lost, or else a clerical error for (...) , "the seers." The latter seems to have been the view of the

*** The locality is unknown. It has lately been identified with the burying-place of Alexander the

Maccabee, on the eastern side of the Haram.

That the reformation made by Manasseh could only have been superficial, appears also from the

record of the brief reign of his son and successor Amon. Indeed, some writers have seen a picture

of that period in certain of the utterances of Zephaniah,* although he prophes ied during the reign

of Josiah.

* For ex. 1. 4-6, 12, 13; 3. 1 -4, 11. But most critics refer all such utterances of the prophet to the

insufficiency of the reformation in Josiah's time.

Amon was twenty-four years old at his accession, and his rule only lasted two years. It was

marked by the resumption of the idolatry of Manasseh - apparently in an even aggravated form (2

Chronicles 33:23). A palace-conspiracy put an end to his life. As on a former occasion (2 Kings

14:20, 21), "the people of the land" secured the Davidic succession by proclaiming Josiah, the

youthful son of Amen, heir to his throne.

CHAPTER 15 - JOSIAH, (SIXTEENTH) KING OF JUDAH.

Accession of Josiah - His Early Life - Arrangement of the Narrative - Collection for Repair of the

Temple - The Remnant of Israel - Character of those Employed - The Reformation not the

Outcome of a general Religious Revival - Temple Repairs - The Finding of the Book of the Law -

The Prophetess Huldah - The Assembly and Covenant in the Temple - Destruction of the

Emblems of Idolatry in Jerusalem, Judah, and in the Northern Tribal Possessions - Fulfillment of

Ancient Prophecy regarding Bethel -The Great Passover in Jerusalem. (2 KINGS 22; 23:1 -23; 2

CHRONICLES 34; 35:1 -19.)

JOSIAH was only eight years old when he succeeded to the royal dignity. As his extreme youth

would withdraw him from the influences and temptations to which Manasseh had been exposed at

his accession, so it must have necessitated the tutorship, or at least guidance, of men to whom, as

generally venerated, a royal child would be entrusted. That such there were, we infer from the

revival of prophecy, as represented by a Huldah, a Jeremiah, and a Zephaniah;* from the notices

we have of some whom we afterwards find surrounding the king; and, lastly, from the bearing of

the priesthood under their chief Hilkiah.

* Comp. also 2 Kings 23:2: "the prophets."

Nor, indeed, could the lessons of the reign of Hezekiah, and even of that of Manasseh, have been

wholly effaced during the brief rule of Amo n. Such men as they, under whose auspices afterwards

the reformation of Josiah was carried out, could have had no difficulty in showing the youthful

king how the brightest memories of the royal house of Judah were associated with the names of

David, Jehoshaphat, and Joash, Uzziah, and Hezekiah, and that the times of greatest national

prosperity had been those of faithful and earnest allegiance to Jehovah and His service.

These are indeed mainly inferences; but they are grounded on the facts of this history, and explain

them. Nor can we help thinking that even the early birth of an heir to the crown, implying as it

does a royal marriage at the early age of thirteen,* may here be of significance (comp. 2 Kings