John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 2 Kings 23:20
And he slew all the priests of the high places that were there ,.... The idolatrous priests who sacrificed to Baal, and other Heathen deities; for as for others that burnt incense in high places, yet to the true God, those he spared, though they were not suffered to officiate at the altar of God: the others he slew upon the altars ; where they sacrificed: and burnt men's bones upon them : the bones of the priests, and worshippers of idols, as he had done at Bethel: and returned to... read more
John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 2 Kings 23:19
And all the houses also of the high places ,.... The temples of the idols there, and the houses for the priests to dwell in: that were in the cities of Samaria, which the kings of Israel had made to provoke the Lord to anger, Josiah took away ; particularly in the cities of Manasseh, Ephraim, and Simeon, unto Naphtali, 2 Chronicles 34:6 the Israelites that remained there acknowledging Josiah as their king; and perhaps, after the defeat of Sennacherib, many of the cities of Israel might... read more