2 Chronicles 34:3 - Exposition

This, with the following four verses, forms the commentary on the statement of 2 Chronicles 34:2 , that Josiah "declined neither to the right hand, nor to the left." We cannot mistake the allusion in this verse to his personal religion at, say, sixteen years of age, as the foundation of his religious reign and of the practical devotion to reformation, instanced as commencing with his twentieth year. It may be here noted that the Prophet Jeremiah was called to his work in the year following thereupon, or, perhaps, the very same year ( Jeremiah 1:1 , Jeremiah 1:2 ). It is highly likely that Josiah and Jeremiah were given to one another providentially, to cooperate in all good works, now so needed for Church and state. The three dates of the eighth, twelfth, and (verse 8) the eighteenth year of Josiah's reign wore dates memorable in his life. For the two kinds of images of this verse, see succeeding note.