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Matthew Henry

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

John Gill

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

John Gill

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

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - 2 Kings 23:19

That were in the cities of Samaria - Israel had now no king; and Josiah, of the blood royal of Judah, had certainly a direct right to the kingdom; he had, at this time, an especial commission from God, to reform every abuse through the whole land - all that ground that was given by the Lord as an inheritance to the twelve sons of Jacob. Therefore he had every right to carry his plans of reformation into the Samaritan states. read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - 2 Kings 23:20

Slew all the priests - The lives of these, as corrupters of the people, were forfeited to the law. read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - 2 Kings 23:1-25

Good aims and bad methods. "And the king sent," etc. Did the world ever contain a people more morally corrupt than that of the Jews? When we mark them journeying in the wilderness forty years, a more murmuring, disorderly, rebellious set of men where else could we discover? When settled in Palestine, a "land flowing with milk and honey" we find them committing every crime of which humanity is capable—adulteries, suicides, murders, ruthless wars, gross idolatries, their priests impostors,... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - 2 Kings 23:1-37

JOSIAH 'S RENEWAL OF THE COVENANT . HIS REFORMS AND DEATH . REIGN OF JEHOAHAZ . ACCESSION OF JEHOIAKIM . read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - 2 Kings 23:4-27

Josiah ' s reformation of religion . The reformation of religion by Josiah next engages the writer's attention, and is treated, not chronologically, but rather gee-graphically, under the three heads of The celebration of the Passover is then briefly noticed ( 2 Kings 23:21-25 ); and the section concludes with a eulogy of Josiah ( 2 Kings 23:24 , 2 Kings 23:25 ), who, however, it is noticed could not, with all his piety, obtain a revocation of the sentence passed on Judah in... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - 2 Kings 23:4-27

The inability of the best intentions and the strongest will to convert a nation that is corrupt to the core. Josiah's reformation was the most energetic and the most thorough-going that was ever carried out by any Jewish king. It far transcended, not only the efforts made by Jehoiada in the time of Joash ( 2 Kings 11:17-21 ; 2 Kings 12:1-16 ), and the feeble attempts of Manasseh on his return from Babylon ( 2 Chronicles 33:15-19 ), but even the earnest endeavors of Hezekiah at the... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - 2 Kings 23:15-20

The altar at Bethel. From Judah Josiah passed on to Israel, continuing his work of idol-demolition. Everywhere he went he proved himself a veritable "hammer of God"—leveling, defacing, dishonoring, destroying. I. AN ANCIENT PROPHECY FULFILLED . 1. Iconoclasm at Bethel . Bethel had been the chief scene of Israel's idolatry—the head and front of its offending (cf. Hosea 4:15 ; Hosea 10:4-9 , etc.). On it Josiah's zeal first expended itself. Hosea had prophesied its... read more

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