Bible Commentaries
2 Kings 23

Verses 1-37

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, both that altar and the high place he brake down, and burned the high place, and stamped it small to powder, and burned the grove.

2 Kings 23:16 And as Josiah turned himself, he spied the sepulchres that were there in the mount, and sent, and took the bones out of the sepulchres, and burned them upon the altar, and polluted it, according to the word of the LORD which the man of God proclaimed, who proclaimed these words.

2 Kings 23:15-16 Comments Fulfillment of Prophecy Concerning the Altar of Bethel - The prophecy found in 2 Kings 23:15-16, spoken three hundred years earlier (931 B.C.) (1 Kings 13:1-2), was fulfilled during the days of King Josiah (621 B.C.).

1 Kings 13:1-2, “And, behold, there came a man of God out of Judah by the word of the LORD unto Bethel: and Jeroboam stood by the altar to burn incense. And he cried against the altar in the word of the LORD, and said, O altar, altar, thus saith the LORD; Behold, a child shall be born unto the house of David, Josiah by name; and upon thee shall he offer the priests of the high places that burn incense upon thee, and men's bones shall be burnt upon thee.”

2 Kings 23:29-30 Comments - The Battle of Carchemish - A ancient clay tablet in cuneiform text tells, among other things, of the Battle of Carchemish (a famous battle that took place in 605 B.C. where Nebuchadnezzar defeated Pharaoh for world supremacy), the accession to the throne of Nebuchadnezzar II, the Chaldean, and the capture of Jerusalem on the sixteenth day of March, 589 B.C. Regarding this capture, the clay tablet reads:

“Year 7 (598/597 bce): in Kislev the king of Babylonia called out his army and marched to Hattu [Syria/Palestine]. He set his camp against the city of Judah [ Ya-a-ḫu-du ] and on 2nd Adar [16th March] he took the city and captured the king [Jehoiachin]. He appointed a king [Zedekiah] of his choosing there, took heavy tribute and returned to Babylon.” [72]

[72] William W. Hallo and K. Lawson Younger, Jr., Context of Scripture, vol. 1 (Leiden; Brill, 2000), In Libronix Digital Library System, v. 2.1c [CD-ROM] Bellingham, WA: Libronix Corp., 2000-2004, 468.

2 Kings 23:31-34 The Reign of Jehoahaz Over Judah (609 B.C.) 2 Kings 23:31-34 records the account of the reign of Jehoahaz over Judah.

2 Kings 23:35 to 2 Kings 24:7 The Reign of Jehoiakim Over Judah (609-598 B.C.) 2 Kings 23:35 to 2 Kings 24:7 records the account of the reign of Jehoiakim over Judah.