2 Kings 23:16

16 Then Josiah looked around. He saw the tombs that were on the side of the hill. He had the bones removed from them. And he burned them on the altar to make it "unclean." That's what the LORD had said would happen. He had spoken that message through a man of God. The man had announced those things long before they took place.

2 Kings 23:16 Meaning and Commentary

2 Kings 23:16

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 chose to be buried near those places of idolatry; nor was it unusual for persons to be buried on hills and mountains, see ( Joshua 24:30 Joshua 24:33 ) and this was a custom in other nations formerly ^F20, particularly among the Indians ^F21 now, who in many things agree with the Jews:

and sent and took the bones out of the sepulchres, and burnt them upon
the altar;
where they had sacrificed to idols:

and polluted it;
with their bones, which, according to the law, were defiling, and which was done in contempt of their idolatrous worship there:

according to the word of the Lord which the man of God proclaimed, who
proclaimed these words;
or things; foretold that such a king by name would arise, and burn men's bones upon the altar, and which had been foretold more than three hundred and fifty years before this time.

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FOOTNOTES:

F20 Vid. Servium in Virgil. Aeneid. 11. ver 849. "fuit ingens monte sub alto".
F21 Manasseh ben Israel Spes Israelis. sect 6. p. 29.

2 Kings 23:16 In-Context

14 Josiah smashed the sacred stones. He cut down the poles that were used to worship the goddess Asherah. Then he covered all of those places with human bones

15 There was an altar at Bethel. It was at the high place that had been made by Jeroboam, the son of Nebat. Jeroboam had caused Israel to commit sin. Even that altar and high place were destroyed by Josiah. He burned the high place. He ground it into powder. He also burned the Asherah pole.

16 Then Josiah looked around. He saw the tombs that were on the side of the hill. He had the bones removed from them. And he burned them on the altar to make it "unclean." That's what the LORD had said would happen. He had spoken that message through a man of God. The man had announced those things long before they took place.

17 The king asked, "What's that stone on the grave over there?" The men of the city said, "It marks the tomb where the body of a man of God is buried. He came from Judah. He spoke against the altar at Bethel. He announced the very things you have done to it."

18 "Leave it alone," Josiah said. "Don't let anyone touch his bones." So they spared his bones. They also spared the bones of the prophet who had come from the northern kingdom of Israel.