2 Kings 22:3

PREPARATIONS MADE TO REPAIR THE TEMPLE, 2 Kings 22:3-7.

3. The eighteenth year of king Josiah This is a memorable date, and made especially prominent by the writer of Kings, because it was in this year that the book of the law was discovered, and the celebrated passover held. Hence he repeats the mention of this date in 2 Kings 23:23, and seems to fasten all his narrative upon it. But from the parallel history in 2 Chronicles 34, 35 , we learn that in his eighth year Josiah “began to seek after the God of his father David,” and in his twelfth year he began to destroy the idolatrous images not only in “Judah and Jerusalem,” but also “in the cities of Manasseh, and Ephraim, and Simeon, even unto Naphtali.” Hence we conclude that various reforms and extensive destruction of images were commenced by Josiah before this eighteenth year, but after the discovery of the law the work was carried out with far greater zeal and thoroughness.

Shaphan… the scribe He was also the father of Ahikam, mentioned 2 Kings 22:12; 2 Kings 22:14. On the office and work of scribe, see note on 2 Samuel 8:17.