The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Kings — Section 401

EXPOSITION. the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of CHAPTER xxm. leruaalem with him. Not only the "elders," Vere. 1--37.-JosliB's RENEWAL OIi' THE who had been snmmoned, but of the people, COVENANT, HIS REll'OIWB AND DEATH, as many as chose to attend, besitks. The REIGN OJI' JBBOAllAZ. AOOESBION OJI' JE- gathering was no donbt great ; but the ex- pressions used are (as with the Orientals BOIAKIM, generally) hyperbolical. And the priests, Vers. 1-<J.-.Tosiak's renelDaZ of Che co11e- a.nd the prophets. The representa.tioci would nnnt. The first care of J osie.h, on receiving have been incomplete without these two Huldah's message, which stamped the book classes-the priests, the ordinal'y nnrl regn• found as the true "book of the covenant," lar readers (Dent. xxxi. 11) and teachers (Dent. xxxiii. 10) of the Law; anJ the pro- we.a to call together II great assembly of phets, the extraordinary and occe.eional the nation, which should be sufficiently teachers, inspired from time to time, an,1 represento.tive of it, and renew the cove- commissioned to enforce the Law, and fur- no.nt between God and his people made ther to declare God's will to the peopic. originally o.t Horeb (Exod. xix. 5-8; xxiv. And all the people, both small and great; i.e. ,vithout distinctiou of classes-all ranks 8-8), which it wo.s o.pparent, by the words of the people, high and low, rich and poor, of the book, thnt he and his people had noble and base-born. All were concerne,l, broken. His proceedings may be fitly com- no.y, concerned equally, iu a matter which pared with those of Jehoiada, the high touched the national life and the prospects priest after tlie reign of the idolo.trous Alha- of each individual. And he read in their ears. There is no reason for translo.ting, with liah, recorded in eh. xi. 17; but tlley were Keil, " he cansed to be read in their ears," still more formal o.nd solemn, inasmuch as os though either the Jewish kings could not the recent alienation of the people from Je- read, or would be nsurping the functions of hovah had been so much more prolonged, the priests in publicly reading the L11w to aud so much more complete, than tile aliena- the people. If a king might, like Solomon (1 Kings viii. 22-61), lead the prayers of tion under Athe.liah. the congregation of Israel in the temple, much more might he read the Law to them. Ver. 1.-And the king aent, and they The readers in the Jewish synagogues nw gathered unto him all the elders of Judah ordinarily lay people. All the word! of th11 and of Jerusalem ; i.e. all the elders of J eru- book of the oovenant. Perhaps there is hen, salem and of the rest of Judah. (On the some exaggeration, as in the phrases, " all important position held by "the elders" in the men of Ju,lah," and "all the inhabitants the undivided ldngdom, see l Kings viii. I, of Jerusalem." The entire Pentateuch could a.nd tile comment ad loo.; and on their scarcely be read through in less Ll.Je.n Len position in the divided kingdoms of Isro.el hours. Possibly, the Book of Deuteronomy and Judah, see 1 Kings xx. 7, 8; xxi. 8, 11; was alone read. Whioh was found in the oh. x. I, eto.) house of the Lord (see above, eh. x.xii. S). Ver. 2.-And the king went up into the Ver. 3.-A.nd the king stood by a pillar- house of the Lord. No place could be so iioJ?_;J S11 is not "by the pillar," but (o.s in suito.ble for the renewe.1 of the covenaut eh. xi. 14) "on the platform" (see the com- between God aud his people as the house ment on that place)-and made a oovena.nt of God, where God wo.s in o. peculiar wo.y before the Lord; literally, made !he co11enant present, aud the grouud was, like the ground (as in oh. D, 17); ie. me.de, or renewed, the o.t Horeb, holy. Josiah "wont up" to the old covenant with God (Exod. xxiv. 5-8), temple from tho ro,al po.lacr, which we.son which had been broken by the complete a. lower lovol (comp. 1 Kings x. 5). And all neglect of the Law, ancl tho manifold idol11-  452 THE SECOND BOOK OF THE KINGS. [on. xn1,1. 1-37.