mh_parser/vol_split/12 - 2Kings/Chapter 23.xml

<div2 id="iiKi.xxiv" n="xxiv" next="iiKi.xxv" prev="iiKi.xxiii" progress="71.82%" title="Chapter XXIII">
<h2 id="iiKi.xxiv-p0.1">S E C O N D   K I N G S</h2>
<h3 id="iiKi.xxiv-p0.2">CHAP. XXIII.</h3>
<p class="intro" id="iiKi.xxiv-p1">We have here, I. The happy continuance of the
goodness of Josiah's reign, and the progress of the reformation he
began, reading the law (<scripRef id="iiKi.xxiv-p1.1" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.23.1-2Kgs.23.2" parsed="|2Kgs|23|1|23|2" passage="2Ki 23:1,2">ver. 1,
2</scripRef>), renewing the covenant (<scripRef id="iiKi.xxiv-p1.2" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.23.3" parsed="|2Kgs|23|3|0|0" passage="2Ki 23:3">ver. 3</scripRef>), cleansing the temple (<scripRef id="iiKi.xxiv-p1.3" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.23.4" parsed="|2Kgs|23|4|0|0" passage="2Ki 23:4">ver. 4</scripRef>), and rooting out idols and
idolatry, with all the relics thereof, in all places, as far as his
power reached (<scripRef id="iiKi.xxiv-p1.4" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.23.5-2Kgs.23.20" parsed="|2Kgs|23|5|23|20" passage="2Ki 23:5-20">ver.
5-20</scripRef>), keeping a solemn passover (<scripRef id="iiKi.xxiv-p1.5" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.23.21-2Kgs.23.23" parsed="|2Kgs|23|21|23|23" passage="2Ki 23:21-23">ver. 21-23</scripRef>), and clearing the country of
witches (<scripRef id="iiKi.xxiv-p1.6" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.23.24" parsed="|2Kgs|23|24|0|0" passage="2Ki 23:24">ver. 24</scripRef>); and in
all this acting with extraordinary vigour, <scripRef id="iiKi.xxiv-p1.7" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.23.25" parsed="|2Kgs|23|25|0|0" passage="2Ki 23:25">ver. 25</scripRef> II. The unhappy conclusion of it in
his untimely death, as a token of the continuance of God's wrath
against Jerusalem, <scripRef id="iiKi.xxiv-p1.8" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.23.26-2Kgs.23.30" parsed="|2Kgs|23|26|23|30" passage="2Ki 23:26-30">ver.
26-30</scripRef> III. The more unhappy consequences of his death,
in the bad reigns of his two sons Jehoahaz and Jehoiakim, that came
after him, <scripRef id="iiKi.xxiv-p1.9" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.23.31-2Kgs.23.37" parsed="|2Kgs|23|31|23|37" passage="2Ki 23:31-37">ver.
31-37</scripRef></p>
<scripCom id="iiKi.xxiv-p0.1_1" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.23" parsed="|2Kgs|23|0|0|0" passage="2Ki 23" type="Commentary"/>
<scripCom id="iiKi.xxiv-p0.2_1" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.23.1-2Kgs.23.3" parsed="|2Kgs|23|1|23|3" passage="2Ki 23:1-3" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:2Kgs.23.1-2Kgs.23.3">
<h4 id="iiKi.xxiv-p1.12">Josiah Destroys Idolatry. (<span class="smallcaps" id="iiKi.xxiv-p1.13">b. c.</span> 623.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="iiKi.xxiv-p2">1 And the king sent, and they gathered unto him
all the elders of Judah and of Jerusalem.   2 And the king
went up into the house of the <span class="smallcaps" id="iiKi.xxiv-p2.1">Lord</span>,
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 <span class="smallcaps" id="iiKi.xxiv-p2.2">Lord</span>.   3 And the king stood by a
pillar, and made a covenant before the <span class="smallcaps" id="iiKi.xxiv-p2.3">Lord</span>, to walk after the <span class="smallcaps" id="iiKi.xxiv-p2.4">Lord</span>, and to keep his commandments and his
testimonies and his statutes with all <i>their</i> heart and all
<i>their</i> soul, to perform the words of this covenant that were
written in this book. And all the people stood to the covenant.</p>
<p class="indent" id="iiKi.xxiv-p3">Josiah had received a message from God that
there was no preventing the ruin of Jerusalem, but that he should
deliver only his own soul; yet he did not therefore sit down in
despair, and resolve to do nothing for his country because he could
not do all he would. No, he would do his duty, and then leave the
event to God. A public reformation was the thing resolved on; if
any thing could prevent the threatened ruin it must be that; and
here we have the preparations for that reformation. 1. He summoned
a general assembly of the states, the elders, the magistrates or
representatives of Judah and Jerusalem, to meet him <i>in the house
of the Lord,</i> with the priests and prophets, the ordinary and
extraordinary ministers, that, they all joining in it, it might
become a national act and so be the more likely to prevent national
judgments; they were all called to attend (<scripRef id="iiKi.xxiv-p3.1" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.23.1-2Kgs.23.2" parsed="|2Kgs|23|1|23|2" passage="2Ki 23:1,2"><i>v.</i> 1, 2</scripRef>), that the business might be
done with the more solemnity, that they might all advise and assist
in it, and that those who were against it might be discouraged from
making any opposition. Parliaments are no diminution at all to the
honour and power of good princes, but a great support to them. 2.
Instead of making a speech to this convention, he ordered the book
of the law to be read to them; nay, it should seem, he read it
himself (<scripRef id="iiKi.xxiv-p3.2" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.23.2" parsed="|2Kgs|23|2|0|0" passage="2Ki 23:2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>), as
one much affected with it and desirous that they should be so too.
Josiah thinks it not below him to be a reader, any more than
Solomon did to be a preacher, nay, and David himself to be a
door-keeper in the house of God. Besides the convention of the
great men, he had a congregation of the <i>men of Judah and the
inhabitants of Jerusalem</i> to hear the law read. It is really the
interest of princes to promote the knowledge of the scriptures in
their dominions. If the people be but as stedfastly resolved to
obey by law as he is to govern by law, the kingdom will be happy.
All people are concerned to know the scripture, and all in
authority to spread the knowledge of it. 3. Instead of proposing
laws for the confirming of them in their duty, he proposed an
association by which they should all jointly engage themselves to
God, <scripRef id="iiKi.xxiv-p3.3" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.23.3" parsed="|2Kgs|23|3|0|0" passage="2Ki 23:3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>. The book
of the law was the book of the covenant, that, if they would be to
God a people, he would be to them a God; they here engage
themselves to do their part, not doubting but that then God would
do his. (1.) The covenant was that they should walk after the Lord,
in compliance with his will, in his ordinances and his providences,
should answer all his calls and attend all his motions—that they
should make conscience of all his commandments, moral, ceremonial,
and judicial, and should carefully observe them <i>with all their
heart and all their soul,</i> with all possible care and caution,
sincerity, vigour, courage, and resolution, and so fulfil the
conditions of this covenant, in dependence upon the promises of it.
(2.) The covenanters were, in the first place, the king himself,
who stood by his pillar (<scripRef id="iiKi.xxiv-p3.4" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.11.14" parsed="|2Kgs|11|14|0|0" passage="2Ki 11:14"><i>ch.</i>
xi. 14</scripRef>) and publicly declared his consent to this
covenant, to set them an example, and to assure them not only of
his protection but of his presidency and all the furtherance his
power could give them in their obedience. It is no abridgment of
the liberty even of princes themselves to be in bonds to God.
<i>All the people</i> likewise <i>stood to the covenant,</i> that
is, they signified their consent to it and promised to abide by it.
It is of good use to oblige ourselves to our duty with all possible
solemnity, and this is especially seasonable after notorious
backslidings to sin and decays in that which is good. He that bears
an honest mind does not shrink from positive engagements: fast
bind, fast find.</p>
</div><scripCom id="iiKi.xxiv-p0.3" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.23.4-2Kgs.23.24" parsed="|2Kgs|23|4|23|24" passage="2Ki 23:4-24" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:2Kgs.23.4-2Kgs.23.24">
<h4 id="iiKi.xxiv-p3.6">Josiah Reforms Judah. (<span class="smallcaps" id="iiKi.xxiv-p3.7">b. c.</span> 623.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="iiKi.xxiv-p4">4 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 <span class="smallcaps" id="iiKi.xxiv-p4.1">Lord</span> 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 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 And he brought out the grove from the house of the
<span class="smallcaps" id="iiKi.xxiv-p4.2">Lord</span>, without Jerusalem, unto the
brook Kidron, and burned it at the brook Kidron, and stamped
<i>it</i> small to powder, and cast the powder thereof upon the
graves of the children of the people.   7 And he brake down
the houses of the sodomites, that <i>were</i> by the house of the
<span class="smallcaps" id="iiKi.xxiv-p4.3">Lord</span>, where the women wove hangings
for the grove.   8 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 <i>were</i> in the entering in of the gate
of Joshua the governor of the city, which <i>were</i> on a man's
left hand at the gate of the city.   9 Nevertheless the
priests of the high places came not up to the altar of the <span class="smallcaps" id="iiKi.xxiv-p4.4">Lord</span> in Jerusalem, but they did eat of the
unleavened bread among their brethren.   10 And he defiled
Topheth, which <i>is</i> 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 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 <span class="smallcaps" id="iiKi.xxiv-p4.5">Lord</span>, by the chamber of
Nathan-melech the chamberlain, which <i>was</i> in the suburbs, and
burned the chariots of the sun with fire.   12 And the altars
that <i>were</i> 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 <span class="smallcaps" id="iiKi.xxiv-p4.6">Lord</span>, did the king beat down, and brake
<i>them</i> down from thence, and cast the dust of them into the
brook Kidron.   13 And the high places that <i>were</i> before
Jerusalem, which <i>were</i> 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 And he brake in
pieces the images, and cut down the groves, and filled their places
with the bones of men.   15 Moreover the altar that <i>was</i>
at Beth-el, <i>and</i> 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, <i>and</i>
stamped <i>it</i> small to powder, and burned the grove.   16
And as Josiah turned himself, he spied the sepulchres that
<i>were</i> there in the mount, and sent, and took the bones out of
the sepulchres, and burned <i>them</i> upon the altar, and polluted
it, according to the word of the <span class="smallcaps" id="iiKi.xxiv-p4.7">Lord</span> which the man of God proclaimed, who
proclaimed these words.   17 Then he said, What title
<i>is</i> that that I see? And the men of the city told him, <i>It
is</i> 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 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 And all the houses also of the
high places that <i>were</i> in the cities of Samaria, which the
kings of Israel had made to provoke <i>the <span class="smallcaps" id="iiKi.xxiv-p4.8">Lord</span></i> to anger, Josiah took away, and did to
them according to all the acts that he had done in Beth-el.  
20 And he slew all the priests of the high places that <i>were</i>
there upon the altars, and burned men's bones upon them, and
returned to Jerusalem.   21 And the king commanded all the
people, saying, Keep the passover unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="iiKi.xxiv-p4.9">Lord</span> your God, as <i>it is</i> written in the
book of this covenant.   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;  
23 But in the eighteenth year of king Josiah, <i>wherein</i> this
passover was holden to the <span class="smallcaps" id="iiKi.xxiv-p4.10">Lord</span> in
Jerusalem.   24 Moreover the <i>workers with</i> 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 <span class="smallcaps" id="iiKi.xxiv-p4.11">Lord</span>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="iiKi.xxiv-p5">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 few years Jerusalem was utterly destroyed, and even
this did not save it; for the generality of the people, after all,
hated to be reformed. <i>The founder melteth in vain,</i> and
therefore <i>reprobate silver shall men call them,</i> <scripRef id="iiKi.xxiv-p5.1" osisRef="Bible:Jer.6.29-Jer.6.30" parsed="|Jer|6|29|6|30" passage="Jer 6:29,30">Jer. vi. 29, 30</scripRef>. Let us here
observe,</p>
<p class="indent" id="iiKi.xxiv-p6">I. What abundance of wickedness there was,
and had been, in Judah and Jerusalem. One would not have believed
it possible that in Judah, where God was known—in Israel, where
his name was great—in Salem, in Sion, where his dwelling place
was, such abominations should be found as here we have an account
of. Josiah had now reigned eighteen years, and had himself set the
people a good example, and kept up religion according to law; and
yet, when he came to make inquisition for idolatry, the depth and
extent of the dunghill he had to carry away appeared almost
incredible. 1. Even in the house of the Lord, that sacred temple
which Solomon built, and dedicated to the honour and for the
worship of the God of Israel, there were found vessels, all manner
of utensils, for the worship of Baal, <i>and of the grove</i> (or
<i>Ashtaroth</i>), and <i>of all the host of heaven,</i> <scripRef id="iiKi.xxiv-p6.1" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.23.4" parsed="|2Kgs|23|4|0|0" passage="2Ki 23:4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>. Though Josiah had
suppressed the worship of idols, yet the utensils made for that
worship were all carefully preserved, even in the temple itself, to
be used again whenever the present restraint should be taken off;
nay, even the grove itself, the image of it, was yet standing in
the temple (<scripRef id="iiKi.xxiv-p6.2" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.23.6" parsed="|2Kgs|23|6|0|0" passage="2Ki 23:6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>);
some make it the image of Venus, the same with Ashtaroth. 2. Just
<i>at the entering in of the house of the Lord</i> was a stable for
horses kept (would you think it?) for a religious use; they were
holy horses, <i>given to the sun</i> (<scripRef id="iiKi.xxiv-p6.3" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.23.11" parsed="|2Kgs|23|11|0|0" passage="2Ki 23:11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>), as if he needed them who
<i>rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race</i> (<scripRef id="iiKi.xxiv-p6.4" osisRef="Bible:Ps.19.5" parsed="|Ps|19|5|0|0" passage="Ps 19:5">Ps. xix. 5</scripRef>), or rather they would thus
represent to themselves the swiftness of his motion, which they
much admired, making their religion to conform to the poetical
fictions of the chariot of the sun, the follies of which even a
little philosophy, without any divinity, would have exposed and
made them ashamed of. Some say that those horses were to be led
forth in pomp every morning to meet the rising sun, others that the
worshippers of the sun rode out upon them to adore the rising sun;
it should seem that they drew the chariots of the sun, which the
people worshipped. Strange that ever men who had the written word
of God among them should be thus <i>vain in their imaginations!</i>
3. Hard <i>by the house of the Lord</i> there were <i>houses of the
Sodomites,</i> where all manner of lewdness and filthiness, even
that which was most unnatural, was practised, and under pretence of
religion too, in honour of their impure deities. Corporal and
spiritual whoredom went together, and the vile affections to which
the people were given up were the punishment of their vain
imaginations. Those that dishonoured their God were justly left
thus to dishonour themselves, <scripRef id="iiKi.xxiv-p6.5" osisRef="Bible:Rom.1.24-Rom.1.32" parsed="|Rom|1|24|1|32" passage="Ro 1:24-32">Rom.
i. 24</scripRef>, &amp;c. There were women that <i>wove hangings
for the grove</i> (<scripRef id="iiKi.xxiv-p6.6" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.23.7" parsed="|2Kgs|23|7|0|0" passage="2Ki 23:7"><i>v.</i>
7</scripRef>), tents which encompassed the image of Venus, where
the worshippers committed all manner of lewdness, and this <i>in
the house of the Lord.</i> Those did ill that made our Father's
house a house of merchandise; those did worse that made it a den of
thieves; but those did worst of all that made it (<i>Horrendum
dictu!</i>—<i>Horrible to relate!</i>) a brothel, in an impudent
defiance of the holiness of God and of his temple. Well might the
apostle call them <i>abominable idolatries.</i> 4. There were many
idolatrous altars found (<scripRef id="iiKi.xxiv-p6.7" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.23.12" parsed="|2Kgs|23|12|0|0" passage="2Ki 23:12"><i>v.</i>
12</scripRef>), some in the palace, <i>on the top of the upper
chamber of Ahaz.</i> The roofs of their houses being flat, they
made them their high places, and set up altars upon them (<scripRef id="iiKi.xxiv-p6.8" osisRef="Bible:Jer.19.13 Bible:Zeph.1.5" parsed="|Jer|19|13|0|0;|Zeph|1|5|0|0" passage="Jer 19:13,Zep 1:5">Jer. xix. 13; Zeph. i. 5</scripRef>),
domestic altars. The kings of Judah did so: and, though Josiah
never used them, yet to this time they remained there. Manasseh had
built altars for his idols in the house of the Lord. When he
repented he removed them, and <i>cast them out of the city</i>
(<scripRef id="iiKi.xxiv-p6.9" osisRef="Bible:2Chr.33.15" parsed="|2Chr|33|15|0|0" passage="2Ch 33:15">2 Chron. xxxiii. 15</scripRef>),
but, not destroying them, his son Amon, it seems, had brought them
again into the courts of the temple; there Josiah found them, and
thence he <i>broke them down,</i> <scripRef id="iiKi.xxiv-p6.10" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.23.12" parsed="|2Kgs|23|12|0|0" passage="2Ki 23:12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>. 5. There was <i>Tophet, in the
valley of the son of Hinnom,</i> very near Jerusalem, where the
image of Moloch (that god of unnatural cruelty, as others were of
unnatural uncleanness) was kept, to which some sacrificed their
children, burning them in the fire, others dedicated them, making
them to pass through the fire (<scripRef id="iiKi.xxiv-p6.11" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.23.10" parsed="|2Kgs|23|10|0|0" passage="2Ki 23:10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>), <i>labouring in the very
fire,</i> <scripRef id="iiKi.xxiv-p6.12" osisRef="Bible:Hab.2.13" parsed="|Hab|2|13|0|0" passage="Hab 2:13">Hab. ii. 13</scripRef>. It
is supposed to have been called <i>Tophet</i> from <i>toph,</i> a
drum, because they beat drums at the burning of the children, that
their shrieks might not be heard. 6. There were <i>high places
before Jerusalem,</i> which <i>Solomon had built,</i> <scripRef id="iiKi.xxiv-p6.13" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.23.13" parsed="|2Kgs|23|13|0|0" passage="2Ki 23:13"><i>v.</i> 13</scripRef>. The altars and images
on those high places, we may suppose, had been taken away by some
of the preceding godly kings, or perhaps Solomon himself had
removed them when he became a penitent; but the buildings, or some
parts of them, remained, with other high places, till Josiah's
time. Those that introduce corruptions into religion know not how
far they will reach nor how long they will last. Antiquity is no
certain proof of verity. There were also high places all the
kingdom over, from <i>Geba to Beer-sheba</i> (<scripRef id="iiKi.xxiv-p6.14" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.23.8" parsed="|2Kgs|23|8|0|0" passage="2Ki 23:8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>), and <i>high places of the
gates, in the entering in of the gate of the governor.</i> In these
high places (bishop Patrick thinks) they burnt incense to those
tutelar gods to whom their idolatrous kings had committed the
protection of their city; and probably the governor of the city had
a private altar for his <i>penates</i>—<i>his household-gods.</i>
7. There were idolatrous priests, that officiated at all those
idolatrous altars (<scripRef id="iiKi.xxiv-p6.15" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.23.5" parsed="|2Kgs|23|5|0|0" passage="2Ki 23:5"><i>v.</i>
5</scripRef>), chemarim, black men, or that wore black. See
<scripRef id="iiKi.xxiv-p6.16" osisRef="Bible:Zeph.1.4" parsed="|Zeph|1|4|0|0" passage="Zep 1:4">Zeph. i. 4</scripRef>. Those that
sacrificed to Osiris, or that wept for Tammuz (<scripRef id="iiKi.xxiv-p6.17" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.8.14" parsed="|Ezek|8|14|0|0" passage="Eze 8:14">Ezek. viii. 14</scripRef>), or that worshipped the
infernal deities, put on black garments as mourners. These
idolatrous priests the kings of <i>Judah had ordained to burn
incense in the high places;</i> they were, it should seem, priests
of the house of Aaron, who thus profaned their dignity, and there
were others also who had no right at all to the priesthood, who
burnt incense to Baal. 8. There were conjurers and wizards, and
such as <i>dealt with familiar spirits,</i> <scripRef id="iiKi.xxiv-p6.18" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.23.24" parsed="|2Kgs|23|24|0|0" passage="2Ki 23:24"><i>v.</i> 24</scripRef>. When they worshipped the devil
as their god no marvel that they consulted him as their oracle.</p>
<p class="indent" id="iiKi.xxiv-p7">II. What a full destruction good Josiah
made of all those relics of idolatry. Such is his zeal for the Lord
of hosts, and his holy indignation against all that is displeasing
to him, that nothing shall stand before him. The law was that the
monuments of the Canaanites' idolatry must be all destroyed
(<scripRef id="iiKi.xxiv-p7.1" osisRef="Bible:Deut.7.5" parsed="|Deut|7|5|0|0" passage="De 7:5">Deut. vii. 5</scripRef>), much more
those of the idolatry of the Israelites, in whom it was much more
impious, profane, and perfidious. 1. He ordered Hilkiah, and the
other priests, to clear the temple. This was their province,
<scripRef id="iiKi.xxiv-p7.2" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.23.4" parsed="|2Kgs|23|4|0|0" passage="2Ki 23:4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>. Away with all
the vessels that were made for Baal. They must never be employed in
the service of God, no, nor reserved for any common use; they must
all be burnt, and the ashes of them carried to Bethel. That place
had been the common source of idolatry, for there was set up one of
the calves, and, that lying next to Judah, the infection had thence
spread into that kingdom, and therefore Josiah made it the
lay-stall of idolatry, the dunghill to which he carried the filth
and offscouring of all things, that, if possible, it might be made
loathsome to those that had been fond of it. 2. The idolatrous
priests were all put down. Those of them that were not of the house
of Aaron, or had sacrificed to Baal or other false gods, he put to
death, according to the law, <scripRef id="iiKi.xxiv-p7.3" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.23.20" parsed="|2Kgs|23|20|0|0" passage="2Ki 23:20"><i>v.</i> 20</scripRef>. He <i>slew them upon their own
altars,</i> the most acceptable sacrifice that ever had been
offered upon them, a sacrifice to the justice of God. Those that
were descendants from Aaron, and yet had burnt incense in the high
places, but to the true God only, he forbade ever to approach the
altar of the Lord; they had forfeited that honour (<scripRef id="iiKi.xxiv-p7.4" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.23.9" parsed="|2Kgs|23|9|0|0" passage="2Ki 23:9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>): He <i>brought them out
of the cities of Judah</i> (<scripRef id="iiKi.xxiv-p7.5" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.23.8" parsed="|2Kgs|23|8|0|0" passage="2Ki 23:8"><i>v.</i>
8</scripRef>), that they might not do mischief in the country by
secretly keeping up their old idolatrous usages; but he allowed
them to <i>eat of the unleavened bread</i> (the bread of the
meat-offering, <scripRef id="iiKi.xxiv-p7.6" osisRef="Bible:Lev.2.4-Lev.2.5" parsed="|Lev|2|4|2|5" passage="Le 2:4,5">Lev. ii. 4,
5</scripRef>) <i>among their brethren,</i> with whom they were to
reside, that being under their eye they might be kept from doing
hurt and taught to do well; that bread, that unleavened bread
(heavy and unpleasant as it was), was better than they deserved,
and that would serve to keep them alive. But whether they were
permitted to eat of all the sacrifices, as blemished priests were
(<scripRef id="iiKi.xxiv-p7.7" osisRef="Bible:Lev.21.22" parsed="|Lev|21|22|0|0" passage="Le 21:22">Lev. xxi. 22</scripRef>), which is
called, in general, <i>the bread of their God,</i> may be justly
questioned. 3. All the images were broken to pieces and burnt. The
image of the grove (<scripRef id="iiKi.xxiv-p7.8" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.23.6" parsed="|2Kgs|23|6|0|0" passage="2Ki 23:6"><i>v.</i>
6</scripRef>), some goddess or other, was reduced to ashes, and the
<i>ashes cast upon the graves of the common people</i> (<scripRef id="iiKi.xxiv-p7.9" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.23.6" parsed="|2Kgs|23|6|0|0" passage="2Ki 23:6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>), the common
burying-place of the city. By the law a ceremonial uncleanness was
contracted by the touch of a grave, so that in casting them here he
declared them most impure, and none could touch them without
thereby making themselves unclean. <i>He cast it into the
graves</i> (so the Chaldee), intimating that he would have all
idolatry buried out of his sight, as a loathsome thing, and
forgotten, as dead men are out of mind, <scripRef id="iiKi.xxiv-p7.10" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.23.14" parsed="|2Kgs|23|14|0|0" passage="2Ki 23:14"><i>v.</i> 14</scripRef>. He <i>filled the places of the
groves with the bones of men;</i> as he carried the ashes of the
images to the graves, to mingle them with dead men's bones, so he
carried dead men's bones to the places where the images had been,
and put them in the room of them, that, both ways, idolatry might
be rendered loathsome, and the people kept both from the dust of
the images and from the ruins of the places where they had been
worshipped. Dead men and dead gods were much alike and fittest to
go together. 4. All the wicked houses were suppressed, those nests
of impiety that harboured idolaters, the houses of the Sodomites,
<scripRef id="iiKi.xxiv-p7.11" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.23.7" parsed="|2Kgs|23|7|0|0" passage="2Ki 23:7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>. "Down with
them, down with them, rase them to the foundations." The high
places were in like manner broken down and levelled with the ground
(<scripRef id="iiKi.xxiv-p7.12" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.23.8" parsed="|2Kgs|23|8|0|0" passage="2Ki 23:8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>), even that
which belonged to the governor of the city; for no man's greatness
or power may protect him in idolatry or profaneness. Let governors
be obliged, in the first place, to reform, and then the governed
will be the sooner influenced. He defiled the high places
(<scripRef id="iiKi.xxiv-p7.13" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.23.8" parsed="|2Kgs|23|8|0|0" passage="2Ki 23:8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef> and again
<scripRef id="iiKi.xxiv-p7.14" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.23.13" parsed="|2Kgs|23|13|0|0" passage="2Ki 23:13"><i>v.</i> 13</scripRef>), did all he
could to render them abominable, and put the people out of conceit
with them, as Jehu did when he made the house of Baal a
draught-house, <scripRef id="iiKi.xxiv-p7.15" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.10.27" parsed="|2Kgs|10|27|0|0" passage="2Ki 10:27">2 Kings x.
27</scripRef>. Tophet, which, contrary to other places of idolatry,
was in a valley, whereas they were on hills or high places, was
likewise defiled (<scripRef id="iiKi.xxiv-p7.16" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.23.10" parsed="|2Kgs|23|10|0|0" passage="2Ki 23:10"><i>v.</i>
10</scripRef>), was made the burying-place of the city. Concerning
this we have a whole sermon, <scripRef id="iiKi.xxiv-p7.17" osisRef="Bible:Jer.19.1-Jer.19.15" parsed="|Jer|19|1|19|15" passage="Jer 19:1-15">Jer.
xix. 1, 2</scripRef>, &amp;c., where it is said, <i>They shall bury
in Tophet,</i> and the whole city is threatened to be made like
Tophet. 5. The horses that had been given to the sun were taken
away and put to common use, and so were delivered from the vanity
to which they were made subject; and the chariots of the sun (what
a pity was it that those horses and chariots should be kept as the
chariots and horsemen of Israel!) he burnt with fire; and, if the
sun be a flame, they never resembled him so much as they did when
they were chariots of fire. 6. The workers with familiar spirits
and the wizards were put away, <scripRef id="iiKi.xxiv-p7.18" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.23.24" parsed="|2Kgs|23|24|0|0" passage="2Ki 23:24"><i>v.</i> 24</scripRef>. Those of them that were
convicted of witchcraft, it is likely, he put to death, and so
deterred others from those diabolical practices. In all this he had
a sincere regard to <i>the words of the law which were written in
the book</i> lately found, <scripRef id="iiKi.xxiv-p7.19" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.23.24" parsed="|2Kgs|23|24|0|0" passage="2Ki 23:24"><i>v.</i>
24</scripRef>. He made that law his rule and kept that in his eye
throughout this reformation.</p>
<p class="indent" id="iiKi.xxiv-p8">III. How his zeal extended itself to the
cities of Israel that were within his reach. The ten tribes were
carried captive and the Assyrian colonies did not fully people the
country, so that, it is likely, many cities had put themselves
under the protection of the kings of Judah, <scripRef id="iiKi.xxiv-p8.1" osisRef="Bible:2Chr.30.1 Bible:2Chr.34.6" parsed="|2Chr|30|1|0|0;|2Chr|34|6|0|0" passage="2Ch 30:1,34:6">2 Chron. xxx. 1; xxxiv. 6</scripRef>. These he here
visits, to carry on his reformation. As far as our influence goes
our endeavours should go to do good and bring the wickedness of the
wicked to an end.</p>
<p class="indent" id="iiKi.xxiv-p9">1. He defiled and demolished Jeroboam's
altar at Bethel, with the high place and the grove that belonged to
it, <scripRef id="iiKi.xxiv-p9.1" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.23.15-2Kgs.23.16" parsed="|2Kgs|23|15|23|16" passage="2Ki 23:15,16"><i>v.</i> 15, 16</scripRef>.
The golden calf, it should seem, was gone (<i>thy calf, O Samaria!
has cast thee off</i>), but the altar was there, which those that
were wedded to their old idolatries made use of still. This was,
(1.) Defiled, <scripRef id="iiKi.xxiv-p9.2" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.23.16" parsed="|2Kgs|23|16|0|0" passage="2Ki 23:16"><i>v.</i>
16</scripRef>. Josiah, in his pious zeal, was ransacking the old
seats of idolatry, and spied the sepulchres in the mount, in which
probably the idolatrous priests were buried, not far from the altar
at which they had officiated, and which they were so fond of that
they were desirous to lay their bones by it; these he opened, took
out the bones, and <i>burnt them upon the altar,</i> to show that
thus he would have done by the priests themselves if they had been
alive, as he did by those whom he found alive, <scripRef id="iiKi.xxiv-p9.3" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.23.20" parsed="|2Kgs|23|20|0|0" passage="2Ki 23:20"><i>v.</i> 20</scripRef>. Thus he polluted the altar,
desecrated it, and made it odious. It is threatened against
idolaters (<scripRef id="iiKi.xxiv-p9.4" osisRef="Bible:Jer.8.1-Jer.8.2" parsed="|Jer|8|1|8|2" passage="Jer 8:1,2">Jer. viii. 1,
2</scripRef>) that <i>their bones shall be spread before the
sun;</i> that which is there threatened and this which is here
executed (bespeaking their <i>iniquity to be upon their bones,</i>
<scripRef id="iiKi.xxiv-p9.5" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.32.27" parsed="|Ezek|32|27|0|0" passage="Eze 32:27">Ezek. xxxii. 27</scripRef>) are an
intimation of a punishment after death, reserved for those that
live and die impenitent in that or any other sin; the burning of
the bones, if that were all, is a small matter, but, if it signify
the torment of the soul in a worse flame (<scripRef id="iiKi.xxiv-p9.6" osisRef="Bible:Luke.16.24" parsed="|Luke|16|24|0|0" passage="Lu 16:24">Luke xvi. 24</scripRef>), it is very dreadful. This, as
it was Josiah's act, seems to have been the result of a very sudden
resolve; he would not have done it but that he happened to turn
himself, and spy the sepulchres; and yet it was foretold above 350
years before, when this altar was first built by Jeroboam,
<scripRef id="iiKi.xxiv-p9.7" osisRef="Bible:1Kgs.13.2" parsed="|1Kgs|13|2|0|0" passage="1Ki 13:2">1 Kings xiii. 2</scripRef>. God always
foresees, and has sometimes foretold as certain, that which yet to
us seems most contingent. <i>The king's heart is in the hand of the
Lord;</i> king Josiah's was so, and he turned it (or ever he
himself was aware, <scripRef id="iiKi.xxiv-p9.8" osisRef="Bible:Song.6.12" parsed="|Song|6|12|0|0" passage="So 6:12">Cant. vi.
12</scripRef>) to do this. No work of God shall fall to the ground.
(2.) It was demolished. He broke down the altar and all its
appurtenances (<scripRef id="iiKi.xxiv-p9.9" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.23.15" parsed="|2Kgs|23|15|0|0" passage="2Ki 23:15"><i>v.</i>
15</scripRef>), burnt what was combustible, and, since an idol is
nothing in the world, he went as far towards the annihilating of it
as he could; for he <i>stamped it small to powder</i> and made it
<i>as dust before the wind.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="iiKi.xxiv-p10">2. He destroyed all the houses of the high
places, all those synagogues of Satan that were <i>in the cities of
Samaria,</i> <scripRef id="iiKi.xxiv-p10.1" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.23.19" parsed="|2Kgs|23|19|0|0" passage="2Ki 23:19"><i>v.</i> 19</scripRef>.
These the kings of Israel built, and God raised up this king of
Judah to pull them down, for the honour of the ancient house of
David, from which the ten tribes had revolted; the priests he
justly made sacrifices <i>upon their own altars,</i> <scripRef id="iiKi.xxiv-p10.2" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.23.20" parsed="|2Kgs|23|20|0|0" passage="2Ki 23:20"><i>v.</i> 20</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="iiKi.xxiv-p11">3. He carefully preserved the sepulchre of
that man of God who came from Judah to foretel this, which now a
king who came from Judah executed. This was that good prophet who
<i>proclaimed these things against the altar of Bethel,</i> and yet
was himself slain by a lion for disobeying the word of the Lord;
but to show that God's displeasure against him went no further than
his death, but ended there, God so ordered it that when all the
graves about his were disturbed his was safe (<scripRef id="iiKi.xxiv-p11.1" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.23.17-2Kgs.23.18" parsed="|2Kgs|23|17|23|18" passage="2Ki 23:17,18"><i>v.</i> 17, 18</scripRef>) and no man moved his
bones. He had entered into peace, and therefore should rest in his
bed, <scripRef id="iiKi.xxiv-p11.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.57.2" parsed="|Isa|57|2|0|0" passage="Isa 57:2">Isa. lvii. 2</scripRef>. The old
lying prophet, who desired to be buried as near him as might be, it
should seem, knew what he did; for his dust also, being mingled
with that of the good prophet, was preserved for his sake; see
<scripRef id="iiKi.xxiv-p11.3" osisRef="Bible:Num.23.10" parsed="|Num|23|10|0|0" passage="Nu 23:10">Num. xxiii. 10</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="iiKi.xxiv-p12">IV. We are here told what a solemn passover
Josiah and his people kept after all this. When they had cleared
the country of the old leaven they then applied themselves to the
keeping of the feast. When Jehu had destroyed the worship of Baal,
yet he took no heed to walk in the commandments and ordinances of
God; but Josiah considered that we must learn to do well, and no
<i>only</i> cease to do evil, and that the way to keep out all
abominable customs is to keep up all instituted ordinances (see
<scripRef id="iiKi.xxiv-p12.1" osisRef="Bible:Lev.18.30" parsed="|Lev|18|30|0|0" passage="Le 18:30">Lev. xviii. 30</scripRef>), and
therefore he commanded all the people to keep the passover, which
was not only a memorial of their deliverance out of Egypt, but a
token of their dedication to him that brought them out and their
communion with him. This he found written in the <i>book of the
law,</i> here called <i>the book of the covenant;</i> for, though
the divine authority may deal with us in a way of absolute command,
divine grace condescends to federal transactions, and therefore he
observed it. We have not such a particular account of this passover
as of that in Hezekiah's time, <scripRef id="iiKi.xxiv-p12.2" osisRef="Bible:2Chr.30.1-2Chr.30.27" parsed="|2Chr|30|1|30|27" passage="2Ch 30:1-27">2
Chron. xxx.</scripRef> But, in general, we are told that <i>there
was not holden such a passover</i> in any of the foregoing reigns,
no, not <i>from the days of the judges</i> (<scripRef id="iiKi.xxiv-p12.3" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.23.22" parsed="|2Kgs|23|22|0|0" passage="2Ki 23:22"><i>v.</i> 22</scripRef>), which, by the way, intimates
that, though the account which the book of Judges gives of the
state of Israel under that dynasty looks but melancholy, yet there
were then some golden days. This passover, it seems, was
extraordinary for the number and devotion of the communicants,
their sacrifices and offerings, and their exact observance of the
laws of the feast; and it was not now as in Hezekiah's passover,
when many communicated that were not cleansed according to the
purification of the sanctuary, and the Levites were permitted to do
the priests' work. We have reason to think that during all the
remainder of Josiah's reign religion flourished and the feasts of
the Lord were very carefully observed; but in this passover the
satisfaction they took in the covenant lately renewed, the
reformation in pursuance of it, and the revival of an ordinance of
which they had lately found the divine original in the book of the
law, and which had long been neglected or carelessly kept, put them
into great transports of holy joy; and God was pleased to
recompense their zeal in destroying idolatry with uncommon tokens
of his presence and favour. All this concurred to make it a
distinguished passover.</p>
</div><scripCom id="iiKi.xxiv-p0.4" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.23.25-2Kgs.23.30" parsed="|2Kgs|23|25|23|30" passage="2Ki 23:25-30" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:2Kgs.23.25-2Kgs.23.30">
<h4 id="iiKi.xxiv-p12.5">The Death of Josiah. (<span class="smallcaps" id="iiKi.xxiv-p12.6">b. c.</span> 610.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="iiKi.xxiv-p13">25 And like unto him was there no king before
him, that turned to the <span class="smallcaps" id="iiKi.xxiv-p13.1">Lord</span> 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
<i>any</i> like him.   26 Notwithstanding the <span class="smallcaps" id="iiKi.xxiv-p13.2">Lord</span> 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 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="iiKi.xxiv-p13.3">Lord</span> 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.   28 Now the rest of the acts
of Josiah, and all that he did, <i>are</i> they not written in the
book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?   29 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 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.</p>
<p class="indent" id="iiKi.xxiv-p14">Upon the reading of these verses we must
say, Lord, though <i>thy righteousness</i> be <i>as the great
mountains</i>—evident, conspicuous, and past dispute, yet <i>thy
judgments are a great deep,</i> unfathomable and past finding out,
<scripRef id="iiKi.xxiv-p14.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.36.6" parsed="|Ps|36|6|0|0" passage="Ps 36:6">Ps. xxxvi. 6</scripRef>. What shall we
say to this?</p>
<p class="indent" id="iiKi.xxiv-p15">I. It is here owned that Josiah was one of
the best kings that ever sat upon the throne of David, <scripRef id="iiKi.xxiv-p15.1" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.23.25" parsed="|2Kgs|23|25|0|0" passage="2Ki 23:25"><i>v.</i> 25</scripRef>. As Hezekiah was a
non-such for faith and dependence upon God in straits (<scripRef id="iiKi.xxiv-p15.2" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.18.5" parsed="|2Kgs|18|5|0|0" passage="2Ki 18:5"><i>ch.</i> xviii. 5</scripRef>), 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 <i>turned
to the Lord</i> 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
<i>with his heart and soul;</i> 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 <i>all his heart,</i>
and <i>all his soul,</i> and <i>all his might</i>—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 <i>according to all the law of
Moses,</i> 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.</p>
<p class="indent" id="iiKi.xxiv-p16">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 (<scripRef id="iiKi.xxiv-p16.1" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.23.26" parsed="|2Kgs|23|26|0|0" passage="2Ki 23:26"><i>v.</i>
26</scripRef>) <i>the Lord turned not from the fierceness of his
great wrath.</i> That is certainly true, which God spoke by the
prophet (<scripRef id="iiKi.xxiv-p16.2" osisRef="Bible:Jer.18.7-Jer.18.8" parsed="|Jer|18|7|18|8" passage="Jer 18:7,8">Jer. xviii. 7,
8</scripRef>), that if a nation, doomed to destruction, <i>turn
from the evil</i> of sin, God will <i>repent of the evil</i> 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 <i>turn from their evil way,</i> 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,
<scripRef id="iiKi.xxiv-p16.3" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.23.27" parsed="|2Kgs|23|27|0|0" passage="2Ki 23:27"><i>v.</i> 27</scripRef>. 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 <i>Josiah went against
him,</i> and was killed in the first engagement, <scripRef id="iiKi.xxiv-p16.4" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.23.29-2Kgs.23.30" parsed="|2Kgs|23|29|23|30" passage="2Ki 23:29,30"><i>v.</i> 29, 30</scripRef>. 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? <i>Should he help the
ungodly and love those that hate the Lord?</i> 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 <i>come to his grave in peace</i> 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 <i>in all our ways;</i> 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 <i>died in peace</i>
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 (<scripRef id="iiKi.xxiv-p16.5" osisRef="Bible:2Chr.35.25" parsed="|2Chr|35|25|0|0" passage="2Ch 35:25">2 Chron. xxxv. 25</scripRef>), 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.</p>
</div><scripCom id="iiKi.xxiv-p0.5" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.23.31-2Kgs.23.37" parsed="|2Kgs|23|31|23|37" passage="2Ki 23:31-37" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:2Kgs.23.31-2Kgs.23.37">
<h4 id="iiKi.xxiv-p16.7">Reigns of Jehoahaz and
Jehoiakim. (<span class="smallcaps" id="iiKi.xxiv-p16.8">b. c.</span> 610.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="iiKi.xxiv-p17">31 Jehoahaz <i>was</i> twenty and three years
old when he began to reign; and he reigned three months in
Jerusalem. And his mother's name <i>was</i> Hamutal, the daughter
of Jeremiah of Libnah.   32 And he did <i>that which was</i>
evil in the sight of the <span class="smallcaps" id="iiKi.xxiv-p17.1">Lord</span>,
according to all that his fathers had done.   33 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 a hundred talents of silver, and a talent of gold.   34 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 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 <i>it</i> unto
Pharaoh-nechoh.   36 Jehoiakim <i>was</i> twenty and five
years old when he began to reign; and he reigned eleven years in
Jerusalem. And his mother's name <i>was</i> Zebudah, the daughter
of Pedaiah of Rumah.   37 And he did <i>that which was</i>
evil in the sight of the <span class="smallcaps" id="iiKi.xxiv-p17.2">Lord</span>,
according to all that his fathers had done.</p>
<p class="indent" id="iiKi.xxiv-p18">Jerusalem saw not a good day after Josiah
was laid in his grave, but one trouble came after another, till
within twenty-two years it was quite destroyed. Of the reign of two
of his sons here is a short account; the former we find here a
prisoner and the latter a tributary to the king of Egypt, and both
so in the very beginning of their reign. This king of Egypt having
slain Josiah, though he had not had any design upon Judah, yet,
being provoked by the opposition which Josiah gave him, now, it
should seem, he bent all his force against his family and kingdom.
If Josiah's sons had trodden in his steps, they would have fared
the better for his piety; but, deviating from them, they fared the
worse for his rashness.</p>
<p class="indent" id="iiKi.xxiv-p19">I. Jehoahaz, a younger son, was first made
king by <i>the people of the land,</i> probably because he was
observed to be of a more active warlike genius than his elder
brother, and likely to make head against the king of Egypt and to
avenge his father's death, which perhaps the people were more
solicitous about, in point of honour, than the keeping up and
carrying on of his father's reformation; and the issue was
accordingly. 1. He did ill, <scripRef id="iiKi.xxiv-p19.1" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.23.32" parsed="|2Kgs|23|32|0|0" passage="2Ki 23:32"><i>v.</i>
32</scripRef>. Though he had a good education and a good example
given him, and many a good prayer, we may suppose, put up for him,
yet he <i>did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord,</i>
and, it is to be feared, began to do so in his father's lifetime,
for his reign was so short that he could not, in that, show much of
his character. He did <i>according to all that his</i> wicked
<i>fathers had done.</i> Though he had not time to do much, yet he
had chosen his patterns, and showed whom he intended to follow and
whose steps he resolved to tread in; and, having done this, he is
here reckoned to have done according to all the evil which those
did whom he proposed to imitate. It is of great consequence to
young people whom they choose to take for their patterns and whom
they emulate. An error in this choice is fatal. <scripRef id="iiKi.xxiv-p19.2" osisRef="Bible:Phil.3.17-Phil.3.18" parsed="|Phil|3|17|3|18" passage="Php 3:17,18">Phil. iii. 17, 18</scripRef>. 2. Doing ill, no wonder
that he fared ill. He was but three months a prince, and was then
made a prisoner, and lived and died so. The king of Egypt seized
him, and put him in bands (<scripRef id="iiKi.xxiv-p19.3" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.23.33" parsed="|2Kgs|23|33|0|0" passage="2Ki 23:33"><i>v.</i>
33</scripRef>), fearing lest he should give him disturbance, and
carried him to Egypt, where he died soon after, <scripRef id="iiKi.xxiv-p19.4" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.23.34" parsed="|2Kgs|23|34|0|0" passage="2Ki 23:34"><i>v.</i> 34</scripRef>. This Jehoahaz is that young
lion whom Ezekiel speaks of in his <i>lamentation for the princes
of Israel,</i> that learnt to <i>catch the prey and devour men</i>
(that was the evil which he did in the sight of the Lord); but
<i>the nations heard of him, he was taken in their pit, and they
brought him with chains into the land of Egypt,</i> <scripRef id="iiKi.xxiv-p19.5" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.19.1-Ezek.19.4" parsed="|Ezek|19|1|19|4" passage="Eze 19:1-4">Ezek. xix. 1-4</scripRef>. See <scripRef id="iiKi.xxiv-p19.6" osisRef="Bible:Jer.22.10-Jer.22.12" parsed="|Jer|22|10|22|12" passage="Jer 22:10-12">Jer. xxii. 10-12</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="iiKi.xxiv-p20">II. Eliakim, another son of Josiah, was
made king by the king of Egypt, it is not said <i>in the room of
Jehoahaz</i> (his reign was so short that it was scarcely worth
taking notice of), but <i>in the room of Josiah.</i> The crown of
Judah had hitherto always descended from a father to a son, and
never, till now, from one brother to another; once the succession
had so happened in the house of Ahab, but never, till now, in the
house of David. The king of Egypt, having used his power in making
him king, further showed it in changing his name; he called him
<i>Jehoiakim,</i> a name that has reference to Jehovah, for he had
no design to make him renounce or forget the religion of his
country. "All people will walk in the name of their God, and let
him do so." The king of Babylon did not do so by those whose names
he changed, <scripRef id="iiKi.xxiv-p20.1" osisRef="Bible:Dan.1.7" parsed="|Dan|1|7|0|0" passage="Da 1:7">Dan. i. 7</scripRef>. Of
this Jehoiakim we are here told, 1. That the king of Egypt made him
poor, exacted from him a vast tribute of 100 <i>talents of silver
and a talent of gold</i> (<scripRef id="iiKi.xxiv-p20.2" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.23.33" parsed="|2Kgs|23|33|0|0" passage="2Ki 23:33"><i>v.</i>
33</scripRef>), which, with much difficulty, he squeezed out of his
subjects and gave to Pharaoh, <scripRef id="iiKi.xxiv-p20.3" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.23.35" parsed="|2Kgs|23|35|0|0" passage="2Ki 23:35"><i>v.</i> 35</scripRef>. Formerly the Israelites had
spoiled the Egyptians; now the Egyptians spoil Israel. See what
woeful changes sin makes. 2. That which made him poor, yet did not
make him good. Notwithstanding the rebukes of Providence he was
under, by which he should have been convinced, humbled, and
reformed, he <i>did that which was evil in the sight of the
Lord</i> (<scripRef id="iiKi.xxiv-p20.4" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.23.37" parsed="|2Kgs|23|37|0|0" passage="2Ki 23:37"><i>v.</i> 37</scripRef>),
and so prepared against himself greater judgments; for such God
will send if less do not do the work for which they are sent.</p>
</div></div2>