John Gill's Bible Commentary Ver. 8. Now in the eighteenth year of his reign, when he had purged the land and the house , etc.] The temple; this was in the twenty sixth year of his age, six years this work had been doing before it was finished: he sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah : who only is mentioned in ( 2 Kings 22:3) two more are added here, as follow: and Maaseiah the governor of the city ; the city of Jerusalem, a deputy governor under the king, a sort of mayor or provost: and Joah the son of Joahaz the recorder ; who was over the book of memorials, as the Targum; the word may be rendered “the remembrances”; and, according to Jarchi, as every king of Judah had a scribe to write down the memorable things that happened in his reign, good or bad, so the scribe had one by him, to put him in mind of every transaction, from whom he wrote it down: to repair the house of the Lord his God ; that is, to give orders for the doing of it, to prepare for it, provide workmen, and appoint overseers of them: it had not been repaired since the times of Joash, which, according to the Jewish chronology f158 , was a space of two hundred and eighteen years.
Matthew Henry Commentary
- Josiah's good reign in Judah.
--As the years of infancy cannot be useful to our fellow-creatures, ou earliest youth should be dedicated to God, that we may not waste any of the remaining short space of life. Happy and wise are those who see the Lord and prepare for usefulness at an early age, when others ar pursuing sinful pleasures, contracting bad habits, and forming ruinou connexions. Who can express the anguish prevented by early piety, an its blessed effects? Diligent self-examination and watchfulness wil convince us of the deceitfulness and wickedness of our own hearts, an the sinfulness of our lives. We are here encouraged to humble ourselve before God, and to seek unto him, as Josiah did. And believers are her taught, not to fear death, but to welcome it, when it takes them awa from the evil to come. Nothing hastens the ruin of a people, nor ripen them for it, more than their disregard of the attempts made for their reformation. Be not deceived, God is not mocked. The current and tid of affections only turns at the command of Him who raises up those tha are dead in trespasses and sins. We behold peculiar loveliness, in the grace the Lord bestows on those, who in tender years seek to know an to love the Saviour. Hath Jesus, the Day-spring from on high, visite you? Can you trace your knowledge of this light and life of man, lik Josiah, from your youth? Oh the unspeakable happiness of becomin acquainted with Jesus from our earliest years _________________________________________________
Original Hebrew ובשׁנת8141 שׁמונה8083 עשׂרה6240 למלכו4427 לטהר2891 הארץ776 והבית1004 שׁלח7971 את853 שׁפן8227 בן1121 אצליהו683 ואת853 מעשׂיהו4641 שׂר8269 העיר5892 ואת853 יואח3098 בן1121 יואחז3099 המזכיר2142 לחזק2388 את853 בית1004 יהוה3068 אלהיו׃430
