2 Kings 23:7

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - 2 Kings 23:7

2 Kings 23:7. He brake down the houses of the sodomites The name sometimes given to the most infamous of all prostitutes, who exposed their bodies to be abused contrary to nature, in honour of those filthy deities whom they worshipped. Their houses were near the temple, and the persons themselves were dedicated to impurity, and, that they might commit their abominations with the greater licentiousness, they had women appointed to make them tents, wherein they were wont to retire upon these... read more

Donald C. Fleming

Bridgeway Bible Commentary - 2 Kings 23:1-27

Extent of Josiah’s reforms (23:1-27)Josiah was not discouraged by the prophecy of judgment on Judah. Rather he intensified his efforts to change his people. His greater reformation would now begin. To gain the cooperation of all the leading citizens, he explained to them the contents of the book on which he was basing his reforms, and invited them to join with him in renewing the covenant with God (23:1-3).With uncompromising zeal, Josiah removed all idolatrous priests and destroyed all shrines... read more

E.W. Bullinger

E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes - 2 Kings 23:7

sodomites = male prostitutes. Suppression directed in Deuteronomy 23:17 , Deuteronomy 23:18 . See note on 1 Kings 14:23 , 1 Kings 14:24 . hangings. Hebrew houses. Probably veils to cover the 'Asherah, as it is covered in Romish processions to-day. read more

Robert Jamieson; A. R. Fausset; David Brown

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - 2 Kings 23:7

7. brake down the houses of the sodomites—not solid houses, but tents, called elsewhere [ :-] Succoth-benoth, "the booths of the young women," who were devoted to the service of Asherah, for which they made embroidered hangings, and in which they gave themselves to unbridled revelry and lust. Or the hangings might be for Asherah itself, as it is a popular superstition in the East to hang pieces of cloth on trees. read more

Thomas Constable

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - 2 Kings 23:1-30

D. Josiah’s Good Reign 22:1-23:30Since Josiah was eight years old when his father died at age 22, he must have been born when Amon was only 14. It was very common, both in the ancient Near East generally and in Israel, for kings to marry very young and to father children when they were early teenagers. [Note: Nadav Na’aman, "Historical and Chronological Notes on the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah in the Eighth Century B.C.," Vetus Testamentum 36 (1986):83-91.] The years Josiah ruled were 640-609... read more

Thomas Constable

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - 2 Kings 23:3-27

2. Josiah’s reforms 22:3-23:27Josiah began to seek Yahweh when he was 16 years old and began initiating religious reforms when he was 20 (2 Chronicles 34:3-7). His reforms were more extensive than those of any of his predecessors. One of them involved the repair of Solomon’s temple (2 Kings 22:5; cf. 2 Kings 12:4-16). He began this project when he was 26.". . . Josiah rules during years in which Assyria fades but also those in which Babylon is not yet ready to rule as far west as Judah and in a... read more

John Dummelow

John Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible - 2 Kings 23:1-37

Religious Reform. Josiah’s Death2. The prophets] Jeremiah, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah lived about this time. Read in their ears] cp. the similar proceeding related in Nehemiah 8:4.; 3. By a pillar] or, ’upon a platform’: cp. Nehemiah 11:144. The priests of the second order] probably to be corrected into ’the second priest’ (as in 2 Kings 25:18), i.e. the high priest’s deputy. Grove] see on 2 Kings 21:7. 5. The planets] or, ’the signs of the zodiac’ The word is said to mean ’mansions,’ the stars... read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - 2 Kings 23:7

(7) The houses . . . by the house.—The cabins of the Kedçshim . . . in the house. The Kedçshim were males, perhaps eunuchs, who prostituted themselves like women in honour of the Asherah. (See 1 Kings 14:24; 1 Kings 15:12; Hosea 4:14.) The passage shows that the last infamy of Canaanite nature-worship had been established in the very sanctuary of Jehovah. The revolt of Judah could go no farther.Where the women wove hangings for the grove.—Wherein the women used to weave tents for the Ashçrah.... read more

William Nicoll

Expositor's Bible Commentary - 2 Kings 23:1-25

JOSIAH’S REFORMATION2 Kings 22:8-20; 2 Kings 23:1-25"And the works of Josias were upright before his Lord with a heart full of godliness."- #/RAPC 1 Esdras 1:23"From Zion shall go forth the Law, and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem."- Isaiah 2:3IT is from the Prophets-Zephaniah, Jeremiah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Ezekiel-that we catch almost our sole glimpses of the vast world-movements of the nations which must have loomed large on the minds of the King of Judah and of all earnest politicians in... read more

William Nicoll

Expositor's Bible Commentary - 2 Kings 23:1-37

JOSIAHB.C. 639-6082 Kings 22:1-20; 2 Kings 23:1-37Jos., "Ant.," X 4:1."In outline dim and vast Their fearful shadows cast The giant forms of Empires, on their way To ruin: one by one They tower, and they are gone."- KEBLEIF we are to understand the reign of Josiah as a whole, we must preface it by some allusion to the great epoch-marking circumstances of his age, which explain the references of contemporary prophets, and which, in great measure, determined the foreign policy of the pious... read more

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