2 Kings 23:4-23

F. THE REFORMATION INTENSIFIED 23:4-23

The author deals with the reformation launched by Josiah geographically rather than chronologically. He discusses (1) the cleansing of the Temple (2 Kings 23:4-7); (2) the reforms in Jerusalem and Judah (2 Kings 23:8-14); (3) the reforms in the territory which had formerly belonged to the kingdom of Israel in the North (2 Kings 23:15-20); and (4) the great passover celebration in which Jews and Israelites jointly shared in Jerusalem (2 Kings 23:21-23).

1. THE CLEANSING OF THE TEMPLE (2 Kings 23:4-7)

TRANSLATION

(4) And the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest and the priests of the second order and those who kept the door to bring out from the Temple of the LORD all the vessels which had been made for Baal and for Asherah and for all the host of heaven; and he burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of Kidron and carried their ashes to Bethel. (5) And he made to cease the pagan priests whom the kings of Judah had appointed that they might offer incense in the high places of the cities of Judah and the environs of Jerusalem; and them who offered incense to Baal, to the sun and to the moon and to the planets and to all the host of heaven. (6) And he brought out the Asherah from the house of the LORD outside Jerusalem unto the brook Kidron, and he burned it in the fields of Kidron, crushed it to dust, and cast its dust on the graves of the children of the people. (7) And he tore down the houses of the male Temple prostitutes who were in the house of the LORD where women would weave hangings for Asherah.

COMMENTS

The reformation began with the cleansing of the Temple. The high priest, the common priests and the Levites who kept watch at the other Temple gates were commissioned to remove from the house of God all vessels that had been made for and dedicated to Baal, Asherah and the host of heaven. The Hebrew term translated vessels is broad enough to include the entire paraphernalia of pagan worship including the two altars which had been set up in the inner and outer courts (cf. 2 Kings 21:5). The worship of Baal and Asherah was closely related from the earliest times in Canaan; the host of heaven cult may have been imported from Assyria.

In compliance with the law of Deuteronomy 7:25; Deuteronomy 12:3, Josiah burned this pagan paraphernalia. The burning took place in the fields of Kidron, i.e., in the upper part of the Kidron valley, to the northeast of Jerusalem, in order that not even the smoke should pollute the town. He then carried the ashes of this material to Bethel so as to remove them completely from the vicinity of the Holy City. The idolatrous impurities which had penetrated both kingdoms had to large measure originated in Bethel. Josiah reasoned that that which had proceeded from Bethel might well be returned to that spot (2 Kings 23:4).

Josiah also put down the pagan prieststhe kemarimwho had been imported during the reigns of Manasseh and Amon to burn incense throughout the land. From the very early times in Judah the people had illegally burned incense in high places; but here for the first time the author mentions the official sanction of and organization of this illicit worship. These priests must have been imported by Manasseh when he re-established the high places of Baal which his father Hezekiah had destroyed (cf. 2 Kings 21:3; 2 Kings 21:21). The kemarim offered incense to Baal, the sun, the moon and the planets and other heavenly bodies (2 Kings 23:5).

The wooden symbol of the goddess which had been erected in the Temple of the Lord was brought out and burned. Manasseh had originally set up this idol (2 Kings 21:3; 2 Kings 21:7) and then, after his repentance, removed it (2 Chronicles 33:15). It had subsequently been replaced by his son Amon (2 Chronicles 33:22). Following the earlier example of Asa, Josiah took this abominable image to the brook Kidron where he burned the wooden parts to ashes and crushed the metal parts to a fine powder. This powder was then sprinkled on the graves of the common people who were buried in graves similar to those used today. Burial places were regarded as unclean and were thus fit receptacles for any kind of impurity (2 Kings 23:6).

Josiah tore down the houses of the male Temple prostitutes (lit., consecrated ones). Male prostitutes were an essential element in the worship of Astarte and accompanied that worship wherever it was introduced. The houses of these prostitutes were in close proximity to the house of the Lord, suggesting that the Temple was profaned by the foul lust of these consecrated ones. The women who wove hangings for Asherah are doubtless the priestesses of Asherah, themselves prostitutes. These curtains which were used in the shrines where the impure fertility rites were performed were of dainty fabrics of many colors (cf. Ezekiel 16:16).

2. THE REFORMS IN JUDAH AND JERUSALEM (2 Kings 23:8-14)

TRANSLATION

(8) And he brought all the priests from the cities of Judah, and defiled the high places where the priests had burned incense, from Geba to Beersheba; and he broke down the high places of the gates which were in the entrance of the gate of Joshua the governor of the city, and also that which was on the left-hand side of the gate of the city. (9) The priests of the high places did not go up unto the altar of the LORD in Jerusalem, but they ate bread in the midst of their brethren. (10) And he defiled Topheth which was in the valley of the son of Hinnom that no man might make his son or his daughter to pass through the fire to Moloch. (11) And he removed from the entrance of the house of the LORD (beside the chamber of Nathan-melech the officer, in the outskirts), the horses which the kings of Judah had given to the sun, and burned the chariots of the sun with fire. (12) And the altars which were on the roof 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, the king tore down, and beat them down from there, and cast their dust into the brook Kidron. (13) And the king defiled the high places that were before Jerusalem which were on the right of the mount of corruption which Solomon king of Israel had built for Ashtoreth the abomination of the Sidonians, for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for Milcom the abomination of the children of Ammon. (14) He broke in pieces the pillars, and cut down the Asherim, and filled their places with the bones of men.

COMMENTS

In order to prevent further illicit worship at the outlying high places, Josiah summoned to Jerusalem the Levitical priests who had served at these shrines and forced them to remain there. Throughout Judah, from Geba a village near Bethel, to Beersheba in the south, Josiah defiled or desecrated the high places.[647] where these Levites had served. This action he hoped would render these shrines permanently unsuitable for religious services. The high-place type worship had even in vaded, so it seems, the city of Jerusalem. Altars and other religious paraphernalia had been set up in the large open buildings which were part of the gates of the city. Two city gates where this type of unauthorized ritual was performed are named: the gate of Joshua the governor and the gate known simply as the city gate (2 Kings 23:8).

[647] Hezekiah had removed the high places throughout his domain (2 Kings 18:4), but under his son Manasseh the worship at these high places arose anew.

Josiah did not permit the apostate Levitical priests who had been summoned to Jerusalem to approach the altar of the Lord or to have any part in the Temple ritual. Nevertheless, they were permitted to partake of the priestly revenues. They were allowed to eat of the unleavened bread which only the priest could touch, and probably the portions of the sacrificial animals which were designated for the priests[648] (2 Kings 23:9).

[648] See Leviticus 6:9-10; Leviticus 6:22.

Tophet was the name given to the place in the valley of Hinnom where sacrifices were offered to Moloch. The exact meaning of the word is unknown. The valley of Hinnom is that depression which sweeps around the more western of the two hills whereon Jerusalem was built. The sons of Hinnom are thought to have been Canaanites who occupied this valley in the days of Joshua. This spot, sacred to Moloch, was defiled by Josiah so that the abominations practiced there would forever have to cease (2 Kings 23:10).

One of the idolatries introduced during the Manasseh-Amon era was the worship of the sun. Sacred chariots and horses were stationed near one of the entrances of the Temple to be ready for use in pagan processions. The particular entrance of the Temple is more precisely identified as being the one by the chamber of Nathan-melech the officer (lit., eunuch). Various chambers surrounded the Temple area some of which were used for storage, and some for residences. In Josiah's day, an important royal officer named Nathan-melech occupied one of these chambers. The sacred horses were removed, i.e., deprived of their functions; the wooden chariots were burned (2 Kings 23:11).

The location of the upper chambers of Ahaz is not certain, but most scholars think that they were within or in close proximity to the Temple.[649] Manasseh and Amon apparently had erected altars upon the roof of this structure. Roof-top altars seem to have been a new innovation particularly connected with the worship of the host of heaven. The altars which Manasseh had made and placed in the courts of the house of God were probably also connected with astral worship. These altars had been removed by Manasseh when he repented toward the end of his life, but they apparently had been replaced during the short reign of Amon. All of these astral altars Josiah completely destroyed, crushing them to dust and casting that dust into the brook Kidron (2 Kings 23:12).

[649] Owing to the fact that the pollutions mentioned immediately before and immediately after 2 Kings 23:12 are pollutions belonging to the Temple.

Josiah also destroyed the high places which Solomon had established in the vicinity of Jerusalem for the benefit of his pagan wives. The entire ridge of hills on the east of the city of Jerusalem came to be known as the mount of corruption because of the evil rites which Solomon had permitted to be practiced there. On the right hand, i.e., southern part of that hill, Solomon had erected shrines for three pagan deities: Ashtoreth, Chemosh and Milcom. The worship of Ashtoreth was prevalent throughout Phoenicia, but she was particularly venerated at Sidon, the seat of her worship. Chemosh is mentioned on the famous Moabite Stone as being the chief deity of Moab.[650] Milcom is one of the Israelite spellings for the name of the god Moloch. He seems to have been the only god revered by the Ammonites.[651] These ancient shrines Josiah defiled (2 Kings 23:13) by breaking the sacred pillars there in pieces, cutting down the Asherimthe wooden symbols of the goddess Asherah which were associated with Canaanite shrinesand by filling these areas with human bones. From the earliest times bones were considered unclean. These symbols of death would be a special defilement to shrines where the gods worshiped were deities of productivity and generation (2 Kings 23:14).

[650] The Moabite Stone is dedicated to Chemosh, and the inhabitants of Moab are referred to as the people of Chemosh.

[651] See 1 Kings 11:5; Jeremiah 49:3 compared with Jeremiah 48:7; Amos 1:15; and Zephaniah 1:5.

2. THE REFORMS IN THE NORTH (2 Kings 23:15-20)

TRANSLATION

(15) Moreover the altar which was in Bethel, the high place which Jeroboam the son of Nebat who made Israel to sin had made, even that altar and the high place he tore down, and he burned the high place; he crushed to powder and burned the Asherah. (16) And Josiah turned and saw the graves which were there in the mount; and he sent and took the bones from the graves, and burned them upon the altar, and defiled it according to the word of the LORD which the man of God had proclaimed who had proclaimed these things. (17) And he said, What marker is that which I see? And the men of the city said unto him, The grave of the man of God who came from Judah and proclaimed these things which you have done against the altar at Bethel. (18) And he said, Let him alone; let no man move his bones. So they left his bones with the bones of the prophet who came from Samaria. (19) And also all the houses of the high places, which were in the cities of Samaria which the kings of Israel had made to provoke the LORD, Josiah removed, and did to them according to all the deeds which he had done in Bethel. (20) And he slew all the priests of the high places which were there upon the altars, and he burned human bones upon them, and returned to Jerusalem.

COMMENTS

When Jeroboam set up his altar at Bethel, he in effect made that city a high place. The buildings connected with this high place were torn down by Josiah. It is not certain whether the Bethel temple was still being used in the days of Josiah or whether it had been abandoned. It is likely, however, that the mixed race which had been imported by the Assyrians to the former territory of Israel continued to worship at the spot. The pagan Asherah which was there Josiah crushed to powder and burned (2 Kings 23:15). From Israelite sepulchers excavated in the rocky sides of near-by hills, Josiah ordered human bones to be brought out and burned on the Bethel altar. By this action Josiah was unconsciously fulfilling the prophecy made by the unnamed man of God some three hundred years before (2 Kings 23:16; cf. 1 Kings 13:2).

The king then spotted a pillar or obelisk in the area of the tombs and inquired of the local inhabitants about the significance of this marker. He was told that this pillar marked the sepulcher of the man of God from Judah who had predicted the very things which Josiah had done to the altar (2 Kings 23:17). Upon being reminded of the message of that prophet, Josiah gave orders to leave that particular sepulcher and the bones of the two prophets buried therein undisturbed (2 Kings 23:18).

Josiah and his men roamed at will throughout the former territory of the Northern Kingdom[652] destroying and defiling the high places (2 Kings 23:19). This was the period of Assyrian decline, and the kings in Nineveh were no longer able to defend their outlying provinces. Taking advantage of this weakness, Josiah seems to have established his hegemony over the Assyrian provinces to the north of Judah. He seems to have been able to reunite under his own headship all the scattered portions of the old Israelite kingdom, except, perhaps, the Transjordan area. He levied taxes in Samaria as freely as in Judah (2 Chronicles 33:9). Throughout these territories Josiah slew the pagan priests of the high places and defiled the altars at these heathen shrines by burning human bones upon them just as he had done at Bethel (2 Kings 23:20).

[652] The Chronicler gives more details. Josiah carried out his destruction of the high places, the Asherah and the images in the cities of Manasseh, and Ephraim, and Simeon, even unto Naphtali (2 Chronicles 34:6).

3. THE GREAT PASSOVER CELEBRATION (2 Kings 23:21-23)

TRANSLATION

(21) And the king commanded all the people, saying, Prepare the Passover to the LORD your God as it is written in the book of this covenant. (22) Surely we have not done according to this book from the days of the Judges who judged Israel nor in all the days of the kings of Israel and the kings of Judah. (23) But in the eighteenth year of King Josiah, this Passover was conducted to the LORD in Jerusalem.

COMMENTS

The account of Josiah's Passover celebration is given in much more detail in the Book of Chronicles. The king ordered that all the regulations contained in the newly discovered book of the covenant should be observed (2 Kings 23:21). Since the ordinances for the observation of Passover are contained chiefly in Exodus (2 Kings 12:3-20; 2 Kings 13:5-10), it is reasonable to assume that the book of the covenant contained the book presently called Exodus.[653] Not since the days of the Judges had a pass-over been so numerously attended[654] and so meticulously observed (2 Kings 23:22; cf. 2 Chronicles 35:6).[655] This great observance occurred in the eighteenth year of Josiah, 621 B.C.the same year in which the lost law book was discovered in the Temple (2 Kings 23:23).

[653] Passover regulations are repeated but with much less fullness in Deuteronomy 16:1-8.

[654] The festival was attended not only by the Judaeans, but by many Israelites from among the ten tribes who still remained intermixed with the Assyrian colonists in the area of Samaria (2 Chronicles 35:17-18)

[655] Two other great passover observances are recorded since Israel left Sinai. See Joshua 5:10-11 and 2 Chronicles 30:13-26.