(9) And when they came . . . they delivered.--And they came . . . and they gave. In 2Kings 22:3-7, the contents of 2Chronicles 34:9-12 a are given in the form of the king's instructions to Shaphan. Here we are told that those instructions were carried out. "They delivered (wayyitt?n-) is substituted for the difficult w?yatt?m of Kings (i.e., "and let him pay out").

From the hand of Manasseh . . . Benjamin.--Kings, "from the people." Reuss oddly imagines that these words denote "a kind of organised collection throughout all Palestine," and then proceeds to draw an inference unfavourable to the chronicler.

And they returned to Jerusalem.--This is the meaning of the Qri or Hebrew margin. The Hebrew text has, "and the inhabitants of Jerusalem," which is correct.

Verse 9. - Hilkiah the high priest. Of Hilkiah's ancestors and descendants we learn something in the following references: 1 Chronicles 6:13, 14; 1 Chronicles 9:11; 2 Kings 25:18; Nehemiah 11:11; Ezra 7:1. They delivered. This means that Hilkiah's people delivered of what they had collected to Shaphan and his colleagues, who again in their turn (ver. 10) "put it into the hand of the workmen,' etc. This is certainly the meaning of 2 Kings 22:4-9. And they returned to Jerusalem; translate, and of the dwellers in Jerusalem. Note Keri, and see 2 Chronicles 35:18; and Septuagint rendering here and there.

34:1-33 Josiah's good reign in Judah. - As the years of infancy cannot be useful to our fellow-creatures, our earliest youth should be dedicated to God, that we may not waste any of the remaining short space of life. Happy and wise are those who seek the Lord and prepare for usefulness at an early age, when others are pursuing sinful pleasures, contracting bad habits, and forming ruinous connexions. Who can express the anguish prevented by early piety, and its blessed effects? Diligent self-examination and watchfulness will convince us of the deceitfulness and wickedness of our own hearts, and the sinfulness of our lives. We are here encouraged to humble ourselves before God, and to seek unto him, as Josiah did. And believers are here taught, not to fear death, but to welcome it, when it takes them away from the evil to come. Nothing hastens the ruin of a people, nor ripens them for it, more than their disregard of the attempts made for their reformation. Be not deceived, God is not mocked. The current and tide of affections only turns at the command of Him who raises up those that are dead in trespasses and sins. We behold peculiar loveliness, in the grace the Lord bestows on those, who in tender years seek to know and to love the Saviour. Hath Jesus, the Day-spring from on high, visited you? Can you trace your knowledge of this light and life of man, like Josiah, from your youth? Oh the unspeakable happiness of becoming acquainted with Jesus from our earliest years!And when they came to Hilkiah the high priest,.... To whom they were sent to advise with about the repair of the temple:

they delivered the money that was brought into the house of God; that is, the high priest, and the Levites the doorkeepers, gave it to the king's ministers; which money was either brought to the temple voluntarily, as the free gifts of the people, for the repairs; or rather what was collected by the Levites, sent throughout the land for that purpose, or it may be both:

which the Levites that kept the doors; of the temple; and received the money as the people brought it:

and also had gathered of the hand of Manasseh and Ephraim, and of all the remnant of Israel, and of all Judah, and Benjamin; they went throughout all the land of Israel and Judah, and collected money for the above purpose:

and they returned to Jerusalem; with it, which the high priest took the sum of, see 2 Kings 22:4 of whom the king's ministers now received it.