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2 Kings 23

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Covenant Renewal

1 So the king sent [messengers], and they gathered to him all the elders of Jerusalem and Judah.
2 Then the king went to the Lord's temple with all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, as well as the priests and the prophets-all the people from the youngest to the oldest. As they listened, he read all the words of the book of the covenant that had been found in the Lord's temple.
3 Next, the king stood by the pillar[a] and made a covenant in the presence of the Lord to follow the Lord and to keep His commandments, His decrees, and His statutes with all his mind and with all his heart,[b] and to carry out the words of this covenant that were written in this book; all the people agreed to[c] the covenant.[d]

Josiah's Reforms

4 Then the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest and the priests of the second rank and the doorkeepers to bring out of the Lord's temple all the articles made for Baal, Asherah, and the whole heavenly host. He burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron and carried their ashes to Bethel
5 Then he did away with the idolatrous priests the kings of Judah had appointed to burn incense at the high places in the cities of Judah and in the areas surrounding Jerusalem. They had burned incense to Baal, and to the sun, moon, constellations, and the whole heavenly host.
6 He brought out the Asherah pole[e] from the Lord's temple to the Kidron Valley outside Jerusalem. He burned it at the Kidron Valley,[f] beat it to dust, and threw its dust on the graves of the common people.[g][h]
7 He also tore down the houses of the male shrine prostitutes[i] that were in the Lord's temple, in which the women were weaving tapestries[j] for Asherah.
8 Then Josiah brought all the priests from the cities of Judah, and he defiled the high places from Geba to Beer-sheba, where the priests had burned incense. He tore down the high places of the gates at the entrance of the gate of Joshua the governor of the city (on the left at the city gate).
9 The priests of the high places, however, did not come up to the altar of the Lord in Jerusalem; instead, they ate unleavened bread with their fellow priests.[k]
10 He defiled Topheth,[l] which is in the Valley of Hinnom, so that no one could make his son or his daughter pass through the fire to Molech.[m]
11 He did away with the horses that the kings of Judah had dedicated to the sun.[n] [They had been] at the entrance of the Lord's temple in the precincts by the chamber of Nathan-melech the court official, and he burned up the chariots of the sun.
12 The king tore down the altars that were on the roof[o]-Ahaz's upper chamber[p] that the kings of Judah had made-and the altars that Manasseh had made in the two courtyards of the Lord's temple. Then he smashed them[q] there and threw their dust into the Kidron Valley.
13 The king also defiled the high places that were across from Jerusalem, to the south of the Mount of Destruction, which Solomon king of Israel had built for Ashtoreth, the detestable idol of the Sidonians; for Chemosh, the detestable idol of Moab; and for Milcom, the abomination of the Ammonites.[r]
14 He broke the sacred pillars into pieces, cut down the Asherah poles, then filled their places with human bones.
15 He even tore down the altar at Bethel and the high place that Jeroboam son of Nebat, who caused Israel to sin, had made. Then he burned the high place, crushed it to dust, and burned the Asherah.
16 As Josiah turned, he saw the tombs there on the mountain. He sent [someone] to take the bones out of the tombs, and he burned them on the altar.[s] He defiled it according to the word of the Lord proclaimed by the man of God[t] who proclaimed these things.[u]
17 Then he said, "What is this monument I see?" The men of the city told him, "It is the tomb of the man of God who came from Judah and proclaimed these things that you have done to the altar at Bethel."[v]
18 So he said, "Let him rest. Don't let anyone disturb his bones." So they left his bones undisturbed with the bones of the prophet who came from Samaria.
19 Josiah also removed all the shrines of the high places that were in the cities of Samaria, which the kings of Israel had made to provoke [the Lord]. Josiah did the same things to them that he had done at Bethel
20 He slaughtered on the altars all the priests of the high places who were there, and he burned human bones on the altars.[w] Then he returned to Jerusalem.

Passover Observed

21 The king commanded all the people, "Keep the Passover of the Lord your God as written in the book of the covenant."[x]
22 No such Passover had ever been kept from the time of the judges who judged Israel through the entire time of the kings of Israel and Judah.
23 But in the eighteenth year of King Josiah, this Passover was observed to the Lord in Jerusalem.[y]

Further Zeal for the Lord

24 In addition, Josiah removed the mediums, the spiritists,[z] household idols, images, and all the detestable things that were seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem. He did this in order to carry out the words of the law that were written in the book that Hilkiah the priest found in the Lord's temple.
25 Before him there was no king like him who turned to the Lord with all his mind and with all his heart and with all his strength[aa] according to all the law of Moses, and no one like him arose after him.[ab]
26 In spite of all that, the Lord did not turn from the fierceness of His great wrath and anger, which burned against Judah because of all the provocations Manasseh had provoked Him with.[ac]
27 For the Lord had said, "I will also remove Judah from My sight just as I have removed Israel. I will reject this city Jerusalem, that I have chosen, and the temple about which I said, 'My name will be there.' "[ad]

Josiah's Death

28 The rest of the events of Josiah's [reign], along with all his accomplishments, are written about in the Historical Record of Judah's Kings.[ae]
29 During his reign, Pharaoh Neco king of Egypt[af] marched up to the king of Assyria at the Euphrates river. King Josiah went to confront him, and at Megiddo when Neco saw him he killed him.
30 From Megiddo his servants carried his dead body in a chariot, brought him into Jerusalem, and buried him in his own tomb. Then the common people[ag] took Jehoahaz son of Josiah, anointed him, and made him king in place of his father.[ah]

Judah's King Jehoahaz

31 Jehoahaz was 23 years old when he became king; he reigned three months in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Hamutal daughter of Jeremiah; [she was] from Libnah.
32 He did what was evil in the Lord's sight just as his ancestors had done.
33 Pharaoh Neco imprisoned him at Riblah in the land of Hamath to keep him from reigning in Jerusalem, and he imposed on the land a fine of 7,500 pounds[ai] of silver and 75 pounds[aj] of gold.[ak]

Judah's King Jehoiakim

34 Then Pharaoh Neco made Eliakim son of Josiah king in place of his father Josiah and changed Eliakim's name to Jehoiakim. But Neco took Jehoahaz and went to Egypt, and he died there.
35 So Jehoiakim gave the silver and the gold to Pharaoh, but at Pharaoh's command he taxed the land to give the money. He exacted the silver and the gold from the people of the land, each man according to his valuation,[al] to give it to Pharaoh Neco.
36 Jehoiakim was 25 years old when he became king; he reigned 11 years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Zebidah daughter of Pedaiah; [she was] from Rumah
37 He did what was evil[am] in the Lord's sight just as his ancestors had done.[an]
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2 Kings 23 Commentary

Chapter 23

Josiah reads the law, and renews the covenant. (1-3) He destroys idolatry. (4-14) The reformation extended to Israel, A passover kept. (15-24) Josiah slain by Pharaoh-nechoh. (25-30) Wicked reigns of Jehoahaz and Jehoiakim. (31-37)

Verses 1-3 Josiah had received a message from God, that there was no preventing the ruin of Jerusalem, but that he should only deliver his own soul; yet he does his duty, and leaves the event to God. He engaged the people in the most solemn manner to abolish idolatry, and to serve God in righteousness and true holiness. Though most were formal or hypocritical herein, yet much outward wickedness would be prevented, and they were accountable to God for their own conduct.

Verses 4-14 What abundance of wickedness in Judah and Jerusalem! One would not have believed it possible, that in Judah, where God was known, in Israel, where his name was great, in Salem, in Zion, where his dwelling-place was, such abominations should be found. Josiah had reigned eighteen years, and had himself set the people a good example, and kept up religion according to the Divine law; yet, when he came to search for idolatry, the depth and extent were very great. Both common history, and the records of God's word, teach, that all the real godliness or goodness ever found on earth, is derived from the new-creating Spirit of Jesus Christ.

Verses 15-24 Josiah's zeal extended to the cities of Israel within his reach. He carefully preserved the sepulchre of that man of God, who came from Judah to foretell the throwing down of Jeroboam's altar. When they had cleared the country of the old leaven of idolatry, then they applied themselves to the keeping of the feast. There was not holden such a passover in any of the foregoing reigns. The revival of a long-neglected ordinance, filled them with holy joy; and God recompensed their zeal in destroying idolatry with uncommon tokens of his presence and favour. We have reason to think that during the remainder of Josiah's reign, religion flourished.

Verses 25-30 Upon reading these verses, we must say, Lord, though thy righteousness be as the great mountains, evident, plainly to be seen, and past dispute; yet thy judgments are a great deep, unfathomable, and past finding out. The reforming king is cut off in the midst of his usefulness, in mercy to him, that he might not see the evil coming upon his kingdom: but in wrath to his people, for his death was an inlet to their desolations.

Verses 31-37 After Josiah was laid in his grave, one trouble came on another, till, in twenty-two years, Jerusalem was destroyed. The wicked perished in great numbers, the remnant were purified, and Josiah's reformation had raised up some to join the few who were the precious seed of their future church and nation. A little time, and slender abilities, often suffice to undo the good which pious men have, for a course of years, been labouring to effect. But, blessed be God, the good work which he begins by his regenerating Spirit, cannot be done away, but withstands all changes and temptations.

Taken from Matthew Henry Commentary on the Whole Bible (Concise)

Footnotes 40

Chapter Summary

INTRODUCTION TO 2 KINGS 23

This chapter treats of Josiah's reading the book of the law, and of him and the people renewing the covenant with God, 2Ki 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, 2Ki 23:4-25, yet the wrath of God was still determined upon the land, 2Ki 23:26-28 and Josiah was taken away by an untimely death, 2Ki 23:29,30 and was succeeded by two sons of his, one after another, whose reigns were wicked, 2Ki 23:31-37.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

2 Kings 23 Commentaries

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