was read twice by Shaphan in one day (cf. v. 18).
34.21 Those who are left in Israel. The Chronicler’s interest in all Israel leads him to add a reference to the remnant of the Northern Kingdom.
34.22–28 Cf. 2 Kings 22.14–20.
34.22 Huldah, a Jerusalemite prophetess. Second Quarter, a part of the city added by Hezekiah.
34.24 Curses. Cf. Deut 27.9–26; 28.15–68.
34.27 Josiah’s repentance leads to his deliverance.
34.28 In peace implies a natural death, even though Josiah died of wounds suffered in battle (35.23–24). Huldah predicts that Josiah will not himself experience the destruction of Jerusalem.
34.29–33 Cf. 2 Kings 23.1–3.
34.30 Levites. 2 Kings 23.2 reads “prophets.”
34.31 In 2 Kings the covenant is followed by the destruction of inappropriate worship sites. In Chronicles these sites were destroyed before the finding of the law book. The covenant leads in Chronicles to the celebration of Passover after a summary of Hezekiah’s reforms throughout the land of Israel (v. 33).
2 CHRONICLES 35
Celebration of the Passover
1Josiah kept a passover to the LORD in Jerusalem; they slaughtered the passover lamb on the fourteenth day of the first month. 2He appointed the priests to their offices and encouraged them in the service of the house of the LORD. 3He said to the Levites who taught all Israel and who were holy to the LORD, “Put the holy ark in the house that Solomon son of David, king of Israel, built; you need no longer carry it on your shoulders. Now serve the LORD your God and his people Israel. 4Make preparations by your ancestral houses by your divisions, following the written directions of King David of Israel and the written directions of his son Solomon. 5Take position in the holy place according to the groupings of the ancestral houses of your kindred the people, and let there be Levites for each division of an ancestral house.a 6Slaughter the passover lamb, sanctify yourselves, and on behalf of your kindred make preparations, acting according to the word of the LORD by Moses.”
7Then Josiah contributed to the people, as passover offerings for all that were present, lambs and kids from the flock to the number of thirty thousand, and three thousand bulls; these were from the king’s possessions. 8His officials contributed willingly to the people, to the priests, and to the Levites. Hilkiah, Zechariah, and Jehiel, the chief officers of the house of God, gave to the priests for the passover offerings two thousand six hundred lambs and kids and three hundred bulls. 9Conaniah also, and his brothers Shemaiah and Nethanel, and Hashabiah and Jeiel and Jozabad, the chiefs of the Levites, gave to the Levites for the passover offerings five thousand lambs and kids and five hundred bulls.
10When the service had been prepared for, the priests stood in their place, and the Levites in their divisions according to the king’s command. 11They slaughtered the passover lamb, and the priests dashed the blood that they receivedb from them, while the Levites did the skinning. 12They set aside the burnt offerings so that they might distribute them according to the groupings of the ancestral houses of the people, to offer to the LORD, as it is written in the book of Moses. And they did the same with the bulls. 13They roasted the passover lamb with fire according to the ordinance; and they boiled the holy offerings in pots, in caldrons, and in pans, and carried them quickly to all the people. 14Afterward they made preparations for themselves and for the priests, because the priests the descendants of Aaron were occupied in offering the burnt offerings and the fat parts until night; so the Levites made preparations for themselves and for the priests, the descendants of Aaron. 15The singers, the descendants of Asaph, were in their place according to the command of David, and Asaph, and Heman, and the king’s seer Jeduthun. The gatekeepers were at each gate; they did not need to interrupt their service, for their kindred the Levites made preparations for them.
16So all the service of the LORD was prepared that day, to keep the passover and to offer burnt offerings on the altar of the LORD, according to the command of King Josiah. 17The people of Israel who were present kept the passover at that time, and the festival of unleavened bread seven days. 18No passover like it had been kept in Israel since the days of the prophet Samuel; none of the kings of Israel had kept such a passover as was kept by Josiah, by the priests and the Levites, by all Judah and Israel who were present, and by the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 19In the eighteenth year of the reign of Josiah this passover was kept.
Defeat by Pharaoh Neco and Death of Josiah
20After all this, when Josiah had set the temple in order, King Neco of Egypt went up to fight at Carchemish on the Euphrates, and Josiah went out against him. 21But Necoc sent envoys to him, saying, “What have I to do with you, king of Judah? I am not coming against you today, but against the house with which I am at war; and God has commanded me to hurry. Cease opposing God, who is with me, so that he will not destroy you.” 22But Josiah would not turn away from him, but disguised himself in order to fight with him. He did not listen to the words of Neco from the mouth of God, but joined battle in the plain of Megiddo. 23The archers shot King Josiah; and the king said to his servants, “Take me away, for I am badly wounded.” 24So his servants took him out of the chariot and carried him in his second chariotd and brought him to Jerusalem. There he died, and was buried in the tombs of his ancestors. All Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah. 25Jeremiah also uttered a lament for Josiah, and all the singing men and singing women have spoken of Josiah in their laments to this day. They made these a custom in Israel; they are recorded in the Laments. 26Now the rest of the acts of Josiah and his faithful deeds in accordance with what is written in the law of the LORD, 27and his acts, first and last, are written in the Book of the Kings of Israel and Judah.
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a Meaning of Heb uncertain
b Heb lacks that they received
c Heb he
d Or the chariot of his deputy
35.1–19 Cf. 2 Kings 23.21–23. Chronicles greatly expands the report of Josiah’s Passover and gives prominence to the Levites.
35.1 In Jerusalem, following the precedent of Hezekiah. Fourteenth day of the first month. Josiah’s Passover is held at the normal time (Ex 12.6; Lev 23.5; Num 9.3; cf. 2 Chr 30.2–3).
35.3 Taught all Israel. Cf. 17.7–9. According to the Chronicler, the ark had actually been deposited in the temple at the time of Solomon (ch. 5) and the Levites had been given alternate duties since the time of David (1 Chr 16.4).
35.4 The Chronicler links David and Solomon as kings who established the duties of the Levites. See 1 Chr 23–27. Other parallels between David and Solomon are given in 2 Chr 7.10; 11.17.
35.7–9 The generosity of the king and his officials could serve as an example to the Chronicler’s audience. The bulls are not part of the Passover ritual but may be associated with the Feast of Unleavened Bread. The number of animals contributed is 41,400 (cf. 30.24, where 19,000 animals were given at Hezekiah’s Passover). The population of Judah is about 300,000, not counting participants from the North.
35.11 Because of the large numbers at the centralized Passover, the Levites kill and skin the lambs, while the priests manipulate the blood.
35.13 They roasted…fire, lit. “They boiled the Passover lamb with fire.” According to Ex 12.8–9 the Passover lamb is to be roasted; according to Deut 16.7 it is to be boiled.
35.17 The people of Israel…present. Josiah’s Passover includes people from the North and the South.
35.18 A Passover like this has not been held since Samuel. 2 Kings 23.22 compares Josiah’s celebration to the Passover held by the judges, with the issue being centralization of worship by Josiah. Since centralization has already occurred under Hezekiah according to Chronicles, the innovation with Josiah may be the prominent role of the Levites (cf. vv. 3–6). This verse also stresses the significance of an all-Israel celebration.
35.20–27 Cf. 2 Kings 23.28–30a. Josiah’s death comes thirteen years after the Passover c
elebration. Neco was on his way to prop up Assyria as a buffer against Babylon (2 Kings 23.29 indicates that Neco was fighting against Assyria, though this point is not clear in the NRSV). Josiah opposes him because he is anti-Assyrian, because of a league with Babylon, or because he wants independence.
35.20 Neco, king of Egypt 610–595 BCE. Carchemish, a city sixty miles northeast of Aleppo.
35.21 Since Neco claims he has been sent by God, anyone opposing him would be opposing God. He desires safe passage through Judah.
35.22 Josiah persists in his battle plans and disobeys the word of God as revealed through Neco. Hence the death of this otherwise exemplary king corresponds with the doctrine of retribution. According to 1 Esd 1.26, Jeremiah had authenticated the message from Neco. Disguised himself, a detail not mentioned in 2 Kings (cf. Ahab in 1 Kings 22.30). Megiddo, a town located on an important pass in the Carmel range.
35.23 The Chronicler observes that the archers wounded the king, who begs his attendants to take him from the battle.
35.24 Transported in a second chariot, Josiah dies in Jerusalem. In 2 Kings 23.29–30 Josiah dies at Megiddo.
35.25 Jeremiah expresses public sorrow, and he is joined by other singers. The Laments, a work otherwise unknown; not the biblical book of Lamentations.
35.26 The Chronicler notes that the deeds of Josiah were in accord with what is written in the law of the LORD, i.e., the Pentateuch. Chronicles places the summary of Josiah’s reign after the account of his death, not before it as in Kings.
2 CHRONICLES 36
Reign of Jehoahaz
1The people of the land took Jehoahaz son of Josiah and made him king to succeed his father in Jerusalem. 2Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he began to reign; he reigned three months in Jerusalem. 3Then the king of Egypt deposed him in Jerusalem and laid on the land a tribute of one hundred talents of silver and one talent of gold. 4The king of Egypt made his brother Eliakim king over Judah and Jerusalem, and changed his name to Jehoiakim; but Neco took his brother Jehoahaz and carried him to Egypt.