2 Kings 23

3 stood to the covenant. i.e., they gave their assent and adhesion to it.

4. This purification appears, from 2 Chron. xxxiv., to have been begun before the finding and public reading of the law; but it was probably not completed till afterwards, and therefore the whole is placed together here.

of the second order. The inferior priests. the grove. (“Asherah,” R.V.): see 1 Kings xiv. 23, and note; and so vers. 6 and 7.

unto Beth-el. Sending the impure to a place which had long ago been polluted by the calf-worship.

5 the idolatrous priests. Heb., Chemarim: see Zeph. i. 4.

to the planets. The Hebrew word here used, Mazzaloth (also Mazzaroth, Job xxxviii. 32), means

“the resting-places” of the sun, i.e., the twelve signs of the Zodiac.

7 hangings. Literally, “houses”; probably meaning the tents in which the Asherah were placed.

8 the high places of the gates. Altars with pagan images were probably erected at the city gates, that passers-by might be induced to worship and make offerings there.

10. Hinnom. Sometimes called simply “Gai Hinnom” (the valley of Hinnom), whence the Greek Gehenna. The name “Topheth” is understood by the best authorities to mean a place of burning. This place having been the scene of the cruel worship of Moloch, Josiah caused it to be polluted by throwing into it the dead bodies of animals and the offal of the city. This practice being continued afterwards, fires were lighted in the valley to consume the carcasses, and thus prevent the noxious effects which might otherwise have arisen. Hence the place was called the Gehenna of fire; and was regarded by the Jews as representing the place of punishment for the wicked, where it is emphatically said by our Lord (quoting from Isaiah), “their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched” (Isa. lxxi. 24; Mark ix. 44).

11 he took away the horses. The ancient Persians, who were sun-worshippers, dedicated to the sun white horses and chariots, which were paraded on solemn occasions. The Jews seem to have adopted this practice, together with the sun-worship, from the Assyrians, in the reigns of Ahaz, Manasseh, and Amon.

12 on the top. That is, on the roof (R.V.). The roofs of the houses were used by the Persians for the worship of the heavenly bodies.

13 the mount of corruption. By this designation is meant the southern end of the Mount of Olives, called the mount of corruption, or “of offence,” on account of the idolatrous worship practised thereon.

14 with the bones of men. See 1 Kings xiii. 2. 17 title. Rather “stone” or “pillar,” marking the place of a sepulchre. (R.V., “monument.”)

22 such a passover. This passover is described more fully in 2 Chron. xxxv. 1-9.

24 familiar spirits. See note on xxi. 6; Deut. xxviii. 10.

images. “Teraphim” (R.V.). See Gen. xxxi. 19. 25 like unto him, etc. See note on xviii. 5.

26. Notwithstanding, etc. The frequent interchange of relapse and reformation, according to the will of the sovereign for the time being, shows that the habits of the people had become thoroughly depraved, and that idolatry, whether with or without royal patronage, was deeply rooted in the public mind. Cp. Jer. iii. 10; viii. 3-7, etc.

29. Pharaoh-nechoh. Herodotus (ii. 159) mentions this expedition of Necos (Pharaoh-nechoh), and says that he defeated the Syrians (Jews) at Magdolus (Megiddo), and took a large city, Kadytis (Chald. Qaditha, “the holy,” i.e., Jerusalem).

Josiah went against him. Josiah probably was compelled, as a tributary to the king of Assyria, to oppose the progress of the Egyptian army.

30 dead. He was mortally wounded. It appears, from the fuller narrative in 2 Chron. xxxv. 24, that when Josiah had been wounded at Megiddo, he was put into another chariot, and brought either dying or already dead to Jerusalem.

Jehoahaz. Jehoahaz is called “Shallum” by Jeremiah (xxii. 11). He appears to have been more popular than his elder brother Jehoiakim.

32 his fathers. Not his own father Josiah, but his more remote ancestors, referred to so often in this chapter; and so in ver. 37.

33. Riblah. Nechoh seems to have had him brought from Jerusalem (2 Chron. xxxvi. 3) to Riblah. Riblah (now Ribleh, a small village) lay on the Orontes, near the northern end of the valley between Lebanon and Hermon.

Hamath. See xvii. 24.

34. Eliakim. Eliakim was Josiah’s second son (1 Chron. iii. 15). The eldest, Johanan, was perhaps dead. After defeating Josiah’s army, Nechoh took Carchemish, and on his return, treating Judæa as a conquered province, he exercised his supremacy by appointing Eliakim as his deputy, and changed his name, to mark him as his vassal. The same was done by Nebuchadnezzar (xxiv. 17). Jehoiakim’s character is portrayed in the darkest colours by Jeremiah (xxii. 13-19).