2 Chronicles 34:3

HE DESTROYS IDOLATRY. (Ch2 34:3-7)

in the eighth year of his reign--This was the sixteenth year of his age, and, as the kings of Judah were considered minors till they had completed their thirteenth year, it was three years after he had attained majority. He had very early manifested the piety and excellent dispositions of his character. In the twelfth year of his reign, but the twentieth of his age, he began to take a lively interest in the purgation of his kingdom from all the monuments of idolatry which, in his father's short reign, had been erected. At a later period, his increasing zeal for securing the purity of divine worship led him to superintend the work of demolition in various parts of his dominion. The course of the narrative in this passage is somewhat different from that followed in the Book of Kings. For the historian, having made allusion to the early manifestation of Josiah's zeal, goes on with a full detail of all the measures this good king adopted for the extirpation of idolatry; whereas the author of the Book of Kings sets out with the cleansing of the temple, immediately previous to the celebration of the passover, and embraces that occasion to give a general description of Josiah's policy for freeing the land from idolatrous pollution. The exact chronological order is not followed either in Kings or Chronicles. But it is clearly recorded in both that the abolition of idolatry began in the twelfth and was completed in the eighteenth year of Josiah's reign. Notwithstanding Josiah's undoubted sincerity and zeal and the people's apparent compliance with the king's orders, he could not extinguish a strongly rooted attachment to idolatries introduced in the early part of Manasseh's reign. This latent predilection appears unmistakably developed in the subsequent reigns, and the divine decree for the removal of Judah, as well as Israel, into captivity was irrevocably passed.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

3–7 (cp. 2Ch_34:33; 2Ki_13:4-20). Josiah destroys the Symbols of Idolatry

3. in the eighth year … and in the twelfth] The two dates given in this verse seem to be “doublettes,” i.e. various readings both of which have been adopted and placed side by side in the text. Moreover it is probable that neither reading is original, for both seem to have been derived by some transcriptional error or other from 2Ki_22:3, where the account of Josiah’s doings begins with the date, in the eighteenth year.

Thus we get:—

(a) 2Ki_22:3 (= 2Ch_34:8):

bishĕmôneh esreh “eighteenth” (the original reading).

(b) 2Ch_34:3 a:

bishĕmôneh “eighth” (defective reading; esreh having dropped out).

(c) 2Ch_34:3 b:

bishtçym esreh, “twelfth” (attempted correction, perhaps from memory, of the defective reading).

It should also be noticed that the order of the events of Josiah’s reign given in Chron. varies from that given in 2 Kin. Thus we have in 2 Chr.:

(1) Destruction of idolatrous symbols throughout Jerusalem, Judah and Israel; 2Ch_34:3-7.

(2) Repair of the Temple and Finding of the Law; ib. 2Ch_34:8-28.

(3) Renewal of the Covenant with Jehovah; ib. 2Ch_34:29-32.

(4) Great Passover kept; 2Ch_35:1-19.

(5) Death of Josiah; ib. 2Ch_35:20-27.

In 2 Kin. on the other hand (2), (3) precede (1), and there can be little doubt that this order is right.

while he was yet young] There is no clause corresponding to this in 2 Kin., and the statement rests on the probably faulty reading “eighth.” Yet his early piety is probably a fact, for though in 2 Kin. his reformation is dated in the eighteenth year of his reign, i.e. when he was 25 years of age (hardly “young” for a king), the favourable judgement passed on him (2Ki_12:2) is unqualified by any suggestion that he was tardy in turning to Jehovah.

in the twelfth year he began] The Chronicler spreads the cleansing of the land over six years, i.e. from the twelfth to the eighteenth; cp. 2Ch_34:8.

to purge] Josiah’s measures are more fully enumerated and described in 2 Kings 23; notice e.g. the removal of the Asherah from the Temple (2Ch_34:6), the destruction of the houses of the Ḳĕdeshim (cp. Deu_23:17-18) which were in the House of the Lord (2Ch_34:7), the deportation of priests from the cities of Judah into Jerusalem (2Ch_34:8-9), and the defiling of Topheth and of Beth-el (2Ch_34:10; 2Ch_34:15-16).

the groves] R.V. the Asherim; cp. 2Ch_14:3 (note).

carved images] R.V. graven, images; as 2Ch_33:7; 2Ch_33:22.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2Ch 34:3 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 groves, and the carved images, and the molten images.

Ver. 3. For in the eighth year of his reign.] So soon as he had the reins in his own hands, he began.

He began to seek.] That is, Publicly to show his zeal for God; which was in him of a little child.

And in the twelfth year.] See 2Ki 23:4-5, &c.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2Ch_34:3

For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was yet young, he began to seek after the God of David.

Seeking after God

I. Why we should seek after God.

1. We are by nature without God.

2. To be without God is certain misery.

3. In God alone we can obtain peace and rest.

II. How we are to seek after God.

1. With respect to God Himself. Josiah sought--not the God of nature; not the God of Providence; but the God of David his father. And why? David was a type of Christ; the covenant made with David a type of the covenant of grace, and the sure mercies of David, symbols of the better blessings of the New Covenant.

2. With respect to ourselves. By repentance, faith, and obedience.

III. When we are to seek after god. (Robert Stevenson.)

Early piety and its advantages

I. Enlightened piety consists in seeking God.

1. Earnestly.

2. Promptly.

3. Perseveringly.

II. Seeking God early will conduce to honour.

1. It keeps alive religious susceptibilities.

2. It saves from snares.

3. It brings eminent usefulness in life.

4. It prepares for happy death. (J. Wolfendale.)

Youth the best time to serve God

Let us think of some reasons why we should seek God in childhood.

1. The first reason is because youth is the best time.

2. Another reason is because youth is the most important time. Satisfy us early with Thy goodness, that we may be glad and rejoice all our days. What seems a slight mistake at the beginning may make a terrible difference at the end.

3. Another reason for seeking God in early life is because it is noblest to do right now, not to wait until we have spent most of our life doing wrong. (Christian Age.)

Well started

I. That any soul should begin early to seek the Lord, is an event that would be thought unimportant by some, but it is chronicled in heaven.

II. Every man must search carefully his own heart, and determine whether the definite desire after God is there or not. The desire is equivalent to spiritual sight. To help to build up righteousness is serving God.

III. Some will say: but i have no such opportunities as josiah. Have you sought them? Is not influence on relatives, friends, comrades, fellow-workers an opportunity? Can you never seize suitable occasions for uttering a Christian sentence or scowling on a social sin?

IV. A further objection is but i have so many difficulties in my way, that i can do nothing useful. Think of those Josiah must have met with.

V. Others say: but i never had any special call to serve God. What if parents, or brothers, or sisters, or friend never mentioned it? Have you never heard it in your heart, and cannot you hear it now? The very passage of time calls you to serve God.

VI. Those who begin life with Christ as Saviour, Guide, Helper, Eternal Friend, and who are honestly trying to serve Him, may be sure that He will rejoice over them, and remember them, even though them names may not be emblazoned on any great world-roll of honour.

VII. Some are conscious that they are not making a good beginning of life. They are drifting onwards and towards dangerous rapids and a deathly abyss. Christ comes to save and to give a fresh start. This is an opportunity which is worth seizing. (F. Hastings.)

Early piety

I. What Josiah turned from.

1. From what is familiarly called the way of the world.

2. From the carnal appetites of youth, which craved to be pampered by their gratification.

3. From all vanities of the imagination.

4. From the exercise of power, before weighing its responsibilities.

5. From false friends and evil counsellors.

6. From the delusions of the gaudy appendages of a worldly Court.

II. What Josiah turned to. He fixed his heart and the faith of his soul upon God, as his--

1. Friend.

2. Father.

3. Guide.

III. He was faithful and pious from his earliest days. (A Gatty, M.A.)

Early piety

I. Nothing is more amiable in itself, or more pleasing to God, than early piety.

II. Youth is a season in which you have the greatest advantages for cultivating the principles of piety, and the greatest need of religion, as a defence from temptation and dangers.

III. By early piety you will prepare tranquility and joy for old age, whilst by an opposite conduct you will fill it with remorse and fears.

IV. Regard to the feelings of all pious persons in the Church universal, a respect to the happiness of your parents, should induce you early to devote yourselves to God.

V. On your conduct in youth, your salvation or perdition almost infallibly depend. (H. Kollock, D. D.)

Early piety

I. We shall briefly notice the striking example of youthful piety here presented to our view.

1. He was a decidedly religious character.

2. His genuine religion commenced at an early period.

3. An exemplary life and conversation abundantly proved the sincerity and ardour of his piety.

4. Josiahs early piety is adduced as the pledge if not the basis of his future eminence in religion.

5. Josiah and his country reaped great advantages from his early devotedness to God.

II. We shall produce arguments urging upon all our young people the exemplification of similar decided piety.

1. A due regard to your personal welfare.

2. The plea of relative usefulness--

(1) In the family.

(2) The social circle.

(3) The Church.

3. Many whom you dearly love feel deeply interested in your spiritual welfare.

(1) Parents.

(2) Ministers.

4. The compassionate Saviour not only claims but kindly encourages youthful piety. (Essex Congregational Remembrancer.)

Early piety exemplified in Josiah

I. Josiah imitated david.

1. God was Davids teacher.

2. God was Davids comfort.

3. God was Davids delight.

4. God was Davids defence.

II. The manner how he sought after god. He sought God--

1. From a deep conviction that his conduct and the conduct of Israel generally was highly offensive to God, and that they were exposed to imminent peril.

2. In deep self-abasement of soul.

3. By destroying the idols out of the land.

4. By restoring Gods true worship and frequenting it.

5. With all his heart (2Ki_23:25).

III. The period of life when he did it. (Sketches of Four Hundred Sermons.)

Josiah

Josiah was--

I. An early seeker. Our Queen wears a velvet cap under her crown lest it should hurt her head: this eight-year-old king had more need of such a covering. The crown is a heavy burden for young soldiers. Yet there have been younger kings than Josiah. An old Norse king was called Olaf Lapking because he was king while on his mothers lap. Royal boyhood is often poisoned boyhood. The people of Israel around little Josiah were doing worse than the heathen. The sins and sorrows of that time are described in the Lamentations of Jeremiah, whose heart they had broken, Yet Josiah at the age of eight did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, and at sixteen began to seek the God of his father David with more earnestness than ever. God calls us to seek Him earlier. In our Latin exercises there was a story about a simpleton sitting one evening at the rivers brink. A traveller coming up wished his company in crossing. No, he replied, I am waiting till the river flows past. The tiny stream of difficulties between you and Christ wont flow past, but will flow on, and broaden and deepen, till it grows like an angry torrent, swollen with winter floods, that threatens to sweep down the old man who would ford it.

II. Josiah was also a hearty hater of evil. He did not hate in others the sins he practised himself, He was not like the Czar of Russia who used to say, I reform my country, and am not able to reform myself. Dr. Arnold used to say, Commend me to boys who love God and hate evil. Love without hate makes a mere milksop, and Christs disciples are to be the salt, and not the sugar of society. We need boys who will hate all evil as young Hannibal hated Rome. The young Christian ought to be the sworn foe of the kingdom of darkness.

III. Josiah was a real hero. A hero is one who, in doing duty, scorns great dangers. He had the spirit of Chrysostom, who replied to the threats of the Empress Eudoxia, I fear nothing but sin. Josiahs love for the Bible would open his soul to all the best influences from the heroic lives of Noah, Abraham, Joseph, Moses, Samuel and Gideon. Thus was developed in him what Dr. Chalmers calls the expulsive power of a new affection.

IV. Josiah was missed and mourned when he died. There is a night in Spain called the sad night: and so in the history of Judah, the death of Josiah was the sad day. The Rabbis say that the memory of him was like costly incense, and sweet as honey in the mouths of all. (James Wells, M.A.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2Ch 34:3. While he was yet young — In the sixteenth year of his age; when he was entering into the age of temptation, and had the administration of his kingdom wholly in his own power, and none to restrain him, even then he begins to be religious in good earnest.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Extirpation of idolatry. In the eighth year of his reign, while he was yet a youth, being then only sixteen years old, Josiah began to seek the God of his ancestor David, and in the twelfth year of his reign he commenced to purify Judah and Jerusalem from the high places, Asherim, etc. The cleansing of the land of Judah from the numerous objects of idolatry is summarily described in Ch2 34:4 and Ch2 34:5; and thereupon there follows (Ch2 34:6 and Ch2 34:7) the destruction of the idolatrous altars and images in the land of Israel, - all that it seemed necessary to say on that subject being thus mentioned at once. For that all this was not accomplished in the twelfth year is clear from the לטהר החל, "he commenced to cleanse," and is moreover attested by Ch2 34:33. The description of this destruction of the various objects of idolatry is rhetorically expressed, only carved and cast images being mentioned, besides the altars of the high places and the Asherim, without the enumeration of the different kings of idolatry which we find in 2 Kings 23:4-20. - On Ch2 34:4, cf. Ch2 31:1. ינתּציּ, they pulled down before him, i.e., under his eye, or his oversight, the altars of the Baals (these are the בּמות, Ch2 34:3); and the sun-pillars (cf. Ch2 14:4) which stood upwards, i.e., above, upon the altars, he caused to be hewn away from them (מעליהם); the Asherim (pillars and trees of Asherah) and the carved and molten images to be broken and ground (הדק, cf. Ch2 15:16), and (the dust of them) to be strewn upon the graves (of those) who had sacrificed to them. הזּבחים is connected directly with הקּברים, so that the actions of those buried in them are poetically attributed to the graves. In Kg2 23:6 this is said only of the ashes of the Asherah statue which was burnt, while here it is rhetorically generalized.

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)

34:3 Josiah began to seek the God of his ancestor David when he was just sixteen. He initiated his own acts of reform when he reached age twenty.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

When he was but sixteen years old he showed himself zealous of God’s glory, and at twenty years old he abolished idolatry, and restored the true religion.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

(3) For.—Now.

In the eighth year.—The specifications of time in this verse are peculiar to the chronicler.

While he was yet young.—Being about sixteen.

He began to seek.—2Ch_17:3-4; 1Ch_13:3.

And in the twelfth year.—When, perhaps, he began to govern alone.

He began to purge.—It is not said that the whole work was completed in the twelfth year; indeed, 2Ch_34:33 implies the contrary. But the writer having begun the story of the destruction of idolatrous objects, naturally continues it to its close, though that properly belongs to Josiah’s eighteenth year (2Ki_22:3, compared with 2Ki_23:4 seq.). It is not, therefore, clear (as Thenius asserts) that the chronicler has put the extirpation of idolatry first, simply to show that the pious king needed no special prompting to such a course; or that, as Noldeke supposes, the writer meant to clear this highly-extolled king from the reproach of having quietly put up with the abomination for full eighteen years.

The high places.—2Ki_23:5; 2Ki_23:8-9; 2Ki_23:13.

The groves.—The Asherim (2Ki_23:4; 2Ki_6:7; 2Ki_6:14). There was an Asherah in the Temple, as well as in the high places which Solomon built for Ashtoreth, Chemosh, and Milcom. The carved and molten images are not mentioned in the parallel passage, which, however, gives a much clearer and more original description of the different kinds of idolatry abolished by Josiah. (The Syriac has, “he began to root out the altars, and idols, and leopards, and chapels, and collars, and bells, and all the trees which they made for the idols.”)

(3-7) Idolatry extirpated. This brief account is parallel to 2Ki_23:4-20.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And they broke down the altars of Baalim in his presence,.... He not only ordered them to be broke down, but he went in person, and saw it done; these were the altars Manasseh had reared up to the idols; and though upon his humiliation he cast them out, they were rebuilt by Amon his son, see Ch2 33:3,

and the images that were above them he cut down; sun images, as the word signifies; these Chamanim might be representatives of Cham or Ham, the son of Noah, the same with Jupiter Ammon; and there was another Heathen deity, Amanus, Strabo (w) speaks of, supposed to be the sun; see Gill on Lev 26:30, these, as Jarchi says, were in the form of the sun, and were set above the altars, over against the sun, to whom worship was paid; though some think this respects not place, but time, and that these were images in times past; in the preceding age, as the Tigurine version:

and the groves, and the carved images and the molten images, he brake in pieces; ordered them to be broken; the groves were statues, or images in groves, and thereby distinguished from those made of wood, and were carved, and from those that were of molten metal, and were placed elsewhere:

and made dust of them, and strewed it upon the graves of them that had sacrificed unto them, see Kg2 23:6.

(w) Geograph l. 11. p. 352.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

He began to purge Judah - Jeremiah’s first prophecies Jer. 2–3 appear to have been coincident with Josiah’s earlier efforts to uproot idolatry, and must have greatly strengthened his hands.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Boy; 16 years old. D. --- The kings of Juda were in their minority, till they had completed their 13th year. Grotius --- Cleansed. Heb. and Sept. "in the twelfth year he began to purify," &c. H. --- The work was not brought to perfection till six years afterwards, v. 8. C. T.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

While he was yet young; in the sixteenth year of his age, when he was entering into the age and state of temptations and youthful lusts, and had the administration of his kingdom wholly in his own hand and power and none to rebuke or restrain him; yet even then he begins to be religious in good earnest.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

This, with the following four verses, forms the commentary on the statement of ver. 2, that Josiah "declined neither to the right hand, nor to the left." We cannot mistake the allusion in this verse to his personal religion at, say, sixteen years of age, as the foundation of his religious reign and of the practical devotion to reformation, instanced as commencing with his twentieth year. It may be here noted that the Prophet Jeremiah was called to his work in the year following thereupon, or, perhaps, the very same year. (Jer_1:1, Jer_1:2) It is highly likely that Josiah and Jeremiah were given to one another providentially, to cooperate in all good works, now so needed for Church and state. The three dates of the eighth, twelfth, and (ver. 8) the eighteenth year of Josiah"s reign wore dates memorable in his life. For the two kinds of images of this verse, see succeeding note.

HOMILIES BY W. CLARKSON Ver. 3 (first part).

Piety in youth.

That Josiah "while he was yet young began to seek after the God of David his father" is to us an interesting fact; it provides an example to the young and an incentive to those who have charge of their welfare. Respecting piety in youth it is well to consider

I HOW MUCH THERE IS TO COMMEND IT.

1. All life belongs to God, and therefore this part of it. Unto him who gave us our existence and all our powers, and in whom we live and move and have our being, surely the whole of our life belongs; it cannot be withheld without wrong, without keeping back the "glory due to his Name," the gratitude and the love and the service due to himself. Therefore does this part of it along with the rest. Audit is certain that when life is past and we come to have it in review we shall be most happy in the thought, if we can but cherish it, that our youth also was spent in the fear of God, in the love and service of Jesus Christ.

"Twill please us to look back and see That our whole lives were thine.

1. Each period of life has its own peculiar offering to bring. If age has its patience and submissiveness, and if elderliness has its experience, and if prime has the fulness of its strength for service, and if young manhood has its hopefulness and its ardour, then has youth also its e special offering to

2. bring to its Redeemer; it has its affectionateness, its trustfulness, its docility, its readiness to obey, its beauty. Truly, the "flower when offered in the bud:" is "no vain sacrifice.

3. It saves the growth of injurious weeds in the garden of the soul. When the sense of sacred obligation is absent, youth is apt to let various evil habits grow up habits which choke much that is good, which constitute a serious drawback to Christian worth, and which require much effort and much time also for their extraction. But when the curly days are spent in the service and in the friendship of Christ, his holy will being the one rule of the heart and life, such evil habits are unformed, and all the after-days are stronger and better and more beautiful for their absence.

1. Each period in life is a stepping-stone to the next, is a preparation for the next. We sow in youth what we reap ill young manhood; as we go on our way we gather in the harvest of the thought and toil of the years that came before it. But this applies to our moral and spiritual character more perfectly than to anything else. How, then, can we afford to lose the great advantage of building up from the beginning? Our manhood will be much the weaker for an ill-spent youth, and much the stronger for a well-spent one. Our whole life will be greatly impoverished by the one, greatly enriched by the other.

2. Godly youth is a source of pure and deep joy to those whom the young should be most desirous of pleasing to those that have loved them and served them with tenderest solicitude and unfailing devotion.

II OUR DUTY IN REGARD TO IT.

1. To abstain most carefully from forcing it. No deadlier injury can be doneto the young than forcing a religious habit; constraining them to affect a language and to make a profession which is unreal, which will soon break down, and which will leave the heart far less open to all heavenly influences than it would have been.

2. To encourage it in every way that is in our power; more particularly bythe exhibition of a consistent life and the manifestation of a loving spirit toward them. Whom we win for ourselves we may lead to our Lord.

III THE WISDOM AND THE DUTY OF THE YOUNG. This is to enter the service of Jesus Christ without delay. He does not require of them anything they cannot offer. He does not demand of them that they should use the language or do the work which is appropriate, to other conditions; he asks them to receive him as their Divine Teacher, as their Divine Friend, as their Divine Lord. He asks them to trust, to love, to serve him to the height of their present power. This they can do; this they should do; this they will be truly and deeply wise if they do. "Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near. C.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Young - ln the sixteenth year of his age; when he was entering into the age of temptation, and had the administration of his kingdom wholly in his own power, and none to restrain him; even then he begins to be religious in good earnest.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

groves (See Scofield "Deu 16:21") See Scofield "Jdg 3:7".

The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

when he was still a youth, he started to seek The meaning is that although he was still a youth, he started to seek after the God of David his father. This is similar to (Gen. 37:2): “and as a youth, with the sons of Bilhah, etc., Joseph brought evil reports of them,” and this is not surprising, but if he were thirty years old, he would not have done it. It is, however, surprising, that he (Josiah) was a youth, and nevertheless, he started to seek, etc.

he started to purge Judah and Jerusalem of the high places, the asherim that Manasseh had made and that Amon his son had renewed, as above (33:3): “And he rebuilt the high places that Hezekiah his father had demolished, etc.”

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.