2 Kings 22:9

And Shaphan the scribe came to the king, and brought the king word again, and said, Thy servants have gathered the money that was found in the house, and have delivered it into the hand of them that do the work, that have the oversight of the house of the LORD.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(9) Thy servants.—Hilkiah and I.

Have gathered.—Rather, have poured out—i.e., from the alms-chest into the bags.

In the house.—In the wider sense of the word, as including the outer court (2Kings 12:9). Chronicles reads “in the house of the Lord,” which is probably right. So LXX., Vulg., Arabic here.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

22:1-10 The different event of Josiah's early succession from that of Manasseh, must be ascribed to the distinguishing grace of God; yet probably the persons that trained him up were instruments in producing this difference. His character was most excellent. Had the people joined in the reformation as heartily as he persevered in it, blessed effects would have followed. But they were wicked, and had become fools in idolatry. We do not obtain full knowledge of the state of Judah from the historical records, unless we refer to the writings of the prophets who lived at the time. In repairing the temple, the book of the law was found, and brought to the king. It seems, this book of the law was lost and missing; carelessly mislaid and neglected, as some throw their Bibles into corners, or maliciously concealed by some of the idolaters. God's care of the Bible plainly shows his interest in it. Whether this was the only copy in being or not, the things contained in it were new, both to the king and to the high priest. No summaries, extracts, or collections out of the Bible, can convey and preserve the knowledge of God and his will, like the Bible itself. It was no marvel that the people were so corrupt, when the book of the law was so scarce; they that corrupted them, no doubt, used arts to get that book out of their hands. The abundance of Bibles we possess aggravates our national sins; for what greater contempt of God can we show, than to refuse to read his word when put into our hands, or, reading it, not to believe and obey it? By the holy law is the knowledge of sin, and by the blessed gospel is the knowledge of salvation. When the former is understood in its strictness and excellence, the sinner begins to inquire, What must I do to be saved? And the ministers of the gospel point out to him Jesus Christ, as the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Have gathered - Rather, "have poured out" or "emptied out." The allusion probably is to the emptying of the chest in which all the money collected had been placed 2 Kings 12:9.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

2Ki 22:8-15. Hilkiah Finds the Book of the Law.

8-11. Hilkiah said … I have found the book of the law in the house of the Lord, &c.—that is, the law of Moses, the Pentateuch. It was the temple copy which, had been laid (De 31:25, 26) beside the ark in the most holy place. During the ungodly reigns of Manasseh and Amon—or perhaps under Ahaz, when the temple itself had been profaned by idols, and the ark also (2Ch 35:3) removed from its site; it was somehow lost, and was now found again during the repair of the temple [Keil]. Delivered by Hilkiah the discoverer to Shaphan the scribe [2Ki 22:8], it was by the latter shown and read to the king. It is thought, with great probability, that the passage read to the king, and by which the royal mind was so greatly excited, was a portion of Deuteronomy, the twenty-eighth, twenty-ninth, and thirtieth chapters, in which is recorded a renewal of the national covenant, and an enumeration of the terrible threats and curses denounced against all who violated the law, whether prince or people. The impressions of grief and terror which the reading produced on the mind of Josiah have seemed to many unaccountable. But, as it is certain from the extensive and familiar knowledge displayed by the prophets, that there were numbers of other copies in popular circulation, the king must have known its sacred contents in some degree. But he might have been a stranger to the passage read him, or the reading of it might, in the peculiar circumstances, have found a way to his heart in a manner that he never felt before. His strong faith in the divine word, and his painful consciousness that the woeful and long-continued apostasies of the nation had exposed them to the infliction of the judgments denounced, must have come with overwhelming force on the heart of so pious a prince.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

No text from Poole on this verse.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And Shaphan the scribe came to the king, and brought the king word again,.... Of the delivery of his message to the high priest, and of what had been done upon it:

and said, thy servants have gathered the money that was found in the house; meaning Hilkiah and himself, who had examined the chest in the temple, into which the money was put for the repairs of it, and had taken it out, and told it:

and have delivered it into the hand of them that do the work, that have the oversight of the house of the Lord; according to the king's orders.

Geneva Study Bible

And Shaphan the scribe came to the king, and brought the king word again, and said, Thy servants have gathered the money that was found in the house, and have delivered it into the hand of them that do the work, that have the oversight of the house of the LORD.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

9. And Shaphan the scribe came to the king] The LXX. has for these words ‘And he went in unto the king in the house of the Lord’, but with no apparent warrant. Shaphan, bearing the book with him (2 Chronicles 34:16), comes and gives a calm account of the business on which he had been sent at first, viz. the enquiry and arrangement about the money which had been gathered. When that part of the business is despatched, he tells the king concerning the book that has been discovered. On this ‘Book of the Law’ see Introduction, pp. xlvi–xlviii.

Thy servants have gathered [R.V. emptied out] the money] The verb, in most of its forms is used of ‘pouring out’, and now and then (see A.V. margin) of ‘melting’ metals. Here what seems to be intended is that Hilkiah and Shaphan had removed the offerings from the chest at the temple, and had found out what sum was in hand for the work of restoration.

them that do the work [R.V. the workmen], that have the oversight] As above in verse 5. The scribe and the priest pass on the money to the contractors.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 9. - And Shaphan the scribe came to the king, and brought the king word again, and said, Thy servants have gathered the money that was in the house (see above, vers. 4-6), and have delivered it into the hand of them that do the work, that have the oversight of the house of the Lord; i.e. "We have carried out the king's orders exactly, in every particular." 2 Kings 22:9

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The reading of the book of the law to the king, and the inquiry made of the prophetess Huldah concerning it. - 2 Kings 22:9, 2 Kings 22:10. When Shaphan informed the king of the execution of his command, he also told him that Hilkiah had given him a book, and read it to the king. דּבר השׁיב, to bring an answer, to give a report as to a commission that has been received. התּיכוּ, they poured out the money, i.e., out of the chest in which it was collected, into bags. ויּקראהוּ, "he read it to the king," is simplified in the Chronicles (2 Kings 22:18) by בו יקרא, "he read therein." That יקראהו does not signify that the whole was read, is evident from a comparison of 2 Kings 23:2, where the reading of the whole is expressed by כּל־דּברי ס. Which passages or sections Shaphan read by himself (2 Kings 22:8), and which he read to the king, it is impossible to determine exactly. To the king he most likely read, among other things, the threats and curses of the law against those who transgressed it (Deuteronomy 28), and possibly also Leviticus 26, because the reading made such an impression upon him, that in his anguish of soul he rent his clothes. Nor is it possible to decide anything with certainty, as to whether the king had hitherto been altogether unacquainted with the book of the law, and had merely a traditional knowledge of the law itself, or whether he had already had a copy of the law, but had not yet read it through, or had not read it with proper attention, which accounted for the passages that were read to him now making so deep and alarming an impression upon him. It is a well-known experience, that even books which have been read may, under peculiar circumstances, produce an impression such as has not been made before. But in all probability Josiah had not had in his possession any copy of the law, or even read it till now; although the thorough acquaintance with the law, which all the prophets display, places the existence of the Pentateuch in prophetical circles beyond the reach of doubt.