13 and over the burden-bearers, and overseers of every one doing work for service and service; and of the Levites `are' scribes, and officers, and gatekeepers.
And Judah saith, `The power of the burden-bearers hath become feeble, and the rubbish `is' abundant, and we are not able to build on the wall.'
and he maketh of them seventy thousand burden-bearers, and eighty thousand hewers in the mountain, and three thousand and six hundred overseers, to cause the people to work.
and with them their brethren, the seconds `in rank', Zechariah, Ben, and Jaaziel, and Shemiramoth, and Jehiel, and Unni, Eliab, and Benaiah, and Maaseiah, and Mattithiah, and Elipheleh, and Mikneiah; and Obed-Edom and Jeiel the gatekeepers;
both Obed-Edom and their brethren, sixty and eight, and Obed-Edom son of Jeduthun, and Hosah for gatekeepers,
Of these to preside over the work of the house of Jehovah `are' twenty and four thousand, and officers and judges six thousand, and four thousand gatekeepers, and four thousand giving praise to Jehovah, `with instruments that I made for praising,' `saith David.'
For the courses of the gatekeepers: of the Korhites `is' Meshelemiah son of Kore, of the sons of Asaph; and to Meshelemiah `are' sons, Zechariah the first-born, Jediael the second, Zebadiah the third, Jathniel the fourth, Elam the fifth, Jehohanan the sixth, Elioenai the seventh. And to Obed-Edom `are' sons, Shemaiah the first-born, Jehozabad the second, Joah the third, and Sacar the fourth, and Nethaneel the fifth, Ammiel the sixth, Issachar the seventh, Peullethai the eighth, for God hath blessed him. And to Shemaiah his son have sons been born, who are ruling throughout the house of their father, for they `are' mighty of valour. Sons of Shemaiah `are' Othni, and Rephael, and Obed, Elzabad; his brethren `are' sons of valour, Elihu and Semachiah, all these `are' of the sons of Obed-Edom; they, and their sons, and their brethren, men of valour with might for service, `are' sixty and two of Obed-Edom. And to Meshelemiah `are' sons and brethren, sons of valour, eighteen; and to Hosah, of the sons of Merari, `are' sons: Shimri the head (though he was not first-born, yet his father setteth him for head), Hilkiah the second, Tebaliah the third, Zechariah the fourth; all the sons and brethren of Hosah `are' thirteen. According to these `are' the courses of the gatekeepers; to the heads of the mighty ones `are' charges over-against their brethren, to minister in the house of Jehovah, and they cause to fall lots, as well the small as the great, according to the house of their fathers, for gate and gate. And the lot falleth eastward to Shelemiah; and `for' Zechariah his son -- a counsellor with understanding -- they cause to fall lots, and his lot goeth out northward: to Obed-Edom southward, and to his sons, the house of the gatherings; to Shuppim and to Hosah to the west, with the gate Shallecheth, in the highway, the ascent, charge over-against charge; to the east the Levites `are' six; to the north daily four, to the south daily four, and to the gatherings two by two, at Parbar, to the west, `are' four at the highway, two at Parbar. These are the courses of the gatekeepers, of the sons of the Korhite, and of the sons of Merari.
Of the Izharite, Chenaniah and his sons `are' for the outward work over Israel, for officers and for judges. Of the Hebronite, Hashabiah and his brethren, sons of valour, a thousand and seven hundred, `are' over the inspection of Israel, beyond the Jordan westward, for all the work of Jehovah, and for the service of the king.
`And lo, to hewers, to those cutting the trees, I have given beaten wheat to thy servants, cors twenty thousand, and barley, cors twenty thousand, and wine, baths twenty thousand, and oil, baths twenty thousand.'
and these `are' heads of the officers whom king Solomon hath, two hundred and fifty who are rulers among the people.
And he establisheth, according to the ordinance of David his father, the courses of the priests over their service, and of the Levites over their charges, to praise and to minister over-against the priests, according to the matter of a day in its day, and the gatekeepers in their courses at gate and gate, for so `is' the command of David the man of God.
`And, lo, Amariah the head priest `is' over you for every matter of Jehovah, and Zebadiah son of Ishmael, the leader of the house of Judah, `is' for every matter of the king, and officers the Levites `are' before you; be strong and do, and Jehovah is with the good.'
Ezra himself hath come up from Babylon, and he `is' a scribe ready in the law of Moses, that Jehovah God of Israel gave, and the king giveth to him -- according to the hand of Jehovah his God upon him -- all his request. And there go up of the sons of Israel, and of the priests, and the Levites, and the singers, and the gatekeepers, and the Nethinim, unto Jerusalem, in the seventh year of Artaxerxes the king.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on 2 Chronicles 34
Commentary on 2 Chronicles 34 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 34
2Ch 34:1, 2. Josiah's Good Reign.
1. Josiah was eight years old—(See on 2Ki 22:1). The testimony borne to the undeviating steadfastness of his adherence to the cause of true religion places his character and reign in honorable contrast with those of many of his royal predecessors.
2Ch 34:3-7. He Destroys Idolatry.
3. 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.
4. the graves of them that had sacrificed unto them—He treated the graves themselves as guilty of the crimes of those who were lying in them [Bertheau].
5. he burnt the bones of the priests upon their altars—A greater brand of infamy could not have been put on idolatrous priests than the disinterment of their bones, and a greater defilement could not have been done to the altars of idolatry than the burning upon them the bones of those who had there officiated in their lifetime.
6. with their mattocks—or, "in their deserts"—so that the verse will stand thus: "And so did [namely, break the altars and burn the bones of priests] he in the cities of Manasseh, and Ephraim, and Simeon, even unto Naphtali, in their deserted suburbs." The reader is apt to be surprised on finding that Josiah, whose hereditary possessions were confined to the kingdom of Judah, exercised as much authority among the tribes of Ephraim, Manasseh, Simeon, and others as far as Naphtali, as he did within his own dominion. Therefore, it is necessary to observe that, after the destruction of Samaria by Shalmaneser, the remnant that continued on the mountains of Israel maintained a close intercourse with Judah, and looked to the sovereigns of that kingdom as their natural protectors. Those kings acquired great influence over them, which Josiah exercised in removing every vestige of idolatry from the land. He could not have done this without the acquiescence of the people in the propriety of this proceeding, conscious that this was conformable to their ancient laws and institutions. The Assyrian kings, who were now masters of the country, might have been displeased at the liberties Josiah took beyond his own territories. But either they were not informed of his doings, or they did not trouble themselves about his religious proceedings, relating, as they would think, to the god of the land, especially as he did not attempt to seize upon any place or to disturb the allegiance of the people [Calmet].
2Ch 34:8-18. He Repairs the Temple.
8. in the eighteenth year of his reign … he sent Shaphan—(See on 2Ki 22:3-9).
2Ch 34:19-33. And, Causing the Law to Be Read, Renews the Covenant between God and the People.
19. when the king had heard the words of the law, &c.—(See on 2Ki 22:11-20; 23:1-3).