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Chron., LXX., and Arabic have <span class= "ital">he gathered</span>.<p><span class= "bld">All the elders.</span>—The representatives of the nation.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_kings/23-2.htm">2 Kings 23:2</a></div><div class="verse">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 the LORD.</div>(2) <span class= "bld">And the prophets.</span>—That is, the numerous members of the prophetic order, who at this time formed a distinct class, repeatedly mentioned in the writings of Jeremiah (<span class= "ital">e.g</span>., <a href="/jeremiah/2-8.htm" title="The priests said not, Where is the LORD? and they that handle the law knew me not: the pastors also transgressed against me, and the prophets prophesied by Baal, and walked after things that do not profit.">Jeremiah 2:8</a>; <a href="/jeremiah/5-31.htm" title="The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people love to have it so: and what will you do in the end thereof?">Jeremiah 5:31</a>; <a href="/jeremiah/6-13.htm" title="For from the least of them even to the greatest of them every one is given to covetousness; and from the prophet even to the priest every one deals falsely.">Jeremiah 6:13</a>), as well as of older prophets. The Targum has <span class= "ital">the scribes</span>, the <span class= "greekheb">γραμματεύς</span> of the New Testament, a class which hardly existed so early. Chron. and some MSS. reads <span class= "ital">the Levites</span>. (See Note on <a href="/2_chronicles/34-30.htm" title="And the king went up into the house of the LORD, and all the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and the priests, and the Levites, and all the people, great and small: and he read in their ears all the words of the book of the covenant that was found in the house of the LORD.">2Chronicles 34:30</a>.)<p><span class= "bld">All the men of Judah</span> <span class= "bld">. . .</span> <span class= "bld">inhabitants of Jerusalem</span> <span class= "bld">. . .</span> <span class= "bld">the people.</span>—A natural hyperbole, Of course the Temple court would not contain the entire population.<p><span class= "bld">And he read.</span>—Perhaps the king himself; but not necessarily. (Comp., <span class= "ital">e.g</span>., <a href="/2_kings/22-10.htm" title="And Shaphan the scribe showed the king, saying, Hilkiah the priest has delivered me a book. And Shaphan read it before the king.">2Kings 22:10</a>; <a href="/2_kings/22-16.htm" title="Thus said the LORD, Behold, I will bring evil on this place, and on the inhabitants thereof, even all the words of the book which the king of Judah has read:">2Kings 22:16</a>.) <span class= "ital">Qui facit per alium facit per se</span>. The priests were charged to read the Law to the people (<a href="/deuteronomy/31-9.htm" title="And Moses wrote this law, and delivered it to the priests the sons of Levi, which bore the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and to all the elders of Israel.">Deuteronomy 31:9</a>, <span class= "ital">seq</span>.) at the end of every seven years.<p><span class= "bld">Small and great</span>—<span class= "ital">i.e.</span>, high and low. (Comp. <a href="/psalms/49-2.htm" title="Both low and high, rich and poor, together.">Psalm 49:2</a>.)<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_kings/23-3.htm">2 Kings 23:3</a></div><div class="verse">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 <i>their</i> heart and all <i>their</i> soul, to perform the words of this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people stood to the covenant.</div>(3) <span class= "bld">By a pillar.</span>—<span class= "ital">On the stand or dais</span> (<a href="/2_kings/11-14.htm" title="And when she looked, behold, the king stood by a pillar, as the manner was, and the princes and the trumpeters by the king, and all the people of the land rejoiced, and blew with trumpets: and Athaliah rent her clothes, and cried, Treason, Treason.">2Kings 11:14</a>).<p><span class= "bld">A covenant.</span>—<span class= "ital">The covenant</span>, which had so often been broken. Josiah pledged himself “to walk after the Lord,” and imposed a similar pledge on the people.<p><span class= "bld">Stood to the covenant</span>—<span class= "ital">i.e., entered it;</span> took the same pledge as the king. (Comp. <a href="/2_kings/18-28.htm" title="Then Rabshakeh stood and cried with a loud voice in the Jews' language, and spoke, saying, Hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria:">2Kings 18:28</a>.)<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_kings/23-4.htm">2 Kings 23:4</a></div><div class="verse">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 fields of Kidron, and carried the ashes of them unto Bethel.</div>(4) <span class= "bld">The priests of the second order.</span>—Thenius is probably right in reading the singular, <span class= "ital">the priest of the second rank, i.e.</span>, 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 <a href="/2_kings/25-18.htm" title="And the captain of the guard took Seraiah the chief priest, and Zephaniah the second priest, and the three keepers of the door:">2Kings 25:18</a>.)<p><span class= "bld">The keepers of the door</span> (threshold).—The three chief warders (<a href="/2_kings/25-18.htm" title="And the captain of the guard took Seraiah the chief priest, and Zephaniah the second priest, and the three keepers of the door:">2Kings 25:18</a>.)<p><span class= "bld">Out of the temple</span>—<span class= "ital">i.e.</span>, out of the principal chamber or holy place.<p><span class= "bld">For Baal . . . grove.</span>—For the Baal <span class= "bld">. . .</span> Ashērah (so in <a href="/context/2_kings/23-6.htm" title="And he brought out the grove from the house of the LORD, without Jerusalem, to the brook Kidron, and burned it at the brook Kidron, and stamped it small to powder, and cast the powder thereof on the graves of the children of the people.">2Kings 23:6-7</a>; <a href="/2_kings/23-15.htm" title="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 broke down, and burned the high place, and stamped it small to powder, and burned the grove.">2Kings 23:15</a> also).<p><span class= "bld">Burned them.</span>—According to the law of <a href="/deuteronomy/7-25.htm" title="The graven images of their gods shall you burn with fire: you shall not desire the silver or gold that is on them, nor take it to you, lest you be snared therein: for it is an abomination to the LORD your God.">Deuteronomy 7:25</a>; <a href="/deuteronomy/12-3.htm" title="And you shall overthrow their altars, and break their pillars, and burn their groves with fire; and you shall hew down the graven images of their gods, and destroy the names of them out of that place.">Deuteronomy 12:3</a>. (Comp. <a href="/1_chronicles/14-12.htm" title="And when they had left their gods there, David gave a commandment, and they were burned with fire.">1Chronicles 14:12</a>.)<p><span class= "bld">Without Jerusalem.</span>—As unclean.<p><span class= "bld">In the fields of Kidron.</span>—North-east of the city, where the ravine expands considerably. (Comp. <a href="/jeremiah/31-40.htm" title="And the whole valley of the dead bodies, and of the ashes, and all the fields to the brook of Kidron, to the corner of the horse gate toward the east, shall be holy to the LORD; it shall not be plucked up, nor thrown down any more for ever.">Jeremiah 31:40</a>; also <a href="/1_kings/15-13.htm" title="And also Maachah his mother, even her he removed from being queen, because she had made an idol in a grove; and Asa destroyed her idol, and burnt it by the brook Kidron.">1Kings 15:13</a>.)<p><span class= "bld">Carried the ashes of them unto Beth-el.</span>—This is undoubtedly strange, and Chronicles says nothing about it. If the ashes of the vessels were sent to Beth-el, why not also those of the idols themselves, and the fragments of the altars (<a href="/context/2_kings/23-6.htm" title="And he brought out the grove from the house of the LORD, without Jerusalem, to the brook Kidron, and burned it at the brook Kidron, and stamped it small to powder, and cast the powder thereof on the graves of the children of the people.">2Kings 23:6-12</a>)? The text appears to be corrupt.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_kings/23-5.htm">2 Kings 23:5</a></div><div class="verse">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.</div>(5) <span class= "bld">He put down.</span>—Syriac and Arabic, <span class= "ital">he slew</span>.<p><span class= "bld">The idolatrous priests.</span>—The <span class= "ital">kěmārîm</span>, or <span class= "ital">black-robed</span> priests (<a href="/hosea/10-5.htm" title="The inhabitants of Samaria shall fear because of the calves of Bethaven: for the people thereof shall mourn over it, and the priests thereof that rejoiced on it, for the glory thereof, because it is departed from it.">Hosea 10:5</a>, of the priests of the calf-worship at Beth-el). Only occurring besides in <a href="/zephaniah/1-4.htm" title="I will also stretch out my hand on Judah, and on all the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and I will cut off the remnant of Baal from this place, and the name of the Chemarims with the priests;">Zephaniah 1:4</a>. Here, as in the passage of Hosea, the word denotes the unlawful priests of Jehovah, as contrasted with those of the Baal, mentioned in the next place. Whether the term really means <span class= "ital">black-robed</span>, as Kimchi explains, is questionable. Priests used to wear <span class= "ital">white</span> throughout the ancient world, except on certain special occasions. Gesenius derives it from a root meaning <span class= "ital">black</span>, but explains, <span class= "ital">one clad in black, i.e., a mourner, an ascetic</span>, and so a <span class= "ital">priest</span>. Perhaps the true derivation is from another root, meaning to <span class= "ital">weave: weaver of spells</span> or <span class= "ital">charms</span>; as magic was an invariable concomitant of false worship. (Comp. <a href="/2_kings/17-17.htm" title="And they caused their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire, and used divination and enchantments, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger.">2Kings 17:17</a>; <a href="/2_kings/21-6.htm" title="And he made his son pass through the fire, and observed times, and used enchantments, and dealt with familiar spirits and wizards: he worked much wickedness in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger.">2Kings 21:6</a>.) It is a regular word for priest in Syriac (chûmrâ; <a href="/psalms/110-4.htm" title="The LORD has sworn, and will not repent, You are a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.">Psalm 110:4</a>; and the Ep. to the Heb., <span class= "ital">passim</span>.)<p><span class= "bld">To burn incense.</span>—So Syriac, Vulg., and Arabic. The Hebrew <span class= "ital">has, and he burnt incense</span>. Probably it should be plural, as in the Vatican LXX. and Targum.<p><span class= "bld">In the places round about.</span>—<a href="/1_kings/6-29.htm" title="And he carved all the walls of the house round about with carved figures of cherubim and palm trees and open flowers, within and without.">1Kings 6:29</a>. Omit <span class= "ital">in the places</span>.<p><span class= "bld">Unto Baal, to the sun.</span>—<span class= "ital">Unto the Baal, to wit, unto the sun</span>. But it is better to supply <span class= "ital">and</span> with all the versions. <span class= "ital">Bel and Samas</span> were distinct deities in the Assyro-Babylonian system. When Reuss remarks that “the knowledge of the old Semitic worships, possessed by the Hebrew historians, appears to have been very superficial, for Baal and the sun are one and the same deity,” he lays himself open to the same charge.<p><span class= "bld">The planets.</span>—Or, <span class= "ital">the signs of the Zodiac</span>. The Heb. is <span class= "ital">mazzalôth</span>, probably a variant form of <span class= "ital">mazzarôth</span> (<a href="/job/38-32.htm" title="Can you bring forth Mazzaroth in his season? or can you guide Arcturus with his sons?">Job 38:32</a>). The word is used in the Targums, and by rabbinical writers, in the sense of star, as <span class= "ital">influencing human destiny</span>, and so fate, <span class= "ital">fortune</span>, in the singular, and in the plural of the signs of the Zodiac (<span class= "ital">e.g</span>., <a href="/ecclesiastes/9-3.htm" title="This is an evil among all things that are done under the sun, that there is one event to all: yes, also the heart of the sons of men is full of evil, and madness is in their heart while they live, and after that they go to the dead.">Ecclesiastes 9:3</a>; <a href="/esther/3-7.htm" title="In the first month, that is, the month Nisan, in the twelfth year of king Ahasuerus, they cast Pur, that is, the lot, before Haman from day to day, and from month to month, to the twelfth month, that is, the month Adar.">Esther 3:7</a>). It is, perhaps, derived from ’<span class= "ital">azar</span>, “to gird,” and means “belt,” or “girdle;” or from ’<span class= "ital">azal</span>, “to journey,” and so means “stages” of the sun’s course in the heavens. (Comp. Arab, <span class= "ital">manzal</span>.)<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_kings/23-6.htm">2 Kings 23:6</a></div><div class="verse">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 <i>it</i> small to powder, and cast the powder thereof upon the graves of the children of the people.</div>(6) <span class= "bld">And he brought out the grove . . .</span>—The Asherah set up by Manasseh (<a href="/2_kings/21-3.htm" title="For he built up again the high places which Hezekiah his father had destroyed; and he reared up altars for Baal, and made a grove, as did Ahab king of Israel; and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served them.">2Kings 21:3</a>; <a href="/2_kings/21-7.htm" title="And he set a graven image of the grove that he had made in the house, of which the LORD said to David, and to Solomon his son, In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all tribes of Israel, will I put my name for ever:">2Kings 21:7</a>), and removed by him on his repentance (<a href="/2_chronicles/33-15.htm" title="And he took away the strange gods, and the idol out of the house of the LORD, and all the altars that he had built in the mount of the house of the LORD, and in Jerusalem, and cast them out of the city.">2Chronicles 33:15</a>), but restored (probably) by Amon (<a href="/2_kings/21-21.htm" title="And he walked in all the way that his father walked in, and served the idols that his father served, and worshipped them:">2Kings 21:21</a>).<p><span class= "bld">Unto the brook . . . at the brook.</span>—<span class= "ital">Unto the ravine</span> . . . <span class= "ital">in the ravine, or wady</span>.<p><span class= "bld">The graves of the children</span> (sons) <span class= "bld">of the people</span>—<span class= "ital">i.e.</span>, the common graves (<a href="/jeremiah/26-23.htm" title="And they fetched forth Urijah out of Egypt, and brought him to Jehoiakim the king; who slew him with the sword, and cast his dead body into the graves of the common people.">Jeremiah 26:23</a>); a mark of utter contempt: <a href="/2_chronicles/34-4.htm" title="And they broke down the altars of Baalim in his presence; and the images, that were on high above them, he cut down; and the groves, and the carved images, and the molten images, he broke in pieces, and made dust of them, and strewed it on the graves of them that had sacrificed to them.">2Chronicles 34:4</a> paraphrases, “the graves of them that sacrificed unto them.”<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_kings/23-7.htm">2 Kings 23:7</a></div><div class="verse">And he brake down the houses of the sodomites, that <i>were</i> by the house of the LORD, where the women wove hangings for the grove.</div>(7) <span class= "bld">The houses . . . by the house.</span>—<span class= "ital">The cabins of the Kedēshim</span> . . . <span class= "ital">in the house</span>. The <span class= "ital">Kedēshim</span> were <span class= "ital">males</span>, perhaps eunuchs, who prostituted themselves like women in honour of the Asherah. (See <a href="/1_kings/14-24.htm" title="And there were also sodomites in the land: and they did according to all the abominations of the nations which the LORD cast out before the children of Israel.">1Kings 14:24</a>; <a href="/1_kings/15-12.htm" title="And he took away the sodomites out of the land, and removed all the idols that his fathers had made.">1Kings 15:12</a>; <a href="/hosea/4-14.htm" title="I will not punish your daughters when they commit prostitution, nor your spouses when they commit adultery: for themselves are separated with whores, and they sacrifice with harlots: therefore the people that does not understand shall fall.">Hosea 4:14</a>.) The passage shows that the last infamy of Canaanite nature-worship had been established in the very sanctuary of Jehovah. The revolt of Judah could go no farther.<p><span class= "bld">Where the women wove hangings for the grove.</span>—<span class= "ital">Wherein the women used to weave tents for the Ashērah</span>. The word we have rendered <span class= "ital">cabins</span> and tents is <span class= "ital">bāttîm</span>, “houses.” What is meant in the latter case is not clear. Perhaps the female harlots attached to the Temple wove portable tabernacles or sanctuaries of the goddess for sale to the worshippers; or tents (screens) for their own foul rites may be meant.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_kings/23-8.htm">2 Kings 23:8</a></div><div class="verse">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 <i>were</i> in the entering in of the gate of Joshua the governor of the city, which <i>were</i> on a man's left hand at the gate of the city.</div>(8) <span class= "bld">And he brought all the priests . . .</span>—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.<p><span class= "bld">From Geba.</span>—The present <span class= "ital">Jeba</span>, near the ancient Ramah (<a href="/1_kings/15-22.htm" title="Then king Asa made a proclamation throughout all Judah; none was exempted: and they took away the stones of Ramah, and the timber thereof, with which Baasha had built; and king Asa built with them Geba of Benjamin, and Mizpah.">1Kings 15:22</a>).<p><span class= "bld">To Beer-sheba.</span>—Where was a specially frequented high place (<a href="/amos/5-5.htm" title="But seek not Bethel, nor enter into Gilgal, and pass not to Beersheba: for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, and Bethel shall come to nothing.">Amos 5:5</a>, <a href="/amos/8-14.htm" title="They that swear by the sin of Samaria, and say, Your god, O Dan, lives; and, The manner of Beersheba lives; even they shall fall, and never rise up again.">Amos 8:14</a>; and Note on <a href="/2_chronicles/34-6.htm" title="And so did he in the cities of Manasseh, and Ephraim, and Simeon, even to Naphtali, with their mattocks round about.">2Chronicles 34:6</a>).<p><span class= "bld">The high places of the gates.</span>—Altars erected within the gates, that persons entering or leaving the city might make an offering to ensure success in their business.<p><span class= "bld">That were in the entering in . . .</span>—Thenius renders, (<span class= "ital">the high place</span>) <span class= "ital">which was at the entry of the gate of Joshua the governor of the city</span>, (<span class= "ital">as well as</span>) <span class= "ital">that which was on the left in the city gate</span>. But this assumption of <span class= "ital">two</span> localities is very precarious. The Authorised Version appears to be correct (a similar repetition of the relative referring to the same antecedent occurs in <a href="/2_kings/23-13.htm" title="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 built for Ashtoreth the abomination of the Zidonians, and for Chemosh the abomination of the Moabites, and for Milcom the abomination of the children of Ammon, did the king defile.">2Kings 23:13</a>). Joshua is an unknown personage, and it is not clear whether “the gate of Joshua” was a gate of the city named after him, or the great gate of his residence; nor is it certain that “the gate of the city” was that now called the Jaffa Gate. It is possible that the governor’s residence lay near the principal gate of the city, on the left as one entered. Several “high places” stood in the open space in front of it, between it and the city gate. These would naturally be called “the high places of the gates.”<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_kings/23-9.htm">2 Kings 23:9</a></div><div class="verse">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.</div>(9) <span class= "bld">Nevertheless . . . came not up to the altar.</span>—<span class= "ital">Only the, priests of the high places used not to offer at the altar</span>. They were not permitted to do so, being considered to be incapacitated for that office by their former illegal ministrations.<p><span class= "bld">But they did eat.</span>—They might not even eat their share of the meat offerings in company with the legitimate priests; but had to take their meals apart, “among their brethren,” <span class= "ital">i.e.</span>, in their own company. (Comp. <a href="/context/ezekiel/44-10.htm" title="And the Levites that are gone away far from me, when Israel went astray, which went astray away from me after their idols; they shall even bear their iniquity.">Ezekiel 44:10-14</a>; <a href="/context/leviticus/21-21.htm" title="No man that has a blemish of the seed of Aaron the priest shall come near to offer the offerings of the LORD made by fire: he has a blemish; he shall not come near to offer the bread of his God.">Leviticus 21:21-22</a>.)<p><span class= "bld">Eat of the unleavened bread.</span>—Omit <span class= "ital">of the</span>. The phrase is a technical one, meaning to live upon offerings. (See <a href="/context/leviticus/2-1.htm" title="And when any will offer a meat offering to the LORD, his offering shall be of fine flour; and he shall pour oil on it, and put frankincense thereon:">Leviticus 2:1-11</a>; <a href="/context/leviticus/6-16.htm" title="And the remainder thereof shall Aaron and his sons eat: with unleavened bread shall it be eaten in the holy place; in the court of the tabernacle of the congregation they shall eat it.">Leviticus 6:16-18</a>; <a href="/leviticus/10-12.htm" title="And Moses spoke to Aaron, and to Eleazar and to Ithamar, his sons that were left, Take the meat offering that remains of the offerings of the LORD made by fire, and eat it without leaven beside the altar: for it is most holy:">Leviticus 10:12</a>.) These irregular priests were probably employed in the inferior duties of the Temple.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_kings/23-10.htm">2 Kings 23:10</a></div><div class="verse">And he defiled Topheth, which <i>is</i> 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.</div>(10) <span class= "bld">Topheth.</span>—Heb. <span class= "ital">the Topheth; i.e., the burning place, or hearth</span>, if the word be rightly derived from the Persian tōften, “to burn.” The Hebrew word, however, has been so modified as to suggest a derivation from tōph, “to spit;” so that the epithet would mean “the abomination.” (Comp. <a href="/2_kings/23-13.htm" title="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 built for Ashtoreth the abomination of the Zidonians, and for Chemosh the abomination of the Moabites, and for Milcom the abomination of the children of Ammon, did the king defile.">2Kings 23:13</a>.) (Comp. also <a href="/job/17-6.htm" title="He has made me also a byword of the people; and aforetime I was as a tabret.">Job 17:6</a>; <a href="/isaiah/30-33.htm" title="For Tophet is ordained of old; yes, for the king it is prepared; he has made it deep and large: the pile thereof is fire and much wood; the breath of the LORD, like a stream of brimstone, does kindle it.">Isaiah 30:33</a>; and the Coptic tāf, “spittle.”)<p><span class= "bld">The valley of the children of Hinnom.</span>—Elsewhere called “the valley of the son of Hinnom,” and “the valley of Hinnom (<a href="/joshua/15-8.htm" title="And the border went up by the valley of the son of Hinnom to the south side of the Jebusite; the same is Jerusalem: and the border went up to the top of the mountain that lies before the valley of Hinnom westward, which is at the end of the valley of the giants northward:">Joshua 15:8</a>; <a href="/context/jeremiah/7-31.htm" title="And they have built the high places of Tophet, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire; which I commanded them not, neither came it into my heart.">Jeremiah 7:31-32</a>). Simonis plausibly explained the word <span class= "ital">Hinnom</span> as meaning <span class= "ital">shrieking or moaning</span> (from the Arabic <span class= "ital">hanna</span>, arguta voce gemuit, flevit). “The valley of the sons of shrieking” would be a good name for the accursed spot. (Thenius suggests <span class= "ital">Wimmer-Kinds-Thal</span>.)<p><span class= "bld">That no man</span> <span class= "bld">. . .</span>—See Note on <a href="/2_kings/16-3.htm" title="But he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, yes, and made his son to pass through the fire, according to the abominations of the heathen, whom the LORD cast out from before the children of Israel.">2Kings 16:3</a>.<p><span class= "bld">To Moloch.</span>—Heb., <span class= "ital">to the Molech</span> (Molech is another form of <span class= "ital">melech</span>, “king”). In <a href="/1_kings/11-7.htm" title="Then did Solomon build an high place for Chemosh, the abomination of Moab, in the hill that is before Jerusalem, and for Molech, the abomination of the children of Ammon.">1Kings 11:7</a>, the god of the Ammonites is called Molech, but elsewhere, as in <a href="/2_kings/23-13.htm" title="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 built for Ashtoreth the abomination of the Zidonians, and for Chemosh the abomination of the Moabites, and for Milcom the abomination of the children of Ammon, did the king defile.">2Kings 23:13</a>, Milcom, another variation of the same word. The feminine <span class= "ital">molecheth</span>, “queen,” occurs as a proper name in <a href="/1_chronicles/7-18.htm" title="And his sister Hammoleketh bore Ishod, and Abiezer, and Mahalah.">1Chronicles 7:18</a>.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_kings/23-11.htm">2 Kings 23:11</a></div><div class="verse">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 <i>was</i> in the suburbs, and burned the chariots of the sun with fire.</div>(11) <span class= "bld">He took away.</span>—The same word as “put down” (<a href="/2_kings/23-5.htm" title="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 to Baal, to the sun, and to the moon, and to the planets, and to all the host of heaven.">2Kings 23:5</a>). Here, as there, the Syriac and Arabic render, “he killed,” which is possibly a correct gloss.<p><span class= "bld">The horses . . . the sun.</span>—These horses drew “the chariots of the sun” in solemn processions held in honour of that deity. (See Herod, i. 189; Xenoph. <span class= "ital">Anab. iv.</span> 5. 34, <span class= "ital">seq</span>.; Quint. Curt. iii 3. 11.) Horses were also sacrificed to the sun. The sun’s apparent course through the heavens, poetically conceived as the progress of a fiery chariot and steeds, explains these usages.<p><span class= "bld">Had given</span>—<span class= "ital">i.e., had dedicated</span>.<p><span class= "bld">At the entering in of the house of the Lord.</span>—This appears right. Along with the next clause it states where the sacred horses were kept; viz., in the outer court of the Temple, near the entrance. (So the LXX. and Vulgate. This rendering involves a different pointing of the Hebrew text—<span class= "ital">m</span>ě<span class= "ital">bô</span> for mibbô. The latter, which is the ordinary reading, gives the sense, “<span class= "ital">so that they should not come into the house</span>, &c.”)<p><span class= "bld">By the chamber.</span>—Rather, <span class= "ital">towards the cell</span>; further defining the position of the stalls. As to the cells in the outer court, see the Note on <a href="/1_chronicles/9-26.htm" title="For these Levites, the four chief porters, were in their set office, and were over the chambers and treasuries of the house of God.">1Chronicles 9:26</a>; <a href="/ezekiel/40-45.htm" title="And he said to me, This chamber, whose prospect is toward the south, is for the priests, the keepers of the charge of the house.">Ezekiel 40:45</a> <span class= "ital">seq</span>.<p><span class= "bld">Nathan-melech the chamberiain</span>, or, <span class= "ital">eunuch</span>, is otherwise unknown. He may have been charged with the care of the sacred horses and chariots. <span class= "ital">Meleck</span> was a title of the sun-god in one of his aspects (<a href="/2_kings/23-10.htm" title="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.">2Kings 23:10</a>.)<p><span class= "bld">Which was in the suburbs.</span>—Rather, <span class= "ital">which was in the cloisters or portico. Parwārîm</span> is a Persian word explained in the Note on <a href="/1_chronicles/26-18.htm" title="At Parbar westward, four at the causeway, and two at Parbar.">1Chronicles 26:18</a>.<p><span class= "bld">Burned the chariots . . .</span>—Literally, <span class= "ital">and the chariots of the sun he burnt</span>. The treatment of the chariots is thus contrasted with that of the horses. If the whole had been, as some expositors have thought, a work of art in bronze or other material, placed over the gateway, no such difference would have been made.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_kings/23-12.htm">2 Kings 23:12</a></div><div class="verse">And the altars that <i>were</i> 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 <i>them</i> down from thence, and cast the dust of them into the brook Kidron.</div>(12) <span class= "bld">And the altars that were on the top</span> (roof) <span class= "bld">of the upper chamber of Ahaz.</span>—The roof of an upper chamber in one of the Temple courts. perhaps built over one of the gateways (comp. <a href="/jeremiah/35-4.htm" title="And I brought them into the house of the LORD, into the chamber of the sons of Hanan, the son of Igdaliah, a man of God, which was by the chamber of the princes, which was above the chamber of Maaseiah the son of Shallum, the keeper of the door:">Jeremiah 35:4</a>), appears to be meant. The altars were for star-worship, which was especially practised on housetops. (Comp. <a href="/jeremiah/19-13.htm" title="And the houses of Jerusalem, and the houses of the kings of Judah, shall be defiled as the place of Tophet, because of all the houses on whose roofs they have burned incense to all the host of heaven, and have poured out drink offerings to other gods.">Jeremiah 19:13</a>; <a href="/jeremiah/32-29.htm" title="And the Chaldeans, that fight against this city, shall come and set fire on this city, and burn it with the houses, on whose roofs they have offered incense to Baal, and poured out drink offerings to other gods, to provoke me to anger.">Jeremiah 32:29</a>; <a href="/zephaniah/1-5.htm" title="And them that worship the host of heaven on the housetops; and them that worship and that swear by the LORD, and that swear by Malcham;">Zephaniah 1:5</a>.)<p><span class= "bld">Brake them down from thence.</span>—The Targum <span class= "ital">has removed from thence</span>; the LXX. <span class= "ital">pulled them down from thence</span> (<span class= "greekheb">κατέσπασεν</span>). The Hebrew probably means <span class= "ital">ran from thence</span>; marking the haste with which the work was done. The clause thus adds a vivid touch to the narrative. It is hardly necessary to alter the points with Kimchi and Thenius, so as to read, <span class= "ital">he caused to run from thence; i.e.</span>, hurried them away.<p><span class= "bld">Cast the dust of them.</span>—Over the wall of the Temple enclosure, into the ravine beneath.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_kings/23-13.htm">2 Kings 23:13</a></div><div class="verse">And the high places that <i>were</i> before Jerusalem, which <i>were</i> 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 Ammon, did the king defile.</div>(13) <span class= "bld">The high places that were before the city . . .</span>—See <a href="/context/1_kings/11-5.htm" title="For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites.">1Kings 11:5-8</a>. “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.<p><span class= "bld">The mount of corruption.</span>—The southern summit of the Mount of Olives was so-called, because of the idolatry there practised. It still bears the name of the “Hill of Offence,” derived from the Vulg. “mons offensionis.” (The word rendered “corruption,” <span class= "ital">mashhîth</span>, may originally have meant “anointing,” from <span class= "ital">māshah</span> “to anoint,” and have simply referred to the olive oil there produced. The name would thus be equivalent to the German <span class= "ital">Oelberg</span>. In later times the term was so modified as to express detestation of idol-worship.)<p><span class= "bld">Did the king defile.</span>—As it is not said that they were pulled down, these high places may have been merely sacred sites on the mountain, consisting of a levelled surface of rock, with holes scooped in them for receiving libations, &c. Such sites have been found in Palestine; and it is hardly conceivable that <span class= "ital">chapels</span> erected by Solomon for the worship of Ashtoreth, Chemosh, and Milcom, would have been spared by such a king as Hezekiah, who even did away with the high places dedicated to Jehovah (<a href="/2_kings/18-3.htm" title="And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that David his father did.">2Kings 18:3</a>).<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_kings/23-14.htm">2 Kings 23:14</a></div><div class="verse">And he brake in pieces the images, and cut down the groves, and filled their places with the bones of men.</div>(14) <span class= "bld">The images . . . the groves.</span>—<span class= "ital">The pillars . . . the ash</span>ē<span class= "ital">rahs</span>. 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 <span class= "ital">prove</span> this, for comp. <a href="/2_kings/23-10.htm" title="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.">2Kings 23:10</a>. The reference is probably general.<p><span class= "bld">Their places.</span>—<span class= "ital">Their place</span> or<span class= "ital"> station</span>; a technical term for the position of an idol (the Heb. <span class= "ital">m</span>ā<span class= "ital">q</span>ô<span class= "ital">m</span>, equivalent to Sabæan <span class= "ital">maqâmum</span>. and Arabic <span class= "ital">muqâm</span>, which is still the common designation of holy sites in Palestine.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_kings/23-15.htm">2 Kings 23:15</a></div><div class="verse">Moreover the altar that <i>was</i> at Bethel, <i>and</i> 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, <i>and</i> stamped <i>it</i> small to powder, and burned the grove.</div>(15) <span class= "bld">The altar . . . and the high place.</span>—The <span class= "ital">and</span> 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.<p><span class= "bld">Which Jeroboam the son of Nebat . . .</span>—See <a href="/1_kings/12-28.htm" title="Whereupon the king took counsel, and made two calves of gold, and said to them, It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem: behold your gods, O Israel, which brought you up out of the land of Egypt.">1Kings 12:28</a> <span class= "ital">seq</span>.<p><span class= "bld">Burned the high place.</span>—Was it, then, a wooden structure, as Thenius supposes? Perhaps it resembled a dolmen (many hundred such have been found in Palestine); and fire may have been kindled under it, by way of cracking the huge slabs of stone of which it was built. The fragments might then be more easily crushed.<p><span class= "bld">Burned the grove.</span>—The present text is, <span class= "ital">burned an ash</span>ē<span class= "ital">rah</span>. Perhaps the article has fallen out; especially as this is not the only indication that the text has suffered in this place. Thenius understands the word in the general sense of an <span class= "ital">idol-image</span>, comparing <a href="/2_kings/17-29.htm" title="However, every nation made gods of their own, and put them in the houses of the high places which the Samaritans had made, every nation in their cities wherein they dwelled.">2Kings 17:29</a> <span class= "ital">seq</span>. But it is doubtful whether the word <span class= "ital">Ash</span>ē<span class= "ital">rah</span> is so used. It is noteworthy that the present passage indirectly agrees with <a href="/hosea/10-6.htm" title="It shall be also carried to Assyria for a present to king Jareb: Ephraim shall receive shame, and Israel shall be ashamed of his own counsel.">Hosea 10:6</a>, for no mention is made of what used to be the chief object of worship at Beth-el; viz., the golden bullock. It had been carried away to Assyria, as the prophet foretold.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_kings/23-16.htm">2 Kings 23:16</a></div><div class="verse">And as Josiah turned himself, he spied the sepulchres that <i>were</i> there in the mount, and sent, and took the bones out of the sepulchres, and burned <i>them</i> upon the altar, and polluted it, according to the word of the LORD which the man of God proclaimed, who proclaimed these words.</div>(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 <a href="/context/1_kings/13-1.htm" title="And, behold, there came a man of God out of Judah by the word of the LORD to Bethel: and Jeroboam stood by the altar to burn incense.">1Kings 13:1-32</a>, has been transferred to this place. He argues that it must be an interpolation here, because (1) the “moreover” of <a href="/2_kings/23-15.htm" title="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 broke down, and burned the high place, and stamped it small to powder, and burned the grove.">2Kings 23:15</a> (<span class= "ital">w</span>ě<span class= "ital">gam</span>) corresponds to the “and . . . also” (<span class= "ital">w</span>ě<span class= "ital">gam</span>) of <a href="/2_kings/23-19.htm" title="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.">2Kings 23:19</a>, which does not prove much; and because (2) Josiah could not pollute the altar (<a href="/2_kings/23-16.htm" title="And as Josiah turned himself, he spied the sepulchers that were there in the mount, and sent, and took the bones out of the sepulchers, and burned them on the altar, and polluted it, according to the word of the LORD which the man of God proclaimed, who proclaimed these words.">2Kings 23:16</a>) after he had already <span class= "ital">shattered it in pieces</span> (<a href="/2_kings/23-15.htm" title="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 broke down, and burned the high place, and stamped it small to powder, and burned the grove.">2Kings 23:15</a>). This reasoning is not conclusive, because it is obvious that, as is so often the case, the writer has first told in brief what was done to the altar and high place at Bethel, and then related at length an interesting incident that occurred at the time. In short, the statement of <a href="/2_kings/23-15.htm" title="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 broke down, and burned the high place, and stamped it small to powder, and burned the grove.">2Kings 23:15</a> is anticipatory.<p>(16) <span class= "bld">Turned himself.</span>—So that he caught sight of the tombs on the hill-side opposite—not on the hill where the high place was.<p><span class= "bld">The man of God proclaimed.</span>—Some words appear to have fallen out of the Hebrew text here, for the LXX. <span class= "ital">adds</span>, “when Jeroboam stood in the feast at the altar. And he returned and lifted up his eyes upon the grave of the man of God.” (A transcriber’s eye wandered from one “man of God” to the other.) Josiah <span class= "ital">returned</span>, when on the point of going away.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_kings/23-17.htm">2 Kings 23:17</a></div><div class="verse">Then he said, What title <i>is</i> that that I see? And the men of the city told him, <i>It is</i> the sepulchre of the man of God, which came from Judah, and proclaimed these things that thou hast done against the altar of Bethel.</div>(17) <span class= "bld">What title is this?</span>—<span class= "ital">What is yonder monument, or memorial stone</span>? <a href="/ezekiel/39-15.htm" title="And the passengers that pass through the land, when any sees a man's bone, then shall he set up a sign by it, till the buriers have buried it in the valley of Hamongog.">Ezekiel 39:15</a>, “sign.” Jeremiah uses the same term of a sign-post (<a href="/jeremiah/31-21.htm" title="Set you up markers, make you high heaps: set your heart toward the highway, even the way which you went: turn again, O virgin of Israel, turn again to these your cities.">Jeremiah 31:21</a>, “waymarks”). (See <a href="/1_kings/13-29.htm" title="And the prophet took up the carcass of the man of God, and laid it on the ass, and brought it back: and the old prophet came to the city, to mourn and to bury him.">1Kings 13:29</a> <span class= "ital">seq</span>.)<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_kings/23-18.htm">2 Kings 23:18</a></div><div class="verse">And he said, Let him alone; let no man move his bones. So they let his bones alone, with the bones of the prophet that came out of Samaria.</div>(18) <span class= "bld">Let him alone.</span>—Or, <span class= "ital">Let him rest.</span><p><span class= "bld">So they let his bones alone.</span>—A different verb. <span class= "ital">And they suffered his bones to escape</span>, scil., disturbance.<p><span class= "bld">With the bones of the prophet . . .</span>—See <a href="/context/1_kings/13-31.htm" title="And it came to pass, after he had buried him, that he spoke to his sons, saying, When I am dead, then bury me in the sepulcher wherein the man of God is buried; lay my bones beside his bones:">1Kings 13:31-32</a>.<p><span class= "bld">That came out of Samaria.</span>—This simply designates the old prophet who deceived the Judæan man of God, as a citizen of the Northern kingdom, which was called Samaria, after its capital.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_kings/23-19.htm">2 Kings 23:19</a></div><div class="verse">And all the houses also of the high places that <i>were</i> in the cities of Samaria, which the kings of Israel had made to provoke <i>the LORD</i> to anger, Josiah took away, and did to them according to all the acts that he had done in Bethel.</div>(19) <span class= "bld">The houses also of the high places</span>—<span class= "ital">i.e.</span>, temples or chapels attached to the high places.<p><span class= "bld">Josiah took away.</span>—Comp. <a href="/2_chronicles/34-6.htm" title="And so did he in the cities of Manasseh, and Ephraim, and Simeon, even to Naphtali, with their mattocks round about.">2Chronicles 34:6</a>, 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 limits of his own territory. It is possible that, as a vassal of Assyria, he enjoyed a certain amount of authority over the old domains of the ten tribes. We have no record of either fact, but his opposition to Necho favours the idea that he recognised the Assyrian sovereign as his suzerain. Moreover, it is in itself likely that the remnant of Israel would be drawn towards Judah and its king as the surviving representatives of the past glories of their race, and would sympathise in his reformation, just as the Samaritans, in the times of the return, were eager to participate in the rebuilding of the Temple. (Comp. <a href="/2_chronicles/34-9.htm" title="And when they came to Hilkiah the high priest, they delivered the money that was brought into the house of God, which the Levites that kept the doors had gathered of the hand of Manasseh and Ephraim, and of all the remnant of Israel, and of all Judah and Benjamin; and they returned to Jerusalem.">2Chronicles 34:9</a>.) Another supposition is that, as the fall of the Assyrian empire was imminent, no notice was taken of Josiah’s proceedings in the west.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_kings/23-20.htm">2 Kings 23:20</a></div><div class="verse">And he slew all the priests of the high places that <i>were</i> there upon the altars, and burned men's bones upon them, and returned to Jerusalem.</div>(20) <span class= "bld">He slew.</span>—<span class= "ital">He slaughtered</span>. A contrast to his mild treatment of the priests of the Judæan high places (<a href="/context/2_kings/23-8.htm" title="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 broke 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 hand at the gate of the city.">2Kings 23:8-9</a>). <span class= "ital">They</span> were Levites, and these heathenish priests. (Comp. <a href="/context/deuteronomy/17-2.htm" title="If there be found among you, within any of your gates which the LORD your God gives you, man or woman, that has worked wickedness in the sight of the LORD your God, in transgressing his covenant,">Deuteronomy 17:2-5</a>.) Thus was fulfilled the prophecy of <a href="/1_kings/13-2.htm" title="And he cried against the altar in the word of the LORD, and said, O altar, altar, thus said the LORD; Behold, a child shall be born to the house of David, Josiah by name; and on you shall he offer the priests of the high places that burn incense on you, and men's bones shall be burnt on you.">1Kings 13:2</a>. (Thenius considers the event historical, <span class= "ital">because</span> that prophecy “is undoubtedly modelled upon it.”)<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_kings/23-21.htm">2 Kings 23:21</a></div><div class="verse">And the king commanded all the people, saying, Keep the passover unto the LORD your God, as <i>it is</i> written in the book of this covenant.</div>(21) <span class= "bld">Keep the passover.</span>—<span class= "ital">Hold a passover</span> (<a href="/2_kings/23-22.htm" title="Surely there was not held 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;">2Kings 23:22</a>). (Comp. <a href="/context/2_chronicles/35-1.htm" title="Moreover Josiah kept a passover to the LORD in Jerusalem: and they killed the passover on the fourteenth day of the first month.">2Chronicles 35:1-19</a> for a more detailed account of this unique celebration.) Josiah had the precedent of Hezekiah for signalising his religious revolution by a solemn passover (<a href="/2_chronicles/30-1.htm" title="And Hezekiah sent to all Israel and Judah, and wrote letters also to Ephraim and Manasseh, that they should come to the house of the LORD at Jerusalem, to keep the passover to the LORD God of Israel.">2Chronicles 30:1</a>).<p><span class= "bld">In the book of this covenant.</span>—Rather, <span class= "ital">in this book of the covenant</span> (<a href="/2_kings/23-2.htm" title="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 the LORD.">2Kings 23:2</a>). The book was that which Hilkiah had found in the Temple, and which gave the impulse to the whole reforming movement. (The LXX. and Vulg. read, <span class= "ital">in the book of this covenant</span>—a mere mistake.)<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_kings/23-22.htm">2 Kings 23:22</a></div><div class="verse">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;</div>(22) <span class= "bld">Surely there was not holden . . .</span>—<span class= "ital">For there was not holden</span> (<span class= "ital">a passover</span>) <span class= "ital">like this passover.</span> 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 been celebrated in such strict conformity to the prescriptions of the Law. The LXX. omits the particle of comparison: <span class= "greekheb">ὅτι οὐκ ἐγενήθη τὸ πασχα τοῦτο</span>. On the ground of this difference, and the one mentioned in the Note on <a href="/2_kings/23-21.htm" title="And the king commanded all the people, saying, Keep the passover to the LORD your God, as it is written in the book of this covenant.">2Kings 23:21</a>, Thenius thinks it not improbable that the text of Kings has been altered to bring into harmony with the account in Chronicles about the restoration of the feast of the passover by <span class= "ital">Hezekiah</span>—a weighty inference from such slight data. The chronicler repeats this very verse at the close of his narrative of Josiah’s passover (<a href="/2_chronicles/35-18.htm" title="And there was no passover like to that kept in Israel from the days of Samuel the prophet; neither did all the kings of Israel keep such a passover as Josiah kept, and the priests, and the Levites, and all Judah and Israel that were present, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.">2Chronicles 35:18</a>).<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_kings/23-23.htm">2 Kings 23:23</a></div><div class="verse">But in the eighteenth year of king Josiah, <i>wherein</i> this passover was holden to the LORD in Jerusalem.</div>(23) <span class= "bld">Wherein.</span>—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 (<a href="/deuteronomy/16-2.htm" title="You shall therefore sacrifice the passover to the LORD your God, of the flock and the herd, in the place which the LORD shall choose to place his name there.">Deuteronomy 16:2</a>), and (2) the strict <span class= "ital">unity</span> of the place of this festival (<a href="/deuteronomy/16-5.htm" title="You may not sacrifice the passover within any of your gates, which the LORD your God gives you:">Deuteronomy 16:5</a>). The assumption that <span class= "ital">no passover had ever been held before</span> (De Wette), is obsolete, even among “advanced critics,” and does not merit serious discussion.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_kings/23-24.htm">2 Kings 23:24</a></div><div class="verse">Moreover the <i>workers with</i> 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 in the house of the LORD.</div>(24) <span class= "bld">Moreover the workers . . .</span>—After abolishing public idolatry, Josiah attacked the various forms of private superstition.<p><span class= "bld">The workers with familiar spirits.</span>—<span class= "ital">The necromancers</span> (‘<span class= "ital">ôbôth</span>; <a href="/1_samuel/28-3.htm" title="Now Samuel was dead, and all Israel had lamented him, and buried him in Ramah, even in his own city. And Saul had put away those that had familiar spirits, and the wizards, out of the land.">1Samuel 28:3</a> <span class= "ital">seq</span>.). (See <a href="/2_kings/21-6.htm" title="And he made his son pass through the fire, and observed times, and used enchantments, and dealt with familiar spirits and wizards: he worked much wickedness in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger.">2Kings 21:6</a>.)<p><span class= "bld">Images.</span>—See margin; and <a href="/genesis/31-19.htm" title="And Laban went to shear his sheep: and Rachel had stolen the images that were her father's.">Genesis 31:19</a>; <a href="/judges/17-5.htm" title="And the man Micah had an house of gods, and made an ephod, and teraphim, and consecrated one of his sons, who became his priest.">Judges 17:5</a>; <a href="/1_samuel/19-13.htm" title="And Michal took an image, and laid it in the bed, and put a pillow of goats' hair for his bolster, and covered it with a cloth.">1Samuel 19:13</a>; <a href="/zechariah/10-2.htm" title="For the idols have spoken vanity, and the diviners have seen a lie, and have told false dreams; they comfort in vain: therefore they went their way as a flock, they were troubled, because there was no shepherd.">Zechariah 10:2</a>.<p><span class= "bld">The idols.</span>—<span class= "ital">The dunglings.</span> Gresenius prefers to render, idol-blocks; Ewald, doll-images. (See <a href="/2_kings/17-12.htm" title="For they served idols, whereof the LORD had said to them, You shall not do this thing.">2Kings 17:12</a>.)<p><span class= "bld">That were spied</span> (seen).—A significant expression. Many idols were, doubtless, concealed by their worshippers.<p><span class= "bld">Put away.</span>—Or, <span class= "ital">put out, did away with</span> (<a href="/deuteronomy/13-6.htm" title="If your brother, the son of your mother, or your son, or your daughter, or the wife of your bosom, or your friend, which is as your own soul, entice you secretly, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which you have not known, you, nor your fathers;">Deuteronomy 13:6</a>; <a href="/deuteronomy/17-7.htm" title="The hands of the witnesses shall be first on him to put him to death, and afterward the hands of all the people. So you shall put the evil away from among you.">Deuteronomy 17:7</a>); <span class= "ital">strictly, consumed.</span> (See the law in <a href="/leviticus/20-27.htm" title="A man also or woman that has a familiar spirit, or that is a wizard, shall surely be put to death: they shall stone them with stones: their blood shall be on them.">Leviticus 20:27</a>; <a href="/context/deuteronomy/18-9.htm" title="When you are come into the land which the LORD your God gives you, you shall not learn to do after the abominations of those nations.">Deuteronomy 18:9-10</a>.)<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_kings/23-25.htm">2 Kings 23:25</a></div><div class="verse">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 <i>any</i> like him.</div>(25) <span class= "bld">And. like unto him was there no king before him.</span>—Comp. <a href="/context/2_kings/18-5.htm" title="He trusted in the LORD God of Israel; so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor any that were before him.">2Kings 18:5-6</a>, 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 words by the rule of strict proportion in such cases. Still, as the preceding account indicates, the Mosaic law does not appear to have been so rigorously carried out by any preceding king as by Josiah. (See Note on <a href="/2_chronicles/30-26.htm" title="So there was great joy in Jerusalem: for since the time of Solomon the son of David king of Israel there was not the like in Jerusalem.">2Chronicles 30:26</a>.)<p><span class= "bld">With all his heart . . .</span>—An echo of <a href="/deuteronomy/6-5.htm" title="And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.">Deuteronomy 6:5</a>. That Josiah’s merits did not merely consist in a strict observance of the legitimate worship and ritual, is evident from <a href="/context/jeremiah/22-15.htm" title="Shall you reign, because you close yourself in cedar? did not your father eat and drink, and do judgment and justice, and then it was well with him?">Jeremiah 22:15-16</a>, where he is praised for his righteousness as a judge.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_kings/23-26.htm">2 Kings 23:26</a></div><div class="verse">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.</div>(26, 27) 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 Josiah.<p>(26) <span class= "bld">The fierceness of his great wrath . . . kindled.</span>—<span class= "ital">The great heat of his wrath, wherewith his wrath burnt</span>.<p><span class= "bld">Because of all the provocations that Manasseh</span> <span class= "bld">. . .</span>—Comp. the predictions of Jeremiah (<a href="/jeremiah/15-4.htm" title="And I will cause them to be removed into all kingdoms of the earth, because of Manasseh the son of Hezekiah king of Judah, for that which he did in Jerusalem.">Jeremiah 15:4</a>; <a href="/jeremiah/25-2.htm" title="The which Jeremiah the prophet spoke to all the people of Judah, and to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying,">Jeremiah 25:2</a> <span class= "ital">seq</span>.) and Zephaniah; and see the Note on <a href="/2_chronicles/34-33.htm" title="And Josiah took away all the abominations out of all the countries that pertained to the children of Israel, and made all that were present in Israel to serve, even to serve the LORD their God. And all his days they departed not from following the LORD, the God of their fathers.">2Chronicles 34:33</a>.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_kings/23-28.htm">2 Kings 23:28</a></div><div class="verse">Now the rest of the acts of Josiah, and all that he did, <i>are</i> they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?</div>(28-30) Josiah’s end. The historical abstract broken off at <a href="/2_kings/22-2.htm" title="And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, and walked in all the way of David his father, and turned not aside to the right hand or to the left.">2Kings 22:2</a> is now continued. (Comp. the more detailed account in <a href="/2_chronicles/35-20.htm" title="After all this, when Josiah had prepared the temple, Necho king of Egypt came up to fight against Charchemish by Euphrates: and Josiah went out against him.">2Chronicles 35:20</a> <span class= "ital">seq</span>.)<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_kings/23-29.htm">2 Kings 23:29</a></div><div class="verse">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.</div>(29) <span class= "bld">Pharaoh-nechoh.</span>—Necho II., the successor of Psammetichus, and the sixth king of the 26th or Saite dynasty, called <span class= "greekheb">Νεκὼς</span> 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.<p><span class= "bld">The king of Assyria.</span>—It is sometimes assumed that Necho’s expedition was directed against “the then ruler of what <span class= "ital">had been the</span> Assyrian empire” (Thenius and others), and that the king in question was Nabopalassar, the conqueror of Nineveh, who became king of Babylon in 626-625 B.C. If the fall of Nineveh preceded or coincided with this last event, then Nabopalassar must be intended by the historian here. But if, as the chronology of Eusebius and Jerome represents, Cyaraxes the Mede took Nineveh in 609-608 B.C. , or, according to the Armenian chronicle, <span class= "ital">apud</span> Eusebius, in 608-607 B.C. , then Necho’s expedition (circ. 609 B.C. ) was really directed against <span class= "ital">a king of Assyria</span> in the strict sense. After the death of Assurbanipal (626 B.C. ) it appears that two or three kings reigned at Nineveh, namely, <span class= "ital">Assur-idil-ilani-ukinni, Bel-sum-iskun</span> and Esar-haddon II. (the Saracus of Abydenus and Syncellus). Nineveh must have fallen before 606 B.C. , as Assyria does not occur in the list of countries mentioned by Jeremiah (<a href="/context/jeremiah/25-19.htm" title="Pharaoh king of Egypt, and his servants, and his princes, and all his people;">Jeremiah 25:19-26</a>) in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, <span class= "ital">i.e.</span>, 606 B.C. The probable date of its fall is 607 B.C. A year or so later Necho made a second expedition, this time against the king of Babylon, but was utterly defeated at Carchemish. (See Schrader, <span class= "ital">K. A. T</span>., pp. 357-361.) Josephus says that Necho went to wage war with the Medes and Babylonians, who had just put an end to the Assyrian empire, and that his object was to win the dominion of Asia.<p><span class= "bld">King Josiah went against him.</span>—Probably as a vassal of Assyria, and as resenting Necho’s trespass on territory which he regarded as his own. The Syriac adds: “to fight against him: and Pharaoh said to him, Not against thee have I come; return from me. And he hearkened not to Pharaoh, and Pharaoh smote him.” This may once have formed part of the Hebrew text, but is more likely a gloss from Chronicles.<p><span class= "bld">At Megiddo.</span>—In the plain of Jezreel (<a href="/1_kings/4-12.htm" title="Baana the son of Ahilud; to him pertained Taanach and Megiddo, and all Bethshean, which is by Zartanah beneath Jezreel, from Bethshean to Abelmeholah, even to the place that is beyond Jokneam:">1Kings 4:12</a>). (Comp. <a href="/zechariah/12-11.htm" title="In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon.">Zechariah 12:11</a>.) Herodotus calls it Magdolus (ii. 159). The fact that this was the place of battle shows that Necho had not marched through southern Palestine, but had taken the shortest route over sea, and landed at Accho (<span class= "ital">Acre</span>). Otherwise, Josiah would not have had to go so far north to meet him.<p><span class= "bld">When he had seen him.</span>—At the outset of the encounter; as we might say, <span class= "ital">the moment he got sight of him.</span> According to the account in Chronicles, which is derived from a different source, Josiah was wounded by the Egyptian archers, and carried in a dying state to Jerusalem (<a href="/2_chronicles/35-22.htm" title="Nevertheless Josiah would not turn his face from him, but disguised himself, that he might fight with him, and listened not to the words of Necho from the mouth of God, and came to fight in the valley of Megiddo.">2Chronicles 35:22</a> <span class= "ital">seq</span>.). Thenius thinks that <a href="/context/jeremiah/15-7.htm" title="And I will fan them with a fan in the gates of the land; I will bereave them of children, I will destroy my people since they return not from their ways.">Jeremiah 15:7-9</a> was spoken on occasion of Josiah’s departure with his army from the north, and that the prophet’s metaphor, “her sun went down while it was yet day,” refers to the eclipse of Thales, which had recently happened, 610 B.C. (Herod, i. 74, 103).<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_kings/23-30.htm">2 Kings 23:30</a></div><div class="verse">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.</div>(30) <span class= "bld">And his servants carried him . . .</span>—See Notes <a href="/2_chronicles/35-24.htm" title="His servants therefore took him out of that chariot, and put him in the second chariot that he had; and they brought him to Jerusalem, and he died, and was buried in one of the sepulchers of his fathers. And all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah.">2Chronicles 35:24</a>.<p><span class= "bld">The people of the land.</span>—Thenius says they were the soldiery who had fled to Jerusalem; but this is doubtful.<p><span class= "bld">Took Jehoahaz.</span>—He was not the eldest son (see <a href="/2_kings/23-36.htm" title="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.">2Kings 23:36</a>), but he may have been thought a more capable prince amid the emergencies of the time, although <a href="/jeremiah/22-10.htm" title="Weep you not for the dead, neither bemoan him: but weep sore for him that goes away: for he shall return no more, nor see his native country.">Jeremiah 22:10</a> <span class= "ital">seq</span>. shows that this estimate was fallacious.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_kings/23-32.htm">2 Kings 23:32</a></div><div class="verse">And he did <i>that which was</i> evil in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his fathers had done.</div>(32) <span class= "bld">And he did that which was evil . . .</span>—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 (<a href="/context/ezekiel/19-1.htm" title="Moreover take you up a lamentation for the princes of Israel,">Ezekiel 19:1-4</a>).<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_kings/23-33.htm">2 Kings 23:33</a></div><div class="verse">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.</div>(33) <span class= "bld">And Pharaoh-nechoh put him in bands . . .</span>—See Note on <a href="/2_chronicles/36-3.htm" title="And the king of Egypt put him down at Jerusalem, and condemned the land in an hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold.">2Chronicles 36:3</a>. The LXX. here has “removed him,” but the other versions “bound him.”<p><span class= "bld">That he might not reign.</span>—This is the reading of the Hebrew margin, some MSS., and the LXX., Vulg., and Targum. The Syriac and Arabic have, “when he reigned,” which is the ordinary Hebrew text. The original text of the whole was perhaps this: “and Pharaoh-nechoh bound him at Riblah . . . and removed him from reigning in Jerusalem;” <span class= "ital">i.e.</span>, he threw him into bonds, and pronounced his deposition. (Comp, the construction in <a href="/1_kings/15-13.htm" title="And also Maachah his mother, even her he removed from being queen, because she had made an idol in a grove; and Asa destroyed her idol, and burnt it by the brook Kidron.">1Kings 15:13</a>.) Riblah (now <span class= "ital">Ribleh</span>) lay in a strong position on the Orontes, commanding the caravan route from Palestine to the Euphrates. Necho had advanced so far, after the battle of Megiddo, and taken up his quarters there, as Nebuchadnezzar did afterwards (<a href="/2_kings/25-6.htm" title="So they took the king, and brought him up to the king of Babylon to Riblah; and they gave judgment on him.">2Kings 25:6</a>; <a href="/context/2_kings/25-20.htm" title="And Nebuzaradan captain of the guard took these, and brought them to the king of Babylon to Riblah:">2Kings 25:20-21</a>). Josephus relates that Necho summoned Jehoahaz to his camp at Riblah. The passage, <a href="/ezekiel/19-4.htm" title="The nations also heard of him; he was taken in their pit, and they brought him with chains to the land of Egypt.">Ezekiel 19:4</a>, suggests that he got the king of Judah into his power by fraud: “he was taken in their pit.” It used to be supposed, on the strength of Herod, ii. 159, that Necho captured <span class= "ital">Jerusalem</span>. What Herodotus says is this: “And engaging the Syrians on foot at Magdolus, Nechoh was victorious. After the battle he took Kadytis, a great city of Syria.” Kadytis has been thought to be either <span class= "ital">Hadath</span> (“the new town;” referring to the rebuilding of Jerusalem after the Return), or <span class= "ital">el-Kuds</span>(“the holy;” the modern Arabic title of Jerusalem), or Gaza. In reality it is Kadesh on the Orontes, one of the great Hittite capitals, and not far from Hamath.<p><span class= "bld">A talent of gold.</span>—So Chronicles. The LXX. here reads, <span class= "ital">an hundred talents of gold</span> (a transcriber’s error). The Syriac and Arabic, <span class= "ital">ten talents</span>, which may be right. (Comp. <a href="/2_kings/18-14.htm" title="And Hezekiah king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria to Lachish, saying, I have offended; return from me: that which you put on me will I bear. And the king of Assyria appointed to Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold.">2Kings 18:14</a>, where the proportion of silver to gold is ten to one.)<p><span class= "bld">Tribute.</span>—The Hebrew word means <span class= "ital">fine</span>. The Vulg. renders rightly, “et imposuit multum terrae.”<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_kings/23-34.htm">2 Kings 23:34</a></div><div class="verse">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.</div><span class= "bld">THE REIGN OF JEHOAHAZ</span> (31-34).<p>(34) <span class= "bld">Jehoahaz.</span>—Called Shallum (<a href="/jeremiah/22-11.htm" title="For thus said the LORD touching Shallum the son of Josiah king of Judah, which reigned instead of Josiah his father, which went forth out of this place; He shall not return thither any more:">Jeremiah 22:11</a>; <a href="/1_chronicles/3-15.htm" title="And the sons of Josiah were, the firstborn Johanan, the second Jehoiakim, the third Zedekiah, the fourth Shallum.">1Chronicles 3:15</a>), which may have been his name before his accession. (Comp. <a href="/2_kings/23-34.htm" title="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.">2Kings 23:34</a>; <a href="/2_kings/24-17.htm" title="And the king of Babylon made Mattaniah his father's brother king in his stead, and changed his name to Zedekiah.">2Kings 24:17</a>.) Hitzig suggested that he was so called by Jeremiah in allusion to his brief reign, as if he were a <span class= "ital">second</span> Shallum (<a href="/2_kings/15-13.htm" title="Shallum the son of Jabesh began to reign in the nine and thirtieth year of Uzziah king of Judah; and he reigned a full month in Samaria.">2Kings 15:13</a>). It is against this that Shallum was not a Judean prince, but an obscure adventurer who usurped the throne of Samaria a hundred and fifty years previously, so that the allusion would not be very clear.<p><span class= "bld">Hamutal.</span>—“Akin to dew.” (Comp. Abital, “father of dew,” or perhaps, “the father is dew.”) <span class= "ital">Tal</span>, however, may be a divine name; the meaning then is, “Tal is a kinsman.” (Comp. Hamuel, “El is a kinsman.”)<p>(34) <span class= "bld">Turned his name to Jehoiakim.</span>—A slight change. Eliakim is “El setteth up;” Jehoiakim, “Jah setteth up.” Necho meant to signify that the new king was his creature. Eliakim, the elder son, may have paid court to Necho; or the Egyptian may have deposed Jehoahaz, as elected without his consent, and perhaps as likely to prove a stronger king than his brother. Necho may have fancied a resemblance between the name <span class= "ital">Yahû</span> (<span class= "ital">i.e., Jah;</span> so it was then pronounced) and <span class= "ital">Aah</span>, the name of the Egyptian moon-god. (See Note on <a href="/1_chronicles/4-18.htm" title="And his wife Jehudijah bore Jered the father of Gedor, and Heber the father of Socho, and Jekuthiel the father of Zanoah. And these are the sons of Bithiah the daughter of Pharaoh, which Mered took.">1Chronicles 4:18</a>.)<p><span class= "bld">And he came to Egypt, and died there.</span>—LXX. and Vulg. as Chronicles: <span class= "ital">and he brought him to Egypt</span> (by a slight change of the pointing in the Hebrew.) Jeremiah had foretold the fact (<a href="/context/jeremiah/22-10.htm" title="Weep you not for the dead, neither bemoan him: but weep sore for him that goes away: for he shall return no more, nor see his native country.">Jeremiah 22:10-12</a>).<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_kings/23-35.htm">2 Kings 23:35</a></div><div class="verse">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 <i>it</i> unto Pharaohnechoh.</div><span class= "bld">THE REIGN OF JEHOIAKIM</span> (<a href="/2_kings/23-35.htm" title="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 to Pharaohnechoh.">2Kings 23:35</a> to <a href="/2_kings/24-7.htm" title="And the king of Egypt came not again any more out of his land: for the king of Babylon had taken from the river of Egypt to the river Euphrates all that pertained to the king of Egypt.">2Kings 24:7</a>).<p>(35) <span class= "bld">And Jehoiakim gave.</span>—<span class= "ital">And the silver and the gold did Jehoiakim give</span> . . . He had to pay for his elevation. The raising of the fine of <a href="/2_kings/23-33.htm" title="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.">2Kings 23:33</a> is described in this verse.<p><span class= "bld">But he taxed . . .</span>—The king kept his pledge to Pharaoh, but not out of his own means. He exacted the money from “the people of the land,” <span class= "ital">i.e.</span>, the people of all classes, levying a fixed contribution even upon the poorest of his subjects. As in <a href="/2_kings/11-14.htm" title="And when she looked, behold, the king stood by a pillar, as the manner was, and the princes and the trumpeters by the king, and all the people of the land rejoiced, and blew with trumpets: and Athaliah rent her clothes, and cried, Treason, Treason.">2Kings 11:14</a>; <a href="/2_kings/14-21.htm" title="And all the people of Judah took Azariah, which was sixteen years old, and made him king instead of his father Amaziah.">2Kings 14:21</a>; <a href="/2_kings/21-24.htm" title="And the people of the land slew all them that had conspired against king Amon; and the people of the land made Josiah his son king in his stead.">2Kings 21:24</a>, Thenius insists that “the people of the land” <span class= "ital">are the national militia</span>, and he renders: “he exacted the silver and the gold, <span class= "ital">along with</span> (<span class= "ital">i.e.</span>, by the help of) <span class= "ital">the people of the land</span>.” But this is, to say the least, very questionable. (See Note on <a href="/2_kings/11-14.htm" title="And when she looked, behold, the king stood by a pillar, as the manner was, and the princes and the trumpeters by the king, and all the people of the land rejoiced, and blew with trumpets: and Athaliah rent her clothes, and cried, Treason, Treason.">2Kings 11:14</a>.)<p>(36) <span class= "bld">He reigned eleven years.</span>—Not eleven full years. (Comp. <a href="/jeremiah/25-1.htm" title="The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, that was the first year of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon;">Jeremiah 25:1</a> with <a href="/2_kings/24-12.htm" title="And Jehoiachin the king of Judah went out to the king of Babylon, he, and his mother, and his servants, and his princes, and his officers: and the king of Babylon took him in the eighth year of his reign.">2Kings 24:12</a>; and Jeremiah 3 with <a href="/2_kings/25-8.htm" title="And in the fifth month, on the seventh day of the month, which is the nineteenth year of king Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, came Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard, a servant of the king of Babylon, to Jerusalem:">2Kings 25:8</a>.)<p><span class= "bld">His mother’s name was Zebudah.</span>—So the Hebrew margin and Targum. Hebrew text, Syriac, Vulg., Arabic, <span class= "ital">Zebidah. Zebadiah</span> may have been the real name. The mother of Jehoahaz was Hamutal (<a href="/2_kings/23-31.htm" title="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.">2Kings 23:31</a>). Thus Josiah had at least two wives, and probably more. (Comp. <a href="/2_kings/24-15.htm" title="And he carried away Jehoiachin to Babylon, and the king's mother, and the king's wives, and his officers, and the mighty of the land, those carried he into captivity from Jerusalem to Babylon.">2Kings 24:15</a>.) He could not have been over fourteen when he begot Jehoiakim.<p><span class= "bld">Rumah.</span>—Perhaps Arumah, near Shechem (<a href="/judges/9-41.htm" title="And Abimelech dwelled at Arumah: and Zebul thrust out Gaal and his brothers, that they should not dwell in Shechem.">Judges 9:41</a>), as Josephus has <span class= "ital">Abumah</span>. This is interesting as a slight indication that Josiah’s power extended over the territory of the former kingdom of Samaria.<p>(37) <span class= "bld">He did that which was evil . . .</span>—Jeremiah represents him as luxurious, covetous, and violent (<a href="/jeremiah/22-13.htm" title="Woe to him that builds his house by unrighteousness, and his chambers by wrong; that uses his neighbor's service without wages, and gives him not for his work;">Jeremiah 22:13</a> <span class= "ital">seq</span>.). He murdered Urijah a prophet (<a href="/jeremiah/26-20.htm" title="And there was also a man that prophesied in the name of the LORD, Urijah the son of Shemaiah of Kirjathjearim, who prophesied against this city and against this land according to all the words of Jeremiah.">Jeremiah 26:20</a> <span class= "ital">seq</span>.). Ewald thinks that he introduced Egyptian animal-worship (<a href="/ezekiel/8-7.htm" title="And he brought me to the door of the court; and when I looked, behold a hole in the wall.">Ezekiel 8:7</a> <span class= "ital">seq</span>.), which is rendered highly probable by his relation of dependence on Necho. (Comp. the introduction of Assyrian star-worship under Ahaz.)<p><span class= "bld"> <div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center">Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers<br /><br />Text Courtesy of <a href="//biblesupport.com" target="_top">BibleSupport.com</a>. 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