And Shaphan the scribe went to the king and reported, "Your servants have paid out the money that was found in the temple and have put it into the hands of the workers and supervisors of the house of the LORD." And Shaphan the scribeShaphan, whose name means "rock badger" in Hebrew, was a scribe, a position of significant responsibility and trust in the royal court. The role of a scribe in ancient Israel was not merely that of a secretary but often included duties akin to a modern-day government official or advisor. Shaphan's involvement in this narrative highlights the importance of literacy and record-keeping in maintaining the kingdom's affairs, especially in the context of religious reform. went to the king
The act of going to the king signifies a direct line of communication and accountability between the king and his officials. In the historical context of ancient Judah, the king was seen as God's appointed ruler, and thus, approaching the king with news or reports was a matter of great importance. This phrase underscores the hierarchical structure of the kingdom and the respect and protocol observed in royal communications. and reported
The Hebrew root for "reported" is "נָגַד" (nagad), which means to declare or make known. This conveys the idea of transparency and honesty in governance. Shaphan's report is not just a formality but a crucial part of ensuring that the king is informed about the state of the temple repairs, reflecting a commitment to integrity and accountability. Your servants have paid out the money
This phrase indicates the faithful execution of duties by the king's servants. The term "servants" here refers to those who are entrusted with the king's resources, emphasizing stewardship and responsibility. The act of paying out the money suggests a well-organized system of financial management, which was essential for the successful completion of the temple restoration project. that was found in the house
The "house" refers to the temple, the central place of worship for the Israelites. The discovery of money in the temple signifies a providential provision for its repair, aligning with the biblical theme of God's provision for His people. This phrase also hints at the neglect the temple had suffered, necessitating a rediscovery of resources that were meant for its upkeep. and have put it into the hands of the supervisors and workers
This action demonstrates a practical and efficient approach to project management. The "supervisors and workers" were those directly involved in the physical restoration of the temple. By placing the money into their hands, the administration ensured that resources were directly available to those who needed them, minimizing bureaucratic delays. This reflects a principle of empowering individuals to fulfill their roles effectively, a concept that resonates with the biblical value of equipping the saints for the work of ministry. Persons / Places / Events 1. Shaphan the ScribeA key figure in the court of King Josiah, Shaphan was responsible for reading the Book of the Law to the king and played a significant role in the religious reforms that followed. 2. King JosiahThe king of Judah who initiated significant religious reforms after the discovery of the Book of the Law in the temple. His reign is marked by a return to the worship of Yahweh. 3. The TempleThe central place of worship in Jerusalem, where the Book of the Law was found during renovations ordered by King Josiah. 4. Supervisors and WorkersThe individuals responsible for the restoration and repair of the temple, ensuring that the funds were used appropriately for the work. 5. The Book of the LawDiscovered during the temple repairs, this book prompted a religious revival and reform under King Josiah's leadership. Teaching Points The Importance of ScriptureThe rediscovery of the Book of the Law underscores the necessity of Scripture in guiding personal and communal life. Just as Josiah's reforms were based on the Word, believers today should root their lives in biblical truth. Faithful StewardshipShaphan's report about the funds being properly used for temple repairs highlights the importance of integrity and accountability in managing resources, whether financial or spiritual. Responsive LeadershipJosiah's immediate response to the reading of the Book of the Law demonstrates the importance of leaders who are sensitive to God's Word and willing to act upon it. Revival through RepentanceThe events in 2 Kings 22 show that true revival begins with a return to God's Word and a heart of repentance, leading to transformation and renewal. Community InvolvementThe involvement of supervisors and workers in the temple repairs illustrates the collective effort required in the work of God, emphasizing the role of each individual in the body of Christ. Bible Study Questions 1. How does the role of Shaphan the scribe in 2 Kings 22:9 inspire us to be diligent in our own study and sharing of Scripture? 2. In what ways can we ensure that our resources, like those used for the temple repairs, are managed with integrity and accountability? 3. How can we, like King Josiah, be responsive to God's Word in our personal and communal lives today? 4. What steps can we take to foster a spirit of revival and repentance in our own communities, drawing from the example of Josiah's reforms? 5. How does the collective effort of the supervisors and workers in the temple repairs encourage us to participate actively in the life and mission of the church? Connections to Other Scriptures 2 Chronicles 34This chapter provides a parallel account of King Josiah's reforms and the discovery of the Book of the Law, offering additional details about the events described in 2 Kings 22. Deuteronomy 31:24-26These verses describe Moses' command to place the Book of the Law beside the Ark of the Covenant, highlighting the significance of its rediscovery in Josiah's time. Jeremiah 36This chapter describes another instance where a scribe, Baruch, reads the words of the Lord to the people, drawing a parallel to Shaphan's role in reading the Book of the Law to Josiah. People Achbor, Adaiah, Ahikam, Asahiah, Asaiah, Azaliah, David, Harhas, Hilkiah, Huldah, Jedidah, Josiah, Meshullam, Micaiah, Michaiah, Shallum, Shaphan, TikvahPlaces Bozkath, Jerusalem, Second QuarterTopics Account, Bringeth, Delivered, Doers, Emptied, Entrusted, Gathered, Inspectors, Money, Officials, Overseers, Oversight, Paid, Poured, Reading, Reported, Saying, Scribe, Secretary, Servants, Shaphan, Silver, Supervisors, Temple, Workers, WorkmenDictionary of Bible Themes 2 Kings 22:9 5603 wages 2 Kings 22:8-10 5393 literacy 2 Kings 22:8-13 4963 past, the 2 Kings 22:8-16 1640 Book of the Law Library The Rediscovered Law and Its Effects
'And Hilkiah the high priest said unto Shaphan the scribe, I have found the book of the law in the house of the Lord: and Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, and he read it. 9. And Shaphan the scribe came to the king, and brought the king word again, and said, Thy servants have gathered the money that was found in the house, and have delivered it into the hand of them that do the work, that have the oversight of the house of the Lord. 10. And Shaphan the scribe shewed the king, saying, Hilkiah the …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy ScriptureJosiah, a Pattern for the Ignorant.
"Because thine heart was tender, and thou hast humbled thyself before the Lord, when thou heardest what I spake against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof, that they should become a desolation and a curse, and hast rent thy clothes, and wept before Me; I also have heard thee, saith the Lord. Behold therefore, I will gather thee unto thy fathers, and thou shalt be gathered into thy grave in peace; and thine eyes shall not see all the evil which I will bring upon this place."--2 Kings …
John Henry Newman—Parochial and Plain Sermons, Vol. VIII A Traveler's Note-Book
A tourist who roams for a brief while through some great country like England or Russia may jot down a few of the impressions which come home to him, making no pretense at completeness or symmetry of description. So, one who has journeyed like a hasty traveler over some passages in that vast tract of years which we describe as the classic and Christian civilizations, notes down in the following pages a few of the salient features that have impressed him. He has already prefaced this with a sort …
George S. Merriam—The Chief End of Man Whether Determinate Things are Required for a Sacrament?
Objection 1: It seems that determinate things are not required for a sacrament. For sensible things are required in sacraments for the purpose of signification, as stated above [4343](A[4]). But nothing hinders the same thing being signified by divers sensible things: thus in Holy Scripture God is signified metaphorically, sometimes by a stone (2 Kings 22:2; Zech. 3:9; 1 Cor. 10:4; Apoc. 4:3); sometimes by a lion (Is. 31:4; Apoc. 5:5); sometimes by the sun (Is. 60:19,20; Mal. 4:2), or by something …
Saint Thomas Aquinas—Summa Theologica The Instrumentality of the Wicked Employed by God, While He Continues Free from Every Taint.
1. The carnal mind the source of the objections which are raised against the Providence of God. A primary objection, making a distinction between the permission and the will of God, refuted. Angels and men, good and bad, do nought but what has been decreed by God. This proved by examples. 2. All hidden movements directed to their end by the unseen but righteous instigation of God. Examples, with answers to objections. 3. These objections originate in a spirit of pride and blasphemy. Objection, that …
John Calvin—The Institutes of the Christian Religion The Medes and the Second Chaldaean Empire
THE FALL OF NINEVEH AND THE RISE OF THE CHALDAEAN AND MEDIAN EMPIRES--THE XXVIth EGYPTIAN DYNASTY: CYAXARES, ALYATTES, AND NEBUCHADREZZAR. The legendary history of the kings of Media and the first contact of the Medes with the Assyrians: the alleged Iranian migrations of the Avesta--Media-proper, its fauna and flora; Phraortes and the beginning of the Median empire--Persia proper and the Persians; conquest of Persia by the Medes--The last monuments of Assur-bani-pal: the library of Kouyunjik--Phraortes …
G. Maspero—History Of Egypt, Chaldaea, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria, V 8 The First Blast of the Trumpet
The English Scholar's Library etc. No. 2. The First Blast of the Trumpet &c. 1558. The English Scholar's Library of Old and Modern Works. No. 2. The First Blast of the Trumpet &c. 1558. Edited by EDWARD ARBER, F.S.A., etc., LECTURER IN ENGLISH LITERATURE, ETC., UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, LONDON. SOUTHGATE, LONDON, N. 15 August 1878. No. 2. (All rights reserved.) CONTENTS. Bibliography vii-viii Introduction …
John Knox—The First Blast of the Trumpet Why Should we not Believe These to be Angelic Operations through Dispensation of The...
16. Why should we not believe these to be angelic operations through dispensation of the providence of God, Who maketh good use of both good things and evil, according to the unsearchable depth of His judgments? whether thereby the minds of mortals be instructed, or whether deceived; whether consoled, or whether terrified: according as unto each one there is to be either a showing of mercy, or a taking of vengeance, by Him to Whom, not without a meaning, the Church doth sing "of mercy and of judgment." …
St. Augustine—On Care to Be Had for the Dead. The Credibility of Scripture Sufficiently Proved in So Far as Natural Reason Admits.
1. Secondary helps to establish the credibility of Scripture. I. The arrangement of the sacred volume. II. Its dignity. III. Its truth. IV. Its simplicity. V. Its efficacy. 2. The majesty conspicuous in the writings of the Prophets. 3. Special proofs from the Old Testament. I. The antiquity of the Books of Moses. 4. This antiquity contrasted with the dreams of the Egyptians. II. The majesty of the Books of Moses. 5. The miracles and prophecies of Moses. A profane objection refuted. 6. Another profane …
John Calvin—The Institutes of the Christian Religion Authorship of the Pentateuch.
The term Pentateuch is composed of the two Greek words, pente, five, and teuchos, which in later Alexandrine usage signified book. It denotes, therefore, the collection of five books; or, the five books of the law considered as a whole. 1. In our inquiries respecting the authorship of the Pentateuch, we begin with the undisputed fact that it existed in its present form in the days of Christ and his apostles, and had so existed from the time of Ezra. When the translators of the Greek version, …
E. P. Barrows—Companion to the Bible Synagogues: their Origin, Structure and Outward Arrangements
It was a beautiful saying of Rabbi Jochanan (Jer. Ber. v. 1), that he who prays in his house surrounds and fortifies it, so to speak, with a wall of iron. Nevertheless, it seems immediately contradicted by what follows. For it is explained that this only holds good where a man is alone, but that where there is a community prayer should be offered in the synagogue. We can readily understand how, after the destruction of the Temple, and the cessation of its symbolical worship, the excessive value attached …
Alfred Edersheim—Sketches of Jewish Social Life The Greater Prophets.
1. We have already seen (Chap. 15, Nos. 11 and 12) that from Moses to Samuel the appearances of prophets were infrequent; that with Samuel and the prophetical school established by him there began a new era, in which the prophets were recognized as a distinct order of men in the Theocracy; and that the age of written prophecy did not begin till about the reign of Uzziah, some three centuries after Samuel. The Jewish division of the latter prophets--prophets in the more restricted sense of the …
E. P. Barrows—Companion to the Bible Of the Power of Making Laws. The Cruelty of the Pope and his Adherents, in this Respect, in Tyrannically Oppressing and Destroying Souls.
1. The power of the Church in enacting laws. This made a source of human traditions. Impiety of these traditions. 2. Many of the Papistical traditions not only difficult, but impossible to be observed. 3. That the question may be more conveniently explained, nature of conscience must be defined. 4. Definition of conscience explained. Examples in illustration of the definition. 5. Paul's doctrine of submission to magistrates for conscience sake, gives no countenance to the Popish doctrine of the obligation …
John Calvin—The Institutes of the Christian Religion Of the Effects of those Prerogatives.
From these prerogatives there will arise to the elect in heaven, five notable effects:-- 1. They shall know God with a perfect knowledge (1 Cor. i. 10), so far as creatures can possibly comprehend the Creator. For there we shall see the Word, the Creator; and in the Word, all creatures that by the Word were created; so that we shall not need to learn (of the things which were made) the knowledge of him by whom all things were made. The most excellent creatures in this life, are but as a dark veil …
Lewis Bayly—The Practice of Piety Meditations for one that is Like to Die.
If thy sickness be like to increase unto death, then meditate on three things:--First, How graciously God dealeth with thee. Secondly, From what evils death will free thee. Thirdly, What good death will bring unto thee. The first sort of Meditations are, to consider God's favourable dealing with thee. 1. Meditate that God uses this chastisement of thy body but as a medicine to cure thy soul, by drawing thee, who art sick in sin, to come by repentance unto Christ, thy physician, to have thy soul healed …
Lewis Bayly—The Practice of Piety Kings
The book[1] of Kings is strikingly unlike any modern historical narrative. Its comparative brevity, its curious perspective, and-with some brilliant exceptions--its relative monotony, are obvious to the most cursory perusal, and to understand these things is, in large measure, to understand the book. It covers a period of no less than four centuries. Beginning with the death of David and the accession of Solomon (1 Kings i., ii.) it traverses his reign with considerable fulness (1 Kings iii.-xi.), …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament Links 2 Kings 22:9 NIV2 Kings 22:9 NLT2 Kings 22:9 ESV2 Kings 22:9 NASB2 Kings 22:9 KJV
2 Kings 22:9 Commentaries
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