CLARITY EDITION · OLD TESTAMENT
2 Kings 23
Chapter 23 of 25
Chapter Overview
What happens in 2 Kings 23
Josiah carries out the most thorough religious reform in Israel's history, destroying idols and pagan shrines throughout the land and celebrating a Passover unlike any since the time of the judges. But after Josiah's death in battle, Judah rapidly declines under a series of wicked kings.
Scripture
2 Kings 23
Josiah Renews the Covenant
Study note
Josiah gathered all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem and went to the temple. He read the entire Book of the Covenant to everyone -- leaders, priests, prophets, and ordinary people. Then he stood by the pillar and made a solemn covenant before the Lord to follow him and obey his commands with all his heart and soul. All the people pledged themselves to the covenant.
1 The king summoned all the elders from Judah and Jerusalem. And the king sent, and they gathered unto him all the elders of Judah and of Jerusalem.
2 He went up to the Lord's temple and brought everyone along. All the people of Judah and Jerusalem came: the priests, the prophets, and regular people from the poorest to the richest. He read out loud every word of the Book of the Covenant that had been found in the temple. And the king went up into the house of the LORD, and all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem with him, and the priests, and the prophets, and all the people, both small and great: and he read in their ears all the words of the book of the covenant which was found in the house of the LORD.
3 Standing beside the pillar, the king made a solemn promise before the Lord. He pledged to follow the Lord and to obey his commands, laws, and regulations wholeheartedly. He committed to honoring every word of the covenant in the book. Every person in the crowd made the same commitment. And the king stood by a pillar, and made a covenant before the LORD, to walk after the LORD, and to keep his commandments and his testimonies and his statutes with all their heart and all their soul, to perform the words of this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people stood to the covenant.
Josiah's Great Reforms
Study note
Josiah's reforms were the most sweeping in Judah's history. He removed all the items used for Baal worship, Asherah worship, and star worship from the temple and burned them. He got rid of the pagan priests, pulled down the quarters used for cult prostitution, destroyed the place called Topheth in the Valley of Hinnom where children had been sacrificed to Molech, removed the horses and chariots dedicated to the sun god, smashed altars and high places throughout the land, and even extended his reforms into the former territory of northern Israel. He fulfilled a prophecy made three hundred years earlier about the altar at Bethel.
4 The king told High Priest Hilkiah and the other priests to take out of the Lord's temple every item used for Baal, the idol pole, and star worship. He burned them all in the fields by the Kidron Valley outside Jerusalem. Then he carried their ashes to Bethel. And the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest, and the priests of the second order, and the keepers of the door, to bring forth out of the temple of the LORD all the vessels that were made for Baal, and for the grove, and for all the host of heaven: and he burned them without Jerusalem in the fields of Kidron, and carried the ashes of them unto Beth-el.
5 He fired the pagan priests that earlier kings of Judah had appointed to burn incense at hilltop shrines around Judah and Jerusalem. These priests had burned incense to Baal, the sun, moon, planets, and all the stars. And he put down the idolatrous priests, whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense in the high places in the cities of Judah, and in the places round about Jerusalem; them also that burned incense unto Baal, to the sun, and to the moon, and to the planets, and to all the host of heaven.
6 He dragged the idol pole out of the Lord's temple, hauled it to the Kidron Valley outside Jerusalem, and burned it there. He ground it into powder and scattered the dust across the public graveyard. And he brought out the grove from the house of the LORD, without Jerusalem, unto the brook Kidron, and burned it at the brook Kidron, and stamped it small to powder, and cast the powder thereof upon the graves of the children of the people.
7 He tore down the rooms of the temple workers who sold their bodies. These rooms were inside the Lord's temple. Women had been weaving clothes for the idol pole there. And he brake down the houses of the sodomites, that were by the house of the LORD, where the women wove hangings for the grove.
8 He brought all the priests in from the towns of Judah and made the hilltop shrines where they had been burning incense unusable, from Geba in the north to Beersheba in the south. He also destroyed the shrines at the city gates. And he brought all the priests out of the cities of Judah, and defiled the high places where the priests had burned incense, from Geba to Beer-sheba, and brake down the high places of the gates that were in the entering in of the gate of Joshua the governor of the city, which were on a man's left hand at the gate of the city.
9 The priests from hilltop shrines could not serve at the Lord's altar in Jerusalem. But they could eat flat bread with their fellow priests. Nevertheless the priests of the high places came not up to the altar of the LORD in Jerusalem, but they did eat of the unleavened bread among their brethren.
10 Josiah ruined the place called Topheth in the Valley of Ben-Hinnom. He ensured no one could ever use it again to sacrifice children to the god Molech. And he defiled Topheth, which is in the valley of the children of Hinnom, that no man might make his son or his daughter to pass through the fire to Molech.
11 He removed the horses that earlier kings of Judah had set apart for the sun god. They had been kept near the entrance to the Lord's temple by the room of the official Nathan-melech. He also burned the sun-god chariots. And he took away the horses that the kings of Judah had given to the sun, at the entering in of the house of the LORD, by the chamber of Nathan-melech the chamberlain, which was in the suburbs, and burned the chariots of the sun with fire.
12 He demolished the altars earlier kings had built on the palace roof, plus the altars Manasseh had built in both courtyards of the Lord's temple. He smashed them to bits and dumped the debris into the Kidron Valley. And the altars that were on the top of the upper chamber of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made, and the altars which Manasseh had made in the two courts of the house of the LORD, did the king beat down, and brake them down from thence, and cast the dust of them into the brook Kidron.
13 He also wrecked the hilltop shrines east of Jerusalem. They sat on the south slope of the Mount of Ruin. Solomon had built these. One was for Ashtoreth, Sidon's vile goddess. One was for Chemosh, Moab's vile god. One was for Milcom, Ammon's vile god. And the high places that were before Jerusalem, which were on the right hand of the mount of corruption, which Solomon the king of Israel had builded for Ashtoreth the abomination of the Zidonians, and for Chemosh the abomination of the Moabites, and for Milcom the abomination of the children of Ammon, did the king defile.
14 He smashed the stone pillars and cut down the idol poles. Then he spread human bones over those places so they could never be used again. And he brake in pieces the images, and cut down the groves, and filled their places with the bones of men.
15 He also tore down the altar and hilltop shrine at Bethel. Jeroboam son of Nebat had built those when he led Israel into sin. Josiah burned the shrine, ground it into dust, and set fire to the idol pole. Moreover the altar that was at Beth-el, 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.
16 Looking around, Josiah noticed burial tombs on the hillside. He ordered the bones dug up and burned on the altar to permanently defile it. This fulfilled exactly what the Lord's prophet had predicted years before. 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.
17 Josiah asked, "What is that marker over there?" The locals told him, "It marks the grave of the prophet from Judah who predicted exactly what you did to the altar at Bethel." Then he said, What title is that that I see? And the men of the city told him, It is the sepulchre of the man of God, which came from Judah, and proclaimed these things that thou hast done against the altar of Beth-el.
18 Josiah said, "Do not touch it. Leave his bones undisturbed." So they left his remains alone, along with the bones of the prophet from Samaria. And he said, Let him alone; let no man move his bones. So they let his bones alone, with the bones of the prophet that came out of Samaria.
19 Josiah also destroyed every hilltop shrine in the towns of Samaria. The kings of Israel had built these and provoked the Lord with them. He treated them all the same way he had treated the one at Bethel. 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 Beth-el.
20 He executed the pagan priests on their own altars and burned human bones on the altars to defile them. Then he went back to Jerusalem. And he slew all the priests of the high places that were there upon the altars, and burned men's bones upon them, and returned to Jerusalem.
The Great Passover
Study note
Josiah commanded the people to celebrate the Passover as written in the Book of the Covenant. The author notes that no Passover like this had been celebrated since the days of the judges. This was a highlight of Josiah's reign, showing the nation returning to its roots and remembering how God had delivered them from Egypt.
21 The king told everyone, "Keep the Passover for the Lord your God. Do it just as this Book of the Deal says." And the king commanded all the people, saying, Keep the passover unto the LORD your God, as it is written in the book of this covenant.
22 Nothing like this Passover celebration had taken place since the time of the judges. No king of Israel or Judah had ever held a Passover like it. 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;
23 This special Passover was held to honor the Lord in Jerusalem. It was in the eighteenth year of King Josiah's rule. But in the eighteenth year of king Josiah, wherein this passover was holden to the LORD in Jerusalem.
Josiah's Praise and Judah's Doom
Study note
Josiah also removed mediums, fortune-tellers, household gods, and every other disgusting practice. No king before or after him turned to the Lord with such complete devotion. Yet even Josiah's faithfulness could not reverse God's decision to judge Judah because of the terrible sins of Manasseh. God declared that he would remove Judah from his presence just as he had removed Israel.
24 Josiah removed the mediums and fortune-tellers. He removed household idols and every other awful thing in Judah and Jerusalem. He did this to follow the laws in the book found in the Lord's temple. Moreover the workers with familiar spirits, and the wizards, and the images, and the idols, and all the abominations that were spied in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, did Josiah put away, 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.
25 No king before or after Josiah turned to the Lord so fully. He followed the Lord with all his heart, soul, and strength. He kept every detail of Moses' Law. 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; neither after him arose there any like him.
26 Even so, the Lord did not let go of his intense anger toward Judah. The damage Manasseh had done with his terrible provocations was too great. 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.
27 The Lord declared, "I will remove Judah from my sight, just as I removed Israel. I will reject this city of Jerusalem that I chose, along with the temple where I said my name would dwell." 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.
Josiah's Death and Judah's Last Kings
Study note
When Pharaoh Necho of Egypt marched north to help Assyria fight Babylon, Josiah intercepted him at Megiddo and was killed in battle. The people made his son Jehoahaz king, but after only three months Pharaoh Necho removed him and installed another of Josiah's sons, Eliakim, renaming him Jehoiakim. Jehoahaz was taken to Egypt where he died. Jehoiakim taxed the people heavily to pay Egypt's demanded tribute and did evil in God's sight.
28 All else about Josiah is in the records of Judah's kings. 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?
29 While Josiah was king, Pharaoh Necho of Egypt marched north to help the Assyrian king at the Euphrates River. King Josiah went out to stop him. But Necho killed Josiah in battle at Megiddo. In his days Pharaoh-nechoh king of Egypt went up against the king of Assyria to the river Euphrates: and king Josiah went against him; and he slew him at Megiddo, when he had seen him.
30 Josiah's servants transported his body by chariot from Megiddo to Jerusalem and buried him in his own tomb. The people crowned his son Jehoahaz and anointed him as the next king. And his servants carried him in a chariot dead from Megiddo, and brought him to Jerusalem, and buried him in his own sepulchre. And the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah, and anointed him, and made him king in his father's stead.
31 Jehoahaz was twenty-three when he became king. He ruled from Jerusalem for only three months. His mother was Hamutal, daughter of Jeremiah from Libnah. Jehoahaz was twenty and three years old when he began to reign; and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.
32 He did what the Lord considered evil, just like his ancestors. And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his fathers had done.
33 Pharaoh Necho captured Jehoahaz and imprisoned him at Riblah in the land of Hamath, ending his rule. He also demanded that Judah pay about 3.75 tons of silver and 75 pounds of gold. And Pharaoh-nechoh put him in bands at Riblah in the land of Hamath, that he might not reign in Jerusalem; and put the land to a tribute of an hundred talents of silver, and a talent of gold.
34 Pharaoh Necho placed another of Josiah's sons on the throne -- Eliakim -- and changed his name to Jehoiakim. He took Jehoahaz captive to Egypt, where he eventually died. And Pharaoh-nechoh made Eliakim the son of Josiah king in the room of Josiah his father, and turned his name to Jehoiakim, and took Jehoahaz away: and he came to Egypt, and died there.
35 Jehoiakim collected the silver and gold that Pharaoh wanted. He taxed the people of Judah. Each person paid based on what they could afford. And Jehoiakim gave the silver and the gold to Pharaoh; but he taxed the land to give the money according to the commandment of Pharaoh: he exacted the silver and the gold of the people of the land, of every one according to his taxation, to give it unto Pharaoh-nechoh.
36 Jehoiakim was twenty-five when he became king. He ruled from Jerusalem for eleven years. His mother was Zebidah, daughter of Pedaiah from Rumah. Jehoiakim was twenty and five years old when he began to reign; and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Zebudah, the daughter of Pedaiah of Rumah.
37 He did what the Lord considered evil, just as his ancestors had done. And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his fathers had done.
Key Themes
Themes in 2 Kings 23
Wholehearted devotion to God expressed in radical actionCovenant renewal as a foundation for spiritual revivalEven the greatest reform cannot reverse accumulated judgmentThe Passover as remembrance of God's deliverance
Prophetic Connections
How this chapter points to Christ
2 Kings 21-23 1 Corinthians 5:7
Josiah's great Passover celebration points forward to Christ our Passover Lamb who has been sacrificed for us, fulfilling the redemption that Israel's Passover always foreshadowed.
Apply This Today
Living 2 Kings 23
Josiah's reforms were the most thorough in Israel's history, yet even His passion could not reverse God's decision to judge Judah for Manasseh's sins. This teaches us two things: first, we should pursue faithfulness with all our heart regardless of the outcome. Second, there is a sobering reality that accumulated consequences cannot always be undone. The best time to be faithful is now, before consequences accumulate.
Go Deeper
Study 2 Kings in Covenant Path
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