2 Kings 23:8

_AND HE BROUGHT ALL THE PRIESTS OUT OF THE CITIES OF JUDAH, AND DEFILED THE HIGH PLACES WHERE THE PRIESTS HAD BURNED INCENSE, FROM GEBA TO BEERSHEBA, AND BRAKE DOWN THE HIGH PLACES OF THE GATES THAT WERE IN THE ENTERING IN OF THE GATE OF JOSHUA THE GOVERNOR OF THE CITY, WHICH WERE ON A MAN'S LEFT HAND AT THE GATE OF THE CITY._ He brought all the priests ... and defiled the high places, ... Numbers of the Levitical order, finding in the reigns of Manasseh and Amon the temple worship abolished, and the tithes and other offerings alienated, had been betrayed into the folly of officiating on high places, and presenting such sacrifices as were brought to them. These irregularities, even though the object of that worship was the true God, were prohibited in the law (Deuteronomy 12:11). Those who had been guilty of this sin Josiah brought to Jerusalem, and, regarding the

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 23:8. _THE GATE OF JOSHUA_] The place where he, as governor of the city, heard and decided causes. Near this we find there were public altars, where sometimes the true God, at other times false gods, were honoured....

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 ALL THE PRIESTS OUT OF THE CITIES OF JUDAH,.... Who were of the sons of Aaron, and had served in the high places there: AND DEFILED THE HIGH PLACES WHERE THE PRIESTS HAD BURNT INCENSE; by casting dead carcasses, or the bones of dead men, or dung, or anything that was unclean, into them, by way of contempt: FROM GEBA TO BEERSHEBA; which were the northern and southern boundaries of the land of Judah: AND BRAKE DOWN THE HIGH PLACES OF THE GATES: of the cities where some think tutelar gods were placed to be worshipped by persons as they went in or out of them: and particularly that WHICH WERE IN THE ENTERING IN OF THE GATE OF JOSHUA THE GOVERNOR OF THE CITY, WHICH WERE ON A MAN'S LEFT HAND AT THE GATE OF THE CITY; of the city of Jerusalem, where this Joshua was chief magistrate under the king; at whose door stood an high place, which, Kimchi thinks, might he greater than t...

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

THE HIGH PLACES. Seemingly (from 2 Kings 23:9) some were used for the worship of Jehovah. See notes on 2 Kings 18:20. 2Ki 19:10, 2 Kings 19:14. GEBA. NOW _Jeba_ (Joshua 18:24). BEER-SHEBA. Southern boundary (Genesis 21:31.Judges 20:1; Judges 20:1). Compare Amos 5:5;...

F. THE REFORMATION INTENSIFIED 23:4-23 The author deals with the reformation launched by Josiah geographically rather than chronologically. He discusses (1) the cleansing of the Temple (2 Kings 23:4-7); (2) the reforms in Jerusalem and Judah (2 Kings 23:8-14); (3) the reforms in the territory which had formerly belonged to the kingdom of Israel in the North (2 Kings 23:15-20); and (4) the great passover celebration in which Jews and Israelites jointly shared in Jerusalem (2 Kings 23:21-23). 1. _THE CLEANSING OF THE TEMPLE_ ...