Albert Barnes Commentary 2 Chronicles 34
Albert Barnes Commentary
2 Chronicles 34
Albert Barnes Commentary
2 Chronicles 34
"Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign; and he reigned thirty and one years in Jerusalem." — 2 Chronicles 34:1 (ASV)
Compare the parallel history in 2 Kings 22; 23:1-30. The writer here is more detailed regarding the celebration of the Passover. The only apparent discrepancy between the two narratives concerns the timing of the religious reformation; the writer of Chronicles distinctly places it before the repair of the temple, while the author of Kings places it after. The best explanation seems to be that the author of Kings departed from the chronological order, which he does not claim to follow strictly.
"For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was yet young, he began to seek after the God of David his father; and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem from the high places, and the Asherim, and the graven images, and the molten images." — 2 Chronicles 34:3 (ASV)
He began to purge Judah - Jeremiah’s first prophecies (Jeremiah 2–3) appear to have been coincident with Josiah’s earlier efforts to uproot idolatry, and must have greatly strengthened his hands.
"And they brake down the altars of the Baalim in his presence; and the sun-images that were on high above them he hewed down; and the Asherim, and the graven images, and the molten images, he brake in pieces, and made dust of them, and strewed it upon the graves [of them] that had sacrificed unto them." — 2 Chronicles 34:4 (ASV)
The images — A marginal note refers to these as sun-images. See the note on Leviticus 26:30.
"And [so did he] in the cities of Manasseh and Ephraim and Simeon, even unto Naphtali, in their ruins round about." — 2 Chronicles 34:6 (ASV)
With the power of Assyria now greatly weakened, if not completely broken (629-624 B.C.), Josiah aimed not only for a religious reformation but also for a restoration of the kingdom to its ancient limits (see the 2 Kings 23:19 note).
With their mattocks ... - Or, “in their desolate places” . Another reading gives the sense, “he searched their houses all around.”
"even to the carpenters and to the builders gave they it, to buy hewn stone, and timber for couplings, and to make beams for the houses which the kings of Judah had destroyed." — 2 Chronicles 34:11 (ASV)
The “houses” mentioned are either the “chambers” that surrounded the temple on three sides (1 Kings 6:5) or the out-buildings attached to the courts. The “kings of Judah” referred to are, no doubt, Manasseh and Amon.
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