(32) And he caused . . . stand to it.--Kings, "and all the people stood into (i.e., came into) the covenant." So Syriac: "And everyone that was found in Jerusalem and in Benjamin rose, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem entered into the covenant of the Lord God of their fathers." (The chronicler's reading may be accounted for by the fact that the verbs "he stood and" he caused to stand "differ only in the vowels, which anciently were not written at all. "All that were present in Jerusalem and Benjamin" is an unusual phrase; and it is likely that "and Benjamin" is really a corruption of "into the covenant" which is required by the context here as much as in Kings.)
And theinhabitants . . . fathers--i.e., after they had thus solemnly taken it upon them to do so. The statement is not read in Kings.
Verse 32. - Some think the text here corrupt, both for the presence of the words, and in Benjamin, and the absence of the words, "in the covenant." Their case, however, is scarcely conclusive (see 2 Kings 23:3).
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!
Then the king sent and gathered,.... From hence, to the end of 2 Chronicles 34:32, the same account is given of the reading of the law to the people, and of the covenant the king and they made to serve the Lord, as in 2 Kings 23:1.
And the inhabitants . . . fathers--i.e., after they had thus solemnly taken it upon them to do so. The statement is not read in Kings.