John Wesley

For Hezekiah king of Judah contributed a thousand bulls and seven thousand sheep for the assembly, and the officials contributed a thousand bulls and ten thousand sheep for the assembly…

“Did give - First to God, to whom the parts appointed were offered in a way of thanksgiving; and then to the people, who feasted upon the relicks, as the offerer used to do in peace- offerings: and Hezekiah, who was the offerer, gave away…”

Hezekiah reestablished the divisions of the priests and Levites—each of them according to their duties as priests or Levites—for the burnt offerings and peace offerings, for ministry, for giving thanks…

“The tents - Within the gates of the house of the Lord: which is here called tents, because the host of the Lord, the priests and Levites, encamped there. And perhaps to intimate, that it was shortly to be removed.”

It was Hezekiah who blocked the upper outlet of the Spring of Gihon and channeled it down to the west side of the City of David.

“Stopped, &c. - A rivulet near Jerusalem consisting of two streams, the upper which was brought into one pool, called the upper pool, Isaiah vii, 3, and the lower which was brought into another, called the lower pool, Isaiah xxii, 9.”

As for the rest of the acts of Manasseh, along with his prayer to his God and the words of the seers who spoke to him in the name of…

“Of Israel - Of Judah, often called Israel, he speaks not of the book of Kings, for these things are not mentioned there, but of their publick records, whence the most important things were taken by the prophets, and put into those canonical books.”

In the eighth year of his reign, while he was still young, Josiah began to seek the God of his father David, and in the twelfth year he began to…

“Young - ln the sixteenth year of his age; when he was entering into the age of temptation, and had the administration of his kingdom wholly in his own power, and none to restrain him; even then he begins to be religious in good earnest.”

Josiah did the same in the cities of Manasseh, Ephraim, and Simeon, as far as Naphtali, and in the ruins around them.

“Naphtali - Which was in the utmost borders of the kingdom of Israel. For it must be remembered, that the ten tribes were now gone into captivity; and those who were come in their stead were weak and few, and not able to withstand the…”

When the king heard the words of the Law, he tore his clothes

“Rent his clothes - Were the things contained in scripture new to us, as they were here to Josiah, surely they would make deeper impressions upon us than they commonly do.”

Then he had everyone in Jerusalem and Benjamin take a stand in agreement to it.

“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.”

They set aside the burnt offerings to be given to the divisions of the families of the people to offer to the LORD, as is written in the Book of…

“To offer - These words may belong to the last words, and to the paschal-lambs, which they were first to offer to the Lord, by killing them and sprinkling the blood, and then to give to the people; though the giving be here mentioned before…”

No such Passover had been observed in Israel since the days of Samuel the prophet.

“Like to that - The whole solemnity was performed exactly according to the law, whereas in Hezekiah's passover there were several irregularities: likewise Josiah furnished the whole congregation with beasts for sacrifice at his own charge, which no king ever did before him.”

But Neco sent messengers to him, saying, “What is the issue between you and me, O king of Judah?

“The house - Against the house of the king of Assyria, between whom and me there is war. It is at thy peril, if thou engage against one who has both a better army, and a better cause and God on his side.”

As for the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim, the abominations he committed, and all that was found against him, they are indeed written in the Book of the Kings…

“Found in him - That crime of rebellion against the king of Babylon, which for a time he kept in his own breast, but when he saw fit, discovered it, and was convicted of it.”

In the spring, King Nebuchadnezzar summoned Jehoiachin and brought him to Babylon, along with the articles of value from the house of the LORD.

“Expired - Hebrew. at the return of the year: at the beginning of the next year, according to the sacred account of the Hebrew, at the spring of the year, the time when kings go forth to battle, as is elsewhere said, when Nebuchadnezzar, among…”

He also rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him swear by God.

“By God - Who had required him to swear fealty and constant obedience to him by the true God, whom he called upon to be a witness against him if he broke his oath.”

So He brought up against them the king of the Chaldeans, who put their young men to the sword in the sanctuary, sparing neither young men nor young women, neither…

“Chaldees - Abraham was called out of Ur of the Chaldees, when God took him into covenant with himself. And now his degenerate seed are carried into that country again, to signify that they had forfeited all that kindness wherewith they had been loved for…”