This chapter treats of Josiah’s reading the book of the law, and of him and the people renewing the covenant with God, 2 Kings 23:1–3, and of his removing idols and idolatry in every shape, and witchcraft, out of the land, which he did in the sincerity of his heart, 2 Kings 23:4–25, yet the wrath…

And the king sent, and they gathered unto him all the elders of Judah and of Jerusalem. ] Josiah sent messengers throughout the land, and convened all the principal men in it at Jerusalem.

And the king went up into the house of the Lord To the temple, from his palace: and all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem with him: they met him there: and the priests, and the prophets; the prophets Jeremiah, Zephaniah, and Uriah, who, though they might not be at Jerusalem when…

And the king stood by a pillar As the manner of kings was, and is thought to be the brasen scaffold erected by Solomon, on which he stood at the dedication of the temple, and now Josiah at the reading of the law, , it is said to be his place, , (See Gill on 2 Kings 11:14) and made a covenant before…

And the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest, and the priests of the second order Or the second course of the priests; the course of Jedaiah, as some think; or rather, the two chief priests next to the high priest, who were of the line both of Eleazar and Ithamar; though the Targum interprets it…

And he put down the idolatrous priests The Cemarim, so called, because they wore black clothes, as Kimchi and others, whereas the priests of the Lord were clothed in white linen, (See Gill on Zeph. 1:4).

And he brought out the grove from the house of the Lord Not a real grove of trees, but a carved one, as some think; or rather the image of the grove, that is, the idol Ashtoreth, or Astarte, which was set up there; so Theodoret says; some interpreters call it Astoreth, the name of Venus, whom they…

And he brake down the houses of the Sodomites that were by the house of the Lord Near the temple were apartments, in which men, the worshippers of idols, prostituted their bodies to each other; committing that unnatural sin with one another, which has its name from Sodom, and from which those are…

And he brought all the priests out of the cities of Judah Who were of the sons of Aaron, and had served in the high places there: and defiled the high places where the priests had burnt incense; by casting dead carcasses, or the bones of dead men, or dung, or anything that was unclean, into them,…

Nevertheless, the priests of the high places came not up to the altar of the Lord at Jerusalem To sacrifice there, as the Targum; though they were removed from the high places, they were not admitted to officiate at the altar of the Lord, having offered in forbidden places: but they did eat of the…

And he defiled Topheth A place so called, as is generally thought, from the beating of drums or timbrels in it, that the shrieks of the infants sacrificed here to Molech might not be heard by their parents, and they repent of delivering them to him, and take them away.

And he took away the horses that the kings of Judah had given to the sun Consecrated to it; these were not images of horses, as some have thought, but real living ones; and the kings that gave them for the service of the sun, and for sacrifice to it, very probably were Manasseh and Amon: that…

And the altars that were on the top of the upper chamber of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made Which were on the roof of the royal palace; the roofs of houses in Judah being flat, altars might be built upon them; so, in Arabia, altars were built on the tops of houses to offer incense thereon…

And the high places that were before Jerusalem Not only that were within the city, and at the gates of it, but what were without it: which were on the right hand of the mount of corruption: the mount of Olives, so called from the idolatry and corrupt worship performed in it, by way of reproach,…

And he brake in pieces the images Of Ashtoreth, Chemosh, and Milcom, in the above high places; which as these high places had been rebuilt by Manasseh or Amon, so new images of these deities were placed there: and cut down the groves; in which they were set: and filled their places with the bones…

Moreover, the altar that was at Bethel, and the high place which Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, had made. ] For the worship of the calf there: both that altar, and the high place, he brake down; according to an ancient prophecy of the man of God, and of Amos in later times, and…

And as Josiah turned himself From the high place, and the altar at Bethel; for he not only gave orders for the destroying of idolatrous places and idols, but he saw them executed himself: he spied the sepulchres that were there in the mount; the graves of idolatrous priests and worshippers, who…

Then he said, what title is that that I see? &c.] A high and large monument over a grave, with an inscription on it, more remarkable than any of the rest, which made Josiah take notice of it; and the Jews have a tradition, as Kimchi observes, that on one side of the grave grew nettles and thistles,…

And he said, let him alone, let no man move his bones Not take them out of the grave, as they had done the rest: so they let his bones alone, with the bones of the prophet that came out of Samaria; the old prophet, whereby his end was answered in being buried with him, (1 Kings 13:31, 1 Kings…

And all the houses also of the high places The temples of the idols there, and the houses for the priests to dwell in: that were in the cities of Samaria, which the kings of Israel had made to provoke the Lord to anger, Josiah took away; particularly in the cities of Manasseh, Ephraim, and Simeon,…

And he slew all the priests of the high places that were there The idolatrous priests who sacrificed to Baal, and other Heathen deities; for as for others that burnt incense in high places, yet to the true God, those he spared, though they were not suffered to officiate at the altar of God: the…

And the king commanded all the people Not at Jerusalem only, but throughout the whole kingdom: saying, keep the passover unto the Lord your God, as it is written in this book of the covenant; which had been lately found and read, and they had agreed to observe, and in which this ordinance was…

Surely there was not holden such a passover from the days of the judges that judged Israel As the king commanded; the people obeyed and kept the passover, according to the law of the Lord; the manner of its being kept is not here recorded, but is at large in where it is observed there had not been…

But in the eighteenth year of king Josiah, wherein this passover was holden to the Lord in Jerusalem. ] This shows that Josiah must begin the reformation very early that year, since he did all that is before recorded in this and the preceding chapter by the fourteenth of Nisan, the day on which the…

Moreover, the workers with familiar spirits, and the wizards, &c.] Who were not to be allowed among the Israelites, (Deut. 18:10, Deut. 18:11) and the images; or teraphim: and the idols, and all the abominations; which were worshipped by the Heathens, and introduced among the Jews, and forbidden by…

And like unto him was there no king before him The same is said of Hezekiah, , Hezekiah might excel him in some things, as Josiah might excel Hezekiah in others: that turned to the Lord with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his might; with such sincerity, heartiness, zeal, and…

Notwithstanding, the Lord turned not from the fierceness of his great wrath, wherewith his anger was kindled against Judah Notwithstanding the great reformation wrought among them; for though Josiah was a sincere reformer, and did what he did heartily, as to the Lord, according to his will, and for…

And the Lord said, I will remove Judah also out of my sight, as I have removed Israel. ] Not from his all seeing eye, but from being the object of his special care and protection; the meaning is, that he would suffer them to he carried out of their land into captivity as Israel was; this he had…

Now the rest of the acts of Josiah, and all that he did For abolishing idolatry, and restoring the true worship of God: are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? and also of Israel, in which an account was kept of the transactions of their reign; many other of the…

In his days Pharaohnechoh king of Egypt Who is called in the Targum Pharaoh the lame, because he was lame in his feet, perhaps gouty; Herodotus [[22]] also calls him Necos the son of Psammiticus; now it was in the last days of Josiah this king reigned in Egypt, or however that the following event…

And his servants carried him in a chariot dead from Megiddo, &c.] They took him out of the chariot in which he was wounded, and put him into another, where he died of his wounds by the way; being mortally wounded, he is said to be dead, or a dead man, see and brought him to Jerusalem; which,…

Jehoahaz was twenty three years old when he began to reign, &c.] Who seems to be the same with Shallum, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem; a short reign, being deposed by the king of Egypt, as after related: and his mother’s name was Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah; a city in the…

And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord Committed idolatry: according to all that his fathers had done; his grand father and great grandfather, Amon and Manasseh; so soon after Josiah’s death was the revolt to idolatry.

And Pharaohnechoh put him in bands at Riblah in the land of Hamath Places in Syria; Hamath was formerly a kingdom in Syria, and Riblah is said by Jerom [[2]] to be Antioch of Syria, near to which was the fountain of Daphne; and in the Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem on .

And Pharaohnechoh made Eliakim the son of Josiah king in the room of Josiah his father Not in the room of Jehoahaz; for he did not allow him to be a king, and to have any lawful right to the throne; but, deposing him, set up his elder brother: and turned his name to Jehoiakim; to show his…

And Jehoiakim gave the silver and gold to Pharaoh The one hundred talents of silver and the talent of gold, which he imposed as a tribute upon the land: but he taxed the land to give the money according to the commandment of Pharaoh; he did not take it out of his own treasures nor the treasures of…

Jehoiakim was twenty and five years old when he began to reign And therefore must be two years older than his brother Jehoahaz, who was deposed: and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem; and therefore must die at the age of thirty and six: and his mother’s name was Zebudah, the daughter of Pedaiah…

And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his fathers had done. ] Amon and Manasseh; see .