Ver. 1. Josiah was eight years old.] Josiah he was called by God two or three hundred years before he was born. (1 Kings 13:2) His name signifieth, The salvation of God: and he answered his name better than did Probus the emperor; of whom, notwithstanding, the historian saith, that if Honest had not been his name, yet it might well have been his surname. Some say, but not so well, that he was called Josiah, q., Jah-scai, that is, the gift of God, or, q., Jah-esch, that is, the fire of God, sc., for his zeal, which is called the flame of God. (Song of Solomon 8:6) And his mother’s name was Jedidah,] i.e., The Lord’s darling, as his grandmother’s name was Hephzibah; (2 Kings 21:1) a couple of good women likely, doing the same for Josiah as afterward Eunice and Lois did for young Timothy. Fla. Vopis.
Ver. 2. And he did that which was right.] Helped on, no doubt, by the holy prophets of his time, Zephaniah, Jeremiah, Huldah, &c.; as was our English Josiah, Edward VI, by Cranmer, Ridley, Latimer, Sir John Cheek, his tutor, and Dr Cox, his almoner. An official distributor of the alms of another; the name of a functionary in a religious house, in the household of a bishop, prince, or other person of rank. Sometimes applied to the chaplain of a hospital, or other institution.
Ver. 3. In the eighteenth year of king Josiah.] That is, In the eighteenth year of his reign; after that, with a great deal of zeal, he had purged the land and the house. (2 Chronicles 34:8) In which time also it seemeth that a collection was made for the repairing of the temple, which now this pious king taketh order to have done, and herein he proceedeth oequabiliter, iuste, prudenter. And from this famous eighteenth year of Josiah’s reign, both those thirty years, (Ezekiel 1:1) and those forty days or years of the sin of Judah, (Ezekiel 6:6) seem to take their rise and reckoning. Ussher., Annal. Vet. Testam., p. 115.
Ver. 4. Go up to Helkiah the high priest.] Who perhaps was father to Jeremiah the prophet. (Jeremiah 1:1) That he may sum the silver.] That is, Count it; or as some will, Stamp it, and put it into current money.
Ver. 5. Into the hands of the doers of the work.] So both the overseers and the workmen are called. To repair the breaches.] Ad instauranda sarta tecta templi. Tigurin.
Ver. 6. To buy timber and hewn stone.] For the very stone walls also temporis iniuria et hominum incuria were much decayed.
Ver. 7. Howbeit there was no reckoning.] Or, Let there be no reckoning made with them of the money: for they will deal faithfully. See Nehemiah 7:2. [See Trapp on “Ne 7:2”]
Ver. 8. I have found the book of the law.] Authenticum Mosis autographum; Deuteronomy; or perhaps the whole law in Moses’s own handwriting: and by him caused to be put by the side of the ark, as a κειμηλιον. (Deuteronomy 31:26) This was not venerandae rubiginis, as some books are, sed summae authoritatis monumentum. The Turks themselves do so reverence Moses, that if they find but a paper wherein any part of the pentateuch is written, they presently take it up, and kiss it. This precious piece might in the confusions of Manasseh and Amon be hidden or mislaid; and now it is brought to the king as a rare jewel, and a good reward of his zeal in repairing the temple. R. Solomon saith that wicked Manasseh sought to abolish the law, as point-blank against his idolatry and cruelty. Therefore some good priests had hid this original copy, which now came to light and sight. For it is not credible that this good king had never read the law till now. But that he had not so thoroughly read and considered the comminations of the law as now he did, is evident. But what a shame is it, that Bibles, now so common, are so little set by amongst us: when our devout forefathers would have purchased some few chapters at a great rate! It is a sad complaint that Moulin maketh of the French Protestants: whilst they burnt us, saith he, for reading the Scriptures, we burnt with zeal to be reading them. Now with our liberty is bred also negligence and disesteem of God’s word. Moul. Thea., p. 278.
Ver. 9. Thy servants have gathered.] Heb., Melted. Hence Vatablus inferreth, that much of the silver gathered was yet uncoined. See 2 Kings 22:4. Conflaverunt.
Ver. 10. And Shaphan read it before the king.] Who well showed how he was affected toward it, and wrought upon by it, (1.) Lectione libri; (2.) Laceratione vestium; (3.) Legatione ad Prophetissam.
Ver. 11. When the king had heard the words.] Which the wicked account to be but wind, (Jeremiah 5:13) and spoken in terrorem only; though God threaten to make them fire, (Jeremiah 5:14) and as he gave his law in fire, so in fire to require it.
Ver. 12. And Achbor the son of Michaiah.] Called Abdon the son of Micah, (2 Chronicles 34:20) by a different pronunciation.
Ver. 13. For great is the wrath of the Lord.] A good heart trembleth at God’s judgments whilst they yet hang in the threatenings; (Isaiah 66:2) when carnal people put off all with a “God forbid,” (Luke 20:16) and bless themselves, though God curse them. (Deuteronomy 29:19,20)
Ver. 14. Went unto Huldah the prophetess.] Souls have no sexes. They who vilify the female sex, especially with reference to religion, as some Papists have done, may here observe in point of holy prophecy, that male and female are all one in God as in Christ. (Galatians 3:28) The wife of Shallum.] Who was, say the Rabbis, Jeremiah’s great-uncle, and much honoured in such a wife. Now she dwelt in Jerusalem in the college.] Heb., In the second, in parte secunda ab eo, se., rege, in some part of the king’s palace; and therefore sent to her, as nigh at hand, and of known abilities. The Chaldee hath it, In the house of learning. The Septuagint, In Mishneh, as if it were the name of a certain street in Jerusalem. Others, in repetitionum loco, in the school or college where the law was repeated. The Hebrews call Deuteronomy, Mishneh Torah, the repetition of the law. Faemellae in Vet. Testamento non habuerunt spem salutis. -Collatores Bavar. Ap. Polyc. Lyser.
Ver. 15. Tell the man.] Kings had need to be told that they are but men. Remember that thou art but a man, said the boy to king Philip: and Agnosco me esse mortalem, I acknowledge myself a mortal, said Charles V, emperor. Huldah here speaketh from God, with whom there is no respect of persons.
Ver. 16. Behold, I will bring evil upon this place.] God is absolute in threatening, because resolute in punishing.
Ver. 17. Because they have forsaken me.] The reformation they make being but feigned and forced: as appeared by their revolt to idolatry and blood-guiltiness, presently after good Josiah’s death. (2 Kings 24:3)
Ver. 18. But to the king of Judah.] Here she giveth him his just title, whom before she had called “man.” (2 Kings 22:15) Piety is no enemy to civility.
Ver. 19. Because thine heart was tender.] How happy a thing is it, saith a reverend man, to be a reed unto God’s judgments, rather than an oak! The meek and gentle reed stoops, and therefore stands. The oak stands stiffly out against the strongest gust, and therefore is turned up by the roots.
Ver. 20. And thou shalt be gathered unto thy grave in peace.] And yet he died in battle; but (1.) He died before the general deluge of desolation on the land: and so the next words expound these: “And thine eyes shall not see all the evil that I will bring upon this place.” So he died “in peace,” comparatively with a worse state of life; (Isaiah 57:1) or, (2.) He was gathered to the spirits of his fathers who enjoyed peace; or, (3.) He died in God’s favour, though by the hand of an enemy. His weeping and humiliation had altered the very nature of trouble, and made war to be peace to him. Hereupon one crieth out, Oh, the safe condition of God’s children, whom very pain easeth, whom death reviveth, whom dissolution uniteth, whom, lastly, their sin and temptation glorifieth!