Key Verse Spotlight
2 Chronicles 34:8 - Meaning and Application
Understand how this verse speaks to what you're facing and how to apply it today
Translation: King James Version
" Now in the eighteenth year of his reign, when he had purged the land, and the house, he sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah, and Maaseiah the governor of the city, and Joah the son of Joahaz the recorder, to repair the house of the LORD his God. "
2 Chronicles 34:8
Verse in Context
Understanding the surrounding verses prevents misinterpretation:
6 And so did he in the cities of Manasseh, and Ephraim, and Simeon, even unto Naphtali, with their mattocks round about.
7 And when he had broken down the altars and the groves, and had beaten the graven images into powder, and cut down all the idols throughout all the land of Israel, he returned to Jerusalem.
8 Now in the eighteenth year of his reign, when he had purged the land, and the house, he sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah, and Maaseiah the governor of the city, and Joah the son of Joahaz the recorder, to repair the house of the LORD his God.
9 And when they came to Hilkiah the high priest, they delivered the money that was brought into the house of God, which the Levites that kept the doors had gathered of the hand of Manasseh and Ephraim, and of all the remnant of Israel, and of all Judah and Benjamin; and they returned to Jerusalem.
10 And they put it in the hand of the workmen that had the oversight of the house of the LORD, and they gave it to the workmen that wrought in the house of the LORD, to repair and amend the house:
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Here, first, the king gave orders to repair the temple (2 Chronicles 34:8). After he had cleared God’s house of its corruptions, he began to prepare it for the worship that was to be carried on there. We should do the same with the spiritual temple of the heart. It must be cleansed from the pollution of sin, and then renewed, so that it is changed into God’s image. In this command, Josiah calls God the Lord his God. Those who truly love God will also love the place where his house dwells.
Second, careful and effective attention was given to the work. The Levites went through the countryside and gathered money for it, and it was brought back to the three trustees mentioned in (2 Chronicles 34:8). They brought it to Hilkiah the high priest (2 Chronicles 34:9), and he and the others handed it over to the workers, both overseers and laborers, who agreed to do the job in a full and complete way, as we might say, in the whole business (2 Chronicles 34:10, 2 Chronicles 34:11).
The workers are noted for being faithful. They did their work honestly and well (2 Chronicles 34:12). Workers are not fully faithful unless they are both careful and diligent, because trust is placed in them to be that way. The overseers are also shown to be skilled. It says that those chosen to oversee this work were men skilled in musical instruments. Their music had nothing to do with building, but it showed that they were thoughtful, capable men, especially with a mind for mathematics, which suited them well for this task.
Wise people are truly wise when they use their ability to do good, help their friends, and serve the public when they can. In this work, God gave different gifts to different people. Some were carriers of burdens, suited for hard physical labor. Others, made of finer material, had skill in music, and they served as overseers, scribes, and officers. The first were the hands, and the second were the heads. They needed each other, and the work needed both. Let the overseers not look down on the laborers, and let those who work not resent those whose task it is to direct. Instead, each should honor and serve the other in love, and let God receive the glory and the church receive the benefit of their different gifts and abilities.
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From This Chapter
2 Chronicles 34:1
"Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem one and thirty years."
2 Chronicles 34:2
"And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, and walked in the ways of David his father, and declined neither to the right hand, nor to the left."
2 Chronicles 34:3
"For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was yet young, he began to seek after the God of David his father: 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."
2 Chronicles 34:4
"And they brake down the altars of Baalim in his presence; and the images, that were on high above them, he cut down; and the groves, and the carved images, and the molten images, he brake in pieces, and made dust of them, and strowed it upon the graves of them that had sacrificed unto them."
2 Chronicles 34:5
"And he burnt the bones of the priests upon their altars, and cleansed Judah and Jerusalem."
2 Chronicles 34:6
"And so did he in the cities of Manasseh, and Ephraim, and Simeon, even unto Naphtali, with their mattocks round about."
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