2 Chronicles 35:26

Now the rest of the acts of Josiah, and his goodness, according to that which was written in the law of the LORD,

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(26) His goodness.—His pious deeds (2Chronicles 32:32).

According to that . . . the Lord.—Said of no king besides.

The book . . . and Judah.—2Kings 23:28, “the Book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah.”

Benson Commentary

2 Chronicles 35:26. The rest of the acts of Josiah, and his goodness — His piety toward God, and his benignity, clemency, and kindness toward all his subjects, being of a most tender and mild disposition, both toward God and toward men, 2 Chronicles 34:27. According to that which was written in the law — Which he made his rule in all his actions. The revelation which God has given us of his mind and will is the only true standard by which we can safely walk. All other rules may deceive us, and will often either leave us in doubt or uncertainty how to act, or will lead us wrong. But the word of God is a sure and unerring guide, a lamp unto our feet, and a light unto our paths. Let us walk by this, and we shall please God in time and enjoy him in eternity.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

35:20-27 The Scripture does not condemn Josiah's conduct in opposing Pharaoh. Yet Josiah seems to deserve blame for not inquiring of the Lord after he was warned; his death might be a rebuke for his rashness, but it was a judgment on a hypocritical and wicked people. He that lives a life of repentance, faith, and obedience, cannot be affected by the sudden manner in which he is removed. The people lamented him. Many mourn over sufferings, who will not forsake the sins that caused God to send them. Yet this alone can turn away judgments. If we blame Josiah's conduct, we should be watchful, lest we be cut down in a way dishonourable to our profession.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Some find Jeremiah's lament in the entire Book of Lamentations; others in a part of it Lamentations 4. But most critics are of opinion that the lament is lost. Days of calamity were commemorated by lamentations on their anniversaries, and this among the number. The "Book of Dirges" was a collection of such poems which once existed but is now lost.

And made them an ordinance - Rather, "and they made them an ordinance," they i. e. who had authority to do so, not the minstrels.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

25. Jeremiah lamented for Josiah, &c.—The elegy of the prophet has not reached us; but it seems to have been long preserved among his countrymen and chanted on certain public occasions by the professional singers, who probably got the dirges they sang from a collection of funeral odes composed on the death of good and great men of the nation. The spot in the valley of Megiddo where the battle was fought was near the town of Hadad-rimmon; hence the lamentation for the death of Josiah was called "the lamentation of Hadad-rimmon in the valley of Megiddo," which was so great and so long continued, that the lamentation of Hadad passed afterwards into a proverbial phrase to express any great and extraordinary sorrow (Zec 12:11).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

His goodness; either,

1. His piety towards God and his house. Or,

2. His benignity, clemency, and kindness towards all his subjects, being of a most tender disposition and carriage both towards God, 2 Chronicles 34:27, and towards men. But the former seems principally intended, because it best agrees both with the history of Josiah, which is wholly taken up with the former, and speaks little or nothing of the latter, and with the following words; and it doth not disagree with the Hebrew word hesed, which though it doth most frequently express kindness to men, yet sometimes it notes a man’s piety to God and his house, as is manifest from Nehemiah 13:14.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

His piety towards God, and liberality to the people; of these two verses; see Gill on 2 Kings 23:28.

Geneva Study Bible

Now the rest of the acts of Josiah, and his goodness, according to that which was written in the law of the LORD,

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

26, 27 (= 1Es 1:33; 2 Kings 23:25; 2 Kings 23:28). The Epilogue of Josiah’s Reign

26. his goodness] R.V. his good deeds; cp. 2 Chronicles 32:32.

according to that which was (is) written] Cp. the strong terms used in 2 Kings 23:25, “like unto him was no king before him, that turned to the Lord with all his heart … according to all the law of Moses … neither after him arose there any like him.”

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 26. - Goodness; Hebrew text, kindnesses. According to that... written in the Law. This sentence pictures Josiah a careful, loving student of the Word, to the end that he might become a "doer" of it.



2 Chronicles 35:26

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The death of the pious king was deeply lamented by his people. The prophet Jeremiah composed a lamentation for Josiah: "and all the singing-men and singing-women spake in their lamentations of Josiah unto this day;" i.e., in the lamentation which they were wont to sing on certain fixed days, they sung also the lamentation for Josiah. "And they made them (these lamentations) an ordinance (a standing custom) in Israel, and they are written in the lamentations," i.e., in a collection of lamentations, in which, among others, that composed by Jeremiah on the death of Josiah was contained. This collection is, however, not to be identified with the Lamentations of Jeremiah over the destruction of Jerusalem and the kingdom of Judah, contained in our canon. - On 2 Chronicles 35:26. cf. 2 Kings 23:28. הסדיו as in 2 Chronicles 32:32. בת כּכּתוּב, according to that which is written in the law of Moses, cf. 2 Chronicles 31:3. וּדבריו is the continuation of דּברי יתר (2 Chronicles 35:26).