2 Kings 23:10-28

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - 2 Kings 23:4-24

We have here an account of such a reformation as we have not met with in all the history of the kings of Judah, such thorough riddance made of all the abominable things and such foundations laid of a glorious good work; and here I cannot but wonder at two things:?1. That so many wicked things should have got in, and kept standing so long, as we find here removed. 2. That notwithstanding the removal of these wicked things, and the hopeful prospects here given of a happy settlement, yet within a... read more

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - 2 Kings 23:25-30

Upon the reading of these verses we must say, Lord, though thy righteousness be as the great mountains?evident, conspicuous, and past dispute, yet thy judgments are a great deep, unfathomable and past finding out, Ps. 36:6. What shall we say to this? I. It is here owned that Josiah was one of the best kings that ever sat upon the throne of David, 2 Kgs. 23:25. As Hezekiah was a non-such for faith and dependence upon God in straits (2 Kgs. 18:5), so Josiah was a non-such for sincerity and zeal... 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 Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 2 Kings 23:15

Moreover, the altar that was at Bethel, and the high place which Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, had made. For the worship of the calf there: both that altar, and the high place, he brake down ; according to an ancient prophecy of the man of God, 1 Kings 13:3 and of Amos in later times, Amos 9:1 . and burnt the high place, and stamped it small to powder ; that there might be no remains of it: and burnt the grove ; either the grove of trees on it, or the... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 2 Kings 23:16

And as Josiah turned himself ,.... From the high place, and the altar at Bethel; for he not only gave orders for the destroying of idolatrous places and idols, but he saw them executed himself: he spied the sepulchres that were there in the mount ; the graves of idolatrous priests and worshippers, who chose to be buried near those places of idolatry; nor was it unusual for persons to be buried on hills and mountains, see Joshua 24:30 and this was a custom in other nations formerly ... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 2 Kings 23:17

Then he said, what title is that that I see ?.... A high and large monument over a grave, with an inscription on it, more remarkable than any of the rest, which made Josiah take notice of it; and the Jews have a tradition, as Kimchi observes, that on one side of the grave grew nettles and thistles, and on the other side odoriferous herbs; which is not to be depended on; but what he further observes may be right, that the old prophet, as he gave orders to his sons to lay his body in the same... read more

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