2 Chronicles Chapter 34

Josiah Rules Judah

¹ Josiah was 8 and ruled for 31 years in Jerusalem. ² He did what was good and didn’t stray from the ways of David. ³ In his eighth year, while he was still young, he began to look to David’s God. In his twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem of the high places, Asherah poles, and carved and molten images. ⁴ The people tore down the Baal altars and chopped down the incense altars above them. The Asherah poles, carved images, and molten images he broke in pieces, ground into powder, and scattered on the graves of those who had sacrificed to them. ⁵ He burned the bones of the priests on their altars. ⁶ In the towns and surrounding ruins in Manasseh, Ephraim, and Simeon as far as Naphtali, ⁷ he destroyed the altars and Asherah poles, beat the carved images into powder, and chopped down the incense altars everywhere in Israel.                         2 Ch 34:1-7

⁸ In his eighteenth year, he sent Shaphan Ben-Azaliah; Maaseiah, an official of the city; and Joah Ben-Joahaz, the recorder, to repair the Temple. ⁹ They delivered to Hilkiah the high priest the money that came into God’s Temple that the Levites, the doorkeepers, had collected from Manasseh, Ephraim, the remnant of Israel, Judah and Benjamin, and the people in Jerusalem. ¹⁰ They gave it to the workmen that oversaw the Temple. ¹¹ They in turn gave it to the carpenters and builders to buy quarried stone and timber for couplings and to make beams for the houses the kings of Judah had let fall into ruin. ¹² The men did the work faithfully under their foremen: Jahath and Obadiah, Levites descended from Merari; Zechariah and Meshullam from the Kohathites, and the Levites skillful with musical instruments. ¹³ They also supervised the carriers and workmen from job to job. Some Levites were secretaries, officials, and gatekeepers. 

      2 Ch 34:8-13

The Book of the Law Discovered

¹⁴ When they were bringing out the money that had come in, Hilkiah the priest found the Book of the Law that Moses gave. ¹⁵ He told Shaphan the secretary, “I’ve found the Book of the Law in the Temple.” He gave it to him ¹⁶ to take to the king,

“Your officials are doing everything you entrusted to them. ¹⁷ They’ve emptied out the money they found in the^Y Temple, and delivered it to the foremen and workmen. ¹⁸ Hilkiah gave me a scroll.”

He read it to the king. ¹⁹ When the king heard what the Law said, he tore his clothes. ²⁰ He told Hilkiah, Ahikam Ben-Shaphan, Abdon Ben-Micah, Shaphan the secretary, and Asaiah the king’s aide,

²¹ “Go ask Yahveh and the ones left in Israel and Judah about what the scroll says. Yahveh poured out his great anger on us because our ancestors haven’t observed what’s written here.”             2 Ch 34:14-21

²² Hilkiah and the others spoke to Huldah the prophetess, wife of Shallum Ben-Tokhath Ben-Hasrah, the keeper of the wardrobe. (She lived in Jerusalem’s Second Quarter.) ²³ She said,

“Yahveh God of Israel says to tell the man that sent you, ²⁴ ‘I’m bringing disaster on this place and its people, the curses written in the scroll they’ve read to the king. ²⁵ They’ve left me and burned incense to other gods to offend me. My anger won’t be quenched.’

²⁶ “But tell the king Yahveh says, ²⁷ ‘I’ve heard you because your heart was sensitive. You humbled yourself when you heard what I said against this place and its people. You tore your clothes and cried.   ²⁸ I’ll gather you to your ancestors in peace so you won’t see the disaster I’m going to bring on this place and its people.’”

They brought the message back to the king.                                                                  2 Ch 34:22-28

Josiah’s Reforms

²⁹ Then the king gathered the elders in Judah ³⁰ and went up to Yahveh’s Temple with the people of Judah and Jerusalem, the priests, the Levites, and the people from least to greatest. He read to them everything in the Book of the Covenant that Hilkiah found. ³¹ He stood in his place to renew the covenant to follow Yahveh and keep his commandments, testimonies, and statutes with all his heart and soul—like the covenant said in that scroll. ³² He made everybody present in Jerusalem and Benjamin stand with him. The people in Jerusalem obeyed the covenant with their ancestors’ God. ³³ Josiah removed the detestable things from the territory that belonged to the Israelites and made everybody in Israel serve Yahveh their God. They followed him his whole life. 2 Ch 34:29-33