the Week of Proper 20 / Ordinary 25
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The Holy Bible, Berean Study Bible
2 Kings 23:14
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And he broke in pieces the sacred pillars and cut down the Asherim and filled their places with human bones.
He broke in pieces the sacred pillars and cut down the Asherim and filled their places with human bones.
And brake the images, and cut downe the idol groues, and filled their places with the bones of men.
And he broke in pieces the sacred pillars and cut down the wooden images, and filled their places with the bones of men.
And he broke the images in pieces, and cut down the Asherahs, and filled their places with the bones of men.
He broke all the memorial stones and Asherah poles. Then he scattered dead men's bones over that place.
And he broke in pieces the pillars, and cut down the Ashe'rim, and filled their places with the bones of men.
He broke in pieces the pillars, and cut down the Asherim, and filled their places with the bones of men.
And he brake in pieces the images, and cut downe the groues, and filled their places with the bones of men.
And he brake in pieces the images, and cut down the groves, and filled their places with the bones of men.
and brake the pilers, and roted out the groues, and fylled their places with mens bones.
And he brake in pieces the pillars, and cut down the Asherim, and filled their places with the bones of men.
The stone pillars were broken to bits and the wood pillars cut down, and the places where they had been were made full of the bones of the dead.
And he broke in pieces the pillars, and cut down the Asherim, and filled their places with man's bones.
And he broke in pieces the images, and cut down the groves, and filled their places with the bones of men.
He smashed the sacred pillars to bits, cut down the Asherah pole, and filled those shrines with human bones.
He tore down the stone images of foreign gods and cut down the sacred pole used in the worship of Asherah. Then he had the whole area covered with human bones.
He smashed the standing-stones, chopped down the sacred poles and covered their remains with human bones.
And he broke in pieces the columns, and cut down the Asherahs, and filled their place with the bones of men.
And he brake the images in pieces, & cut downe the groues and filled their places with the bones of men.
And he broke in pieces the images and cut down the idols and filled their places with the bones of men.
He broke in pieces the sacred pillars (cultic memorial stones, images) and cut down the Asherim and replaced them with human bones [to desecrate the places forever].
He broke in pieces the pillars, and cut down the Asherim, and filled their places with the bones of men.
And he broke in pieces the pillars, and cut down the Asherim, and filled their places with the bones of men.
He smashed the sacred pillars and cut down the Asherah poles. Then he desecrated these places by scattering human bones over them.
And Josiah broke in pieces the pillars used in worship and cut down the Asherim. He filled their places with human bones.
He broke the pillars in pieces, cut down the sacred poles, and covered the sites with human bones.
And he broke in pieces the pillars, and utterly destroyed the groves, and filled their places with the bones of men.
And he brake in pieces the pillars, and cut down the Asherim, and filled their places with the bones of men.
and he brake in pieces the pillars, and cut down the Sacred Stems, - and filled their place with human bones:
And he broke in pieces the statues, and cut down the groves: and he filled their places with the bones of dead men.
He also broke into pieces the stone pillars and cut down the Asherah poles and covered their sites with human bones.
And he broke in pieces the pillars and cut down the Asherim and filled their places with the bones of men.
He also smashed to pieces the memorial stones and cut down the Asherim, and filled their places with human bones.
Josiah smashed to pieces the stone pillars they worshiped, and he cut down the Asherah idols. Then he covered the places with human bones.
King Josiah broke the stone pillars to pieces, cut down the symbols of the goddess Asherah, and the ground where they had stood he covered with human bones.
He broke the sacred pillars into pieces, cut down the Asherah poles, then filled their places with human bones.
and he al to-brak ymagis, and kittide doun wodis, and fillide the places of tho with the boonys of deed men.
And he hath broken in pieces the standing-pillars, and cutteth down the shrines, and filleth their place with bones of men;
Contextual Overview
Bible Verse Review
from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge
he brake: Exodus 23:24, Numbers 33:52, Deuteronomy 7:5, Deuteronomy 7:25, Deuteronomy 7:26, 2 Chronicles 34:3, 2 Chronicles 34:4, Micah 1:7
images: Heb. statues
the bones of men: 2 Kings 23:16, Numbers 19:16, Numbers 19:18, Jeremiah 8:1, Jeremiah 8:2, Ezekiel 39:12-16, Matthew 23:27, Matthew 23:28
Reciprocal: Exodus 34:13 - ye shall Deuteronomy 12:3 - and burn Judges 3:7 - the groves 1 Kings 11:7 - build an high 2 Kings 11:18 - went 2 Chronicles 14:3 - images Jeremiah 19:13 - defiled Ezekiel 6:4 - and I
Gill's Notes on the Bible
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 unclean, Numbers 19:15.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible
A parenthesis giving the earlier reforms of Josiah.
2 Kings 23:4
The priests of the second order - This is a new expression; and probably refers to the ordinary priests, called here “priests of the second order,” in contrast with the high priest, whose dignity was reviving (2 Kings 12:2 note).
The vessels - This would include the whole apparatus of worship, altars, images, dresses, utensils, etc., for Baal, etc. (2 Kings 21:3-5 notes).
The ashes of the idolatrous objects burned in the first instance in the “fields of Kidron” (i. e., in the part of the valley which lies northeast of the city, a part much broader than that between the Temple Hill and the Mount of Olives) were actually taken to Bethel, as to an accursed place, and one just beyond the borders of Judah; while those of other objects burned afterward were not carried so far, the trouble being great and the need not absolute, but were thrown into the Kidron 2 Kings 23:12, when there happened to be water to carry them away, or scattered on graves which were already unclean 2 Kings 23:6. Compare 1 Kings 15:13.
2 Kings 23:5
He put down ... - or, “He caused to cease the idolatrous priests” (margin); i. e., he stopped them. The word translated “idolatrous priests” (see the margin) is a rare one, occurring only here and in marginal references. Here and in Zephaniah it is contrasted with כהן kôhên, another class of high-place priests. The כהן kôhên were probably “Levitical,” the כהן kâhêm “non-Levitical priests of the highplaces.” כהן kâhêm appears to have been a foreign term, perhaps derived from the Syriac cumro, which means a priest of any kind.
Whom the kings of Judah had ordained - The consecration of non-Levitical priests by the kings of Judah (compare 1 Kings 12:31) had not been previously mentioned; but it is quite in accordance with the other proceedings of Manasseh and Amon.
The planets - See the marginal note, i. e., the “signs of the Zodiac.” Compare Job 38:32 margin. The word in the original probably means primarily “houses” or “stations,” which was the name applied by the Babylonians to their divisions of the Zodiac.
2 Kings 23:6
The ashes, being polluted and polluting, were thrown upon graves, because there no one could come into contact with them, since graves were avoided as unclean places.
2 Kings 23:7
By the house of the Lord - This did not arise from intentional desecration, but from the fact that the practices in question were a part of the idolatrous ceremonial, being regarded as pleasing to the gods, and, indeed, as positive acts of worship (compare the marginal reference).
The “women” were probably the priestesses attached to the worship of Astarte, which was intimately connected with that of the Asherah or “grove.” Among their occupations one was the weaving of coverings (literally “houses” margin) for the Asherah, which seem to have been of various colors (marginal reference).
2 Kings 23:8
Josiah removed the Levitical priests, who had officiated at the various high-places, from the scenes of their idolatries, and brought them to Jerusalem, where their conduct might be watched.
From Geba to Beer-sheba - i. e., from the extreme north to the extreme south of the kingdom of Judah. On Geba see the marginal reference note. The high-place of Beer-sheba had obtained an evil celebrity Amos 5:5; Amos 8:14.
The high places of the gates ... - Render, “He brake down the high-places of the gates, both that which was at the entering in of the gate of Joshua, the governor of the city (1 Kings 22:26 note), and also that which was on a man’s left hand at the gate of the city.” According to this, there were only two “high-places of the gates” (or idolatrous shrines erected in the city at gate-towers) at Jerusalem. The “gate of Joshua is conjectured to have been a gate in the inner wall; and the “gate of the city,” the Valley-gate (modern “Jaffa-gate”).
2 Kings 23:9
Nevertheless - Connect this verse with the first clause of 2 Kings 23:8. The priests were treated as if they had been disqualified from serving at the altar by a bodily blemish Leviticus 21:21-23. They were not secularised, but remained in the priestly order and received a maintenance from the ecclesiastical revenues. Contrast with this treatment Josiah’s severity toward the priests of the high-places in Samaria, who were sacrificed upon their own altars 2 Kings 23:20. Probably the high-place worship in Judaea had continued in the main a worship of Yahweh with idolatrous rites, while in Samaria it had degenerated into an actual worship of other gods.
2 Kings 23:10
The word Topheth, or Topher - variously derived from toph, “a drum” or “tabour,” because the cries of the sacrificed children were drowned by the noise of such instruments; or, from a root taph or toph, meaning “to burn” - was a spot in the valley of Hinnom (marginal reference note). The later Jewish kings, Manasseh and Amon (or, perhaps, Ahaz, 2 Chronicles 28:3), had given it over to the Moloch priests for their worship; and here, ever since, the Moloch service had maintained its ground and flourished (marginal references).
2 Kings 23:11
The custom of dedicating a chariot and horses to the Sun is a Persian practice. There are no traces of it in Assyria; and it is extremely curious to find that it was known to the Jews as early as the reign of Manasseh. The idea of regarding the Sun as a charioteer who drove his horses daily across the sky, so familiar to the Greeks and Romans, may not improbably have been imported from Asia, and may have been at the root of the custom in question. The chariot, or chariots, of the Sun appear to have been used, chiefly if not solely, for sacred processions. They were white, and were drawn probably by white horses. The kings of Judah who gave them were Manasseh and Amon certainly; perhaps Ahaz; perhaps even earlier monarchs, as Joash and Amaziah.
In the suburbs - The expression used here פרברים parbārı̂ym is of unknown derivation and occurs nowhere else. A somewhat similar word occurs in 1 Chronicles 26:18, namely, פרבר parbār, which seems to have been a place just outside the western wall of the temple, and therefore a sort of “purlieu” or “suburb.” The פרברים parbārı̂ym of this passage may mean the same place or it may signify some other “suburb” of the temple.
2 Kings 23:12
The upper chamber of Ahaz - Conjectured to be a chamber erected on the flat roof of one of the gateways which led into the temple court. It was probably built in order that its roof might be used for the worship of the host of heaven, for which house-tops were considered especially appropriate (compare the marginal references).
Brake them down from thence - Rather as in the margin, i. e., he “hasted and cast the dust into Kidron.”
2 Kings 23:13
On the position of these high-places see 1 Kings 11:7 note. As they were allowed to remain under such kings as Asa, Jehoshaphat, and Hezekiah, they were probably among the old high-places where Yahweh had been worshipped blamelessly, or at least without any consciousness of guilt (see 1 Kings 3:2 note). Manasseh or Amon had however restored them to the condition which they had held in the reign of Solomon, and therefore Josiah would condemn them to a special defilement.
The mount of corruption - See the margin. It is suspected that the original name was Har ham-mishcah, “mount of anointing,” and that this was changed afterward, by way of contempt, into Har ham-mashchith, “mount of corruption.”
2 Kings 23:14
The Law attached uncleanness to the “bones of men,” no less than to actual corpses Numbers 19:16. We may gather from this and other passages 2 Kings 23:20; 1 Kings 13:2, that the Jews who rejected the Law were as firm believers in the defilement as those who adhered to the Law.
2 Kings 23:15
And burned the high place - This “high place” is to be distinguished from the altar and the grove (אשׁרה 'ăshêrâh). It may have been a shrine or tabernacle, either standing by itself or else covering the “grove” (2 Kings 23:7 note; 1 Kings 14:23 note). As it was “stamped small to powder,” it must have been made either of metal or stone.
2 Kings 23:16
To burn human bones was contrary to all the ordinary Jewish feelings with respect to the sanctity of the sepulchre, and had even been denounced as a sin of a heinous character when committed by a king of Moab Amos 2:1. Joshua did it, because justified by the divine command (marginal reference).
2 Kings 23:17
What title is that? - Rather, “What pillar is that?” The word in the original indicates a short stone pillar, which was set up either as a way-mark Jeremiah 31:21, or as a sepulchral monument Genesis 35:20; Ezekiel 39:15.
2 Kings 23:19
The cities of Samaria - The reformation which Josiah effected in Samaria, is narrated in Chronicles. It implies sovereignty to the furthest northern limits of Galilee, and is explained by the general political history of the East during his reign. Between 632-626 B.C. the Scythians ravaged the more northern countries of Armenia, Media, and Cappadocia, and found their way across Mesopotamia to Syria, and thence, made an attempt to invade Egypt. As they were neither the fated enemy of Judah, nor had any hand in bringing that enemy into the country, no mention is made of them in the Historical Books of Scripture. It is only in the prophets that we catch glimpses of the fearful sufferings of the time Zephaniah 2:4-6; Jeremiah 1:13-15; Jeremiah 6:2-5; Ezekiel 38:0; Ezekiel 39:0. The invasion had scarcely gone by, and matters settled into their former position, when the astounding intelligence must have reached Jerusalem that the Assyrian monarchy had fallen; that Nineveh was destroyed, and that her place was to be taken, so far as Syria and Palestine were concerned, by Babylon. This event is fixed about 625 B.C., which seems to be exactly the time during which Josiah was occupied in carrying out his reformation in Samaria. The confusion arising in these provinces from the Scythian invasion and the troubles in Assyria was taken advantage of by Josiah to enlarge his own sovereignty. There is every indication that Josiah did, in fact, unite under his rule all the old “land of Israel” except the trans-Jordanic region, and regarded himself as subject to Nabopolassar of Babylon.
2 Kings 23:20
Here, as in 2 Kings 23:16, Josiah may have regarded himself as bound to act as he did (marginal reference “b”). Excepting on account of the prophecy, he would scarcely have slain the priests upon the altars.
Clarke's Notes on the Bible
Verse 2 Kings 23:14. Filled their places with the bones of men. — This was allowed to be the utmost defilement to which any thing could be exposed.
