All the houses also of the high places that were in the cities of Samaria, which the kings of Israel had made to provoke Yahweh to anger, Josiah took away, and did to them according to all the acts that he had done in Bethel. He killed all the priests of the high places that were there, on the altars, and burned men’s bones on them; and he returned to Jerusalem.
The king commanded all the people, saying, “Keep the Passover to Yahweh your God, as it is written in this book of the covenant.” Surely there was not kept such a Passover from the days of the judges who judged Israel, nor in all the days of the kings of Israel, nor of the kings of Judah; but in the eighteenth year of king Josiah, this Passover was kept to Yahweh in Jerusalem. Moreover Josiah removed those who had familiar spirits, the wizards, and the teraphim, and the idols, and all the abominations that were seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, that he might confirm the words of the law which were written in the book that Hilkiah the priest found in Yahweh’s house. There was no king like him before him, who turned to Yahweh with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the law of Moses; and there was none like him who arose after him.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On v22 For the multitude and zeal of the people with…
For the multitude and zeal of the people with the great preparation.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv19–25 2Ki 23:19 And all the houses also of the…
2Ki 23:19 And all the houses also of the high places that [were] in the cities of Samaria, which the kings of Israel had made to provoke [the LORD] to anger, Josiah took away, and did to them according to all the acts that he had done in Bethel.
Ver. 19. And did to them according.] See on 2Ki 23:15.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv19, 20, 21, 22, 24, 25 By what authority he did this, See Poole "2Ki…
By what authority he did this, See Poole "2Ki 23:15".
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On v25 Upon the reading of these verses we must say,…
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, Psa 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, Kg2 23:25. As Hezekiah was a non-such for faith and dependence upon God in straits (Kg2 18:5), so Josiah was a non-such for sincerity and zeal in carrying on a work of reformation. For this there was none like him, 1. That he turned to the Lord from whom his fathers had revolted. It is true religion to turn to God as one we have chosen and love. He did what he could to turn his kingdom also to the Lord. 2. That he did this with his heart and soul; his affections and aims were right in what he did. Those make nothing of their religion that do not make heart-work of it. 3. That he did it with all his heart, and all his soul, and all his might - with vigour, and courage, and resolution: he could not otherwise have broken through the difficulties he had to grapple with. What great things may we bring to pass in the service of God if we be but lively and hearty in it! 4. That he did this according to all the law of Moses, in an exact observance of that law and with an actual regard to it. His zeal did not transport him into any irregularities, but, in all he did, he walked by rule.
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II. Notwithstanding this he was cut off by a violent death in the midst of his days, and his kingdom was ruined within a few years after. Consequent upon such a reformation as this, one would have expected nothing but the prosperity and glory both of king and kingdom; but, quite contrary, we find both under a cloud. 1. Even the reformed kingdom continues marked for ruin. For all this (Kg2 23:26) the Lord turned not from the fierceness of his great wrath. That is certainly true, which God spoke by the prophet (Jer 18:7, Jer 18:8), that if a nation, doomed to destruction, turn from the evil of sin, God will repent of the evil of punishment; and therefore we must conclude that Josiah's people, though they submitted to Josiah's power, did not heartily imbibe Josiah's principles. They were turned by force, and did not voluntarily turn from their evil way, but still continued their affection for their idols; and therefore he that knows men's hearts would not recall the sentence, which was, That Judah should be removed, as Israel had been, and Jerusalem itself cast off, Kg2 23:27. Yet even this destruction was intended to be their effectual reformation; so that we must say, not only that the criminals had filled their measure and were ripe for ruin, but also that the disease had come to a crisis, and was ready for a cure; and this shall be all the fruit, even the taking away of sin. 2. As an evidence of this, even the reforming king is cut off in the midst of his usefulness - in mercy to him, that he might not see the evil which was coming upon his kingdom, but in wrath to his people, for his death was an inlet to their desolations. The king of Egypt waged war, it seems, with the king of Assyria: so the king of Babylon is now called. Josiah's kingdom lay between them. He therefore thought himself concerned to oppose the king of Egypt, and check the growing, threatening, greatness of his power; for though, at this time, he protested that he had no design against Josiah, yet, if he should prevail to unite the river of Egypt and the river Euphrates, the land of Judah would soon be overflowed between them. Therefore Josiah went against him, and was killed in the first engagement, Kg2 23:29, Kg2 23:30. Here, (1.) We cannot justify Josiah's conduct. He had no clear call to engage in this war, nor do we find that he asked counsel of God by urim or prophets concerning it. What had he to do to appear and act as a friend and ally to the king of Assyria? Should he help the ungodly and love those that hate the Lord? If the kings of Egypt and Assyria quarrelled, he had reason to think God would bring good out of it to him and his people, by making them instrumental to weaken one another. Some understand the promise made to him that he should come to his grave in peace in a sense in which it was not performed because, by his miscarriage in this matter, he forfeited the benefit of it. God has promised to keep us in all our ways; but, if we go out of our way, we throw ourselves out of his protection. I understand the promise so as that I believe it was fulfilled, for he died in peace with God and his own conscience, and saw not, nor had any immediate prospect of, the destruction of Judah and Jerusalem by the Chaldeans; yet I understand the providence to be a rebuke to him for his rashness. (2.) We must adore God's righteousness in taking away such a jewel from an unthankful people that knew not how to value it. They greatly lamented his death (Ch2 35:25), urged to it by Jeremiah, who told them the meaning of it, and what a threatening omen it was; but they had not made a due improvement of the mercies they enjoyed by his life, of which God taught them the worth by the want.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv19–25 And he slew all the priests of the high…
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:
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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 Jerusalem; after he had gone through the land, both of Judah and Israel, and abolished idolatrous worship everywhere.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv20, 22, 24, 25 The priests - By this relation it appears, that…
The priests - By this relation it appears, that after the departure of the king of Assyria, divers of the Israelites who had retired to other parts, and kept themselves out of the conqueror's hands, returned together with their priests to their own land, and to their old trade, worshipping idols; to whom, peradventure, they ascribed this their deliverance from that judgment which Jehovah had brought upon them. And burnt - According to that famous prophecy, 1 Kings xiii, 1, 2.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv19, 20, 22, 24, 25 Verse 19. That were in the cities of Samaria]…
Verse 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.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv20, 21, 22, 24, 25 2Ki 23:20. He slew all the priests of the…
2Ki 23:20. He slew all the priests of the high places — By this relation it appears, that after the departure of the king of Assyria, divers of the Israelites, who had retired to other parts, and kept themselves out of the conqueror’s hands, returned together with their priests to their own land, and to their old trade, worshipping idols; to whom, peradventure, they ascribed this their deliverance from that judgment which Jehovah had brought upon them. And burned men’s bones upon them — According to that famous prophecy, 1Ki 13:1-2.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv21, 22, 24, 25 See 2Ki 23:4 note. With this verse the author…
See 2Ki 23:4 note. With this verse the author returns to the narrative of what was done in Josiah’s 18th year. The need of the injunction, “as it was written in the book of this covenant,” was owing to the fact - not that Josiah had as yet held no Passover - but that the reading of the book had shown him differences between the existing practice and the letter of the Law - differences consequent upon negligence, or upon the fact that tradition had been allowed in various points to override the Law.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv20, 21, 22, 24, 25 Slew. Most of the Israelites who had been left,…
CHAPTER XXIII.
Slew. Most of the Israelites who had been left, (Haydock) embraced the true religion, after the captivity of their brethren, (Calmet) and adhered to the kings of Juda, (ver. 15.; Haydock) who had taken possession of the whole country (Du Hamel) after the fall of the Assyrian empire; (Tirinus) unless the emperors of Chaldea had given it to them as to their vassels. See ver. 29. (Calmet)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On v21 the king commanded all the people, saying, Keep the…
the king commanded all the people, saying, Keep the passover unto the Lord your God, &c.--It was observed with great solemnity and was attended not only by his own subjects, but by the remnant people from Israel (see on 2Ch. 35:1-19). Many of the Israelites who were at Jerusalem might have heard of, if they did not hear, the law read by Josiah. It is probable that they might even have procured a copy of the law, stimulated as they were to the better observance of Jehovah's worship by the unusual and solemn transactions at Jerusalem.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv19, 20, 21, 22, 24, 25 19. Houses also of the high places — Temples…
19. Houses also of the high places — Temples erected on heights, and devoted to idolatrous purposes.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv19–25 19. high places that were in the cities of…
19. high places that were in the cities of Samaria] It would seem from this that when the ten tribes had been carried away the king of Judah exercised some sort of authority over the people in the northern kingdom. But the high places in Samaria were most likely the places in which purely heathen idolatry was practised. They therefore differed from the high places in Judah, and to their priests Josiah was more severe than to the Levitical priests who had conducted the worship of Jehovah on the high places in his own kingdom. The injunction to slay idolaters is found in Deu_17:2-5.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv19–25 (19) The houses also of the high places—i.e., temples…
(19) The houses also of the high places—i.e., temples or chapels attached to the high places.
Josiah took away.—Comp. 2Ch_34:6, from which it appears that the king’s zeal carried him as far as Naphtali. The question has been asked, how it was that Josiah was able to proceed thus beyond the limits of his own territory. It is possible that, as a vassal of Assyria, he enjoyed a certain amount of authority over the old domains of the ten tribes. We have no record of either fact, but his opposition to Necho favours the idea that he recognised the Assyrian sovereign as his suzerain. Moreover, it is in itself likely that the remnant of Israel would be drawn towards Judah and its king as the surviving representatives of the past glories of their race, and would sympathise in his reformation, just as the Samaritans, in the times of the return, were eager to participate in the rebuilding of the Temple. (Comp. 2Ch_34:9.) Another supposition is that, as the fall of the Assyrian empire was imminent, no notice was taken of Josiah’s proceedings in the west.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv19–25 And all the houses also of the high places…
And all the houses also of the high places that were in the cities of Samaria. The writer of Chronicles enters into more detail. Josiah, he says, carried out his destruction of the high places, the groves, and the images "in the cities of Manasseh, and Ephraim, and Simeon, even unto Naphtali" (2Ch_34:6) i.e. to the northern limit of the Holy Land, which was occupied by Naphtali and Asher. By what right Josiah exercised sovereign authority in the old kingdom of Samaria, which the Assyrians had conquered and attached to their empire, can only be conjectured. Some have supposed that the Assyrians had enlarged his sovereignty, and placed Samaria under his rule; others regard him as having transferred his allegiance to Nabopolassar, and having been made by him viceroy over Palestine. But it is, perhaps, most probable that he merely took advantage of the political commotions of the time to extend his dominion so far as it seemed safe to do so. Asshur-bani-pal, the last energetic King of Assyria, appears to have ceased to reign in Josiah"s fourteenth year, when he was succeeded by a weak monarch, Asshur-ebil-ili. Great troubles now broke out. The Scythians ravaged Western Asia far and wide. Assyria was attacked by the Medea and Babylonians in combination. Under these circumstances, Josiah found himself practically independent, and began to entertain ambitious projects. He "extended his dominion from Jerusalem over Samaria" (Ewald). Assyria was too much occupied to take any notice. Baby-Ionia was in the thick of the struggle. Josiah found himself able to reunite under his own headship all the scattered portions of the old Israelite kingdom, except, perhaps, the trans-Jordanic district. He levied taxes in Samaria as freely as in Judaea. (2Ch_33:9) He reformed on the same model the religions of both countries. When finally he had to fight for his throne, he marched his army into the northern portion of Samaria, and there fought the battle which cost him his life. Which the kings of Israel had made to provoke the Lord to anger. The earlier kings of Israel had simply allowed the "high places" to continue, without actively increasing or multiplying them; but Manasseh had re-established them after their destruction by Hezekiah, (2Ki_21:3) and Amen had probably done the same after Manasseh"s tardy reformation. Jonah took away, and did to them according to all the acts that he done in Bethel (see above, ver. 15).
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv22, 25 Surely there was not holden such a Passover.
2Ki_23:22
Surely there was not holden such a Passover.
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Sincerity of repentance
There is something very striking and melancholy in these words. The children of Israel celebrated their last Passover, all being together, and in such a manner as had not been known since the earlier and better days of their possession of the promised land. It was, in fact, the last repentance of Gods people, and a lively repentance it seems to have been, to judge from outward tokens. But, alas! it did not continue. Three times already before this, Gods people had publicly repented, under the direction of pious princes, which were Jehoshaphat, Jehoash, Hezekiah. But now the appointed punisher of their sins was openly manifested to their sight in the terrible King of Babylon. And like the sick man with death before his eyes, they made earnest protestations of repentance and amendment if God would spare them, and sealed them with the celebration of the Sacrament of the Paschal Supper. Here, then, is before us the example of a fourth publicly professed repentance, and as ineffectual as the three that went before. Should it not lead us to take very close and scrutinising views of repentance, and to conclude that there must be something in it besides the present feeling of shame and sorrow, however sharp and lively that may be? There must be some abiding feeling in it, which shame and sorrow naturally are not. For the very sense of them drives us to rid ourselves of them by all means. What then can that be? What does God demand beyond the broken heart? Nothing, if it be indeed broken in His name. But here lies the question. Which does the man think most of, his own personal danger, or Gods damaged glory? Which does he lament most, his own loss, or Gods rejected love? Has he renounced the sinful selfishness of his nature? A man may keep this, and yet be overwhelmed with shame and sorrow; he may retain this, and yet manifest the most lively outward marks of repentance. So did Israel; and was led by it into his sins again, and they led him to the final judgment which came upon his head. Here is the cause of so many apparent repentances in the course of a mans life. Selfish sorrow, selfish shame have wrung his heart, and terrified his conscience. But he has not gone beyond self. He has seen, indeed, the miserable disorder which his sins have wrought in himself in body and in mind. But has he looked out and up to see the miserable disorder which they have also wrought in Gods work of love; how they have obscured the brightness of His glory, how they have shaken the faith of His Church, as far as His sphere extends; and who shall tell how far it extends? Here is the principle that is so commonly wanting; here is that which Israel lacked, the heavenly spirit, and not the earthly dregs only. When the heart has thus been lifted out of itself, divested of its earthliness and carnality, and has risen into heaven to see the majesty which it has affronted, the love which it has rejected, the glory which it has blasphemed, and thence also looks down again upon the scenes of its sin and mischief amongst Gods works and people, and sees them with a clear and sharp eye, and lively and enlightened conscience, as becomes a look from above--then, and not until then, a real repentance has taken place. Such repentance will abide in its effects. In such the heart of the man is changed, so that he has foregone his old appetites, and, therefore, is out of the way of temptation from his old sins. Even though it should force itself upon his sight, he will not allow it to gain his attention, but turn away from it with a stern watchfulness against its ensnaring deceitfulness. He sees in it the art of the enemy of the God whom he serves, of the Redeemer whom he loves, of the Holy Spirit whose guidance he follows. And such repentance, therefore, is both the first and the last. But Israel, we see, made at least four several professions of repentance; and so have many done since. The more frequent they have been, of course the less sincere they have been. And such repentances are more a proof of the folly and selfishness of the man, than of any right and spiritual feeling. They are but the sorrow for having come in for the penalty of his sin at last. And, as soon as the infliction shall have been removed, he is ready to sin again. And, indeed, after each successive fit, he is but the more ready, because he wishes to drown the voice of conscience, which exclaims against his yielding again to the old temptation; and it is drowned amid his shouts of enjoyment, until the hour of penalty comes round again; then the note is that of lamentation again. Why, what affronting of the majesty of God Almighty is here! So little can the penitent himself depend upon a repentance which does not begin until Gods judgment is at hand. How can a heart which he has taught to cheat him continually, and which, at all events, has never been diligently schooled in spiritual discernment; how shall this, at a moment, too, of such confusion, at a time, too, when it is so deeply interested in coming to the more joyful conclusion; how can it, with any certainty, distinguish the sorrow and fear which arose from the love of self, now that he is in Such danger, from the love of God, now that He is resorted to after long forgetfulness? Wilt it not be too glad to mistake the fear for the love? Will not, indeed, the fear most certainly be there? All this tells us, what a broken reed men lean upon who trust in a last sickness to any feeling of repentance which they have not felt and cherished in the time of their health. Then judgment was far off, and God was sought therefore from love rather than from fear. Health is the time of strength, for the spirit no less than for the body. Let health, then, be the season of true repentance, and sickness will be the season of comfort, and the hour of death the season of well-founded hope. (R. W. Evans, B. D.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On v25 2Ki_23:26. Notwithstanding the Lord turned not—The nation’s heart was…
CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES.—
2Ki_23:26. Notwithstanding the Lord turned not—The nation’s heart was not changed by all this fervour of the king and the reformation of external worship. Jeremiah’s ministry during Josiah’s reign shows the gross moral corruption and total spiritual falsity of this hopelessly apostate people.
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2Ki_23:28-30. Josiah slain at Megiddo—Necho, the son of Psammeticus, ascended the throne of Egypt in the twentieth year of Josiah. The two rival monarchies of Egypt and Assyria were then still struggling for ascendancy. Palestine was a coveted frontier territory. From Manasseh’s time Juda’ was tributary to Assyria, and Josiah felt necessitated to rally to Assyria’s side against Necho of Egypt. On the Egyptian monarch’s way to Charchemish, by the Euphrates, Josiah intercepted his line of advance by meeting his in the great vale of Migeddo, in the plain of Esdraelon. Although Necho remonstrated (Chronicles account), yet Josiah opposed him, and was slain.
2Ki_23:31-34. Jehoahaz—It was the people’s act to raise Shallum, Josiah’s youngest son, afterwards named Jehoahaz, to the throne in preference to his elder brother Eliakim. This popular choice may be accounted for by Shallum’s military spirit (Eze_19:3), and his resolute opposition to the Egyptian monarchy; for there were two parties in the Jewish state, the one favouring allegiance with Assyria, the other with Egypt. He was quickly deposed by Necho.
2Ki_23:34-37. Eliakim, named Jehoiakim by Pharoah-Necho, followed an evil course, and was a reckless ruler. Jeremiah portrays his character most vividly (2Ki_22:13-19).—W. H. J.
HOMILETICS OF 2Ki_23:25-37
FAILURE IN THE WORK OF REFORMATION
I. That the work of Reformation may fail, notwithstanding the exemplary character of the principal agent (2Ki_23:25). High praise is here accorded to Josiah. It is usually maintained that Hezekiah equalled or surpassed him in trusting Jehovah (2Ki_18:5), but that he excelled Hezekiah in his scrupulous adherence to the minute details of the Mosaic law. It is, however, evident from this verse that Josiah was also conspicuous for his trust in Jehovah, for he turned to the Lord with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his might. The eulogy of Josiah, as of Hezekiah, may be regarded as a passage worded after the manner of oriental hyperbole, not to be literally understood, but as intended to distinguish a person who was gifted with specially great qualities. Josiah was the best character that age could produce, and was the fittest to grapple with the abuses that others deplored, but were powerless to rectify. With all the high personal qualifications and supreme royal influence possessed by Josiah, his reforming work was not permanently successful. He was not the first, or the last, great man who has attempted a great and much-needed reform, and failed.
II. That the work of Reformation fails when it does not prevent the accomplishment of the threatened doom (2Ki_23:26-27).—After all the colossal and drastic efforts of Josiah to remove the dark curse that lowered over his kingdom and people, we learn from these verses the fateful sentence is still unrepealed. The evil was too deep and inveterate to be easily eradicated. By a comparatively early death, the good king was removed from the evil to come. Scarcely had the wail of lamentation for the popular monarch died away, ere the people relapsed into their former sins. The nation sank into deeper gloom, and the vial of Divine wrath, so long and patiently restrained, was at length poured out. The position of Judah at this time was similar to that of the Netherlands when William the Silent retired for a time from his loved Fatherland, which he felt himself unable to save, and a thunderbolt burst upon the land in the savage onslaught of the Duke of Alva and his butchering army—the thunderbolt that ultimately fell on Israel being Sennacherib and his victorious legions.
III. That the work of Reformation fails when it does not raise up competent agents to perpetuate its policy (2Ki_23:28-37).—Josiah left no successor, either clerical or lay. The priests whose cause he had so bravely championed, had not the ability, or the will, to press forward the good work; and his two sons—Jehoahaz and Jehoiakim—who held the sceptre but as vassals under the dominating authority of the Egyptian monarch, showed their dislike to their father’s reforming work by throwing in their lot with the opposing party. They forsook the God of their father, and became idolaters. A great work of genuine reform usually creates its own agents, who perpetuate and consolidate the work, when the pioneer advocate is no more; and there must have been something defective about the plans and methods of Hezekiah’s work that failed to do this. “Reformation,” says Sir Joshua Reynolds, “is a work of time. A national taste, however wrong it may be, cannot be totally changed at once; we must yield a little to the prepossession which has taken hold on the mind, and we may then bring people to adopt what would offend them if endeavoured to be introduced by violence.”
IV. That the work of Reformation fails when it does not thoroughly penetrate the heart and life of every member of the community.—Reform, to be real and abiding, must be personal, convincing the judgment, biassing the will, changing the spirit. “Reform, like charity, must begin at home. Once well at home, how will it radiate outwards, irrepressible, into all that we touch and handle, speak and work; kindling ever new light by incalculable contagion, spreading in geometric ratio, far and wide, doing good only wherever it spreads, and not evil” (Carlyle). National evils are thoroughly cured only so far as the individual is morally transformed and exalted.
LESSONS:—
1. The mightiest efforts of reform may come too late.
2. The failure of any worthy effort is an occasion of sincere sorrow to the good.
3. Failure should lead to self-examination and more complete trust in God.
GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES
2Ki_23:25-28. We cannot doubt that the sanguinary acts of Josiah, no less than of Elijah and Jehu, are condemned by Him in whom was fulfilled the spirit of the true Deuteronomy, the Revived Law, which the impetuous king carried out only in its external observances, and by its own hard measures. It was the first direct persecution that the kingdom of Judah had witnessed on behalf of the True Religion. Down to this time the mournful distinction had been reserved for the half-Pagan king Manasseh. But cruelty had here, as in all like cases, provoked a corresponding cruelty; and the reformation of Josiah, if from his youth and zeal it has suggested his likeness to our Edward VI., by its harsher features encouraged the rough acts which disfigured so many of the last efforts of that and other like movements of the Christian Church. But, in spite of all this effort, the kingdom of Judah was doomed. Perhaps the very vehemence of the attempt carried with it its own inefficacy. Even the traditions which invested Josiah with a blaze of preternatural glory, maintained that in his day the sacred oil was for ever lost. Too late is written on the pages even which described his momentary revival. It did not reach the deeply-seated, wide-spread corruption which tainted rich and poor alike.—Stanley.
2Ki_23:26-27. The downward course of sin.
1. May reach a depth from which recovery is hopeless.
2. The best considered efforts of reform may fail to arrest.
3. Sinks at last to its inevitable doom.
2Ki_23:29-30. The hope of Judah.
1. Rose to its brightest zenith amid the reforming efforts of Josiah.
2. Was quenched in that monarch’s death.
3. Rose no more in the history of the kingdom.
4. Will revive and burst into perfect glory, only under the sceptre of the Messiah-King.
—The early death of the king was no punishment for him, for he was thus gathered in peace to his fathers; but it was a chastisement for his unrepentant people, who now lamented him, and saw, when it was too late, what noble purposes he had had in their behalf.
2Ki_23:30. His fall caused a universal mourning. Jeremiah wrote a lamentation for him (Lam_4:20). His loss formed the burden of regular songs even after the captivity, when “the mourning of Hadad-rimmon in the valley of Megiddon” was still the type of the deepest national affliction (Zec_12:11). “Well might such feelings be excited by the battle of Megiddo. That great valley of Esdraelon, the lists of Palestine, the scene of the great victories of Barak and of Gideon, was now stained with a second defeat more disastrous than that in which Saul lost his life. Then it had witnessed the fall of the short-lived dynasty of the people’s choice, but now it saw the virtual end of the earthly monarchy of the house of David. Hence may be traced the mystic significance which surrounds the name of this battlefield. The prophet Zechariah employs the mourning of Megiddo as a type of the more wholesome sorrow of Judah, in the day when God shall pour out upon them the spirit of grace and prayer, as a preparation for His final destruction of all the nations that come up against Jerusalem; and his imagery is adopted in the visions of the Apocalypse. On the very scene of the two most signal defeats of Israel and Judah by their most inveterate enemies, the Philistines and Egypt, the seer beholds the mystic “Battle of Armageddon,” which avenges all such defeats by the final overthrow of the kings of all the world in the great day of God Almighty” (Zec_12:9-14; Rev_16:14-16).—Dr. Smith’s Student’s Scripture History.
—What eye doth not now pity and lament the untimely end of Josiah? Whom can it choose but affect to see a religious, just, virtuous prince, snatched away in the vigour of his age? After all our foolish moan, the Providence that directed that shaft to his lighting place, intends that wound for a stroke of mercy. The God whom Josiah serves, looks through his death at his glory, and by this sudden violence will deliver him from the view and participation of the miseries of Judah. O the wonderful goodness of the Almighty, whose very judgments are merciful! O the safe condition of God’s children, whom very pain easeth, whom death revives, whom dissolution unites, whom their very sin and temptation glorifies!—Bp. Hall.
2Ki_23:31-37. Royal automata.
1. Divested of personal freedom and power, and manipulated by a grasping and imperious will (2Ki_23:33-35).
2. Imitating with mechanical helplessness and precision the worst features of wicked predecessors (2Ki_23:32-37).
3. Maintained by the privations and sufferings of their subjects (2Ki_23:35).
4. Indicate a lowering of natural spirit and prestige.
2Ki_23:32. The reassertive power of sin.
1. Repressed for a time by the influence of public reformation.
2. Ready to take advantage of the slightest relaxation of restraint.
3. Defiantly awaits its unavoidable punishment.
2Ki_23:35. “He exacted the silver and the gold of the people.” Though he received likely from the subjects no less sums of curses than of coin.—Trapp.
2Ki_23:37. Jehoiakin was a most unprincipled and oppressive tyrant. Jeremiah sternly rebukes his injustice and oppression, his cruelty and avarice, and his reckless luxury in building himself a magnificent palace; and contrasts all this with his father’s justice to the poor (Jer_22:13-19). In the Chronicles his name is dismissed with an allusion to “all the abominations that he did.” To all his other evils he added this, that he slew Urijah, the prophet (Jer_26:20; Jer_26:23).
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v21 The Passover Kept
The Passover Kept
v. 21. And the king, probably in the early years of his reformatory labors, commanded all the people, saying, Keep the Passover unto the Lord, your God, as it is written in the book of this covenant, Exo 12:3; Lev 23:5; Num 9:2; Deu 16:2. This command was carried out, as we read 2Ch 35:1-19.
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v. 22. Surely there was not holden such a Passover from the days of the Judges that judged Israel, nor in all the days of the kings of Israel, nor of the kings of Judah,
v. 23. but in the eighteenth year of King Josiah, wherein this Passover was holden to the Lord in Jerusalem. In point of attendance, in point of strict adherence to the precepts of the Law, this was the most extraordinary festival of its kind ever held.
v. 24. Moreover, the workers with familiar spirits, the necromancers, and the wizards, and the images, the household gods, to whom magical power was imputed, and the idols, small gods, which also were used chiefly in the households, and all the abominations that were spied in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, did Josiah put away, he put an end to all the superstitious practices and idol-worship which were carried on in private houses, that he might perform the words of the Law which were written in the book that Hilkiah, the priest, found in the house of the Lord. He wanted to see all the precepts of the Lord in actual operation throughout the land.
v. 25. And like unto him was there no king before him that turned to the Lord with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his might, according to all the Law of Moses, which he intended to enforce with all severity; neither after him arose there any like him, he stood alone in this respect.
v. 26. Notwithstanding, the Lord turned not from the fierceness of His great wrath wherewith His anger was kindled against Judah, because of all the provocations that Manasseh had provoked Him withal. The offense given by Manasseh had been so great and the consequences of his many transgressions so deep-rooted that even this reformation with all its outward show of success was unable to stem the tide of God’s indignation.
v. 27. And the Lord said, I will remove Judah also out of My sight, as I have removed Israel, and will cast off this city Jerusalem which I have chosen, and the house of which I said, My name shall be there, 1Ki 8:29.
v. 28. Now, the rest of the acts of Josiah, and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? Cf 2 Chronicles 35.
v. 29. In his days Pharaoh-nechoh, king of Egypt, went up against the king of Assyria, to the river Euphrates, this being probably Nabopolassar, who was ruler of both Babylon and Assyria. And King Josiah went against him, to prevent him from marching through his country; and he, the Egyptian king, slew him at Megiddo when he had seen him, they met in battle at this city, in the Plain of Jezreel, at the foot of Mount Carmel.
v. 30. And his servants carried him in a chariot dead from Megiddo, and brought him to Jerusalem, and buried him in his own sepulcher. Thus the attempt of Josiah to avert misfortune from his country met with disaster, he died in the defense of his position. Thus the just are mercifully taken away before misfortune breaks upon them, finding peace in the tomb until the great day of resurrection. And the people of the land took Jehoahaz, the son of Josiah, and anointed him, and made him king in his father’s stead.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv19, 21, 24 Josiah removed ... He did ... He slaughtered ...…
Josiah removed ... He did ... He slaughtered ... he burned
It might be best to translate so that the reader understands that other people, perhaps Hilkiah and "the priests under him" (2 Kings 23:4), might have helped Josiah do these things. (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
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what had been done
"what he had done"
he burned human bones on them
You may need to make explicit why he burned the bones. "he burned human bones on them so no one would use them again" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
translationWords
high place
Yahweh
anger
priest
Jerusalem
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv19, 21, 24 23:19-20 pagan shrines . . . of Samaria: Josiah’s…
23:19-20 pagan shrines . . . of Samaria: Josiah’s religious purge extended throughout the former northern kingdom (see also 2 Chr 34:6-7). Josiah’s freedom to carry out such reforms testifies to his strength and Assyria’s growing weakness (see study note on 2 Kgs 23:29).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.