2 Kings 23:6

_AND HE BROUGHT OUT THE GROVE FROM THE HOUSE OF THE LORD, WITHOUT JERUSALEM, UNTO THE BROOK KIDRON, AND BURNED IT AT THE BROOK KIDRON, AND STAMPED IT SMALL TO POWDER, AND CAST THE POWDER THEREOF UPON THE GRAVES OF THE CHILDREN OF THE PEOPLE._ Brought out the grove - i:e., Asherah the mystic tree, placed by Mannaseh in the temple, removed by him after his conversion, and replaced in the sanctuary by his wicked son Amon. Josiah had it taken to Kidron, burnt the wood ground the metal about it to powder, and strewed the ashes on "the graves of the children of the people." It appears, from this verse recording the action of Josiah, and that of Moses under similar circumstances (Exodus 32:20), that, ordinarily speaking, the Kidron was not a running stream of water; for, lacking water, Josiah cast the powder upon the graves, then, as now, plentiful in that valley. The poor were bu

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 23:6. _HE BROUGHT OUT THE GROVE_] He brought out the idol Asherah. 2 Kings 21:26. _UPON THE GRAVES OF THE CHILDREN OF THE PEOPLE._] I believe this; means the burial-place of the _common people_....

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 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, 2 Kings 21:7 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 call Astarte: this Josiah ordered to be brought WITHOUT JERUSALEM, UNTO THE BROOK KIDRON, AND BURNT IT AT THE BROOK KIDRON; the black brook, where the filth of the sacrifices was carried: AND STAMPED IT SMALL TO POWDER; as Moses did the golden calf: AND CAST THE POWDER THEREOF UPON THE GRAVES OF THE CHILDREN OF THE PEOPLE; the common people, see Jeremiah 26:23 or rather on the graves of the worshippers of idols, as it seems from...

GROVE (_ See Scofield) - (Deuteronomy 16:21). _...

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

GRAVES. Hebrew. _keber._ See note on 2 Kings 21:26. OF THE CHILDREN OF THE PEOPLE. of the common people in Jeremiah 26:23. In 2 Chronicles 35:5 it. the laity as distinguished from Levites. CHILDREN. sons....