2 Chronicles 34:8

The Scroll of the Law Discovered

8 Now in the eighteenth year of his reign [after] he purged the land and the house, he sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah, Maaseiah the commander of the city, and Joah the son of Joahaz, the recorder, to repair the house of Yahweh his God.

2 Chronicles 34:8 Meaning and Commentary

2 Chronicles 34:8

Now in the eighteenth year of his reign, when he had purged the
land and the house
The temple; this was in the twenty sixth year of his age, six years this work had been doing before it was finished:

he sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah:
who only is mentioned in ( 2 Kings 22:3 ) two more are added here, as follow:

and Maaseiah the governor of the city;
the city of Jerusalem, a deputy governor under the king, a sort of mayor or provost:

and Joah the son of Joahaz the recorder;
who was over the book of memorials, as the Targum; the word may be rendered "the remembrances"; and, according to Jarchi, as every king of Judah had a scribe to write down the memorable things that happened in his reign, good or bad, so the scribe had one by him, to put him in mind of every transaction, from whom he wrote it down:

to repair the house of the Lord his God;
that is, to give orders for the doing of it, to prepare for it, provide workmen, and appoint overseers of them: it had not been repaired since the times of Joash, which, according to the Jewish chronology ^F25, was a space of two hundred and eighteen years.

---

FOOTNOTES:

F25 Seder Olam Rabba, c. 24.

2 Chronicles 34:8 In-Context

6 And in the cities of Manasseh, Ephraim, Simeon, and as far as Naphtali, in their ruins all around,

7 he broke down the altars and the Asherahs and crushed the idols, grinding [them] to dust, and he cut down all the incense stands in all the land of Israel. Then he returned to Jerusalem.

8 Now in the eighteenth year of his reign [after] he purged the land and the house, he sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah, Maaseiah the commander of the city, and Joah the son of Joahaz, the recorder, to repair the house of Yahweh his God.

9 And they came to Hilkiah the high priest and gave the money that was brought for the house of God, which the Levites, the guardians of the threshold, had gathered from the hand of Manasseh, Ephraim, and from the whole remnant of Israel, and from all Judah and Benjamin and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

10 And they delivered [it] into the hand of the workmen who were appointed in the house of Yahweh, and they [in turn] gave it to those doing the work who [were] at work in the house of Yahweh, to repair [and] restore the house.