The workmen.--The doers of the work, i.e., the overseers or contractors. See Note on 2 Chronicles 24:12.
And they gave it to the workmen . . . the house.--So LXX. and Syriac. The Hebrew text says, and the doers of the work who were working in thehouse of Jehovah gave it for restoring and repairing the house. To whom the masters gave it is stated in next verse.
To repair.--Libd?q, here only. The term is so used in Syriac. The original form of the verse is 2 Kings 22:5, where "the doers of the work" are first the masters, and then the men.
34:1-33 Josiah's good reign in Judah. - As the years of infancy cannot be useful to our fellow-creatures, our earliest youth should be dedicated to God, that we may not waste any of the remaining short space of life. Happy and wise are those who seek the Lord and prepare for usefulness at an early age, when others are pursuing sinful pleasures, contracting bad habits, and forming ruinous connexions. Who can express the anguish prevented by early piety, and its blessed effects? Diligent self-examination and watchfulness will convince us of the deceitfulness and wickedness of our own hearts, and the sinfulness of our lives. We are here encouraged to humble ourselves before God, and to seek unto him, as Josiah did. And believers are here taught, not to fear death, but to welcome it, when it takes them away from the evil to come. Nothing hastens the ruin of a people, nor ripens them for it, more than their disregard of the attempts made for their reformation. Be not deceived, God is not mocked. The current and tide of affections only turns at the command of Him who raises up those that are dead in trespasses and sins. We behold peculiar loveliness, in the grace the Lord bestows on those, who in tender years seek to know and to love the Saviour. Hath Jesus, the Day-spring from on high, visited you? Can you trace your knowledge of this light and life of man, like Josiah, from your youth? Oh the unspeakable happiness of becoming acquainted with Jesus from our earliest years!
in the hand of the workmen that had the oversight of the house of the Lord; whose business it was to inspect the temple, and see what repairs were necessary, and to overlook the workmen in making those repairs; the names of these overseers are in 2 Chronicles 34:12,
and they gave it to the workmen that wrought in the house of the Lord, to repair and mend the house; that is, the overseers gave the money they received to the labourers, as the hire of their labour, and the reward of their work, and to buy materials with, as follows.
The workmen.--The doers of the work, i.e., the overseers or contractors. See Note on 2 Chronicles 24:12.
And they gave it to the workmen . . . the house.--So LXX. and Syriac. The Hebrew text says, and the doers of the work who were working in thehouse of Jehovah gave it for restoring and repairing the house. To whom the masters gave it is stated in next verse.
To repair.--Libd?q, here only. The term is so used in Syriac. The original form of the verse is 2 Kings 22:5, where "the doers of the work" are first the masters, and then the men.
in the hand of the workmen that had the oversight of the house of the Lord; whose business it was to inspect the temple, and see what repairs were necessary, and to overlook the workmen in making those repairs; the names of these overseers are in 2 Chronicles 34:12,
and they gave it to the workmen that wrought in the house of the Lord, to repair and mend the house; that is, the overseers gave the money they received to the labourers, as the hire of their labour, and the reward of their work, and to buy materials with, as follows.