Useful Bible Studies > 2 Kings Commentary > chapter 22

Josiah repairs the temple

2 Kings 22:3-7

The changes that Josiah made in Judah’s religion were very bold, but also slow. It took him many years to do these things.

So, for a long time, Josiah seemed not to realise the importance of the temple, God’s house in Jerusalem. To Josiah, the temple probably looked like one of many old buildings in poor repair across Jerusalem. It had very large courts or outside yards that the priests and people used for various religions. For most of the last 60 years, people had mainly used the temple courts for wrong religions and to pray to false gods.

However, by the 18th year of his rule, Josiah understood that God was present in a special way at his temple. This was not a place for the people to follow whatever religion pleased them; this was the one place that God had chosen to be his home in this world. This, therefore, was the special place where Judah’s and Israel’s people should gather to pray to him.

So, Josiah realised that he must repair the temple. In particular, he wanted to remove from it everything that people had used for wrong and evil religions.

Josiah made arrangements to collect the money for the repairs from the people. He did not only collect from the people in his own country, Judah. He even collected money from some people in the regions called Manasseh and Ephraim, in central Israel (2 Chronicles 34:9). Assyria’s army had destroyed northern and central Israel about 100 years earlier. It seems likely that these were poor people; Assyria’s army had not yet forced them to leave the country.

The money that Josiah collected was for building materials, and for wages for the workmen. So, the work progressed.

Next part: The discovery of the Book of the Law (2 Kings 22:8-10)

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