_A.M. 3380. B.C. 624._ Josiah reads the law to all the people, 2Ki 23:1, 2 Kings 23:2. Renews the covenant between God and them, 2 Kings 23:3. Cleanses the temple, 2 Kings 23:4. Roots out idolatry, 2 Kings 23:5. Keeps a solemn passover, 2 Kings 23:21. Clears the land of witches, 2 Kings 23:24. A ge... [ Continue Reading ]
_The king sent and gathered unto him all the elders_ Although he had received a message from God, that there was no preventing the ruin of Jerusalem, and that he only should _deliver his own soul;_ yet he does not therefore sit down in despair, and resolve to do nothing for his country, because he c... [ Continue Reading ]
_The king went up into the house of the Lord_ For as this great meeting was called for a religious purpose, it was to be conducted in a religious manner; and whatever was done in it was to be done as in the presence of God. _And all the men of Judah_ A very great number of them; for it cannot be sup... [ Continue Reading ]
_The king stood by a pillar_ Of which see on chap. 2 Kings 11:14. _And made a covenant before the Lord_ The king himself was the first and principal covenanter, who publicly and solemnly declared his consent to this covenant, to set the elders, priests, and people an example, and to assure them not... [ Continue Reading ]
_The king commanded Hilkiah and the priests of the second order _ Either those two who were next in degree to the high-priest, and in case of sickness were to manage his work; or the heads of the twenty-four courses which David had appointed. _To bring forth out of the temple_ Or to take care they s... [ Continue Reading ]
_He put down the idolatrous priests_ כמרים, _chemarim._ Their particular business, as appears from this place, was to burn incense. Hence it is thought by some, that the faithful Jews gave them this name by way of contempt, as being continually scorched by their fumigating fires. But, according to B... [ Continue Reading ]
_And cast the powder thereof upon the graves_ By the law, a ceremonial uncleanness was contracted by the touch of a grave, so that by casting these ashes here, he declared them most impure, and that none could touch them without making themselves unclean thereby. The Chaldee renders it, _He cast it... [ Continue Reading ]
_He brake down the houses of the sodomites_ The name sometimes given to the most infamous of all prostitutes, who exposed their bodies to be abused contrary to nature, in honour of those filthy deities whom they worshipped. Their houses were near the temple, and the persons themselves were dedicated... [ Continue Reading ]
_He brought all the priests_ Belonging to the high places following, whether such as worshipped idols, or such as worshipped God in those forbidden places. _Out of the cities of Judah_ That they might not continue to corrupt the people. _And defiled the high places_ Casting dead carcasses there, and... [ Continue Reading ]
_Nevertheless, the priests of the high places_ Who had worshipped the true God there. _Came not up to the altar of the Lord in Jerusalem_ Were not suffered to come thither to exercise their priestly office, as a just punishment for their joining in and contributing to the corruption of God's worship... [ Continue Reading ]
_He defiled Topheth_ By throwing different kinds of filth and dead carcasses into it, and making it the burying-place of the city. Topheth was a place very near Jerusalem, where was the image of Molech, to whom some sacrificed their children, burning them in the fire, as the reader may see in the no... [ Continue Reading ]
_And he took away_ Hebrew, וישׁבת, _va-jashbeth, he put down_, or _made to cease; the horses that the kings of Judah had given to the sun_ That is, had consecrated to the sun. It appears, by the testimony of many authors, that among several nations horses were dedicated to the sun, as hawks and some... [ Continue Reading ]
_The altars on the top of the upper chamber_, &c. “Read,” says Mr. Locke, _“the altars on the house-top.”_ According to Jeremiah, chap. Jeremiah 32:29, they were so mad upon their idols, that they were not content with their numerous public high places and altars, but made others upon their house-to... [ Continue Reading ]
_The high places on the right hand of the mount of Corruption _ That is, the mount of Olives, (1 Kings 11:7,) called _the mount of Corruption_, for the gross idolatry there practised. _Which Solomon had builded for Ashtoreth_, &c. Not the same individual altars; which, doubtless, either Solomon, upo... [ Continue Reading ]
_And filled their places_ The places of the groves; _with the bones of men_ Of the idolatrous priests, which he caused to be taken out of their graves, 2 Kings 23:18. As he carried the ashes of the images to the graves, to mingle them with dead men's bones, so he carried dead men's bones to the plac... [ Continue Reading ]
_The altar that was at Beth-el he brake down_ Probably this city was now under the kingdom of Judah, to which it was added by Abijah long before this time. And it is probable, since the ten tribes were carried away, many cities had put themselves under the protection of Judah. The golden calf, it se... [ Continue Reading ]
_As Josiah turned himself_ His care and zeal were so great that he would not trust his officers with these things, but would see them done with his own eyes. _He spied the sepulchres that were in the mount_ It is not said whose sepulchres they were, but it is probable they were those of the idolatro... [ Continue Reading ]
_He said, What title is that that I see?_ It was the custom then, as it is now, to set up little pillars or stones by or upon the graves of the higher sort of men, upon which the names of the deceased persons, and some remarkable passages relating to them, were engraven. The king observing a stone o... [ Continue Reading ]
_He said, Let no man move his bones_ It is pertinently observed by Joh. Wolfius, that if pious persons, in those days, had had the same opinion about relics which has long been prevalent in the Church of Rome, the king would not have ordered his bones to remain quiet and undisturbed, but would have... [ Continue Reading ]
_He slew all the priests of the high places_ By this relation it appears, that after the departure of the king of Assyria, divers of the Israelites, who had retired to other parts, and kept themselves out of the conqueror's hands, returned together with their priests to their own land, and to their... [ Continue Reading ]
_The king commanded, saying, Keep the passover_, &c. Having abolished false worship, he now endeavours to set up the true worship of the true God. Thus he differed greatly from Jehu, who, when he had destroyed the worship of Baal, took no heed to walk in the commandments and ordinances of God. Josia... [ Continue Reading ]
_Surely there was not holden such a passover_, &c. Celebrated with such solemn care, and great preparation, and numerous sacrifices, and universal joy of all good men; which was much the greater, because of their remembrance of the former wicked and miserable times under Manasseh and Amon; and the g... [ Continue Reading ]
_Workers with familiar spirits, and wizards_ Of which see notes on Deuteronomy 18:10; Leviticus 19:31; and Leviticus 20:27. _And the images_ Hebrew, _the teraphim_, images which were very ancient among idolaters. _And idols_ Other kinds of images. _And all the abominations that were spied_ All the i... [ Continue Reading ]
_Like unto him was there no king before him_ For his diligent study in God's law, and his exact care, and unwearied industry, and fervent zeal, in rooting out idolaters, and all kinds and appearances of idolatry, not only in Judah, but in Israel also; and in the establishment of the true religion in... [ Continue Reading ]
_Notwithstanding, the Lord turned not_, &c. Because, though the king was most hearty in his repentance, and acceptable to God, and therefore the judgment was delayed for his time; yet the people were in general corrupt, and secretly averse from Josiah's pious reformation, as appears from the complai... [ Continue Reading ]
_I will cast off this city, and the house of which I said, My name shall be there_ God promised upon conditions, in sundry places expressed, that his name should be there. These conditions they broke, and therefore God justly made them to know his _breach of promise._... [ Continue Reading ]
_In his days Pharaoh-nechoh, king of Egypt, went up_, &c. According to Herodotus, Nechoh was the proper name of this monarch, Pharaoh being the general name of all their kings, as has been before observed in these notes. He tells us he was the son and successor of Psammeticus, king of Egypt, and a m... [ Continue Reading ]
_His servants carried him in a chariot dead from Megiddo_ That is, mortally wounded, as in the former verse; and, as we commonly say of a sick man, past hopes of recovery, that he is a dead man. Instead of _dead_, Houbigant reads _dying. The people took Jehoahaz, and made him king_ Who was younger t... [ Continue Reading ]
_He did evil, according to all that his fathers had done_ That is, his grand-parents, Manasseh and Amon. He restored that idolatry which his father had destroyed. Jerusalem saw not a good day after Josiah was laid in his grave; but one trouble came after another, till, within two and twenty years, i... [ Continue Reading ]
_Pharaoh-nechoh put him in bands_ Either because he presumed to take the kingdom without his consent; or, because he renewed the war against Egypt. _At Riblah_ An eminent city in Syria, where Pharaoh now was, that he might finish or make good his conquests, and whither Jehoahaz was carried to receiv... [ Continue Reading ]
_Pharaoh-nechoh made Eliakim king_ Whom he probably perceived to be of a more mild and peaceable disposition. _And turned his name to Jehoiakim_ It was usual for conquerors to change the names of the persons they vanquished in war, in testimony of their absolute power over them. Thus we find the kin... [ Continue Reading ]
_He did that which was evil_, &c. By idolatry, the oppression of his people, and the persecution of the prophets and other good men. For he killed the Prophet Urijah, and was at the charge to fetch him out of Egypt, whither he fled to save his life, Jeremiah 26:20, &c. And if it had not been for Ahi... [ Continue Reading ]