Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible
2 Kings 23:1-5
The Reading Of The Law And The Making Of The Covenant (2 Kings 23:1).
‘And the king sent, and they gathered to him all the elders of Judah and of Jerusalem.'
Deeply moved by the words of Huldah the prophetess the king sent and gathered to him ‘all the elders of Judah and of Jerusalem'. This was preparatory to calling the whole congregation of Judah together. 2 Kings 23:21 would suggest that Passover was approaching and it would seem that the opportunity was to be taken to combine that in some way with a covenant ceremony in which a covenant would be made before YHWH, and the words of the book of the covenant would be read out. As Passover came fourteen days after the commencement of the religious new year on 1st of Nisan this may suggest that the covenant ceremony took place at the new year, prior to the Passover.
Note the distinction between the elders of Jerusalem and the elders of Judah. As the city of David Jerusalem was administratively separate from Judah. In Jerusalem the king had direct authority and could act as he wished, in Judah he had to consider local custom and respect the authority of the elders of Judah, the princes and the tribal aristocrats.
‘And the king went up to the house of YHWH, and all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem with him, and the priests, and the prophets, and all the people, both small and great, and he read in their ears all the words of the book of the covenant which was found in the house of YHWH.'
All the men of Judah having arrived in Jerusalem in response to the summons of their elders, the king went up to the house of YHWH. And with him went all the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, together with the priests and the prophets, ‘and all the people both small and great', for a great covenant ceremony. This was a gathering of the ancient ‘congregation of Israel' and the ceremony can be compared with that held by Moses in Exodus 24:3, and those held by Joshua in Joshua 8:33; Joshua 24:1, one at the beginning and the other at the end of the initial ‘conquest' of the land. Note how in Exodus 24:7 ‘Moses -- took the book of the covenant and read in the audience of the people', and how in Joshua 8:34 ‘Joshua -- read all the words of the law, the blessing and the curse, according to all that is written in the book of the Law. There was not a word of all that Moses commanded which Joshua did not read before all the assembly of Israel, and the women and the little ones and the strangers who were conversant among them'. And it should also be noted in the latter case that ‘the book of the Law' included both the command in Exodus 20:25 (see Joshua 8:31) and ‘the blessing and the curse' of Deuteronomy 11:26; Deuteronomy 30:1 (see Joshua 8:34). Thus it was more than just a part of Deuteronomy. Furthermore Moses had commanded that ‘this Law' be read to the people every seven years at the Feast of Tabernacles (Deuteronomy 31:9).
We have in the above instances an indication of how the people were used to the idea of having ‘the whole Law' read to them, and indeed Joshua made clear that none of it was omitted, and that in his case it certainly included at the very least a part of Exodus and a part of Deuteronomy as we know them today. Thus when Josiah read in their ears all the words of ‘the book of the covenant which was found in the house of YHWH' this would include all the Law records known in his time. (This would be expected by them no matter how long it took)
The description ‘the book of the covenant' appears elsewhere only in Exodus 24:7 where it indicated at a minimum Exodus 20:1 to Exodus 23:33, and possibly Exodus 19 as well. Here it refers to the book found in the Temple, which was described as such because it was seen as underpinning the covenant with YHWH. Had it not been considered that this book covered the whole covenant, including Exodus 20-23, other records of the covenant used at covenant feasts would surely also have been included. (It would be foolish to argue that up to this time Judah, YHWH's covenant people, who laid such an emphasis on the Ark of the covenant, and on YHWH's covenant with their fathers, had no records of such a covenant at all. See for example 2 Kings 17:13; and consider 1Ki 2:3; 1 Kings 8:58; 1 Kings 9:4 etc. which assume such records). Thus in our view this ‘book of the Law' must be seen as containing the whole of the recognised covenant, that is, the whole of the Book of the Law of Moses.
‘And the king stood by the pillar, and made a covenant before YHWH, to walk after YHWH, and to keep his commandments, and his testimonies, and his statutes, with all his heart, and all his soul, to confirm the words of this covenant that were written in this book, and all the people stood to the covenant.'
Then the king stood by the royal pillar (compare 2 Kings 11:14), a pillar which by tradition was connected with the Davidic house. This may have been one of the two pillars erected by Solomon (1 Kings 7:15), or some other special pillar in the Temple recognised by custom as the king's pillar. It was where kings stood to make official decrees, and there he made a covenant ‘before YHWH' (before the Sanctuary and as in His presence) to walk after YHWH and to keep His commandments, and testimonies, and statutes, as they had come down to them from the past in the Law of Moses (compare 1Ki 2:3; 1 Kings 8:58; 1 Kings 9:4; etc) with all his heart and with all his soul (compare 2 Kings 23:25; Deuteronomy 4:29; Deuteronomy 6:5; Deuteronomy 10:12; etc: Joshua 22:5; Jos 23:14; 1 Kings 2:4; 1 Kings 8:48). He thereby firmly confirmed the covenant that was found in ‘this book', and the people then themselves confirmed their part in it. To ‘stand to the covenant' was probably recognised legal jargon indicating full acceptance and commitment.
‘And the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest, and the priests of the second order (i.e. next in rank), and the keepers of the threshold, to bring forth out of the temple of YHWH all the vessels that were made for Baal, and for the Asherah, and for all the host of heaven, and he burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron, and carried the ashes of them to Beth-el.'
As a ritual seal on the covenant the leading priests (compare Jeremiah 52:24) were then called on to bring out all the vessels within the Temple that had been used in false worship so that they could be burned outside Jerusalem in the fields of Kidron, after which their ashes were carried to Bethel to be disposed of, probably in order to defile the altar set up by Jeroboam I (compare 1 Kings 13:2). Whether Bethel was under Josiah's jurisdiction at this time (which it probably was) is irrelevant. All that mattered was that they had access to it.
That it was only the vessels which were brought out at this stage emphasises the fact that all the more obnoxious symbols of idolatry must have been removed already, otherwise they would have been the first to be brought out. It suggests that the vessels were the last thing to remain, probably kept on one side for some suitable time when they could be used to express an aversion for idolatry. So while what then follows was an essential part of his reforms, what is described is not to be seen as taking place in chronological order, as though it followed the above. It is rather to be seen as a full description of all Josiah's reforms, some of which had already taken place, but placed between the making of the covenant and its sealing at the Passover so as to bring out that even the earlier reforms had been in accordance with the covenant and the Law.
Kidron was the place where Asa had previously burned defiling effigies (1 Kings 15:13; compare 2 Kings 23:6 below and see 2 Chronicles 29:16; 2 Chronicles 30:14 under Hezekiah), and was clearly a place marked down for such activity, being already defiled by what Asa had done. Importantly it was outside Jerusalem so that Jerusalem would not be defiled by the activity.