2 Chronicles 34:10, commentary and pictures

Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign in Jerusalem, and he reigned thirty-one years, doing what was right and walking in all the way of David without turning aside to the right or to the left. In the eighteenth year of his reign Shaphan the scribe was sent to the house of the Lord to tell Hilkiah the high priest to collect the silver brought into the house and gathered from the people by the keepers of the door and deliver it to the overseers of the work to repair the breaches of the house. It was given to the workmen that wrought in the house of the Lord, including carpenters and builders and masons, and was used to buy timber and hewn stone for the repairs, with no accounting required of the money because those entrusted with it dealt faithfully.

The reformation of the eighteenth year was prepared for by the silent yet powerful influence of the messages of the prophets concerning the Babylonian captivity. The reform movement to which this putting of money into the hand of the overseers belongs averted threatened judgments for a season. The reform was brought about in a wholly unexpected manner through the discovery and study of a portion of Scripture that for many years had been strangely misplaced and lost.

The repairing of the temple and the reading of the law exemplify the deep repentance and return to the Lord expected to follow a message from God. The account of Josiah's reign, including this faithful handling of funds for the house of the Lord, holds a lesson for the General Conference.