A Complete History and Mystery of the Old and New Testament, Volume 3 · Appendix · Chapter 7
2 Kings CHAP. XXII. and 2 Chron. CHAP. XXXIV.
THESE two Chapters contain the Hiſtory of the beginning of good Joſiah's Reign, a moſt Pious Son of a moſt Impious Father Amon, who well knew all the Calamities that befel his Father Manaſſeh for his moſt notorious Impiety: Yet was not caution'd, is kill'd and buried in a Private Place.
Remarks upon Joſiah. Firſt, He was the youngeſt King (being but eight Years old when he began to Reign, ver. 1.) that ever ſate upon the Throne of Judah, as young again as Ʋzziah, 2 Kings 15.2. Dr. Lightfoot well obſerveth, that God had a great deal of Work to be done by Joſiah, therefore he ſets him upon the Throne betimes to accompliſh that Work, which he had cut out for him in the World, and which God had foretold in his Word ſhould be wrought by him. N.B. Giving him then his Name about three hundred forty Years before he was born, 1 Kings 13.2.
Remark the Second: This Name (which God himſelf had given him ſo long ago) ſignifies the Salvation of God; to which High Name his renewed Nature did excellently Anſwer both as to himſelf, for he made God his Salvation by believing in him, and as to his People, whom by God's Help he ſaved both from Idolatry and from a foreign Enemy all his days. His good Mother Jedidah (which ſignifies the Lord's Darling) did undoubtedly drop in Divine Inſtruction to ſeaſon her young Son, ſo ſoon as he was capable to receive it; inſomuch as he ſucked in a ſavour of Piety with his Mothers Milk, and began betimes (1.) to do that which was right, &c. (2.) To walk in the good ways of David: And (3.) more carefully than David; He avoided all Aberrations on both hands, but kept God's Cauſe-way, Numb. 20.17. 1 Sam. 6.12. Deut. 5.32. Joſh. 1.7. Prov. 4.27. until he came to his laſt Step, till then he ſtep d right, ver 2.
Remark the Third: No ſooner had Joſiah paſs'd the time of his Minority, (living under a Tutor and Protector, as Grotius well obſerveth) and come to the Age of Sixteen Years, the Eighth Year of his Reign, 2 Chron. 34.3. than he began publickly to ſhew his Zeal for God, wherewith his Soul had been ſeaſoned in his Childhood, as above: Upon which Account too much good cannot well be ſpoken of this pious Prince, that while he was now juſt entring into the Age of manifold Temptations, and a State much expos'd unto many Touthfui Luſts, and having now no Protector over him, but had the Adminiſtration of his Kingdom wholly in his own hands, without the Controul of any Superiour, yet even at Sixteen Years of Age he begins to be in good earneſt for a publick promotion of a Religious Reformation. Oh Mirror of Piety! at ſuch an Age when commonly Youth is addicted to Vanity, Eccleſ. 11.10.
Remark the Fourth; His Reformation of Religion (as deſcribed 2 Chron. 34.) hath Circumſtances of Removing (1.) the High-places, with their Groves, &c. ver. 3. (2.) The Altars and Idols which he Demoliſhed, ver. 4. (3.) He burnt the Bones of the Idolatrous Prieſts, 2 Kings 23.20. Defacing their Sepulchres, ver. 5. (4) He in a word purg'd forth Idolatry, both out of the City and out of the Country, far off as well as near hand, ver. 6, 33. ſo great was his Zeal.
Remark the Fifth; Joſiah's Repairing the Temple. 2 Kin. 22. ver. 3, to ver. 20. 2 Chron. 3 34. ver. 8, to ver. 28. Wherein, Mark firſt, the Antecedents, ſeconaly, the Concomitants, and thirdly, the Conſequents.
Mark 1. Upon the Antevedents. 'Tis well obſerved, that the great Reformation of Religion (Recorded in 2 Kings 23.) was done before this Reparation of the Temple, which was not done until the Eighteenth Year of his Reign, 2 Kings 23.3. and 2 Chron. 34.8. But before this time he had given many publick Manifeſtations of his Holy Fervency for God, &c. which are in the 2 Kings 22. omitted. For in the Eighth Year of his Reign he began to ſeek Publick Reformation while yet young, but Sixteen Years old, and in his Twelfth Year (when Twenty Years old) he purged Judah and Jeruſalem, &c. 2 Chron. 34.3. Now this good King goeth on ſtill to do more and more good after that, both in his Eighth and Twelfth Year; he added his care to Repair God's Houſe in the Eighteenth Year of his Reign.
Mark 2. Notwithſtanding the many Reformations that had been made, eſpecially in Hezekiah's Reign, 2 Chron. 29.3, &c. yet read we not of any Solemn Repairing of the Temple, ſave only that by Jehoaſh in the Days of Jehoiada, 2 Kings 12.2, 5. but that being about 234 Years before Joſiah, there muſt now be need of new Reparations; Tempus eſt edax rerum, Time wears all things.
Secondly, The Concomitants of this Solemn Repairing the Temple.
Mark 1. The Manner how this Work was Undertaken: It was done Equally, Juſtly, and Prudently, ſaith Moſes Flaccerus, 2 Kin. 22.3, 4, 5, 6, 7. and 2 Chron. 34.9, 10, 11, 12, 13. both Workmen and Overſeers, all did faithfully; ſo that no Reckoning was made (ſaith Piſcator) about the Money they had received: All ſet themſelves as in the preſence of God, to whom Eye ſervice will do well.
Mark 2. The chief Commiſſioner for managing this great Work was Hilkiah, a good High-Prieſt, and one careful enough both to keep God's Worſhip pure within, and to Repair the Stone-Walls, which Temporis injurid & Hominum incuriâ, by Continuance of Time, and by Violence of Idolaters, were much Decayed without. Some ſuppoſe this good Man was Jeremy's Father, Jerem. 1.1.
Thirdly, The Conſequents was the finding the Book of the Law.
Mark 1. This ſame Hilkiah found amongſt the Rubbiſh the Original Copy of the Law of Moſes's own Hand-writing, 2 Chron. 34.14. and by him cauſed to be put in the ſide of the Ark, Deut. 31.26. whence ſome ſuppoſe it was the Book of Deutronomy only: Some Pious Prieſt had hid it in a ſecret place of the Temple, leſt in the Idolatrous times of Manaſſeh and Amon, it ſhould be taken and burnt, which they did to all the Copies they could find, (ſay Sanctius and Lavater) as the Rabbins do relate; or at leaſt, thoſe Idolatrous Kings had ſo ſuppreſs'd God's Law, that at this time Joſiah had not yet ſeen it, ſaith Vatablus. For tho' Manaſſeh Repented, yet by Old Age and Death he was prevented from Reſtoring God's Law, ſaith Munsterus.
Mark 2. This New-found Old Original Manuſcript was carry'd to Joſiah, ver. 9.10. and 2 Chron. 34.15, 16, 17. where it is more largely related: Hilkiah gave it to Shaphan (the King's Meſſenger to him, ver. 3.) as a rare Preſent fit for the hands of a Royal Prince, &c. N. B. What a ſhame is it, that Bibles (now ſo common) are ſo little priz'd among us? 'Tis a ſad Complaint of Learned and Pious Dr. Moulin he maketh concerning the French Proteſtants, ſaying, [Time was, when, while the Papists burnt us for Reading the Scriptures, we burnt with zeal to be Reading of them; but now, with our Liberty, is bred not only a Neglect, but alſo a Diſeſteem of God's Word, D. Moul. Theatr. pag. 278.
Mark 3. Shaphan Read it, (doubtleſs at the King's Command, as Jerem. 36.21.) good Joſiah well ſhewed how much he was affected toward it, and effectually wrought upon by it in 3 Reſpects, (ſaith Flaccherus) (1.) Lectione libri; (2) Laceratione Veſtium; And (3.) Legatione ad Prophetiſſam. 1. He was not only Deſirous to hear God's Word, (which Wicked Men account but Wind and in Terrorem only, Jerem. 5.12, 13, 14) but was alſo deeply touched with it upon his tender heart, ver. 19. becauſe through ſome Neglect, he had not Read it according to God's Command all his life, Deut. 17.19. 2. He ſhewed how much his tender heart was touched with hearing it, by that External Sign of Rending his Cloaths, ver. 11. an outward Expreſſion of much inward Contrition, or rending of the Heart as well as of the Garment, Job 2.13. 3. He ſent to the Propheteſs.
Mark 4. When Joſiah had heard the Dreadful Divine Comminations denounced againſt the Jews in that Book for his Predeceſſors Sins, and thought thoſe direful Curſes were juſt hanging over their Heads, he therefore cries, [Go ye, and Enquire of the Lord for me, &c. ver. 12, 13. and 2 Chron. 34.20, 21. [that he might know when thoſe Iudgments would come, and whether no means might not yet be made uſe of wherewith to pacifie God's Wrath and prevent them.
Mark 5. Hilkiah and his Partners were not ſent to Jeremy or Zephany, tho' they both were Prophets in Joſiah's time, Jerem. 1.2. and Zeph. 1.1. (ſay Lyra, Sanctius, Erpennius, &c.) becauſe (1.) Jeremy was now but very young, and not at Jeruſalem, but at Anathoth, (the place of his Birth) where he contended with the Footmen, his Townſmen and Kinrded, who would have kill'd him, Jerem. 11.12. Whereupon he goes up to Jeruſalem, and there God tells him the Courtiers would be Rougher than his Kindred, and asks him [How could he Run with thoſe Horſemen at the Court, when the Footmen in the Country had wearied him?] Jer. 12.5. He began but to Propheſy in the 13th. Year of Joſiah, Jerem. 1.2. and 2.6. Cauſſinus ſaith, that Jeremy began to Propheſy at 15 Years old. (2.) Becauſe Zephany had not yet appeared to be a Prophet at all, (being ſuppoſed to be Hezekiah's Grand-child). He aroſe in the latter times of Joſiah, and Propheſied expreſly againſt the King's Children (Jehoahaz, Jehoiakin, and Zedekiah) for their new-faſhion'd new-fangl'd Apparel, Zeph. 1.8. and the Eldeſt of theſe three was but 12 Years old at Joſiah's 18th. ſaith Dr. Lightfoot.
Mark 6. But thoſe Meſſengers of the King were therefore ſent to Huldah the Propheteſs; For (1.) Souls have no Sexes, in point of Holy Prophecy, Male and Female are all one in God as they are in Chriſt, Gal. 3.28. Tho God forbid Women the Ordinary Miniſterial Function in the Church, 1 Cor. 14.34. 1 Tim. 2.12. yet Extraordinary Gifts God gave to the Female Sex according to his good pleaſure, both in the Old Teſtament (as Miriam, Exod. 15.20. Deborah, Judg. 4.4. and Hannah, 1 Sam. 2.) and ſo in the New Teſtament, as Anna, Luke 2.36. Elizabeth and the bleſſed Virgin, Luk. 1. and Philip's Daughters, Acts 21.9. (2.) She was ſent to here, becauſe the King's Matter required haſte, and this Huldah was at hand, [She dwelt in Jeruſalem, in the College] ver. 14. in Miſhneh, Hebr. as Deutronomy is call'd Miſhneh-Torah, the Second Law, ſo 'tis ſuppoſed ſhe dwelt in the Second Part of the King's Palace, and the King and his Courtiers having longer experience of the eminency of her Prophetick Gifts, they minded more the Meſſage God ſent, than the Meſſenger by whom God ſent it to them.
Mark 7. The Anſwer this Propheteſs ſent from God to the King was, that (1.) which related to the People, which the King muſt know, v. 15, 16, 17, and 2 Chron. 34.23, 24, 25. wherin ſhe (1.) ſtyles the King, [Man] to mind him of his Mortality (not out of contempt) whereof Kings have need to be minded. N. B. King Philip ordered his Page to cry every Morning to him, Remember thou art but a Man. Huldah here ſpeaks from God, with whom there is no reſpect of Perſons, ſo might ſay [tell the Man] yet owns his Royalty in adding that Phraſe [that ſent you unto me.] She (2.) denounces all thoſe Judgements declared in Deut. 28. (which, Munſterus ſaith, was the part read to Joſiah) were juſt ready as a Fire to fall upon the Heads of the Jews for their notorious Idolatry, Impiety and Impenitency) which ſhould not be quenched till it burnt them (as we ſay) out of all Houſe and Harbour, &c. But (2ly.) that of the Divine Oracle, which relateth to Joſiah himſelf. (1.) She giveth the King his juſt Title, [but to the King of Judah] ver. 18. whereas before ſhe had call'd him only Man, ver. 15. N. B. Piety is no Enemy to Mannerly Civility. (2.) She declares her Meſſage, not as any private Motion of her own heart, but as from the Lord again and again, ver. 18, 19. She ſaith (3.) becauſe thine heart was tender, eaſily touched with the leaſt Sin, and eaſily diſſolved into Tears and Tenderneſs, becauſe thou haſt been Humbled, therefore ſhalt thou die in peace, and not ſee this Curſe executed, ver. 20.
Mark 8. And laſt. How happy it is in an impetuous Storm to be a gentle Reed, which ſtoops and ſtands, whereas the ſturdy and obſtinate Oak (that will not bend) is blown up by the Roots by its ſtanding ſo ſtiſly againſt the ſtrongeſt Guſts of God's Judgments? N.B. Huldah was not a lying Propheteſs; for tho' Joſiah died in War, Chap. 23.29. yet died he in peace, (ſay Enpennius and Sanctius) for when he died, his Kingdom had a publick Peace, and tho' he was ſlain, yet not by an Enemy that had any Quarrel againſt him or his Kingdom: Beſide, he died in peace with God and with his own Conſcience; and was not only taken from the evils to come, Iſa. 57, 1, 2. but alſo was by Death tranſlated unto everlaſting peace, &c.