2 Chronicles 34:3

3 octavo autem anno regni sui cum adhuc esset puer coepit quaerere Deum patris sui David et duodecimo anno postquam coeperat mundavit Iudam et Hierusalem ab excelsis et lucis simulacrisque et sculptilibus

2 Chronicles 34:3 Meaning and Commentary

2 Chronicles 34:3

For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was yet young,
&c.] Being in the sixteenth year of his age; though Kimchi thinks it was the very year he began to reign, which was the eighth of his age; and Jarchi observes, it may be interpreted, "though he was young, he began to seek after the God of David his father"; to pray unto him, to seek after the knowledge of him, and the true manner of worshipping him, what were his will, commands, and ordinances; the Targum is,

``to seek instruction or doctrine of the Lord God of David his father,''

to be taught his ways, such as David his great ancestor walked in, and whom he chose to follow:

and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem from the
high places, and the groves and the carved images, and the molten
images;
which were made in the times of Manasseh; and though removed by him when humbled, were restored in the reign of Amon. Now Josiah purged the land from these, by putting them down, and destroying them; and this he did when he was twenty years of age, having now more authority, being out of his minority, and from under guardians, and one year before Jeremiah began to prophesy, ( Jeremiah 1:1-2:37 ) .

2 Chronicles 34:3 In-Context

1 octo annorum erat Iosias cum regnare coepisset et triginta et uno annis regnavit in Hierusalem

2 fecitque quod erat rectum in conspectu Domini et ambulavit in viis David patris sui non declinavit neque ad dexteram neque ad sinistram

3 octavo autem anno regni sui cum adhuc esset puer coepit quaerere Deum patris sui David et duodecimo anno postquam coeperat mundavit Iudam et Hierusalem ab excelsis et lucis simulacrisque et sculptilibus

4 destruxeruntque coram eo aras Baalim et simulacra quae superposita fuerant demoliti sunt lucos etiam et sculptilia succidit atque comminuit et super tumulos eorum qui eis immolare consueverant fragmenta dispersit

5 ossa praeterea sacerdotum conbusit in altaribus idolorum mundavitque Iudam et Hierusalem