2 Kings 23
BBC2 Kings 23:1
- Josiah’s Renewal of the Covenant (23:1-3)The king now held a holy convocation at the temple and read the words of the Book of the Covenant to all the people. Standing by the pillar, he made a covenant to obey all the words of the law. The people also entered into the covenant with the LORD.
2 Kings 23:4
- Josiah’s Reforms (23:4-30)23:4-9 Then follows a list of the many reforms which Josiah undertook. He cleansed the temple of all the articles used in idolatry, burned them, and took the ashes to Bethel (to defile the shrine there). He deposed and probably killed the idolatrous priests. He took the wooden image (Asherah) out of the temple, burned it, and scattered the ashes on the graves of the common people. He tore down the ritual booths of the male cult prostitutes (sodomites) in the temple area, where the women wove hangings for the Asherah image.
He defiled the high places. This means that he desecrated them in such a way that they would not be used again. He brought all the priests out of the cities of Judah, where they had offered to Jehovah on the high places. God had designated Jerusalem as the place where these offerings should be made. Josiah barred these priests from further service in the temple, but gave them a share of the unleavened bread. 23:10-12 He desecrated and ruined Topheth, the heathen shrine in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, where child sacrifices had been offered to Molech. He removed the horses . . . dedicated to the sun and burned the chariots of the sun . . . that the kings of Judah had used in connection with sun worship. He destroyed idolatrous altars erected by Ahaz and Manasseh. Manasseh himself had removed these altars after his conversion (2Ch_33:15), but they were undoubtedly pressed back into service by idolatrous Amon. Josiah made sure they would never be used again. 23:13, 14 He defiled the high places at the southern end of the Mount of Olives (Mount of Corruption), dating from the time of Solomon. He broke down the idolatrous sacred pillars and cut down the wooden images (Asherim), and then defiled their locations with the bones of men. 23:15-18 He destroyed the altar that was at Bethel . . . and burned the high place. Then he took the bones from nearby tombs and burned them on the remains of the altar. (“Both Israelites and heathen regarded dead men’s bones as a perpetual defilement.” )All of this was in fulfillment of the prophecy uttered over 300 years previously by the man of God to Jeroboam. Josiah is one of the few men in Scripture named before his birth (1Ki_13:2). He was a chosen vessel, foreordained to fulfill the oracle of the unnamed prophet against the altar . . . at Bethel. When King Josiah saw the gravestone of the man of God who had testified against the altar of Bethel, he ordered that no one should move . . . the bones of the prophet. So they were permitted to remain there with the bones of the unnamed prophet who came out of Samaria (cf. 1Ki_13:30-31). 23:19, 20 The king’s reforms even extended into Samaria. Apparently he had won control over this area, largely because the power of Assyria was declining. He destroyed the high places and executed the idolatrous priests . . . on the altars where they had offered sacrifices. Also, he defiled these places with the ashes of men’s bones. 23:21-23 On his return to Jerusalem, Josiah reinstituted the Passover, according to the Word of the Lord which he had read (see 2Ch_35:1-19 for more details). It was the greatest such observance since the days of the judges. Other Passovers had been larger and more elaborate, but this one was particularly pleasing to the LORD. Scripture makes mention of only three Passovers during the kingdom years: Solomon’s (2 Chron. 8), Hezekiah’s (2 Chron. 30), and Josiah’s. 23:24 Josiah also cleansed the land of those who consulted mediums and spiritists, fortune-tellers, and other wizards. 23:25-27 As to the thoroughness of his reforms, he was the greatest of the kings of Judah. Hezekiah held the same honor as far as trust in God was concerned (2Ki_18:5-6). Yet in spite of Josiah’s good reign, the LORD did not change His plan to punish Judah by sending the people into captivity and by destroying Jerusalem. 23:28-30 In 609 B.C. Pharaoh Necho . . . of Egypt marched north along the coast of Palestine to . . . aid the Assyrians in their struggle against Babylon. For political reasons Josiah decided to resist Necho’s advance and as a result was mortally wounded at Megiddo. His servants transported him to Jerusalem, where he died and was buried (cf. 2Ch_35:20-24). Necho advanced to the River Euphrates, where four years later the Babylonians defeated him in the battle of Carchemish (Jer_46:2).
2 Kings 23:31
E. King Jehoahaz (23:31-33)Jehoahaz (also called Shallum) the son of Josiah was king of Judah for only three months (609 B.C.; cf. 2Ch_36:1-4). Jehoahaz disregarded his father’s reforms and allowed the people to return to idolatry. Pharaoh Necho, king of Egypt, summoned him to Riblah, in Hamath, a region of Syria where the Egyptians had encamped, and there he put Judah under tribute. Later he carried Jehoahaz off to Egypt, where he died (Jer_22:11-12).
2 Kings 23:34
F. King Jehoiakim (23:3424:7)Jehoiakim the son of Josiah was king of Judah for eleven years (609598 B.C.; cf. 2Ch_36:5-8; Jer_22:18-19; Jer_26:21-23; Jer_36:9-32). 23:34-37 Pharaoh Necho made Eliakim, Jehoahaz’s brother, king in Josiah’s place and changed Eliakim’s name to Jehoiakim. Jehoiakim was the eldest surviving son of Josiah (cf. vv. 31, 36), but the people had originally placed Jehoahaz on the throne instead. Necho reversed this and appointed Jehoiakim as a vassal king. He was more faithful to Pharaoh than he was to Jehovah.