Now in the eighteenth year of his reign, when he had purged the land and the house,.... The temple; this was in the twenty sixth year of his age, six years this work had been doing before it was finished: he sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah: who only is mentioned in Kg2 22:3 two more are added here, as follow: and Maaseiah the governor of the city; the city of Jerusalem, a deputy governor under the king, a sort of mayor or provost: and Joah the son of Joahaz the recorder; who was over the book of memorials, as the Targum; the word may be rendered "the remembrances"; and, according to Jarchi, as every king of Judah had a scribe to write down the memorable things that happened in his reign, good or bad, so the scribe had one by him, to put him in mind of every transaction, from whom he wrote it down: to repair the house of the Lord his God; that is, to give orders for the doing of it, to prepare for it, provide workmen, and appoint overseers of them: it had not been repaired since the times of Joash, which, according to the Jewish chronology (y), was a space of two hundred and eighteen years. (y) Seder Olam Rabba, c. 24.