2 Kings 23:1-15

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 book of the covenant; cf. Exodus 24:7, where the book was sprinkled with sacrificial blood. In a covenant there was not necessarily an implication that there were two parties. The king made this before Yahweh. Skinner (Cent.B) says, The effect of the covenant was to give to the Deuteronomic Code the force of statute law.

Josiah's reformation (2 Kings 23:6) may be classified under the following heads:

A. 2 Kings 23:4; 2 Kings 23:6 f., 2 Kings 23:10. Reformation of the Temple. (i.) 2 Kings 23:4; 2 Kings 23:6. Hilkiah and the second priest (? for priests of the second order; cf. 2 Kings 25:18; Jeremiah 52:24) were ordered to bring all idolatrous objects and vessels out of the Temple, which were burned by the Kidron. (ii.) 2 Kings 23:7 : All the votaries of impure rites were ejected. (iii.) 2 Kings 23:10. The Moloch worship was abolished, and Tophet (Jeremiah 7:31 *) in the valley of the children of Hinnom (Gehinnom, Gehenna, Matthew 5:22) was defiled. (iv.) 2 Kings 23:11 f: The cult of the heavenly bodies (2 Kings 21:3 *) was put down by the destruction of the horses of the sun and the altars on the roofs.

B. 2 Kings 23:5; 2 Kings 23:8 f., 2 Kings 23:13 f. Reformation in Jerusalem and Judah. (i) 2 Kings 23:5. The idolatrous priests, Kemarim (Hosea 10:15; Zephaniah 1:4), were put down, together with their high places. (ii.) 2 Kings 23:8 f. The priests of the ordinary high places where Yahweh was worshipped were removed to Jerusalem and recognised as priests, for, though not allowed to sacrifice, they were permitted to eat the unleavened bread provided for priests. (iii.) 2 Kings 23:8; 2 Kings 23:13 f; The high places of the gates (or perhaps of satyrs or demons) and the idolatrous shrines erected by Solomon on the mount of offence, S. of the Mt. of Olives, were defiled by the king.

C. 2 Kings 23:15. Josiah's Destruction of the Altar of Bethel. This showed that the misfortunes predicted in the law book which had already befallen Israel were due to the sin of Jeroboam.