Holy Bible

Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign. 2 Chronicles 34:1-8 Josiah's early piety Monday Club Sermons. I. THE POSSIBILITY OF YOUTHFUL RESPONSIBILITY. Other children besides Josiah have been called to the cares of a kingdom. Manasseh commenced to reign at twelve, Joash was seven, Uzziah sixteen; Henry III and Edward VI of England were both nine; four of the Scottish kings, James II, III, IV, and V, ascended the throne when children. Of the French kings, Louis I. began to reign at sixteen, Louis IX at eleven, Louis XIII at nine, Charles VI at eleven, Charles IX at ten; Louis XIV, inheriting the kingdom at five, assumed full control by his own force of character at thirteen. Charles I of Spain, better known as Charles V of Germany, became king at sixteen; Charles II at fourteen, seizing the kingdom from an ill-governing regency which had existed since his fourth year. II. EARLY PIETY IS POSSIBLE AND DESIRABLE. When does the period of moral accountability begin? We cannot fix it definitely. But this much is certain: whenever the child can intelligently choose this or that because it is right or wrong, then has moral accountability commenced, and the child can be a Christian. III. THE INFLUENCE OF GOOD ADVISERS. Josiah was but a boy, and yet around him were spiritual Titans — Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Jeremiah. IV. THE ENERGY OF YOUTHFUL PIETY. V. THE INFLUENCE OF THE SURROUNDING ATMOSPHERE ON PIETY. We must be watchful against irreligious influences. ( Monday Club Sermons. ) Importance of early piety W. M. Taylor, D.D. Ancient nations would not receive old men into their armies, as being unfit for service. Let us not wait until we can only offer unto "Him who hath loved us" dry and worthless bones. ( W. M. Taylor, D.D. ) The example of Joash T. Hughes. There is at the top of the Queen's staircase in Windsor Castle a statue from the studio of Baron Triqueti, of Edward VI., marking with his sceptre a passage in the Bible, which he holds in his left hand, and upon which he earnestly looks. The passage is this concerning Josiah: "Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned thirty and one years in Jerusalem. And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, and walked in all the way of David, his father, and turned not aside to the right hand or to the left." The statue was erected by the will of the late Prince Consort, who intended it to convey to his son the Divine principles by which the future governor of England should mould his life and reign on the throne of Great Britain. ( T. Hughes. ) Early piety Griffith Johns. I was admitted into the Church at the early age of eight. I don't remember that I experienced at the time any extraordinary work of God on my soul. I loved Christ, and felt a strong desire to be identified with His people. When I mentioned the fact to some of the deacons some of them looked askance, and expressed grave doubts as to the propriety of allowing one so young to sit at the Lord's table. Among them, however, there were wiser men. Their counsels prevailed, and after some months of probation I was admitted. From that day until now I have never ceased to thank God that I was induced to take the important step at the time I did. Had I not done so I doubt whether I should have been a missionary — if a member of the Christian Church at all. ( Griffith Johns. ) Josiah the old-fashioned young man D. Davies. As the sensitive plate in the photographic camera, when the person who sits for a likeness is placed in a powerful light, takes an impression of him in which every line upon the countenance and every furrow upon the brow are exaggerated, so that the artist has to touch the negative in order to do him simple justice, so, when a man sits in the fierce glare of public light, his failings are so prominently recorded, and his defects so clearly brought out, that it is necessary for us in fairness to touch the negative with the pencil of charity, and thus soften down the defects. Remembering this, this description of Josiah fills us with wonder. Consider — I. HIS DISADVANTAGES. 1. His extreme youth. 2. The degeneracy of the times. He ascended the throne in a dark age. 3. He was the son of a bad father. II. WHAT IS THE EXPLANATION OF HIS PIETY? It may have been largely due to the quiet but all-powerful influence of a good mother. But there are wonders of grace often wrought in the lives of the children of wicked men which you cannot explain. III. THE MANIFESTATION OF HIS PIETY. He "walked in the ways of David his father." Four hundred years separated Josiah from David. Thank God, there are seasons, even in degenerate times, when the old purity of things is restored, when the grand old faith is received and lived over again, and when the heroism of those who are gone comes back like a new inspiration to young lives. "Ah! he is an old-fashioned young man: he lives behind the age; he ought to have been living in the time of David, for he has quite adopted his ancient ways," exclaimed some young men of the period. All the conceited striplings of the day would join in the chorus, "Poor Josiah, he does not move with the age. He is an eccentric young fellow, very puritanic in his notions, and sings psalms as if he lived in the days of old King David." My young friends, a true man likes to be old-fashioned sometimes. It is noble to move with the age when the age is going forward; but it is grand to remain with the past when the age in which we live retrogrades from ancient purity and ancient faith. When there is no spiritual vigour or moral fibre in our day, it is well to stick to the old days when there were strength and fibre in religion and morals. Do not be afraid of the charge of being old-fashioned. It is cheaply made, and is often meaningless, save as it is the highest possible compliment. Be in the company of the world's best and noblest men: never mind whether they live to-day, or whether they lived eighteen hundred years ago, or even more. ( D. Davies. ) For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was yet young, he began to seek after the God of David. 2 Chronicles 34:3 Seeking after God Robert Stevenson. 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 J. Wolfendale. 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 Christian Age. 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 F. Hastings. 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 A Gatty, M.A. 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 H. Kollock, D. D. 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 Essex Congregational Remembrancer. 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. Josiah's 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 Sketches of Four Hundred Sermons. I. JOSIAH IMITATED DAVID. 1. God was David's teacher. 2. God was David's comfort. 3. God was David's delight. 4. God was David's 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 God's true worship and frequenting it. 5. With all his heart ( 2 Kings 23:25 ). III. THE PERIOD OF LIFE WHEN HE DID IT. ( Sketches of Four Hundred Sermons. ) Josiah James Wells, M.A. 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 mother's 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 river's 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 won't 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 Christ's 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 , who replied to the threats of the Empress Eudoxia, "I fear nothing but sin." Josiah's 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. ) And when they brought out the money that was brought into the house of the Lord . 2 Chronicles 34:14-33 Restoring God's house Sunday School Times. I. SPIRITUAL DESOLATION. 1. The negligent priesthood (ver. 5). 2. The dilapidated temple (ver. 7). 3. The perverted utensils (ver. 7). II. ABUNDANT OFFERINGS. 1. Opportunity to give (ver. 8). 2. Called to give (ver. 9). 3. Giving cheerfully (ver. 10). III. EFFECTIVE WORK. 1. Skilled workmen (ver. 12). 2. Diligent service (ver. 13). 3. Renewed devotion (ver. 14). ( Sunday School Times. ) The book of the law found G. E. Horr. 1. We to-day are in some danger of losing the Scriptures. Not as a volume of literature.(1) It is possible for the Word of God to sink out of our consciousness through our indifference.(2) We may also make so much of prayer-books and creeds, of systems of doctrine and religious treatises, that the Scriptures themselves are seen only by a reflected light.(3) Because we have been acquainted with the Scriptures from childhood, as we grow older we may fancy that we know what they contain, and leave them unstudied and unread.(4) It is not unusual in public worship for the devotional services and the sermon to come between the soul and God's Word.(5) It is not unusual to find men so wedded to traditional interpretations, having origin in some theological theory, that when they read the Bible they are like one looking upon a landscape through coloured spectacles. When this tendency rules we are in danger of losing the Bible. 2. The discovery of "the book of the law" gave Josiah a new basis for faith. He must have felt when he read it, that he was supernaturally strengthened in his great task of reformation. There are few of us who do not desire to have our various undertakings approved by those in whose sagacity and moral discernment we trust. Josiah undertook his work with a new heart, for he felt that the Lord was with him. 3. We have here suggested the broad distinction between our certainty of what seems to be true and our certainty of what is vouched for as true by the Word of God. 4. This discovery of the law enlarged Josiah's conception of duty. The knowledge that came to him and to the nation, through this book, was what a flash of light is to a ship on a dangerous coast; the light reveals the rocks upon which she nearly struck; it also reveals the safe channel and the course to the harbour. The Bible performs this double office for all to whom it comes. It reveals sin; and it discloses the path to a better life. God's prohibitions are not restrictions upon life, but protections to it. God's calls to men are calls to blessedness. 5. This narrative illustrates the way truth enters a human life and recreates it. 6. Two reflections. (1) The large importance to each one of us of our finding the truth of God. (2) The chief blessing we can confer on others is to give them the truth God has given us. The men who went to the temple treasury came back with more than money. ( G. E. Horr. ) The book of the law found J. E. Jacklin. I. THE RESULTS OF LOSING THE LAW. 1. Knowledge of the truth was lost. 2. True religion passed away. 3. The services of the temple ceased. 4. The sanctuary was polluted. 5. False religion "came in like a flood." "The land was full of idols." 6. "Crimes of violence and deeds of oppression abounded everywhere." When man ceases to fear God he begins to hate his fellow-man. 7. " Immorality was rampant." Morality does not live without religion. 8. Misery and final destruction followed. II. THE RESULTS OF FINDING THE LAW. 1. False religion was put away. 2. The people repented and turned to God. 3. The truth was learned. 4. The temple was beautified and opened for services. 5. A measure of mercy was found. 6. The truth was handed down to other ages.Miscellaneous lessons: 1. Temple and services are vain without the truth. 2. Those who seek to serve God discover his will 3. When men desire to do wrong they hate the Word of God. 4. The Bible will survive all efforts of man to destroy it. 5. Where leaders set an example of piety the people follow. 6. Sin, vice, misery, and destruction come where the truth is not possessed. 7. If the times are bad we should hold up the law of God. 8. The Bible is a lost book to those who (a) neglect it; (b) disbelieve it; (c) disobey it. 9. Every child should own, read, and love the Bible. 10. One can be loyal to God amid the most opposing surroundings. 11. One's course in childhood generally determines what the youth and manhood will be. 12. The world greatly needs the services of children and men and women of righteousness. ( J. E. Jacklin. ) Josiah and the newly found law A. Maclaren, D.D. I. THE DISCOVERY OF THE BOOK OF THE LAW. We see here — 1. A striking instance of the indestructibleness of God's Word. It has a charmed life. 2. That honest efforts after reformation are usually rewarded by clearer knowledge of God's will. If Hilkiah had not been busy in setting wrong things right, he would not have found the book in its dark hiding-place. We are told that the coincidence of the discovery at the nick of time is suspicious. So it is, if you do not believe in Providence. If you do, the coincidence is but one instance of his sending gifts of the right sort at the right moment. 3. That the true basis of all religious reform is the Word of God. The nearest parallel is Luther's finding the dusty Latin Bible among the neglected convent books. Faded flowers will lift up their heads when plunged into water. The old Bible, discovered and applied anew, must underlie all real renovation of dead or moribund Christianity. II. THE EFFECT OF THE REDISCOVERED LAW. If a man will give God's Word a fair hearing, and be honest with himself, it will bring him to his knees. No man rightly uses God's law who is not convinced by it of his sin, and impelled to that self-abased sorrow of which the rent royal robes were the passionate expression. The first function of the law is to arouse the knowledge of sin, as Paul profoundly teaches. Without that penitential knowledge religion is superficial, and reformation merely external. III. THE DOUBLE-EYED MESSAGE OF THE PROPHETESS. Josiah does not seem to have told his messengers where to go; but they knew, and went to a very unlikely person, the wife of an obscure man, only known as his father's son. Where was Jeremiah of Anathoth? Perhaps not in the city at the time. This embassy to Huldah is in full accord with the high position which women held in that state, of which the framework was shaped by God Himself. In Christ Jesus "there is neither male nor female," and Judaism approximated much more closely to that ideal than other lands did. Huldah's message has two parts. 1. The confirmation of the threatenings of the law. 2. The assurance to Josiah of the acceptance of his repentance and gracious promise of escape from the coming storm.These two are precisely equivalent to the double aspect of the gospel, which completes the law, endorsing its sentence and pointing the way of escape. ( A. Maclaren, D.D. ) \ The Scriptures found and searched Monday Club Sermons. I. THE BIBLE LOST. 1. It is lost to nations. Sometimes kings and governments forbid its circulation. 2. In communities where it freely circulates in the vernacular of the people — by misconstruction, false teaching and disregard. 3. It is lost to individuals by the way they treat it. How many a man suffers the Bible to lie in his home unused, dust-covered, like the sacred roll in the Temple, until it be almost forgotten! How many cast it away because it reproves them as it reproved the wicked kings of Judah! II. DEGENERACY INEVITABLE WITHOUT IT. The Word of God is the great source and conservator of moral life and health. It is sunlight to the moral world. It is the invigorating element in the moral atmosphere. No more surely do plants grow pale without sunlight, or animal life grow feeble without oxygen, than all that makes a worthy life in man, individual or collective, wanes and fails when deprived of the Word of God. How true was this of Judah! When the Word of God was lost, the nation sunk rapidly into wickedness and consequent weakness. False religion ran riot. The smoke of incense to heathen gods filled the land. The consciences of the people were debauched. And whenever the Word of God has been lost by prohibition or neglect, the downward tendency of national life has been marked. Other elements of strength may have withstood it, and, for a time, upheld with seeming success the fabric of state. But, the best elements being wanting, degeneracy and feebleness sooner or later inevitably appear. But illustrations of the matter under consideration are more open to observation in regard to communities. Whenever the Word of God is not set on high, and honoured as the arbiter in morals, the teacher in religion, and the guide in life, there wickedness and vice will prevail. But individual life furnishes the best illustration. Without the word of God abiding in the mind and regnant in the life, deterioration in all things good certainly supervenes. Take out of a man's life the distinctive truths of the Divine revelation, and he is utterly exposed. Every avenue of his being is open to temptation. He will surely run down, sink to a lower plane, and ordinarily to a plane lower and lower the longer he lives. How many parents weep over sons and daughters tarnished, degraded, lost, because they would not heed the voice of God! III. ITS EFFECT WHEN FOUND. 1. In the case of Josiah, it was astonishment. That such a book should have existed, stating so clearly the Divine will, so full of denunciations against the sins of the land, filled him with amazement. This is natural and legitimate. Only let men to whom the Bible has been lost wake to the solemn reality that its statements are everlasting truth, and that they will hold with unrelaxing energy in life, in death, and in eternity, and amazement must overwhelm them. "Is it possible that these things are true and I have not realised them?" 2. Another effect was to set him to earnest study. God was speaking. It was necessary for him to know what was said that he might order his conduct accordingly. Investigation of the Bible follows naturally a realisation of its nature. 3. Another result was to awaken anxiety. Study of the "book of the law" revealed his true condition. And so it is always. The Bible does not create the facts of our existence, but it does reveal them. In it we see our necessities and our danger. The past is marked with sin, the present full of corruption; the future forbidding, through fear of coming doom. 4. Again, the Bible found leads to repentance and reformation. How thorough was it in the case of Josiah! How deeply he deplored the sins of the land, how strenuously put them away! So it is always. It shows men what they are, and what they have done. It reveals the intensity of their sinfulness and the multitude of their sins. New thoughts, new desires, new affections, new purposes dwell within; new conduct, new habits mark the external life. And the same thing occurs in a wider field. Communities are waked to newness of life by finding the Bible. All this is true of tribes and nations. Many are the nations which have been revolutionised by it in the past, and it is doing the same to-day. Freedom of conscience attends the Bible, and civil liberty follows close behind. The Bible is the charter of the world's hope and the mainspring of its reformation. How sad is the thought that to so many of our race there is no Bible! ( Monday Club Sermons. ) Finding the book of the law B. Kent, M.A. 1. Many precious things are found when we set to work at repairs. Try to remove the dust from old sanctuaries of life and memory, and see what you will light upon. 2. How one good thing leads to another. First "walking in the way of the Lord"; then interest in the house of the Lord; then the book found. 3. The connection between pecuniary integrity and the Divine blessing. When they brought the money they found the book. 4. How many old things are new to us when we are in trouble and distress of mind. 5. The age of sixteen is a time of his life which no man ever forgets. 6. Devotedness to God at sixteen is so great a step in the life of a youth that it cannot be alone; you must make another onward into the sphere of spirit and of life. 7. God always finds some work to do for those who are His. 8. There is no deeper distress possible to us than that which pierces us in the discovery of our enmity to God. ( B. Kent, M.A. ) The loss of the Scriptures A. Phelps. Consider what we should lose if we were to part with the Christian Scriptures, and with all the institutions and blessings for which we are indebted to them. I. We should lose THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE TRUE GOD. Mankind needs a book to keep alive in the earth the knowledge of a spiritual and personal God. II. We should lose sooner or later OUR INSTITUTIONS OF BENEVOLENCE. III. We should lose OUR INSTITUTIONS FOR POPULAR EDUCATION. Popular education is of Bible origin. Other than Christian religions build themselves on the ignorance of the masses. IV. We should lose sooner or later OUR INSTITUTIONS OF CIVIL LIBERTY. History shows that the great charter of freedom in the world is the Word of God. The great free nations of the earth are the great Christian nations. ( A. Phelps. ) Because thine heart was tender. 2 Chronicles 34:27 The tender heart We see that waters of the same colour have not the same nature and effect, for hot waters are of the same colour with plain ordinary waters, yet more effectual; so the words of man coming from a man may seem at first to be the same with others, yet notwithstanding, the words of God coming from the Spirit of God carry a more wonderful excellency in them even to hearts of kings. Therefore Huldah speaks to the king, "Thus saith the Lord," etc. Josiah in uprightness sends to inquire, and the Lord returns him a full and upright answer. Whence we may learn — I. THAT GOD DOTH GRACIOUSLY FIT PROPHETS FOR PERSONS, AND HIS WORD TO A PEOPLE THAT ARE UPRIGHT IN THEIR HEARTS. Where there is a true desire to know the will of God, there God will give men sincere prophets that shall answer them exactly. But those that are false-hearted shall have suitable teachers, who shall instruct them according to their lusts. If they be like Ahab, they shall have four hundred false prophets to teach falsehood to please their lusts ( 1 Kings 22:6 ); but if they be Davids they shall have Nathans. If they be Josiahs they shall have Huldahs and Jeremiahs. God commended Josiah because his heart was tender. A tender heart is — 1. Sensitive. 2. Pliable. 3. Yielding. II. THAT IT IS A SUPERNATURAL DISPOSITION OF A TRUE CHILD OF GOD TO HAVE A TENDER, SOFT, AND A MELTING HEART. All by nature have stony hearts in respect of spiritual goodness. Say what you will to a hard heart, it will never yield. A hammer will do no good to a stone. It may break it in pieces, but not draw it to any form. So to a stony heart all the threatenings in the world will do no good. You may break it in pieces but never work upon it. It must be the Almighty power of God. All that are gracious must of necessity have soft hearts. III. THEREFORE I WILL SHOW — 1. How a tender heart is wrought. It is made tender by Him who made it ( Ezekiel 11:19 ). 1. God through the use of means softens it by His Word, in producing apprehension of judgment. 2. It is wrought by an apprehension of tenderness and love in Christ. Many say that an adamant cannot be melted with fire, but by blood. I cannot tell whether this be true or no; but I am sure nothing will melt the hard heart of man but the blood of Christ. 3. When the heart is made tender by the Spirit, many things will work tenderness. (1) The works of God. (2) His judgments. (3) The Word and sacraments. (4) God's promises. 2. How it may be preserved and maintained. (1) Keep under the means whereby God's Spirit will work. (2) Seek to realise the forlorn state of the Church abroad. (3) Labour for a legal and evangelical faith. (4) Associate with those who are tender-hearted. (5) Take heed of the least sin against conscience. As water, when it begins to freeze, will not endure anything, not so much as the weight of a pin upon it, but after a while will bear the weight of a cart; even so at the beginning, the heart being tender, trembles at the least sin, and will not bear with any one; but when it once gives way to sins against conscience, it becomes so frozen that it can endure any sin, and so becomes more and more hard. (6) Take heed of spiritual drunkenness; that is, be not drunk with an immoderate use of the creatures ( Hosea 4:11 ). (7) Take heed of hypocrisy. (8) Take heed of great sins. (9) Consider the miserable estate of hardness of heart. 8. How it may be discerned from the contrary. By applying of the soul unto objects — (1) To God. As it is tender from God, so it is tender for God. He that hath a tender heart cannot endure to dishonour God himself, or to hear others dishonour Him. (2) To His Word. A tender heart is sensitive to —(a) Its threatening ( Isaiah 66:2 ; 2 Corinthians 5:11 ; 2 Peter 3:11 ); its promises, its directions ( Isaiah 6:8 ; Psalm 27:8 ).(3) To the works of God. A tender heart quakes when it sees the judgments of God upon others. (4) To our regard of the estate of others, whether they be good or bad ( Psalm 119:136 ; Philippians 3:18 ; Matthew 23:37 ; Matthew 11:25 ).Conclusion: 1. What an excellent thing a tender heart is ( Isaiah 57:15 ). 2. It fits a man for the end for which he was created. The service of God. 3. It is fit for any blessedness. It is capable of any beatitude. 4. Consider the wretched state of a heart that is not tender, and will not yield. ( R. Sibbes. . ) A tender heart J. Evans, D.D. I. GIVE A GENERAL ACCOUNT OF A TENDER HEART. It implies — 1. A quick and ready sense and feeling in

Benson Commentary 2 Chronicles 34:1 Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem one and thirty years. 2 Chronicles 34:1 . Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign — The reader will find the principal parts of this chapter explained at large in the notes on 2 Kings 22. and 23., to which he is referred. 2 Chronicles 34:2 And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, and walked in the ways of David his father, and declined neither to the right hand, nor to the left. 2 Chronicles 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. 2 Chronicles 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. 2 Chronicles 34:4 And they brake down the altars of Baalim in his presence; and the images, that were on high above them, he cut down; and the groves, and the carved images, and the molten images, he brake in pieces, and made dust of them , and strowed it upon the graves of them that had sacrificed unto them. 2 Chronicles 34:5 And he burnt the bones of the priests upon their altars, and cleansed Judah and Jerusalem. 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. 2 Chronicles 34:6 . Even unto Naphtali — Which was in the utmost borders of the kingdom of Israel. For it must be remembered, that the ten tribes were now gone into captivity; and those who were come in their stead were weak and few, and not able to withstand the power of Josiah. 2 Chronicles 34:7 And when he had broken down the altars and the groves, and had beaten the graven images into powder, and cut down all the idols throughout all the land of Israel, he returned to Jerusalem. 2 Chronicles 34:8 Now in the eighteenth year of his reign, when he had purged the land, and the house, he sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah, and Maaseiah the governor of the city, and Joah the son of Joahaz the recorder, to repair the house of the LORD his God. 2 Chronicles 34:8-11 . When he had purged the land and the house — The house of God, called the house, by way of eminence. And they returned to Jerusalem — That is, the Levites, who had gone abroad through all Josiah’s kingdom to gather money for this use, and now came with it to Jerusalem to lodge it in the treasuries of the Lord’s house. To floor the houses which the kings of Judah had destroyed — The chambers adjoining to the temple, or within the courts. 2 Chronicles 34:9 And when they came to Hilkiah the high priest, they delivered the money that was brought into the house of God, which the Levites that kept the doors had gathered of the hand of Manasseh and Ephraim, and of all the remnant of Israel, and of all Judah and Benjamin; and they returned to Jerusalem. 2 Chronicles 34:10 And they put it in the hand of the workmen that had the oversight of the house of the LORD, and they gave it to the workmen that wrought in the house of the LORD, to repair and amend the house: 2 Chronicles 34:11 Even to the artificers and builders gave they it , to buy hewn stone, and timber for couplings, and to floor the houses which the kings of Judah had destroyed. 2 Chronicles 34:12 And the men did the work faithfully: and the overseers of them were Jahath and Obadiah, the Levites, of the sons of Merari; and Zechariah and Meshullam, of the sons of the Kohathites, to set it forward; and other of the Levites, all that could skill of instruments of musick. 2 Chronicles 34:12 . All that could skill of instruments of music — All these, here named, were skilful in instruments of music — Which may be here mentioned, to intimate, that as they were skilful, so they were exercised in both employments, and did successively oversee the work, and praise God with their voices and instruments. 2 Chronicles 34:13 Also they were over the bearers of burdens, and were overseers of all that wrought the work in any manner of service: and of the Levites there were scribes, and officers, and porters. 2 Chronicles 34:14 And when they brought out the money that was brought into the house of the LORD, Hilkiah the priest found a book of the law of the LORD given by Moses. 2 Chronicles 34:15 And Hilkiah answered and said to Shaphan the scribe, I have found the book of the law in the house of the LORD. And Hilkiah delivered the book to Shaphan. 2 Chronicles 34:16 And Shaphan carried the book to the king, and brought the king word back again, saying, All that was committed to thy servants, they do it . 2 Chronicles 34:17 And they have gathered together the money that was found in the house of the LORD, and have delivered it into the hand of the overseers, and to the hand of the workmen. 2 Chronicles 34:18 Then Shaphan the scribe told the king, saying, Hilkiah the priest hath given me a book. And Shaphan read it before the king. 2 Chronicles 34:19 And it came to pass, when the king had heard the words of the law, that he rent his clothes. 2 Chronicles 34:19 . When the king had heard the words he rent his clothes — Were the things contained in Scripture new to us, as they were here to Josiah, surely they would make deeper impressions upon us than they commonly do. But they are not the less weighty, and therefore should not be the less regarded, because they are well known. 2 Chronicles 34:20 And the king commanded Hilkiah, and Ahikam the son of Shaphan, and Abdon the son of Micah, and Shaphan the scribe, and Asaiah a servant of the king's, saying, 2 Chronicles 34:21 Go, inquire of the LORD for me, and for them that are left in Israel and in Judah, concerning the words of the book that is found: for great is the wrath of the LORD that is poured out upon us, because our fathers have not kept the word of the LORD, to do after all that is written in this book. 2 Chronicles 34:22 And Hilkiah, and they that the king had appointed , went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of Tikvath, the son of Hasrah, keeper of the wardrobe; (now she dwelt in Jerusalem in the college:) and they spake to her to that effect . 2 Chronicles 34:23 And she answered them, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Tell ye the man that sent you to me, 2 Chronicles 34:24 Thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will bring evil upon this place, and upon the inhabitants thereof, even all the curses that are written in the book which they have read before the king of Judah: 2 Chronicles 34:25 Because they have forsaken me, and have burned incense unto other gods, that they might provoke me to anger with all the works of their hands; therefore my wrath shall be poured out upon this place, and shall not be quenched. 2 Chronicles 34:26 And as for the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of the LORD, so shall ye say unto him, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel concerning the words which thou hast heard; 2 Chronicles 34:27 Because thine heart was tender, and thou didst humble thyself before God, when thou heardest his words against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof, and humbledst thyself before me, and didst rend thy clothes, and weep before me; I have even heard thee also, saith the LORD. 2 Chronicles 34:28 Behold, I will gather thee to thy fathers, and thou shalt be gathered to thy grave in peace, neither shall thine eyes see all the evil that I will bring upon this place, and upon the inhabitants of the same. So they brought the king word again. 2 Chronicles 34:29 Then the king sent and gathered together all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem. 2 Chronicles 34:30 And the king went up into the house of the LORD, and all the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and the priests, and the Levites, and all the people, great and small: and he read in their ears all the words of the book of the covenant that was found in the house of the LORD. 2 Chronicles 34:31 And the king stood in his place, and made a covenant before the LORD, to walk after the LORD, and to keep his commandments, and his testimonies, and his statutes, with all his heart, and with all his soul, to perform the words of the covenant which are written in this book. 2 Chronicles 34:32 And he caused all that were present in Jerusalem and Benjamin to stand to it . And the inhabitants of Jerusalem did according to the covenant of God, the God of their fathers. 2 Chronicles 34:32-33 . He caused all present to stand to it — He caused them to engage by an oath or covenant, that they would observe the laws of God, as his predecessors had formerly done, and which indeed they were before obliged to do. The inhabitants of Jerusalem did according to the covenant, &c. — They complied with God’s and the king’s command, as to the outward acts of God’s worship, though not with an upright and renewed heart, as appears by the history. To serve, even to serve the Lord their God — The repetition shows, that this was the only thing his heart was set upon. He aimed at nothing, in all he did, but to engage them to God and their duty. 2 Chronicles 34:33 And Josiah took away all the abominations out of all the countries that pertained to the children of Israel, and made all that were present in Israel to serve, even to serve the LORD their God. And all his days they departed not from following the LORD, the God of their fathers. Benson Commentary on the Old and New Testaments Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com . Used by Permission.

Expositor's Bible Commentary 2 Chronicles 34:1 Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem one and thirty years. THE LAST KINGS OF JUDAH 2 Chronicles 34:1-33 ; 2 Chronicles 35:1-27 ; 2 Chronicles 36:1-23 WHATEVER influence Manasseh’s reformation exercised over his people generally, the taint of idolatry was not removed from his own family. His son Amon succeeded him at the age of two-and-twenty. Into his reign of two years he compressed all the varieties of wickedness once practiced by his father, and undid the good work of Manasseh’s later years. He recovered the graven images which Manasseh had discarded, replaced them in their shrines, and worshipped them instead of Jehovah. But in his case there was no repentance, and he was cut off in his youth. In the absence of any conclusive evidence as to the date of Manasseh’s reformation, we cannot determine with certainty whether Amon received his early training before or after his father returned to the worship of Jehovah. In either case Manasseh’s earlier history would make it difficult for him to counteract any evil influence that drew Amon towards idolatry. Amon could set the example and perhaps the teaching of his father’s former days against any later exhortations to righteousness. When a father has helped to lead his children astray, he cannot be sure that he will carry them with him in his repentance. After Amon’s assassination the people placed his son Josiah on the throne. Like Joash and Manasseh, Josiah was a child, only eight years old. The chronicler follows the general line of the history in the book of Kings, modifying, abridging, and expanding, but introducing no new incidents; the reformation, the repairing of the Temple, the discovery of the book of the Law, the Passover, Josiah’s defeat and death at Megiddo, are narrated by both historians. We have only to notice differences in a somewhat similar treatment of the same subject. Beyond the general statement that Josiah "did that which was right in the eyes of Jehovah" we hear nothing about him in the book of Kings till the eighteenth year of his reign, and his reformation and putting away of idolatry are placed in that year. The chronicler’s authorities corrected the statement that the pious king tolerated idolatry for eighteen years. They record bow in the eighth year of his reign, when he was sixteen, he began to seek after the God of David; and in his twelfth year he set about the work of utterly destroying idols throughout the whole territory of Israel, in the cities and ruins of Manasseh, Ephraim, and Simeon, even unto Naphtali, as well as in Judah and Benjamin. Seeing that the cities assigned to Simeon were in the south of Judah, it is a little difficult to understand why they appear with the northern tribes, unless they are reckoned with them technically to make up the ancient number. The consequence of this change of date is that in Chronicles the reformation precedes the discovery of the book of the Law, whereas in the older history this discovery is the cause of the reformation. The chronicler’s account of the idols and other apparatus of false worship destroyed by Josiah is much less detailed than that of the book of Kings. To have reproduced the earlier narrative in full would have raised serious difficulties. According to the chronicler, Manasseh had purged Jerusalem of idols and idol altars; and Amon alone was responsible for any that existed there at the accession of Josiah: but in the book of Kings Josiah found in Jerusalem the altars erected by the kings of Judah and the horses they had given to the sun. Manasseh’s altars still stood in the courts of the Temple; and over against Jerusalem there still-remained the high places that Solomon had built for Ashtoreth, Chemosh, and Milcom. As the chronicler in describing Solomon’s reign carefully omitted all mention of his sins, so he omits this reference to his idolatry. Moreover, if he had inserted it, he would have had to explain how these high places escaped the zeal of the many pious kings who did away with the high places. Similarly, having omitted the account of the man of God who prophesied the ruin of Jeroboam’s sanctuary at Bethel, he here omits the fulfillment of that prophecy. The account of the repairing of the Temple is enlarged by the insertion of various details as to the names, functions, and zeal of the Levites, amongst whom those who had skill in instruments of music seem to have had the oversight of the workmen. We are reminded of the walls of Thebes, which rose out of the ground while Orpheus played upon his flute. Similarly in the account of the assembly called to hear the contents of the book of the Law the Levites are substituted for the prophets. This book of the Law is said in Chronicles to have been given by Moses, but his name is not connected with the book in the parallel narrative in the book of Kings. The earlier authority simply states that Josiah held a great passover; Chronicles, as usual, describes the festival in detail. First of all, the king commanded the priests and Levites to purify themselves and take their places in due order, so that they might be ready to perform their sacred duties. The narrative is very obscure, but it seems that either during the apostasy of Amon or on account of the recent Temple repairs the Ark had been removed from the Holy of holies. The Law had specially assigned to the Levites the duty of carrying the Tabernacle and its furniture, and they seem to have thought that they were only bound to exercise the function of carrying the Ark; they perhaps proposed to bear it in solemn procession round the city as part of the celebration of the Passover, forgetting the words of David that the Levites should no more carry the Tabernacle and its vessels. They would have been glad to substitute this conspicuous and honorable service for the laborious and menial work of flaying the victims. Josiah, however, commanded them to put the Ark into the Temple and attend to their other duties. Next, the king and his nobles provided beasts of various kinds for the sacrifices and the Passover meal. Josiah’s gifts were even more munificent than those of Hezekiah. The latter had given a thousand bullocks and ten thousand sheep; Josiah gave just three times as many. Moreover, at Hezekiah’s passover no offerings of the princes are mentioned, but now they added their gifts to those of the king. The heads of the priesthood provided three hundred Oxen and two thousand six hundred small cattle for the priests, and the chiefs of the Levites five hundred oxen and five thousand small cattle for the Levites. But numerous as were the victims at Josiah’s passover, they still fell far short of the great sacrifice of twenty-two thousand oxen and a hundred and twenty thousand sheep which Solomon offered at the dedication of the Temple. Then began the actual work of the sacrifices: the victims were killed and flayed, and their blood was sprinkled on the altar; the burnt-offerings were distributed among the people; the Passover lambs were roasted, and the other offerings boiled, and the Levites "carried them quickly to all the children of the people." Apparently private individuals could not find the means of cooking the bountiful provision made for them; and, to meet the necessity of the case, the Temple courts were made kitchen as well as slaughterhouse for the assembled worshippers. The other offerings would not be eaten with the Passover lamb, but would serve for the remaining days of the feast. The Levites not only provided for the people, for themselves, and the priests, but the Levites who ministered in the matter of the sacrifices also prepared for their brethren who were singers and porters, so that the latter were enabled to attend undisturbed to their own special duties; all the members of the guild of porters were at the gates maintaining order among the crowd of worshippers; and the full strength of the orchestra and choir contributed to the beauty and solemnity of the services. It was the greatest Passover held by any Israelite king. Josiah’s passover, like that of Hezekiah, was followed by a formidable foreign invasion; but whereas Hezekiah was rewarded for renewed loyalty by a triumphant deliverance, Josiah was defeated and slain. These facts subject the chronicler’s theory of retribution to a severe strain. His perplexity finds pathetic expression in the opening words of the new section, "After all this," after all the idols had been put away, after the celebration of the most magnificent Passover the monarchy had ever seen. After all this, when we looked for the promised rewards of piety-for fertile seasons, peace and prosperity at home, victory and dominion abroad, tribute from subject peoples, and wealth from successful commerce - after all this, the rout of the armies of Jehovah at Megiddo, the flight and death of the wounded king, the lamentation over Josiah, the exaltation of a nominee of Pharaoh to the throne, and the payment of tribute to the Egyptian king. The chronicler has no complete explanation of this painful mystery, but he does what he can to meet the difficulties of the case. Like the great prophets in similar instances, he regards the heathen king as charged with a Divine commission. Pharaoh’s appeal to Josiah to remain neutral should have been received by the Jewish king as an authoritative message from Jehovah. It was the failure to discern in a heathen king the mouthpiece and prophet of Jehovah that cost Josiah his life and Judah its liberty. The chronicler had no motive for lingering over the last sad days of the monarchy; the rest of his narrative is almost entirely abridged from the book of Kings. Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin, and Zedekiah pass over the scene in rapid and melancholy succession. In the case of Jehoahaz, who only reigned three months, the chronicler omits the unfavorable judgment recorded in the book of Kings; but he repeats it for the other three, even for the poor lad of eight who was carried away captive after a reign of three months and ten days. The chronicler had not learnt that kings can do no wrong; on the other hand, the ungodly policy of Jehoiachin’s ministers is labeled with the name of the boy-sovereign. Each of these kings in turn was deposed and carried away into captivity, unless indeed Jehoiakim is an exception. In the book of Kings we are told that he slept with his fathers, i.e. , that he died and was buried in the royal tombs at Jerusalem, a statement which the LXX inserts here also, specifying, however, that he was buried in the garden of Uzza. If the pious Josiah were punished for a single error by defeat and death, why was the wicked Jehoiakim allowed to reign till the end of his life and then die in his bed? The chronicler’s information differed from that of the earlier narrative in a way that removed, or at any rate suppressed the difficulty. He omits the statement that Jehoiakim slept with his fathers, and tells us that Nebuchadnezzar bound him in fetters to carry him to Babylon. Casual readers would naturally suppose that this purpose was carried out, and that the Divine justice was satisfied by Jehoiakim’s death in captivity; and yet if they compared this passage with that in the book of Kings, it might occur to them that after the king had been put in chains something might have led Nebuchadnezzar to change his mind, or, like Manasseh, Jehoiakim might have repented and been allowed to return. But it is very doubtful whether the chronicler’s authorities contemplated the possibility of such an interpretation; it is scarcely fair to credit them with all the subtle devices of modern commentators. The real conclusion of the chronicler’s history of the kings of the house of David is a summary of the sins of the last days of the monarchy and of the history of its final ruin in 2 Chronicles 36:14-20 . All the chief of the priests and of the people were given over to the abominations of idolatry; and in spite of constant and urgent admonitions from the prophets of Jehovah, they hardened their hearts, and mocked the messengers of God, and despised His words, and misused His prophets, until the wrath of Jehovah arose against His people, and there was no healing. However, to this peroration a note is added that the length of the Captivity was fixed at seventy years, in order that the land might "enjoy her sabbaths." This note rests upon Leviticus 25:1-7 , according to which the land was to be left fallow every seventh year. The seventy years’ captivity would compensate for seventy periods of six years each during which no sabbatical years had been observed. Thus the Captivity, with the four hundred and twenty previous years of neglect, would be equivalent to seventy sabbatical periods. There is no economy in keeping back what is due to God. Moreover, the editor who separated Chronicles from the book of Ezra and Nehemiah was loath to allow the first part of the history to end in a gloomy record of sin and ruin. Modern Jews, in reading the last chapter of Isaiah, rather than conclude with the ill-omened words of the last two verses, repeat a previous portion of the chapter. So here to the history of the ruin of Jerusalem the editor has appended two verses from the opening of the book of Ezra, which contain the decree of Cyrus authorizing the return from the Captivity. And thus Chronicles concludes in the middle of a sentence which is completed in the book of Ezra: "Who is there among you of all his people? Jehovah his God be with him, and let him go up." { 2 Chronicles 36:23 } Such a conclusion suggests two considerations which will form a fitting close to our exposition. Chronicles is not a finished work; it has no formal end; it rather breaks off abruptly like an interrupted diary. In like manner the book of Kings concludes with a note as to the treatment of the captive Jehoiachin at Babylon: the last verse runs, "And for his allowance there was a continual allowance given him of the king, every day a portion, all the days of his life." The book of Nehemiah has a short final prayer: "Remember me, O my God, for good"; but the preceding paragraph is simply occupied, with the arrangements for the wood offering and the firstfruits. So in the New Testament the history of the Church breaks off with the statement that St. Paul abode two whole years in his own hired house, preaching the kingdom of God. The sacred writers recognize the continuity of God’s dealings with His people; they do not suggest that one period can be marked off by a clear dividing line or interval from another. Each historian leaves, as it were, the loose ends of his work ready to be taken up and continued by his successors. The Holy Spirit seeks to stimulate the Church to a forward outlook, that it may expect and work for a future wherein the power and grace of God will be no less manifest than in the past. Moreover, the final editor of Chronicles has shown himself unwilling that the book should conclude with a gloomy record of sin and ruin, and has appended a few lines to remind his readers of the new life of faith and hope that lay beyond the Captivity. In so doing, he has echoed the key-note of prophecy: ever beyond man’s transgression and punishment the prophets saw the vision of his forgiveness and restoration to God. The Expositor's Bible Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com . Used by Permission.