2 Chronicles 34:6

_AND SO DID HE IN THE CITIES OF MANASSEH, AND EPHRAIM, AND SIMEON, EVEN UNTO NAPHTALI, WITH THEIR MATTOCKS ROUND ABOUT._ 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 heights around.' 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 dominions; and therefore it is necessary to observe, that after the destruction of Samaria by Shalmanezer, the remnant that continued on the mountains of Israel maintained a close contact with Judah, and looked to the sovereigns of that kingdom as their natur...

Verse 2 Chronicles 34:6. _THE CITIES OF MANASSEH_] Even those who were under the government of the Israelitish king permitted their idols and places of idolatry to be hewn down and destroyed: after the truth was declared and acknowledged, the _spade_ and the _axe_ were employed to complete the reformation....

The power of Assyria being now (629-624 B.C.) greatly weakened, if not completely broken, Josiah aimed not merely at a religious reformation, but at a restoration of the kingdom to its ancient limits (see the 2 Kings 23:19 note). WITH THEIR MATTOCKS ... - Or “in their desolate places” (comparePsalms 109:10). Another reading gives the sense, “he proved their house round about.”...

EXPOSITION This chapter, with the following, embraces the entire of the beneficent reign of Josiah, son of Amon—the son an illustrious contrast to the father. The parallel (2 Kings 22-23:30) is less full, and also, so far as chronology goes, less clear in the earlier verses. For once the writer of Kings spends his strength more largely than our compiler on the moral and religious aspects of Josiah's work, and is rather scantier in the detail of his external works for his nation, city of Jerusalem, and temple. He, however, gives very much less prominence to the matter of the celebration of the Passover. 2 CHRONICLES 34:1 Again the name of the mother is omitted. From the parallel we learn she was "Jedidah, the daughter of Adaiah of Boscath....

AND SO DID HE IN THE CITIES OF MANASSEH, AND EPHRAIM, AND SIMEON, EVEN UNTO NAPHTALI,.... Which though they belonged to the ten tribes, yet these being carried captive by the king of Assyria, they that were left became subject to the kings of Judah, 2 Kings 23:19, WITH THEIR MATTOCKS ROUND ABOUT; or hammers or mauls, as Kimchi, or pick axes, such sort of instruments as were used in demolishing altars and images: the Targum is, "in the house of their desolation;'' and so other versions, "in their desolate places" x, which were become such, the inhabitants being carried captive, and few left behind. x בתרבתיהם "in desolatis locis suis, [vel] eorum", Montanus, Tigurine version, Rambachius....

8. REFORMATION UNDER JOSIAH CHAPTER 34 The Reign of Josiah and the Reformation _ 1. The record of his reign (2 Chronicles 34:1)_ 2. The beginning of the reformation (2 Chronicles 34:3) 3. The house of the LORD repaired (2 Chronicles 34:8) 4. The law of Moses found and read (2 Chronicles 34:14) 5. Hulda, the prophetess (2 Chronicles 34:22) 6. The law read and the covenant ...

2 Chronicles 34:1 to 2 Chronicles 35:27. THE REIGN OF JOSIAH. See notes on 2 Kings 22, 2 Kings 23:1, which form the basis of the Chronicler's account; but he has made many alterations in accordance with his general tendencies. One important difference between the two accounts is that, according to the Chronicler, Josiah's Reformation takes place before the finding of the book of the Law, an obviously illogical sequence; but the Chronicler desires to emphasize Josiah's piety even in his tender years. The description of the celebration of the Passover (2 Chronicles 35:1) is far fuller than that given in...

WITH THEIR MATTOCKS: or, in their ruins....

_Simeon_ Here as in 2 Chronicles 15:9 regarded as belonging to the Northern tribes, but their cities were in the south; cp. 1 Chronicles 4:28 ff. _with their mattocks_ R.V. IN THEIR RUINS (with marginal note, "The text is probably corrupt"). LXX. ἐν … τοῖς τόποις αὐτῶν i.e. "in their places." Pesh. reads, _in their broad places_, and this is probably correct....

LESSON TWENTY-FOUR 34-36 JOSIAH'S REFORMATION THE LAST DAYS OF THE SOUTHERN KINGDOM BABYLONIAN CAPTIVITY. THE DECREE OF CYRUS 17. THE REIGN OF JOSIAH (Chapter 34-35) INTRODUCTION Josiah and Hilkiah led Judah in a wonderful revival of faith in God. The passover was a time of great rejoicing. Josiah's untimely death shortened Judah's time as a kingdom. Babylon came. Jerusalem was ruined. Captivity followed. At the end of the captivity Cyrus released the Jews for their return to Jerusalem. TEXT 2 Chronicles 34:1. Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign; and he reigned thirty and one years in Jerusalem. 2. And he did that which was right in the eyes of Jehovah, and walked in the ways of David his father, and turned not aside to the right hand or to the left. 3. For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was yet young, he began