2 Kings 23:11

_AND HE TOOK AWAY THE HORSES THAT THE KINGS OF JUDAH HAD GIVEN TO THE SUN, AT THE ENTERING IN OF THE HOUSE OF THE LORD, BY THE CHAMBER OF NATHANMELECH THE CHAMBERLAIN, WHICH WAS IN THE SUBURBS, AND BURNED THE CHARIOTS OF THE SUN WITH FIRE._ He took away the horses that the kings of Judah had given to the sun. Amount the people who anciently worshipped the sun, horses were usually dedicated to that divinity, from the supposed idea that the sun himself was drawn in a chariot by horses. In some cases these horses were sacrificed; but more commonly they were employed either in the sacred processions to carry the images of the sun, or for the worshippers to ride in every morning to welcome his rise. This form of superstition prevailed in Asia long before the Persian domination (Layard, 'Nineveh and its Remains,' 2:, p. 365; see also Drew, 'Scripture Lands,' p. 196, note; Barclay, p. 99). It...

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....

Verse 2 Kings 23:11. _THE HORSES THAT THE KINGS OF JUDAH HAD GIVEN TO THE_ _SUN._] _Jarchi_ says that those who adored the _sun_ had _horses_ which they mounted every morning to go out to meet the sun at his rising. Throughout the East the _horse_, because of his _swiftness_ and _utility_, was dedicated to the _sun_; and the Greeks and Romans feigned that the _chariot of the sun_ was drawn by _four_ _horses_-Pyroeis, Eous, AEthon, and Phlegon. 2 Kings 2:11. Whether these were _living_ or _sculptured_ horses, we cannot tell; the latter is the more _reasonable_ supposition....

A parenthesis giving the earlier reforms of Josiah. 2 Kings 23:4 THE PRIESTS OF THE SECOND ORDER - This is a new expression; and probably refers to the ordinary priests, called here “priests of the second order,” in contrast with the high priest, whose dignity was reviving (2 Kings 12:2 note). THE VESSELS - This would include the whole apparatus of worship, altars, images, dresses, utensils, etc., for Baal, etc. (2 Kings 21:3 notes). The ashes of the idolatrous objects burned in the first instance in the “fields of Kidron” (i. e., in the part of the valley which lies nort

EXPOSITION 2 KINGS 23:1 JOSIAH'S RENEWAL OF THE COVENANT. HIS REFORMS AND DEATH. REIGN OF JEHOAHAZ. ACCESSION OF JEHOIAKIM. 2 KINGS 23:1 _Josiah_'_s renewal of the covenant_._ _The first care of Josiah, on receiving Huldah's message, which stamped the book found as the true "book of the covenant," was to call together a great assembly of the nation, which should be sufficiently representative of it, and renew the covenant between God and his people made originally a

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 horses were sacred to the sun with many Heathen nations, as the Massagetae, a people in Scythia, and the Persians, and Babylonians, and Ethiopians, is affirmed by various writers c: and from them the Jews received this notion. According to the Jewish commentators, these were horses provided for the worshippers of the sun to ride upon, and meet the sun in the morning at its rising, and pay their homage to it; but certain it is that the Heathen nations before mentioned slew the horses, and sacrificed them as burnt offerings to the sun, as is asserted by Herodotus d, Xenophon e, Strabo f, Pausania...

2. THE RESULTS OF THE REVIVAL AND THE DEATH OF JOSIAH CHAPTER 23:1-30 _ 1. The People hear the law (2 Kings 23:1; 2 Chronicles 34)_ 2. Josiah makes a covenant (2 Kings 23:3) 3. The great reformations (2 Kings 23:4) 4. The Passover celebrated (2 Kings 23:21; 2 Chronicles 35) 5. Further statements concerning Josiah (2 Kings 23:24

2 KINGS 23:3. BY THE PILLAR. COVENANT: for the word pillar see 2 Kings 11:14 and 1 Kings 7:21. In the latter passage it is used for the two great brazen pillars set up by Solomon before the porch of the Temple. In making the covenant the king takes the lead. The ceremony was accompanied by a sacrifice; hence the phrase in Heb. is to _cut_ a covenant (Genesis 15:17 *, Jeremiah 34:18) or divide the victims. The newly discovered volume is called (2 Kings 23:2) the

KINGS OF JUDAH. Presumably Manasseh and Amon. See 2 Kings 21:3. of. from. BY. to. CHAMBERLAIN. eunuch, or officer. SUBURBS, or outskirts....

HE TOOK AWAY THE HORSES—GIVEN TO THE SUN—AND BURNED THE CHARIOTS, &C.— Whether these horses and chariots were real, or only carved or molten, is not easy to determine. The ancient Persians used to consecrate white horses and chariots to the sun, with which they adorned their processions, wherein they were imitated afterwards by other nations. See Hyde's Relig. Ver. Persar. We can see no reason; therefore, why so many learned commentators should scruple to suppose that the Jews had adopted this among other far worse heathenish idolatries; especially considering how soon the prophet Amos, and from him St. Stephen, charged them with having carried about the tabernacle of Moloch or the sun, and the star of their god _Remphan._ What convinced us further that these were real chariots, drawn by horses, and bearing some image of the sun, is, that the text expressly says, that Josiah did not burn...