Albert Barnes Commentary 2 Kings 22

In the eighteenth year - This is the date of the finding of the Book of the Law and of the Passover (see the marginal reference and 2 Kings 23:23), but it does not apply to all the various reforms of Josiah as described in 2 Kings 23:4–20. The true chronology of Josiah’s reign is learned from 2 Chronicles 34:3–8 and 2 Chronicles 35:1. From these passages, it appears that most of his reforms preceded the finding of the Book of the Law. He began them in the 12th year of his reign, at the age of 20, and had accomplished all, or most of them, by his 18th year, when the Book of the Law was found.

Shaphan is mentioned frequently by Jeremiah. He was the father of Ahikam, Jeremiah’s friend and protector at the court of Jehoiakim (Jeremiah 26:24), and the grandfather of Gedaliah, who was made governor of Judea by the Babylonians after the destruction of Jerusalem (2 Kings 25:22). Several of his other sons and grandsons were in favor with the later Jewish kings (Jeremiah 29:3; 36:10-12, 25; Ezekiel 8:11). Shaphan’s office was one of great importance, involving very confidential relations with the king (1 Kings 4:3).

Hilkiah - Hilkiah was the father (or grandfather) of Seraiah (compare 1 Chronicles 6:13–14 with Nehemiah 11:11), the high priest at the time of the captivity (2 Kings 25:18), and the ancestor of Ezra the scribe (Ezra 7:1).

It is evident from the language of this verse that a collection for the temple's repairs, similar to the one established in the reign of Joash (2 Kings 12:9–10), had been in progress for a considerable time (compare 2 Chronicles 34:3). The king now sent to learn the result.

See the marginal reference. The “doers” in the first part of the verse are the contractors or overseers who undertook the general supervision. They are to be distinguished from a lower class of “doers”—the actual laborers, carpenters, and masons in the latter portion of the verse.

The phrase which is in the house of the Lord should be read as “who are,” as it refers to the people who were actually employed in the temple.

They dealt faithfully - Compare the marginal reference. The names of these honest overseers are given in 2 Chronicles 34:12.

Some have concluded from this discovery either that no “book of the law” had ever existed before, arguing that the work now said to have been “found” was forged for the occasion by Hilkiah. An alternative view is that all knowledge of the old “book” had been lost, and that a work of unknown date and authorship, having been found at this time, was accepted as the Law of Moses on account of its contents and has thus come down to us under his name.

However, this is to read far more into the narrative than it naturally implies. If Hilkiah had been bold and wicked enough to forge the book, or foolish enough to hastily accept a composition he knew nothing about as the real “book of the law,” there were four ways to detect his error or fraud:

1. The Jewish Liturgies, which embodied large portions of the Law.
2. The memory of living people, which in many cases may have extended to the entire five books, as it does now with modern Samaritans.
3. Other copies, entire or fragmentary, existing among the more learned Jews or in the Schools of the Prophets.
4. Quotations from the Law in other works, especially in the psalmists and prophets, who refer to it on almost every page.

The copy of the Book of the Law found by Hilkiah was undoubtedly the one that Moses, in accordance with God’s command, had deposited by the side of the ark of the covenant, where it was ordinarily kept in the Holy of Holies. It had been lost or hidden away during the desecration of the temple by Manasseh but had not been removed from the temple building.