XXIII. JOSIAH RENEWS THE COVENANT, ROOTS OUT IDOLTARY, AND HOLDS A SOLEMEN PASSOVER.HIS END. (1) THEY GATHERED. — The right reading is probably that of the Syriac and Vulg., _there gathered_. Chron., LXX., and Arabic have _he gathered_. ALL THE ELDERS. — The representatives of the nation.... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE PROPHETS. — That is, the numerous members of the prophetic order, who at this time formed a distinct class, repeatedly mentioned in the writings of Jeremiah (_e.g_., Jeremiah 2:8; Jeremiah 5:31; Jeremiah 6:13), as well as of older prophets. The Targum has _the scribes_, the γραμματεύς of the... [ Continue Reading ]
BY A PILLAR. — _On the stand or dais_ (2 Kings 11:14). A COVENANT. — _The covenant_, which had so often been broken. Josiah pledged himself “to walk after the Lord,” and imposed a similar pledge on the people. STOOD TO THE COVENANT — _i.e., entered it;_ took the same pledge as the king. (Comp. 2 K... [ Continue Reading ]
THE PRIESTS OF THE SECOND ORDER. — Thenius is probably right in reading the singular, _the priest of the second rank, i.e._, the high priest’s deputy, after the Targum, unless the heads of the twenty-four classes be intended (“the chief priests” of the New Testament). (See also 2 Kings 25:18.) THE... [ Continue Reading ]
HE PUT DOWN. — Syriac and Arabic, _he slew_. THE IDOLATROUS PRIESTS. — The _kěmârîm_, or _black-robed_ priests (Hosea 10:5, of the priests of the calf-worship at Beth-el). Only occurring besides in Zephaniah 1:4. Here, as in the passage of Hosea, the word denotes the unlawful priests of Jehovah, as... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE BROUGHT OUT THE GROVE... — The Asherah set up by Manasseh (2 Kings 21:3; 2 Kings 21:7), and removed by him on his repentance (2 Chronicles 33:15), but restored (probably) by Amon (2 Kings 21:21). UNTO THE BROOK... AT THE BROOK. — _Unto the ravine_... _in the ravine, or wady_. THE GRAVES OF T... [ Continue Reading ]
THE HOUSES... BY THE HOUSE. — _The cabins of the Kedçshim_... _in the house_. The _Kedçshim_ were _males_, perhaps eunuchs, who prostituted themselves like women in honour of the Asherah. (See 1 Kings 14:24; 1 Kings 15:12; Hosea 4:14.) The passage shows that the last infamy of Canaanite nature-worsh... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE BROUGHT ALL THE PRIESTS... — Josiah caused all the priests of the local sanctuaries of Jehovah to migrate to Jerusalem, and polluted the high places to which they had been attached, in order to get rid of the illegitimate worship once for all. FROM GEBA. — The present _Jeba_, near the ancien... [ Continue Reading ]
NEVERTHELESS... CAME NOT UP TO THE ALTAR. — _Only the, priests of the high places used not to offer at the altar_. They were not permitted to do so, being considered to be incapacitated for that office by their former illegal ministrations. BUT THEY DID EAT. — They might not even eat their share of... [ Continue Reading ]
TOPHETH. — Heb. _the Topheth; i.e., the burning place, or hearth_, if the word be rightly derived from the Persian tôften, “to burn.” The Hebrew word, however, has been so modified as to suggest a derivation from tôph, “to spit;” so that the epithet would mean “the abomination.” (Comp. 2 Kings 23:13... [ Continue Reading ]
HE TOOK AWAY. — The same word as “put down” (2 Kings 23:5). Here, as there, the Syriac and Arabic render, “he killed,” which is possibly a correct gloss. THE HORSES... THE SUN. — These horses drew “the chariots of the sun” in solemn processions held in honour of that deity. (See Herod, i. 189; Xeno... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE ALTARS THAT WERE ON THE TOP (roof) OF THE UPPER CHAMBER OF AHAZ. — The roof of an upper chamber in one of the Temple courts. perhaps built over one of the gateways (comp. Jeremiah 35:4), appears to be meant. The altars were for star-worship, which was especially practised on housetops. (Comp... [ Continue Reading ]
THE HIGH PLACES THAT WERE BEFORE THE CITY... — See 1 Kings 11:5. “Before” means “to the east of,” because, to determine the cardinal points, one faced the sunrise. The right hand was then the south, the left hand the north, and the back the west. THE MOUNT OF CORRUPTION. — The southern summit of th... [ Continue Reading ]
THE IMAGES... THE GROVES. — _The pillars... the ash_ç_rahs_. These pillars and sacred trees may have been set up at the high places mentioned in the last verse; but the Hebrew construction does not _prove_ this, for comp. 2 Kings 23:10. The reference is probably general. THEIR PLACES. — _Their plac... [ Continue Reading ]
THE ALTAR... AND THE HIGH PLACE. — The _and_ is wanting in the Hebrew, LXX., and Targum.It is supplied in the Syriac, Vulgate, and Arabic, correctly as regards the sense; see below. Grammatically, “the high place” may be in apposition to “the altar,” and may include it, as being a more general term.... [ Continue Reading ]
TURNED HIMSELF. — So that he caught sight of the tombs on the hill-side opposite — not on the hill where the high place was. THE MAN OF GOD PROCLAIMED. — Some words appear to have fallen out of the Hebrew text here, for the LXX. _adds_, “when Jeroboam stood in the feast at the altar. And he returne... [ Continue Reading ]
(16-18) These verses are supposed by Stähelin to be a fictitious addition of the compiler’s. Thenius does not go so far as this, but assumes that the proper sequel of 1 Kings 13:1, has been transferred to this place. He argues that it must be an interpolation here, because (1) the “moreover” of 2 Ki... [ Continue Reading ]
WHAT TITLE IS THIS? — _What is yonder monument, or memorial stone_? Ezekiel 39:15, “sign.” Jeremiah uses the same term of a sign-post (Jeremiah 31:21, “waymarks”). (See 1 Kings 13:29 _seq_.)... [ Continue Reading ]
LET HIM ALONE. — Or, _Let him rest._ SO THEY LET HIS BONES ALONE. — A different verb. _And they suffered his bones to escape_, scil., disturbance. WITH THE BONES OF THE PROPHET... — See 1 Kings 13:31. THAT CAME OUT OF SAMARIA. — This simply designates the old prophet who deceived the Judæan man o... [ Continue Reading ]
THE HOUSES ALSO OF THE HIGH PLACES — _i.e._, temples or chapels attached to the high places. JOSIAH TOOK AWAY. — Comp. 2 Chronicles 34:6, from which it appears that the king’s zeal carried him as far as Naphtali. The question has been asked, how it was that Josiah was able to proceed thus beyond the... [ Continue Reading ]
HE SLEW. — _He slaughtered_. A contrast to his mild treatment of the priests of the Judæan high places (2 Kings 23:8). _They_ were Levites, and these heathenish priests. (Comp. Deuteronomy 17:2.) Thus was fulfilled the prophecy of 1 Kings 13:2. (Thenius considers the event historical, _because_ that... [ Continue Reading ]
KEEP THE PASSOVER. — _Hold a passover_ (2 Kings 23:22). (Comp. 2 Chronicles 35:1 for a more detailed account of this unique celebration.) Josiah had the precedent of Hezekiah for signalising his religious revolution by a solemn passover (2 Chronicles 30:1). IN THE BOOK OF THIS COVENANT. — Rather, _... [ Continue Reading ]
SURELY THERE WAS NOT HOLDEN... — _For there was not holden_ (_a passover_) _like this passover._ This and the next verse constitute a parenthetic remark, in which the historian emphasises the phrase, “As it is written in this book of the covenant.” No passover, from the time of the Judges onward had... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEREIN. — Omit this word. As Ewald says, the meaning of these two verses is, that the passover was never so celebrated before, especially as regards (1) the offerings over and above the paschal lamb (Deuteronomy 16:2), and (2) the strict _unity_ of the place of this festival (Deuteronomy 16:5). The... [ Continue Reading ]
MOREOVER THE WORKERS... — After abolishing public idolatry, Josiah attacked the various forms of private superstition. THE WORKERS WITH FAMILIAR SPIRITS. — _The necromancers_ (‘_ôbôth_; 1 Samuel 28:3 _seq_.). (See 2 Kings 21:6.) IMAGES. — See margin; and Genesis 31:19; Judges 17:5; 1 Samuel 19:13;... [ Continue Reading ]
AND. LIKE UNTO HIM WAS THERE NO KING BEFORE HIM. — Comp. 2 Kings 18:5, where a similar eulogy is passed upon Hezekiah. It is not, perhaps, necessary to insist upon any formal contradiction which may appear to result from a comparison of the two passages. A writer would not be careful to measure his... [ Continue Reading ]
THE FIERCENESS OF HIS GREAT WRATH... KINDLED. — _The great heat of his wrath, wherewith his wrath burnt_. BECAUSE OF ALL THE PROVOCATIONS THAT MANASSEH ... — Comp. the predictions of Jeremiah (Jeremiah 15:4; Jeremiah 25:2 _seq_.) and Zephaniah; and see the Note on 2 Chronicles 34:33.... [ Continue Reading ]
The historian naturally adds these remarks to prepare the way for what he has soon to relate — the final ruin of the kingdom; and probably also to suggest an explanation of what must have seemed to him and his contemporaries a very mysterious stroke of providence, the untimely end of the good king J... [ Continue Reading ]
(28-30) Josiah’s end. The historical abstract broken off at 2 Kings 22:2 is now continued. (Comp. the more detailed account in 2 Chronicles 35:20 _seq_.)... [ Continue Reading ]
PHARAOH-NECHOH. — Necho II., the successor of Psammetichus, and the sixth king of the 26th or Saite dynasty, called Νεκὼς by Herodotus (ii. 158, 159; 4:42); he reigned circ. 611-605 B.C., but is not mentioned in the Assyrian records, so far as they are at present known to us. THE KING OF ASSYRIA. —... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HIS SERVANTS CARRIED HIM... — See Notes 2 Chronicles 35:24. THE PEOPLE OF THE LAND. — Thenius says they were the soldiery who had fled to Jerusalem; but this is doubtful. TOOK JEHOAHAZ. — He was not the eldest son (see 2 Kings 23:36), but he may have been thought a more capable prince amid the... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE DID THAT WHICH WAS EVIL... — Comp. Ezekiel’s lamentation for the princes of Judah,” where Jehoahaz is called a young lion that “devoureth men,” alluding to his oppressive rapacity and shameless abuse of power (Ezekiel 19:1).... [ Continue Reading ]
AND PHARAOH-NECHOH PUT HIM IN BANDS... — See Note on 2 Chronicles 36:3. The LXX. here has “removed him,” but the other versions “bound him.” THAT HE MIGHT NOT REIGN. — This is the reading of the Hebrew margin, some MSS., and the LXX., Vulg., and Targum. The Syriac and Arabic have, “when he reigned,”... [ Continue Reading ]
THE REIGN OF JEHOAHAZ (31-34). (34) JEHOAHAZ. — Called Shallum (Jeremiah 22:11; 1 Chronicles 3:15), which may have been his name before his accession. (Comp. 2 Kings 23:34; 2 Kings 24:17.) Hitzig suggested that he was so called by Jeremiah in allusion to his brief reign, as if he were a _second_ Sha... [ Continue Reading ]
THE REIGN OF JEHOIAKIM (2 Kings 23:35 to 2 Kings 24:7). (35) AND JEHOIAKIM GAVE. — _And the silver and the gold did Jehoiakim give_... He had to pay for his elevation. The raising of the fine of 2 Kings 23:33 is described in this verse. BUT HE TAXED... — The king kept his pledge to Pharaoh, but not... [ Continue Reading ]