2 Chronicles 34:32

And he caused all that were present in Jerusalem and Benjamin to stand to it. And the inhabitants of Jerusalem did according to the covenant of God, the God of their fathers.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(32) And he caused . . . stand to it.—Kings, “and all the people stood into (i.e., came into) the covenant.” So Syriac: “And everyone that was found in Jerusalem and in Benjamin rose, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem entered into the covenant of the Lord God of their fathers.” (The chronicler’s reading may be accounted for by the fact that the verbs “he stood and” he caused to stand “differ only in the vowels, which anciently were not written at all. “All that were present in Jerusalem and Benjamin” is an unusual phrase; and it is likely that “and Benjamin” is really a corruption of “into the covenant” which is required by the context here as much as in Kings.)

And the inhabitants . . . fathers—i.e., after they had thus solemnly taken it upon them to do so. The statement is not read in Kings.

Benson Commentary

2 Chronicles 34:32-33. He caused all present to stand to it — He caused them to engage by an oath or covenant, that they would observe the laws of God, as his predecessors had formerly done, and which indeed they were before obliged to do. The inhabitants of Jerusalem did according to the covenant, &c. — They complied with God’s and the king’s command, as to the outward acts of God’s worship, though not with an upright and renewed heart, as appears by the history. To serve, even to serve the Lord their God — The repetition shows, that this was the only thing his heart was set upon. He aimed at nothing, in all he did, but to engage them to God and their duty.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

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!

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

And Benjamin - It is scarcely possible that the text here can be sound. "Benjamin" is never put in contrast with "Jerusalem," but always with Judah. The reading may be corrected from the parallel passage 2 Kings 23:3; "And he caused all those that were present in Jerusalem to stand to the covenant."

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

2Ch 34:19-33. And, Causing the Law to Be Read, Renews the Covenant between God and the People.

19. when the king had heard the words of the law, &c.—(See on [475]2Ki 22:11-20; [476]23:1-3).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

To stand to it; to own or maintain it, or persist in it, as this phrase is used, Deu 25:1. He caused them to engage themselves by an oath or covenant, that they would observe and obey the laws of God, as his godly predecessors had formerly done, and which indeed they were before obliged to do. They complied with God’s and the king’s command, as to the outward acts of God’s worship, though not with an upright heart, as appears by the history.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Then the king sent and gathered,.... From hence, to the end of 2 Chronicles 34:32, the same account is given of the reading of the law to the people, and of the covenant the king and they made to serve the Lord, as in 2 Kings 23:1.

Geneva Study Bible

And he caused all that were present in Jerusalem and Benjamin to stand to it. And the inhabitants of Jerusalem did according to the covenant of God, the God of their fathers.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

32. he caused all that were found … to stand to it] In 2 Kin., “all the people stood to the covenant.”

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 32. - Some think the text here corrupt, both for the presence of the words, and in Benjamin, and the absence of the words, "in the covenant." Their case, however, is scarcely conclusive (see 2 Kings 23:3). 2 Chronicles 34:32

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The reading of the book of the law in the temple, and the solemn renewal of the covenant, to which the king assembled the elders of Judah and Jerusalem, with all the people, after the saying of the prophetess Huldah had been reported to him, are recorded in 2 Kings 23:1-3 as they are in the Chronicle, and have been commented upon at the former passage. Only 2 Chronicles 34:32, the contents of which correspond to the words, "And the whole people entered into the covenant" (2 Kings 23:3), will need explanation. ויּעמד is usually translated, "he caused the people to enter into the covenant" (after 2 Kings). This is in substance correct, but exegetically cannot be defended, since בּבּרית does not precede, so as to allow of its here being supplied from the context. ויּעמד only signifies, he caused all who were in Jerusalem and Benjamin to stand, and they did according to the covenant of God; whence we can easily supply in the first clause, "and to do according to the covenant." The collocation, "in Jerusalem and in Benjamin," is an abbreviation of the complete formula, "in Jerusalem and Judah and Benjamin;" then in the following clause only the inhabitants of Jerusalem are named as representatives of the inhabitants of the whole kingdom.