THE TEACHER'S LIBRARY.

Commentaries on 2 Chronicles and 2

THE LESSON IN LITERATURE. Ruskin's Seven Lamps of Architecture, and his Stories of Venice, Vol. 2-Appendix 10, on the Temple.

Herodotus

Whittier's Poems, "The Reformer." Professor Starbuck's book on ConKings, as Expositor's Bible, Cam-version. Compare Savonarola's reforms bridge Bible, International Critical Com., in Florence as told in Romola. New Century Bible. Canon Cook's on the influx of the Scythians and northBible Commentary. Maurice's Prophets ern barbarians, Book I., sec. 74, 103and Kings of the Old Testament, Sermon 106; IV: 1-22.

JOSIAH was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem one and thirty years.

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I. THE BOY JOSIAH AND HIS MOTHER, vs. 1, 2. 1. Josiah's Name means 'Jehovah supports." 2. Birth.

He was born at Jerusalem, B.C. 647-6.

3. Parentage. He was the son of Amon and grandson of Manasseh, evil kings of Judah; he was great-grandson of the good Hezekiah, whose noble career he practically duplicated. His mother was Jedidah (signifying “darling ”), the daughter of Adaiah ("Jehovah has adorned"). They belonged in Bozkath, a town near Lachish in southwestern Judah, in the plains toward the Mediterranean Sea.

4. Early Training. While King Amon was an idolater, and his court was corrupt, it is possible that Josiah's mother kept the true faith. Her father's name, and the name she gave her son, might imply that. Her early home was far from the court and the Northern Kingdom, and she may have been kept pure from the prevalent idolatries. We may imagine the struggle of this godly mother, doing battle for the soul of her boy in the face of all the debasing tendencies of an immoral court and the example of an idol-worshiping father.

The natural result of this motherly care and training is stated in the next verse, as shown by

The Character of His Reign. 2. He did that which was right. "He left the brightest name for piety and religious zeal among all the successors of David. He shares with Hezekiah the praise of walking perfectly in the way of his father

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.

W.

"In

David. His reign marks the last glory of the earthly kingdom of David." Smith. In the sight of the LORD. And not merely in the eyes of men; his heart was right. And walked in the ways of David his father, i.e. his ancestor. all the ways," it is said in 2 Kings. And declined (Am. R., " turned not aside ") neither to the right hand, nor to the left. Neither to the right hand, into excess of zeal, or formal religion, or pride; nor to the left hand, into negligence, idolatry, and the breaking of the moral law. He kept in the straight path of righteousness and religion, and thus became one of the most honored of earth's heroes.

Did you boys and girls ever remember how much you owe your mother for all she has done for you in your early years, and how much you should love her, and how carefully you should obey her, and do all you can to make her happy?

In the Otterbein Teacher not long ago was a story called What Bradley Owed his Mother.

"There was once a boy whose name was Bradley. They called him Tidley Winks when he was young, because he was such a little thing. When he was about eight years old, he had already got into the habit of thinking of everything as worth so much money. He wanted to know the price of everything he saw, and if it had not cost a great deal, it did not seem to him to be of any value at all.

"Now, this was rather foolish of him, for there are a great many things that money can't buy, which don't have any price at all. Money cannot buy the best things in the world, as you will soon see.

"One morning when Bradley came down to breakfast, he put on his mother's plate a little piece of paper, neatly folded. His mother opened it, and what do you think was on it? She could hardly believe it, but this was what Bradley had written:

Mother owes Bradley

For running errands

For being good

For taking music lessons
Extras

Total that mother owes Bradley

25 cents

IO cents

15 cents

5 cents

55 cents

"His mother smiled when she read that, but she did not say anything. When lunch came, she put the bill on Bradley's plate with the fifty-five cents. Bradley's eyes fairly danced when he saw the money, and he thought his business ability had been quickly rewarded. All at once he saw that there was another piece of paper beside his plate, neatly folded, just like the first one, and when he opened it, what do you think he saw? Why, it was a bill from his mother! This is the way it read: Bradley owes mother

"Now what do you think that boy did when he read those words? Do you think he put the fifty-five cents in his pocket and went off whistling? I am sure you know better than that. No. The tears came into Bradley's eyes, and he put his arms around his mother's neck, and he placed his hand with the fifty-five cents in her hand, and said, 'Take the money all back, mother, and just let me love you and do things for you for nothing.""

II. JOSIAH'S CONSECRATION TO GOD AND HIS CAUSE, v. 3. In the eighth year of his reign. At the age of sixteen, standing on the threshold of his manhood and its duties. While he was yet young, and could give to God's service the unimpaired strength of body and mind which is God's due. He began to seek after the God of David his father, ancestor. No one could see before himself so stupendous a task as lay before Josiah, and not feel the need of wisdom, power, and guidance from God. Josiah knew what God had done for David. How he had guided his youth, had given him the victory over Goliath and a greater victory over himself; how he had given him wisdom in trying circumstances, built up his kingdom, established the true religion. No wonder that he should pray Solomon's prayer: "O Lord my God, thou hast made thy servant king; and I am but a little child; I know not how to go out or come in. Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad." (1 Kings 35-14.)

For four years more Josiah was studying his problems, counselling with the leaders, and preparing for his great work. "There was a circle of remarkable persons in or around the palace and temple, who, possibly driven together by the recent persecutions, had formed a compact band, which remained unbroken till the fall of the monarchy itself."

Consecration to God with all the heart and soul is the essential condition of the best service for country and for true reform.

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.

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.

This was the greatest adventure of his life; the most difficult, the most influential, the most far-reaching. The majority of young people who become Christian, 75 per cent of them, make their life-choice at about this same period between 12 and 20 years old.

III. JOSIAH'S ADVENTURES IN REFORM, vs. 3-7. The Situation. In the first place we must remember that there were two parties in Judea, one of them standing by the worship and service of the true God, the other yielding in varying degrees to the heathen influences around them. Á considerable portion of the population were so busy with their own affairs that they could be swayed to either party according to circumstances, whether for instance the good Hezekiah, or the bad Manasseh, was in power.

There had been a change for the better during the later years of Manasseh after his repentance; but seven years of effort in his old age could not overcome all the evil of the 47 years of his leading the people into idolatrous ways of living. In Amon's short reign the idolatrous party had their innings. During the early years of Josiah no great reform could be carried on. But when he was converted at 16 years old, he doubtless began planning; and consulting

and preparing during the next four years for a change and a reform.

3. In the twelfth year of his reign Josiah began to purge Judah and Jerusalem. The task was prodigious. It required heroism, and courage and skill. It does not

require a very vivid imagination to realize that many
adventures would occur, as the young men went through
the land destroying the high places of false worship on
the hill tops, and the groves (Am. R., " Asherim," so
vs. 4, 7). These were wooden poles, planted beside
altars, carved with symbols of false gods, and often
bearing the shameful tokens of the worship of Astarte,
the Phoenician Venus. And the carved images (Am. R.,
graven," so vs. 4, 7), those shaped by cutting, distin-
guished from the molten images, which were cast in a
mould. All these impure symbols of a forbidden worship
Josiah, in fierce and righteous indignation, had ground
to powder, and the dust strewn upon the graves of them
that had sacrificed unto them (v. 4). Perhaps with a
double purpose,
as a mark of dishonor to the graves
themselves, the memorials of those that had given them-
selves to this iniquity; and also to complete the defile-
ment of the idols, since all graves were regarded as un-
clean.

4. Brake down the altars of Baalim, plural of Baal, because he was worshipped in many forms. In his presence. That the king might see the work thoroughly done, and that his personal authority might bear down opposition to a deed which so many would consider Found at Taanach in Southern sacrilege. And the images (Am. R.,) "the sun-images." Symbolic representations of the sun, of licentious significance (McCurdy, History, Prophecy, and the Monuments, § 321). "This turning of men from the pure glory of Jehovah in the Shechinah to do homage by bestial rites to the sun-god, was the climax of abominations.'

Galilee. Height 4 inches.

5. And he burnt the bones of the priests upon their altars, and cleansed Judah and Jerusalem.

6. And so did he in the cities of Manasseh, and Ephraim, and Simeon, even unto Naphtali, with their mattocks round about.

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.

From 2 Kings 23: 11 we learn that he took away the triumphal car of the sun-god, and the horses that drew it in processions, which had been placed near the entrance to the house of the Lord.

See 2 Kings 23 for a fuller account of these stirring scenes, including the defilement of Tophet, where children had been burned to death in honor of Molech, and the

destruction of the houses of the Sodomites, the immoral women who conducted the worst orgies that polluted the temple.

5. And cleansed Judah and Jerusalem. Note that Josiah began his reforms at home, before he attempted to reform others.

The Extension of the Reform. 6. And so did he in the cities of Manasseh, and Ephraim. To the north, the greater part of Samaria. And Simeon. In the extreme south. Even unto Naphtali. In the extreme north." From Beersheba to Dan." With their mattocks round about. "With their axes," referring to the breaking down of the altars and idols (Am. R., "in their ruins round about "). The Int. Crit. Com. translates "in their houses [the houses of the high places] round about." The ruins refer to those made by the Assyrian kings, Shalmaneser IV and Sargon, when they subdued the Northern Kingdom and deported many of the people. "It is more than likely that in all this there was a political purpose as well as religious zeal. Josiah, as a true successor of David, would naturally desire to restore the kingdom to its ancient limits. And by his promise, never abandoned the

7. After Josiah had accomplished this reform, he returned to Jerusalem. The Boy Police of New York is a remarkable instance of reforming the boys who make the city "gangs "" from whose ranks spring the yegg' and the gun man,' by setting them to work reforming others. "The wise police captain has simply directed into good channels the same instincts, tendencies, and capabilities that would have turned many of the boys into criminals and outcasts."

In one of the most congested districts of New York, the population of which is largely foreign, mainly Jewish and Italian with a sprinkling of Irish, Captain John F. Sweeney organized from the boys who greatly needed reforming, 300 junior policemen from 12 to 15 years old, into companies with captains, lieutenants and sergeants, "kid cops to cooperate with the regular police.

Before becoming a junior policeman he must subscribe to certain regulations which forbid his doing many things which he had been accustomed to do himself.

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.

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.

1. Prevent swearing and vulgar language in the public street and public places. 2. Prevent the building of bonfires in the streets.

3. Prevent boys from breaking windows and street lamps, and from defacing buildings and sidewalks with chalk.

4. Prevent boys from smoking cigarettes and playing crap.

5. Prevent boys from engaging in dangerous or unlawful playing.

6. Prevent persons placing

encumbrances or obstructions on

fire-escapes.

7. Prevent the mixing of ashes, garbage, and paper.

8. See that garbage cans are kept covered, and that ash and garbage cans are promptly removed from the sidewalk when emptied.

9. Request persons to keep the sidewalk and areaway in front of their buildings clean, and not to throw refuse into the street.

10. Make special effort to perform duties 6, 7, 8, 9, in your own homes.

The result has proved a great

success.

This method of reforming might well be applied in many other circumstances with good effect.

IV. JOSIAH'S BUSINESS ADVENTURES IN REPAIRING THE TEMPLE, vs. 8-13. Now in the eighteenth year of his reign, six years after he began to purge the land of idolatry. It is thought by many that during his reform work the great Scythian invasion occurred, which delayed the complete fulfilment of his reforms. Otherwise that reform would not have occupied six years. When he had purged, cleansed from its idols, and insignia of idol worship, the land, Jerusalem and its surroundings, and the house, the Temple and its courts, as recorded in v. 3.

The restoration of the Temple was intrusted to a committee of three, Shaphan the secretary of state (2 Kings 22:3); and Maaseiah the governor of the city, the mayor of Jerusalem; and Joah the recorder, the keeper of the records, the historian.

To repair the house of the LORD. The Temple built by Solomon was completed 390 years before. It was repaired by Joash 240 years before Josiah began his restora