2 Kings 23

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 2 Kings 23:5

And he put down the idolatrous priests ,.... The Cemarim, so called, because they wore black clothes, as Kimchi and others, whereas the priests of the Lord were clothed in white linen; see Gill on Zephaniah 1:4 . whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense in the high places, in the cities of Judah, and in the places round about Jerusalem ; for though those high places were destroyed by Hezekiah, they were rebuilt by Manasseh his son, and priests put in them to officiate... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 2 Kings 23:6

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... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 2 Kings 23:7

And he brake down the houses of the Sodomites that were by the house of the Lord ,.... Near the temple were apartments, in which men, the worshippers of idols, prostituted their bodies to each other; committing that unnatural sin with one another, which has its name from Sodom, and from which those are so called, and which sin they committed in honour of the idols they worshipped; to such vile affections were they, in a judicial manner, delivered up, because of their idolatry; see Romans... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 2 Kings 23:8

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... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 2 Kings 23:9

Nevertheless, the priests of the high places came not up to the altar of the Lord at Jerusalem ,.... To sacrifice there, as the Targum; though they were removed from the high places, they were not admitted to officiate at the altar of the Lord, having offered in forbidden places: but they did eat of the unleavened bread with their brethren ; the priests that were pure, as the sons of Zadok; though they might not offer sacrifices, they were allowed to partake of the holy things with the... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 2 Kings 23:10

And he defiled Topheth ,.... A place so called, as is generally thought, from the beating of drums or timbrels in it, that the shrieks of the infants sacrificed here to Molech might not be heard by their parents, and they repent of delivering them to him, and take them away. So the Indians in India now, at the burning of wives with their deceased husbands, attend them with drums and trumpets; and at such time as the fire is put to the wood, the drums and trumpets make a terrible noise for... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 2 Kings 23:11

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 F3 Justin e... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 2 Kings 23:12

And the altars that were on the top of the upper chamber of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made ,.... Which were on the roof of the royal palace; the roofs of houses in Judah being flat, Deuteronomy 21:8 altars might be built upon them; so, in Arabia, altars were built on the tops of houses to offer incense thereon daily to the sun F16 Strabo, Geograph l. 16. p. 539. ; as here by Manasseh and Amon very probably, which might be chosen because nearer the heavens; for which reason... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 2 Kings 23:13

And the high places that were before Jerusalem ,.... Not only that were within the city, and at the gates of it, but what were without it: which were on the right hand of the mount of corruption : the mount of Olives, so called from the idolatry and corrupt worship performed in it, by way of reproach, with a small alteration of the letters of the word משחית for משחה ; at the right hand, or south of this mountain, as the Targum; though others say F17 Vid Adrichom. Theatrum T. S.... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 2 Kings 23:14

And he brake in pieces the images ,.... Of Ashtoreth, Chemosh, and Milcom, in the above high places; which as these high places had been rebuilt by Manasseh or Amon, so new images of these deities were placed there: and cut down the groves ; in which they were set: and filled their places with the bones of men ; of idolatrous priests and worshippers, buried in parts adjacent; these he dug up and scattered in the high places and groves to defile them, bones of the dead being by law... read more

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 2 Kings 23:5

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 2 Kings 23:6

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 2 Kings 23:7

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 2 Kings 23:8

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 2 Kings 23:9

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 2 Kings 23:10

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 2 Kings 23:11

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 2 Kings 23:12

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 2 Kings 23:13

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 2 Kings 23:14

Verse of the Day

Daily Devotional

Group of Brands