THE PROPHETS - The suggestion to regard this word an error of the pen for “Levites,” which occurs in Chronicles (marginal reference), is unnecessary. For though Zephaniah, Urijah, and Jeremiah are all that we can name as belonging to the order at the time, there is no reason to doubt that Judaea con... [ Continue Reading ]
BY A PILLAR - Rather, “upon the pillar” (see 2 Kings 11:14, note). MADE A COVENANT - “The covenant.” Josiah renewed the old covenant made between God and His people in Horeb Deuteronomy 5:2, so far at least as such renewal was possible by the mere act of an individual. He bound himself by a solemn... [ Continue Reading ]
A parenthesis giving the earlier reforms of Josiah. 2 Kings 23:4 THE PRIESTS OF THE SECOND ORDER - This is a new expression; and probably refers to the ordinary priests, called here “priests of the second order,” in contrast with the high priest, whose dignity was reviving (2 Kings 12:2 note). TH... [ Continue Reading ]
See 2 Kings 23:4 note. With this verse the author returns to the narrative of what was done in Josiah’s 18th year. The need of the injunction, “as it was written in the book of this covenant,” was owing to the fact - not that Josiah had as yet held no Passover - but that the reading of the book had... [ Continue Reading ]
The details of the Passover are given by the author of Chronicles (the marginal reference). Its superiority to other Passovers seems to have consisted: (1) in the multitudes that attended it; and (2) in the completeness with which all the directions of the Law were observed in the celebration. Com... [ Continue Reading ]
PERFORM - Rather, establish. Josiah saw that it was necessary, not only to put down open idolatry, but also to root out the secret practices of a similar character which were sometimes combined with the worship of Yahweh, notwithstanding that the Law forbade them (marginal references), and which pro... [ Continue Reading ]
AND LIKE UNTO HIM ... - See 2 Kings 18:5 note. We must not press the letter of either passage, but regard both kings as placed among the very best of the kings of Judah.... [ Continue Reading ]
See the marginal references. True repentance might have averted God’s anger. But the people had sunk into a condition in which a true repentance was no longer possible. Individuals, like Josiah, were sincere, but the mass of the nation, despite their formal renewal of the covenant 2 Kings 23:3, and... [ Continue Reading ]
It added to the guilt of Judah that she had had the warning of her sister Israel’s example, and had failed to profit by it.... [ Continue Reading ]
Josiah lived for 13 years after the celebration of his great Passover. Of this period we know absolutely nothing, except that in the course of it he seems to have submitted himself to Nabopolassar; who, after the fall of Nineveh, was accepted as the legitimate successor of the Assyrian monarchs by a... [ Continue Reading ]
PHARAOH-NECHOH - This king is well known to us both from profane historians, and from the Egyptian monuments. He succeeded his father Psammetichus (Psamatik) in the year 610 B.C., and was king of Egypt for 16 years. He was an enlightened and enterprising monarch. The great expedition here mentioned... [ Continue Reading ]
DEAD - It appears from a comparison of this passage with 2 Chronicles (marginal reference) that Josiah was not actually killed in the battle. JEHOAHAZ - Or Shallum (the marginal note). He may have taken the name of Jehoahaz (“the Lord possesses”) on his accession. He was not the eldest son of Josia... [ Continue Reading ]
Pharaoh-Nechoh, after bringing Phoenicia and Syria under his rule, and penetrating as far as Carchemish, returned to Southern Syria, and learned what had occurred at Jerusalem in his absence. He sent orders to Jehoahaz to attend the court which he was holding at Riblah, and Jehoahaz fell into the tr... [ Continue Reading ]
IN THE ROOM OF JOSIAH HIS FATHER - Not “in the room of Jehoahaz his brother;” the phrase is intended to mark the fact, that Neco did not acknowedge that Jehoahaz had ever been king. TURNED HIS NAME TO JEHOIAKIM - Compare 2 Kings 23:30 and 2 Kings 24:17. It seems likely, from their purely Jewish char... [ Continue Reading ]
TWENTY AND FIVE YEARS OLD - Jehoiakim was therefore two years older than his half-brother, Jehoahaz 2 Kings 23:31. See his character in 2 Kings 23:37; 2 Chronicles 36:8; Ezekiel 19:5; Jeremiah 22:13; Jeremiah 26:20, 36:... [ Continue Reading ]