And the king sent, and they gathered unto him all the elders of Judah and of Jerusalem. Ver. 1. _And the king sent._] This he did, that he might the better insure the promise made to himself; and avert, if possible, the judgments threatened against the people by Huldah the prophetess.... [ Continue Reading ]
And the king went up into the house of the LORD, 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 th... [ Continue Reading ]
And the king stood by a pillar, and made a covenant before the LORD, to walk after the LORD, and to keep his commandments and his testimonies and his statutes with all [their] heart and all [their] soul, to perform the words of this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people stood t... [ Continue Reading ]
And the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest, and the priests of the second order, and the keepers of the door, to bring forth out of the temple of the LORD all the vessels that were made for Baal, and for the grove, and for all the host of heaven: and he burned them without Jerusalem in the field... [ Continue Reading ]
And he put down the idolatrous priests, whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense in the high places in the cities of Judah, and in the places round about Jerusalem; them also that burned incense unto Baal, to the sun, and to the moon, and to the planets, and to all the host of heaven. V... [ Continue Reading ]
_And he brought out the grove from the house of the LORD, without Jerusalem, unto the brook Kidron, and burned it at the brook Kidron, and stamped [it] small to powder, and cast the powder thereof upon the graves of the children of the people._ Ver. 6. _And he brought out the grove._] See on 2 King... [ Continue Reading ]
And he brake down the houses of the sodomites, that [were] by the house of the LORD, where the women wove hangings for the grove. Ver. 7. _The houses of the sodomites._] Abominable brothel houses. _ Where the women wove hangings._] Heb., Houses, _aedicula, sacella textilia,_ as Acts 19:24. There w... [ Continue Reading ]
And he brought all the priests out of the cities of Judah, and defiled the high places where the priests had burned incense, from Geba to Beersheba, and brake down the high places of the gates that [were] in the entering in of the gate of Joshua the governor of the city, which [were] on a man's left... [ Continue Reading ]
Nevertheless the priests of the high places came not up to the altar of the LORD in Jerusalem, but they did eat of the unleavened bread among their brethren. Ver. 9. _But they did eat of the unleavened bread._] Care was taken for their maintenance: (1.) As Levites; (2.) As penitents; though, for se... [ Continue Reading ]
And he defiled Topheth, which [is] in the valley of the children of Hinnom, that no man might make his son or his daughter to pass through the fire to Molech. Ver. 10. _And he defiled Tophet._] A pleasant valley near to Jerusalem, but, for the abominable abuse of it, taken afterwards for hell, Isai... [ Continue Reading ]
And he took away the horses that the kings of Judah had given to the sun, at the entering in of the house of the LORD, by the chamber of Nathanmelech the chamberlain, which [was] in the suburbs, and burned the chariots of the sun with fire. Ver. 11. _And he took away the horses._] Not statues of ho... [ Continue Reading ]
And the altars that [were] on the top of the upper chamber of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made, and the altars which Manasseh had made in the two courts of the house of the LORD, did the king beat down, and brake [them] down from thence, and cast the dust of them into the brook Kidron. Ver.... [ Continue Reading ]
And the high places that [were] before Jerusalem, which [were] on the right hand of the mount of corruption, which Solomon the king of Israel had builded for Ashtoreth the abomination of the Zidonians, and for Chemosh the abomination of the Moabites, and for Milcom the abomination of the children of... [ Continue Reading ]
_And he brake in pieces the images, and cut down the groves, and filled their places with the bones of men._ Ver. 14. _And he brake in pieces the images._] He made no spare of any of those idols and monuments of idolatry, though there wanted not some about him, doubtless, that could have wished it... [ Continue Reading ]
Moreover the altar that [was] at Bethel, [and] the high place which Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, had made, both that altar and the high place he brake down, and burned the high place, [and] stamped [it] small to powder, and burned the grove. Ver. 15. _Moreover the altar that w... [ Continue Reading ]
And as Josiah turned himself, he spied the sepulchres that [were] there in the mount, and sent, and took the bones out of the sepulchres, and burned [them] upon the altar, and polluted it, according to the word of the LORD which the man of God proclaimed, who proclaimed these words. Ver. 16. _He se... [ Continue Reading ]
Then he said, What title [is] that that I see? And the men of the city told him, [It is] the sepulchre of the man of God, which came from Judah, and proclaimed these things that thou hast done against the altar of Bethel. Ver. 17. _What title is that that I see?_] This was not the name Jehovah, or... [ Continue Reading ]
And all the houses also of the high places that [were] in the cities of Samaria, which the kings of Israel had made to provoke [the LORD] to anger, Josiah took away, and did to them according to all the acts that he had done in Bethel. Ver. 19. _And did to them according._] See on 2 Kings 23:15 .... [ Continue Reading ]
And he slew all the priests of the high places that [were] there upon the altars, and burned men's bones upon them, and returned to Jerusalem. Ver. 20. And burnt men's bones.] Hence Papists would prove the lawfulness of unburying dead heretics, as they call us, and burning their bones; as they deal... [ Continue Reading ]
And the king commanded all the people, saying, Keep the passover unto the LORD your God, as [it is] written in the book of this covenant. Ver. 21. _Keep the passover._] 2 Chronicles 35:1. If the passover had been neglected, the law, the sacrifices had been in vain. No true Israelite might want whet... [ Continue Reading ]
Surely there was not holden such a passover from the days of the judges that judged Israel, nor in all the days of the kings of Israel, nor of the kings of Judah; Ver. 22. _Surely there was not holden such a passover,_] viz., For concourse of people, and solemnity of the service. Tremellius rendere... [ Continue Reading ]
But in the eighteenth year of king Josiah, [wherein] this passover was holden to the LORD in Jerusalem. Ver. 23. _But in the eighteenth year,_] viz., Of his reign, but in the twenty-sixth of his age.... [ Continue Reading ]
Moreover the [workers with] familiar spirits, and the wizards, and the images, and the idols, and all the abominations that were spied in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, did Josiah put away, that he might perform the words of the law which were written in the book that Hilkiah the priest found i... [ Continue Reading ]
And like unto him was there no king before him, that turned to the LORD with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the law of Moses; neither after him arose there [any] like him. Ver. 25. _And like unto him was there no king, &c._] He was a matchless man, a... [ Continue Reading ]
_Notwithstanding the LORD turned not from the fierceness of his great wrath, wherewith his anger was kindled against Judah, because of all the provocations that Manasseh had provoked him withal._ Ver. 26. _Notwithstanding the Lord, &c._] See on 2 Kings 23:22 . _ Because of all the provocations that... [ Continue Reading ]
And the LORD said, I will remove Judah also out of my sight, as I have removed Israel, and will cast off this city Jerusalem which I have chosen, and the house of which I said, My name shall be there. Ver. 27. _I will remove Judah also out of my sight._] Who was now grown worse than Israel, Jer 3:1... [ Continue Reading ]
Now the rest of the acts of Josiah, and all that he did, [are] they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? Ver. 28. _Now the rest of the acts, &c._] See 1 Kings 15:23 .... [ Continue Reading ]
In his days Pharaohnechoh king of Egypt went up against the king of Assyria to the river Euphrates: and king Josiah went against him; and he slew him at Megiddo, when he had seen him. Ver. 29. _In his days Pharaohnechoh,_] _i.e., _ Claudus Pharaoh, the club-foot, so called for distinction. Tamerlan... [ Continue Reading ]
And his servants carried him in a chariot dead from Megiddo, and brought him to Jerusalem, and buried him in his own sepulchre. And the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah, and anointed him, and made him king in his father's stead. Ver. 30. _And his servants carried him in a chariot... [ Continue Reading ]
Jehoahaz [was] twenty and three years old when he began to reign; and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. And his mother's name [was] Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. Ver. 31. _Jehoahaz was twenty and three years old._] He was younger than his brother Jehoiakim, 2Ki 23:36 got the king... [ Continue Reading ]
And he did [that which was] evil in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his fathers had done. Ver. 32. _And he did evil._] See Ezekiel 19:2,9 .... [ Continue Reading ]
And Pharaohnechoh put him in bands at Riblah in the land of Hamath, that he might not reign in Jerusalem; and put the land to a tribute of an hundred talents of silver, and a talent of gold. Ver. 33. _That he might not reign._] He deposed him; to show that he had now the disposal of the kingdom. Or... [ Continue Reading ]
And Pharaohnechoh made Eliakim the son of Josiah king in the room of Josiah his father, and turned his name to Jehoiakim, and took Jehoahaz away: and he came to Egypt, and died there. Ver. 34. _Made Eliakim._] That is, God shall arise: so his good father Josiah named him, but he proved a degenerate... [ Continue Reading ]
_And Jehoiakim gave the silver and the gold to Pharaoh; but he taxed the land to give the money according to the commandment of Pharaoh: he exacted the silver and the gold of the people of the land, of every one according to his taxation, to give [it] unto Pharaohnechoh._ Ver. 35. _He exacted._] Th... [ Continue Reading ]
Jehoiakim [was] twenty and five years old when he began to reign; and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name [was] Zebudah, the daughter of Pedaiah of Rumah. Ver. 36. _Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old._] See on 2 Kings 23:31 .... [ Continue Reading ]
And he did [that which was] evil in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his fathers had done. Ver. 37. _And he did that which was evil._] To all his former evils he added this, that he slew Urijah the prophet. Jeremiah 26:20 _; _ Jer 26:23... [ Continue Reading ]