and commanded Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam son of Shaphan, Achbor son of Micaiah, Shaphan the scribe, and Asaiah the servant of the king: Then the king commandedThis phrase indicates the authority and responsibility of King Josiah, who was a reformer king in Judah. The Hebrew root for "commanded" is צָוָה (tsavah), which implies a directive given with authority. Josiah's command reflects his earnest desire to seek God's will and restore true worship in Judah, highlighting his commitment to spiritual renewal. Hilkiah the priest
Hilkiah was the high priest during Josiah's reign. His role was crucial in the discovery of the Book of the Law in the temple, which sparked the religious reforms. The name Hilkiah means "my portion is Yahweh," signifying a life dedicated to God. His involvement underscores the importance of spiritual leadership in guiding the nation back to covenant faithfulness. Ahikam son of Shaphan
Ahikam was a prominent official and the son of Shaphan, the scribe. His name means "my brother has risen," suggesting a supportive and uplifting role. Ahikam later protected the prophet Jeremiah, indicating his commitment to God's messengers and truth. His inclusion in this delegation shows the king's reliance on trusted advisors for spiritual and political matters. Achbor son of Micaiah
Achbor, whose name means "mouse," was another official in Josiah's court. His presence in this group highlights the collaborative effort required for national reform. Achbor's involvement signifies the importance of unity among leaders in pursuing God's directives. Shaphan the scribe
Shaphan was a scribe, a position of significant influence as a recorder and interpreter of the law. His name means "rock badger," an animal known for its wisdom and prudence. Shaphan's role in reading the Book of the Law to Josiah was pivotal in initiating the king's reforms, emphasizing the power of God's Word to transform hearts and societies. Asaiah the servant of the king
Asaiah, meaning "Yahweh has made," was a servant or official in Josiah's court. His inclusion in this mission reflects the king's trust in his loyalty and capability. Asaiah's role reminds us that every position, whether high or low, is significant in God's plan when dedicated to His service. Persons / Places / Events 1. King JosiahThe king of Judah who initiated religious reforms after the discovery of the Book of the Law in the temple. His reign is marked by a return to the worship of Yahweh and the eradication of idolatry. 2. Hilkiah the PriestThe high priest who discovered the Book of the Law in the temple. His role was crucial in bringing the word of God back to the people of Judah. 3. Ahikam son of ShaphanA royal official and son of Shaphan, who was involved in the religious reforms. He later played a role in protecting the prophet Jeremiah. 4. Achbor son of MicaiahAnother official in King Josiah's court, involved in the consultation process after the discovery of the Book of the Law. 5. Shaphan the ScribeThe royal secretary who read the Book of the Law to King Josiah, prompting the king's reforms. 6. Asaiah the Servant of the KingA servant of King Josiah, involved in the king's response to the discovery of the Book of the Law. Teaching Points The Importance of God's WordThe rediscovery of the Book of the Law emphasizes the necessity of Scripture in guiding personal and communal life. We should prioritize reading and understanding the Bible in our daily lives. Leadership and ReformJosiah's response to the Book of the Law demonstrates the impact of godly leadership. Leaders today should seek to align their actions with biblical principles. Community InvolvementThe involvement of various officials in the reform process shows the importance of community in spiritual renewal. We should work together as a church to uphold and spread God's teachings. Repentance and ObedienceJosiah's immediate response to the reading of the Law was repentance and action. We should be quick to repent and obey when confronted with God's truth. Role of the PriesthoodHilkiah's role highlights the importance of spiritual leaders in guiding and teaching the community. We should support and pray for our spiritual leaders as they lead us in truth. Bible Study Questions 1. How does the rediscovery of the Book of the Law in Josiah's time parallel the role of Scripture in our lives today? 2. In what ways can we, like Josiah, respond to God's Word with immediate action and reform in our personal lives? 3. How can we support our church leaders in their role of guiding the community according to biblical principles? 4. What lessons can we learn from the involvement of various officials in Josiah's reforms about the importance of community in spiritual renewal? 5. How does the protection of Jeremiah by Ahikam reflect the importance of standing by God's truth and His messengers in challenging times? Connections to Other Scriptures 2 Chronicles 34This chapter parallels the events of 2 Kings 22, providing additional details about Josiah's reforms and the discovery of the Book of the Law. Deuteronomy 31:24-26This passage describes the command to place the Book of the Law beside the Ark of the Covenant, highlighting the significance of its rediscovery in Josiah's time. Jeremiah 26:24Ahikam's protection of Jeremiah connects to his role in Josiah's court, showing his continued faithfulness to God's prophets. People Achbor, Adaiah, Ahikam, Asahiah, Asaiah, Azaliah, David, Harhas, Hilkiah, Huldah, Jedidah, Josiah, Meshullam, Micaiah, Michaiah, Shallum, Shaphan, TikvahPlaces Bozkath, Jerusalem, Second QuarterTopics Acbor, Achbor, Ahikam, Ahi'kam, Asahiah, Asaiah, Asai'ah, Attendant, Commanded, Commandeth, Hilkiah, Hilki'ah, Hilkijah, King's, Micaiah, Micai'ah, Michaiah, Orders, Priest, Saying, Scribe, Secretary, Servant, ShaphanDictionary of Bible Themes 2 Kings 22:12 5519 secretary 2 Kings 22:8-13 4963 past, the 2 Kings 22:8-16 1640 Book of the Law 2 Kings 22:11-13 6173 guilt, and God 2 Kings 22:11-20 8160 seeking God 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 22:12 NIV2 Kings 22:12 NLT2 Kings 22:12 ESV2 Kings 22:12 NASB2 Kings 22:12 KJV
2 Kings 22:12 Commentaries
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