Now in the eighteenth year of his reign, King Josiah sent the scribe, Shaphan son of Azaliah, the son of Meshullam, to the house of the LORD, saying, Now in the eighteenth year of his reignThis phrase marks a significant point in the timeline of King Josiah's rule over Judah. Josiah became king at the tender age of eight, following the assassination of his father, Amon. The eighteenth year of his reign would make him twenty-six years old, a time when he was likely coming into his own as a leader. Historically, this period is crucial as it marks the beginning of Josiah's religious reforms, which were pivotal in the history of Judah. Josiah's reign is often seen as a return to the covenantal faithfulness that had been neglected by his predecessors. King Josiah
Josiah is one of the most revered kings of Judah, known for his dedication to the LORD and his efforts to restore true worship. His name, meaning "healed by Yahweh" or "supported by Yahweh," reflects his role as a reformer and restorer of the faith. Josiah's reign is characterized by a sincere attempt to rid Judah of idolatry and to re-establish the worship of Yahweh as prescribed in the Law of Moses. His actions are often seen as a fulfillment of the prophecies concerning the Davidic line and a foreshadowing of the ultimate restoration through Christ. sent the scribe Shaphan
Shaphan, the scribe, plays a crucial role in the narrative of Josiah's reforms. As a scribe, Shaphan was responsible for recording and managing official documents, making him a key figure in the administration of the kingdom. His involvement in the discovery of the Book of the Law highlights the importance of literacy and record-keeping in preserving the covenantal traditions of Israel. Shaphan's actions demonstrate the collaborative effort required to bring about spiritual renewal and reform. son of Azaliah, the son of Meshullam
The mention of Shaphan's lineage underscores the importance of family heritage and legacy in the biblical narrative. Azaliah and Meshullam, though not extensively detailed in Scripture, are part of a lineage that contributed to the spiritual and administrative life of Judah. This genealogical reference serves to authenticate Shaphan's position and authority, as well as to connect the narrative to the broader history of God's people. to the house of the LORD
The "house of the LORD" refers to the temple in Jerusalem, the central place of worship for the Israelites. At this time, the temple had fallen into disrepair, both physically and spiritually, due to the neglect and idolatry of previous kings. Josiah's decision to send Shaphan to the temple signifies the beginning of a restoration process, both in terms of the physical structure and the spiritual life of the nation. The temple, as the dwelling place of God's presence, symbolizes the heart of Israel's covenant relationship with Yahweh. saying
This simple word introduces the instructions that Josiah is about to give, setting the stage for the significant events that follow. It indicates the active role of Josiah in initiating reform and underscores the importance of communication and leadership in effecting change. Josiah's words, as recorded in the following verses, reveal his commitment to aligning the nation with God's will and his determination to lead by example. Persons / Places / Events 1. King JosiahThe king of Judah who began his reign at a young age and was known for his reforms and dedication to restoring the worship of Yahweh. 2. ShaphanA scribe and a trusted official in King Josiah's court, tasked with overseeing the temple repairs. 3. AzaliahThe father of Shaphan, mentioned to establish Shaphan's lineage and credibility. 4. MeshullamThe grandfather of Shaphan, further establishing the family line. 5. The House of the LORDRefers to the temple in Jerusalem, which was in need of repair and restoration during Josiah's reign. Teaching Points The Importance of Godly LeadershipJosiah's commitment to restoring the temple and worship of Yahweh demonstrates the impact of godly leadership on a nation. Leaders today should seek to honor God in their decisions and actions. The Role of Scripture in ReformationThe rediscovery of the Book of the Law during Josiah's reign underscores the transformative power of God's Word. Believers should prioritize Scripture in their personal and communal lives to guide and reform their hearts and actions. Faithful Stewardship of ResourcesJosiah's initiative to repair the temple shows the importance of using resources wisely for God's glory. Christians are called to be good stewards of their time, talents, and treasures in service to the Lord. Generational FaithfulnessThe mention of Shaphan's lineage highlights the value of generational faithfulness. Families should strive to pass down a legacy of faith and service to future generations. Bible Study Questions 1. How does King Josiah's leadership inspire you to influence your community or workplace for God? 2. In what ways can you prioritize the study and application of Scripture in your daily life, similar to the rediscovery of the Book of the Law? 3. What resources has God entrusted to you, and how can you use them to further His kingdom, as seen in the temple repairs? 4. How can you contribute to building a legacy of faith in your family or community, following the example of Shaphan's lineage? 5. Reflect on a time when a leader's actions positively impacted your spiritual journey. How can you emulate that influence in your own sphere of influence? Connections to Other Scriptures 2 Chronicles 34This chapter provides a parallel account of Josiah's reign and reforms, offering additional details about the temple restoration and the discovery of the Book of the Law. Deuteronomy 31This passage discusses the importance of the Book of the Law, which was rediscovered during Josiah's temple repairs, emphasizing the need for adherence to God's commandments. Jeremiah 1Jeremiah's prophetic ministry began during Josiah's reign, highlighting the spiritual climate and the need for reform in Judah. People Achbor, Adaiah, Ahikam, Asahiah, Asaiah, Azaliah, David, Harhas, Hilkiah, Huldah, Jedidah, Josiah, Meshullam, Micaiah, Michaiah, Shallum, Shaphan, TikvahPlaces Bozkath, Jerusalem, Second QuarterTopics Azaliah, Azali'ah, Eighteenth, Josiah, Josi'ah, Meshullam, Meshul'lam, Pass, Reign, Saying, Scribe, Secretary, Shaphan, TempleDictionary of Bible Themes 2 Kings 22:3-6 5212 arts and crafts 2 Kings 22:3-7 4366 stones
5508 ruins
5603 wages
7467 temple, Solomon's
8466 reformation Library The Rediscovered Law and Its Effects
'And Hilkiah the high priest said unto Shaphan the scribe, I have found the book of the law in the house of the Lord: and Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, and he read it. 9. And Shaphan the scribe came to the king, and brought the king word again, and said, Thy servants have gathered the money that was found in the house, and have delivered it into the hand of them that do the work, that have the oversight of the house of the Lord. 10. And Shaphan the scribe shewed the king, saying, Hilkiah the …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy ScriptureJosiah, a Pattern for the Ignorant.
"Because thine heart was tender, and thou hast humbled thyself before the Lord, when thou heardest what I spake against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof, that they should become a desolation and a curse, and hast rent thy clothes, and wept before Me; I also have heard thee, saith the Lord. Behold therefore, I will gather thee unto thy fathers, and thou shalt be gathered into thy grave in peace; and thine eyes shall not see all the evil which I will bring upon this place."--2 Kings …
John Henry Newman—Parochial and Plain Sermons, Vol. VIII A Traveler's Note-Book
A tourist who roams for a brief while through some great country like England or Russia may jot down a few of the impressions which come home to him, making no pretense at completeness or symmetry of description. So, one who has journeyed like a hasty traveler over some passages in that vast tract of years which we describe as the classic and Christian civilizations, notes down in the following pages a few of the salient features that have impressed him. He has already prefaced this with a sort …
George S. Merriam—The Chief End of Man Whether Determinate Things are Required for a Sacrament?
Objection 1: It seems that determinate things are not required for a sacrament. For sensible things are required in sacraments for the purpose of signification, as stated above [4343](A[4]). But nothing hinders the same thing being signified by divers sensible things: thus in Holy Scripture God is signified metaphorically, sometimes by a stone (2 Kings 22:2; Zech. 3:9; 1 Cor. 10:4; Apoc. 4:3); sometimes by a lion (Is. 31:4; Apoc. 5:5); sometimes by the sun (Is. 60:19,20; Mal. 4:2), or by something …
Saint Thomas Aquinas—Summa Theologica The Instrumentality of the Wicked Employed by God, While He Continues Free from Every Taint.
1. The carnal mind the source of the objections which are raised against the Providence of God. A primary objection, making a distinction between the permission and the will of God, refuted. Angels and men, good and bad, do nought but what has been decreed by God. This proved by examples. 2. All hidden movements directed to their end by the unseen but righteous instigation of God. Examples, with answers to objections. 3. These objections originate in a spirit of pride and blasphemy. Objection, that …
John Calvin—The Institutes of the Christian Religion The Medes and the Second Chaldaean Empire
THE FALL OF NINEVEH AND THE RISE OF THE CHALDAEAN AND MEDIAN EMPIRES--THE XXVIth EGYPTIAN DYNASTY: CYAXARES, ALYATTES, AND NEBUCHADREZZAR. The legendary history of the kings of Media and the first contact of the Medes with the Assyrians: the alleged Iranian migrations of the Avesta--Media-proper, its fauna and flora; Phraortes and the beginning of the Median empire--Persia proper and the Persians; conquest of Persia by the Medes--The last monuments of Assur-bani-pal: the library of Kouyunjik--Phraortes …
G. Maspero—History Of Egypt, Chaldaea, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria, V 8 The First Blast of the Trumpet
The English Scholar's Library etc. No. 2. The First Blast of the Trumpet &c. 1558. The English Scholar's Library of Old and Modern Works. No. 2. The First Blast of the Trumpet &c. 1558. Edited by EDWARD ARBER, F.S.A., etc., LECTURER IN ENGLISH LITERATURE, ETC., UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, LONDON. SOUTHGATE, LONDON, N. 15 August 1878. No. 2. (All rights reserved.) CONTENTS. Bibliography vii-viii Introduction …
John Knox—The First Blast of the Trumpet Why Should we not Believe These to be Angelic Operations through Dispensation of The...
16. Why should we not believe these to be angelic operations through dispensation of the providence of God, Who maketh good use of both good things and evil, according to the unsearchable depth of His judgments? whether thereby the minds of mortals be instructed, or whether deceived; whether consoled, or whether terrified: according as unto each one there is to be either a showing of mercy, or a taking of vengeance, by Him to Whom, not without a meaning, the Church doth sing "of mercy and of judgment." …
St. Augustine—On Care to Be Had for the Dead. The Credibility of Scripture Sufficiently Proved in So Far as Natural Reason Admits.
1. Secondary helps to establish the credibility of Scripture. I. The arrangement of the sacred volume. II. Its dignity. III. Its truth. IV. Its simplicity. V. Its efficacy. 2. The majesty conspicuous in the writings of the Prophets. 3. Special proofs from the Old Testament. I. The antiquity of the Books of Moses. 4. This antiquity contrasted with the dreams of the Egyptians. II. The majesty of the Books of Moses. 5. The miracles and prophecies of Moses. A profane objection refuted. 6. Another profane …
John Calvin—The Institutes of the Christian Religion Authorship of the Pentateuch.
The term Pentateuch is composed of the two Greek words, pente, five, and teuchos, which in later Alexandrine usage signified book. It denotes, therefore, the collection of five books; or, the five books of the law considered as a whole. 1. In our inquiries respecting the authorship of the Pentateuch, we begin with the undisputed fact that it existed in its present form in the days of Christ and his apostles, and had so existed from the time of Ezra. When the translators of the Greek version, …
E. P. Barrows—Companion to the Bible Synagogues: their Origin, Structure and Outward Arrangements
It was a beautiful saying of Rabbi Jochanan (Jer. Ber. v. 1), that he who prays in his house surrounds and fortifies it, so to speak, with a wall of iron. Nevertheless, it seems immediately contradicted by what follows. For it is explained that this only holds good where a man is alone, but that where there is a community prayer should be offered in the synagogue. We can readily understand how, after the destruction of the Temple, and the cessation of its symbolical worship, the excessive value attached …
Alfred Edersheim—Sketches of Jewish Social Life The Greater Prophets.
1. We have already seen (Chap. 15, Nos. 11 and 12) that from Moses to Samuel the appearances of prophets were infrequent; that with Samuel and the prophetical school established by him there began a new era, in which the prophets were recognized as a distinct order of men in the Theocracy; and that the age of written prophecy did not begin till about the reign of Uzziah, some three centuries after Samuel. The Jewish division of the latter prophets--prophets in the more restricted sense of the …
E. P. Barrows—Companion to the Bible Of the Power of Making Laws. The Cruelty of the Pope and his Adherents, in this Respect, in Tyrannically Oppressing and Destroying Souls.
1. The power of the Church in enacting laws. This made a source of human traditions. Impiety of these traditions. 2. Many of the Papistical traditions not only difficult, but impossible to be observed. 3. That the question may be more conveniently explained, nature of conscience must be defined. 4. Definition of conscience explained. Examples in illustration of the definition. 5. Paul's doctrine of submission to magistrates for conscience sake, gives no countenance to the Popish doctrine of the obligation …
John Calvin—The Institutes of the Christian Religion Of the Effects of those Prerogatives.
From these prerogatives there will arise to the elect in heaven, five notable effects:-- 1. They shall know God with a perfect knowledge (1 Cor. i. 10), so far as creatures can possibly comprehend the Creator. For there we shall see the Word, the Creator; and in the Word, all creatures that by the Word were created; so that we shall not need to learn (of the things which were made) the knowledge of him by whom all things were made. The most excellent creatures in this life, are but as a dark veil …
Lewis Bayly—The Practice of Piety Meditations for one that is Like to Die.
If thy sickness be like to increase unto death, then meditate on three things:--First, How graciously God dealeth with thee. Secondly, From what evils death will free thee. Thirdly, What good death will bring unto thee. The first sort of Meditations are, to consider God's favourable dealing with thee. 1. Meditate that God uses this chastisement of thy body but as a medicine to cure thy soul, by drawing thee, who art sick in sin, to come by repentance unto Christ, thy physician, to have thy soul healed …
Lewis Bayly—The Practice of Piety Kings
The book[1] of Kings is strikingly unlike any modern historical narrative. Its comparative brevity, its curious perspective, and-with some brilliant exceptions--its relative monotony, are obvious to the most cursory perusal, and to understand these things is, in large measure, to understand the book. It covers a period of no less than four centuries. Beginning with the death of David and the accession of Solomon (1 Kings i., ii.) it traverses his reign with considerable fulness (1 Kings iii.-xi.), …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament Links 2 Kings 22:3 NIV2 Kings 22:3 NLT2 Kings 22:3 ESV2 Kings 22:3 NASB2 Kings 22:3 KJV
2 Kings 22:3 Commentaries
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