Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 2 Kings 23:5
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.
5. the idolatrous priests ] The Hebrew has a special name ( Chemarim) for these priests, and the most generally accepted derivation of the word is from a root meaning ‘black’, which may have been the colour of the robes used by these priests, though we are never told of black-robed priests in the Old Testament. In Hos 10:5 the name is applied to the priests of the calves, and we may almost be certain that these were in dress made to look as much like those in the temple at Jerusalem as possible. The only other place where the name is found is Zep 1:4 where the words also refer to this false worship in Judah. The Syriac cognate word is used in the N. Test. for the ordinary Jewish priests, so that perhaps some notion of ministerial solemnity, rather than the mere idea of colour, is attached to the name.
whom the kings of Judah had ordained ] The use of Chemarim in Hos 10:5 for the priests of the calves might lead to the supposition that the ordination here spoken of was an introduction of calf-worship into Judah. We have however no definite statement that this was ever done. Perhaps as Chemarim had become the name of the irregular priests in Israel, who offered to Jehovah but before the calves, the term came into use for all such priests as served at the high places in the way mentioned 2Ch 33:17 ‘The people did sacrifice still in the high places, yet unto the Lord their God only’.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 5. The idolatrous priests] hakkemarim. Who these were is not well known. The Chaldee, Syriac, and Arabic, call them the priests simply, which the kings of Judah had ordained. Probably they were an order made by the idolatrous kings of Judah, and called kemarim, from camar, which signifies to be scorched, shrivelled together, made dark, or black, because their business was constantly to attend sacrificial fires, and probably they were black garments; hence the Jews in derision call Christian ministers kemarim, because of their black clothes and garments. Why we should imitate, in our sacerdotal dress, those priests of Baal, is strange to think and hard to tell.
Unto Baal, to the sun] Though Baal was certainly the sun, yet here they are distinguished; Baal being worshipped under different forms and attributes, Baal-peor, Baal-zephon, Baal-zebub, c.
The planets] mazzaloth. The Vulgate translates this the twelve signs, i.e., the zodiac. This is as likely as any of the other conjectures which have been published relative to this word. See a similar word Job 37:9; Job 38:32.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The idolatrous priests, Heb. the chemarim; which were ministers of idols, Hos 10:5, distinct from the priests, Zep 1:4. Possibly they were the highest rank of priests, because they are here employed in the highest work, which was to burn incense.
Baal; a particular god, of greatest esteem with them, so called; though elsewhere the name of Baal is common to all false gods.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
5. put down the idolatrouspriestsHebrew, chemarim, “scorched,” that is,Guebres, or fire-worshippers, distinguished by a girdle (Eze23:14-17) or belt of wool and camel’s hair, twisted round thebody twice and tied with four knots, which had a symbolic meaning,and made it a supposed defense against evil.
them also that burned incenseunto Baal, to the sun, and to the moon, &c.orBaal-shemesh, for Baal was sometimes considered the sun. This form offalse worship was not by images, but pure star-worship, borrowed fromthe old Assyrians.
andrather, “evento all the host of heaven.”
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And he put down the idolatrous priests,…. The Cemarim, so called, because they wore black clothes, as Kimchi and others, whereas the priests of the Lord were clothed in white linen,
[See comments on Zep 1:4].
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; for though those high places were destroyed by Hezekiah, they were rebuilt by Manasseh his son, and priests put in them to officiate there, whom Josiah now deposed, 2Ki 21:3,
them also that burnt incense unto Baal; in the same high places; these were the priests, and the others in the preceding clause are thought to be ministers unto them:
to the sun, and to the moon, and to the planets; the five planets besides the sun and moon, as Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Mercury, and Venus; or to the twelve celestial signs in the firmament, as some t; though Theodoret takes it to be a single star, the evening star:
and to all the host of heaven; or even to the host of heaven, all the stars thereof: this part of worship,
burning incense, which was peculiar to the most high God, yet was frequently made by idolaters to their deities; and from the word u by which it is here and elsewhere expressed may “nectar” be derived, so much spoken of by the Heathen poets as of a sweet smell w, and as delicious to their gods; and so Porphyry x represents the gods as living on smoke, vapours, and perfumes; and frankincense is said, by Diodorus Siculus y, to be most grateful to them, and beloved by them; this therefore is a much better derivation of the word “nectar” than what Suidas z gives, that is, as if it was “nectar”, because it makes those young that drink it; or than the account Athenaeus a gives of it, that it is a wine in Babylon so called.
t David de Pomis Lexic. fol. 77. 3. u “suffitum fecit. Et diis acceptus–” Nidor. Ovid. Metamorph. 1. 12, fab. 4. w Theocrit. Idyll. xvii. ver. 29. x De Abstinentia, l. 2. c. 42. Celsus apud Origen. l. 8. p. 417. y Biblioth. l. 2. p. 132. z In voce . a Deipnosophist. l. 1.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(5) He put down.Syriac and Arabic, he slew.
The idolatrous priests.The kmrm, or black-robed priests (Hos. 10:5, of the priests of the calf-worship at Beth-el). Only occurring besides in Zep. 1:4. Here, as in the passage of Hosea, the word denotes the unlawful priests of Jehovah, as contrasted with those of the Baal, mentioned in the next place. Whether the term really means black-robed, as Kimchi explains, is questionable. Priests used to wear white throughout the ancient world, except on certain special occasions. Gesenius derives it from a root meaning black, but explains, one clad in black, i.e., a mourner, an ascetic, and so a priest. Perhaps the true derivation is from another root, meaning to weave: weaver of spells or charms; as magic was an invariable concomitant of false worship. (Comp. 2Ki. 17:17; 2Ki. 21:6.) It is a regular word for priest in Syriac (chmr; Psa. 110:4; and the Ep. to the Heb., passim.)
To burn incense.So Syriac, Vulg., and Arabic. The Hebrew has, and he burnt incense. Probably it should be plural, as in the Vatican LXX. and Targum.
In the places round about.1Ki. 6:29. Omit in the places.
Unto Baal, to the sun.Unto the Baal, to wit, unto the sun. But it is better to supply and with all the versions. Bel and Samas were distinct deities in the Assyro-Babylonian system. When Reuss remarks that the knowledge of the old Semitic worships, possessed by the Hebrew historians, appears to have been very superficial, for Baal and the sun are one and the same deity, he lays himself open to the same charge.
The planets.Or, the signs of the Zodiac. The Heb. is mazzalth, probably a variant form of mazzarth (Job. 38:32). The word is used in the Targums, and by rabbinical writers, in the sense of star, as influencing human destiny, and so fate, fortune, in the singular, and in the plural of the signs of the Zodiac (e.g., Ecc. 9:3; Est. 3:7). It is, perhaps, derived from azar, to gird, and means belt, or girdle; or from azal, to journey, and so means stages of the suns course in the heavens. (Comp. Arab, manzal.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
5. Put down The margin is better, he caused to cease; he set them aside by prohibiting their idolatrous service, and destroying all their places of worship.
The idolatrous priests The chemarim, ( ,) These are mentioned again at Hos 10:5, and Zep 1:4, where they seem to be the priests of the calf-worship. Here they are described as those whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense in the high places, and are distinguished from the priests of Baal and other idolaters. Of the word chemarim, over which there has been dispute, Furst says: “The application to idolatrous priests is obviously only a Hebrew peculiarity, since the Syriac chumero denotes any priest; and it is a question how this designation is united with the meaning of the stem. According to Kimchi, the idolatrous priest is so named from his gloomy, black dress; or, from the Syriac meaning of the stem, to mourn, then, to be an ascetic. But if a particular fundamental signification of the stem should be assumed for this noun, it would be appropriate to take = , (Arabic, amar, coluit deum,) and accordingly would be a serving one, a servant, like , priest, in its fundamental meaning.”
To the sun, and to the moon The worship of Baal was really a worship of the sun and moon, for these luminaries were the real gods represented by Baal and Ashtoreth. See note on Jdg 2:13.
The planets , synonymous with of Job 38:32, stands for the twelve signs or constellations of the zodiac, which the ancients conceived of as so many stations of the sun in his course through the heavens. “In Arabic the twelve stations are called twelve palaces of the sun, and the zodiac is named the circle of palaces.” Furst.
Details of Josiah’s Reforms Which Took Place Throughout His Reign Over Many Years ( 2Ki 23:5-20 ).
What is now described would have commenced well before Josiah’s eighteenth year as the Temple was purified preparatory to its being repaired and restored, and it would have continued on throughout his reign as he was able to establish his rule further and further afield because of the waning power of Assyria and his own growth in political power. It is thus a summary of the whole process of his reforms carried out throughout Judah and Samaria, not just a description of what he did in his eighteenth year. It will be noted that the author’s sole concentration is on Josiah’s reforming activity. The fact that Josiah had made Judah strong, independent, and prosperous, and had then extended his rule throughout Samaria with similar consequences, was seen as peripheral. What mattered to the author was the establishing of the Rule of YHWH, and the purifying of the means of worship throughout all areas under his control.
2Ki 23:5
‘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, those also who burned incense to Baal, to the sun, and to the moon, and to the planets, and to all the host of heaven.’
One of Josiah’s first reforms had been to rid Judah of all the false priests (the chemarim) appointed by previous kings to serve at the idolatrous high places. These priests were not of the tribe of Levi (seen in the fact that they were not permitted to return to Jerusalem) and had burned incense in the false sanctuaries to Baal, and the sun, and the moon, and the planets, and all the host of heaven. Now they were being ‘put down’ in order to prevent worship at these high places.
The distinction between the sun, moon and planets and the host of heaven suggests that the latter phrase signified the host of stars visible in the night sky apart from specifically identified ones. ‘The planets’ probably refers to specifically identified stars (but probably not to the signs of the Zodiac which would be unknown at this time).
2Ki 23:6
‘And he brought out the Asherah from the house of YHWH, outside Jerusalem, to the brook Kidron, and burned it at the brook Kidron, and beat it to dust, and cast its dust on the graves of the common people.’
No doubt around the same time the Asherah image (or pole) that had been set up in the house of YHWH by previous kings (Manasseh and Amon), was brought out from the Temple and burned in the Brook Kidron, outside Jerusalem. Then it was beaten to dust (as with the golden calf in Exo 32:20), and that dust was thrown onto the graveyard used for burying the common people (see Jer 26:23), who did not have their own family sepulchres. This would be in order to defile it by contact with ground containing the dead, and in order to reveal that the Asherah herself was ‘dead’.
2Ki 23:7
‘And he broke down the houses of the sodomites, which were in the house of YHWH, where the women wove hangings for the Asherah.’
He also broke down the houses of the cult prostitutes (both male and female) which had been set up in the house of YHWH, in order to support the degraded worship of Canaanite gods, and was where women had woven hangings for the Asherah. The hangings may have been paraphernalia hung from the Asherah images, or robes for the Asherah priests, or cords to be placed round the heads of cult prostitutes.
2Ki 23:8
‘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,
These priests were genuinely of the tribe of Levi, but had engaged in false worship at syncretistic high places. Note that their major crime was of ‘burning incense’ to false gods. This was a direct repudiation of YHWH to Whom alone incense of a special kind could be burned. Their high places where they had burned incense were defiled throughout the whole of Judah, from north (Geba) to south Beersheba). He seemingly at this stage had no authority over the priests outside Judah.
2Ki 23:8
‘And he broke down the high places of the gates which were at the entrance of the gate of Joshua the governor of the city, which were on a man’s left hand at the gate of the city.’
He also broke down the high places set up at the gates which were at the entrance of the gate of Joshua the governor of the city. We have no other information about these high places, but they were clearly either fully idolatrous or syncretistic. It has been suggested that this was at the gates of Beersheba as ‘the city’ is not named, and the name Beersheba ended the previous verse. Remains of such a high place destroyed in the time of Josiah have been found at Beersheba.
2Ki 23:9
‘Nevertheless the priests of the high places did not come up to the altar of YHWH in Jerusalem, but they did eat unleavened bread among their brothers.’
But the levitical priest of the high places themselves (in contrast to the chemarim – 2Ki 23:5) were not left without sustenance, for although they were not allowed to officiate at the Temple in Jerusalem, presumably because of their previous heretical activity (for otherwise it is contrary to Deu 18:6-7), they were allowed to partake of the unleavened bread (or ‘priestly food’) allocated to the priests (see Lev 6:16; compare and contrast Deu 18:6-8, and note 1Sa 2:36).
2Ki 23:10
‘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.’
Josiah also defiled ‘Topheth’. ‘Topheth’ means ‘fireplace’ or ‘hearth’ (the vowels deliberately connect the name with the Hebrew word for ‘shame (bosheth)). This was seemingly a sophisticated and gruesome set-up, either erected or dug in the ground, which was established in the Valley of Hinnom (compare Jos 18:16) for the purpose of sacrificing children to Molech. The valley of Hinnom would later become Jerusalem’s rubbish dump (if it was not so already). That the actual sacrificing of children is in mind is confirmed in Jer 19:5.
2Ki 23:11
‘And he took away the horses that the kings of Judah had given to the sun, at the entrance of the house of YHWH, by the chamber of Nathan-melech the chamberlain, which was in the precincts, and he burned the chariots of the sun with fire.’
It is clear that model horses and chariots for the sun had been erected by the kings of Judah within the Temple area ‘by the chamber of Nathan-melech (‘gift of Molech’, or ‘gift of the King’) the chamberlain, which was in the precincts’. Models of such horses, some with solar discs on their foreheads, have been found east of Ophel, and at Hazor (9th century BC) and other sites, which all bear witness to the cult of the sun described here, whilst an Assyrian title for the sun god was ‘chariot rider’ (rakib narkabti). Similar sun worship in the Temple is attested in Eze 8:16. The horses were removed from the Temple and the chariots burned with fire. This would be a clear indication that Assyria had been once and for all repudiated, as Assur, the chief god of Assyria, was the sun god and had no doubt been associated with these chariots and horses.
‘The precincts.’ This may refer to the precincts west of the Temple, or to colonnades within the Temple area, or to open pavilions. The word is found in the singular (compare 1Ch 26:18) in a Lydian Aramaic inscription, and may be related to the Sumerian for ‘burning house’ (indicating a place of sacrifice). A similar word in Persian means ‘pavilion’.
2Ki 23:12
‘And the altars which were on the roof 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 YHWH, did the king break down, and beat them down from there, and cast the dust of them into the brook Kidron.’
Altars, probably to the sun (compare 2Ki 20:11), but no doubt also honouring other sky gods, had been erected ‘on the roof of the upper chamber of Ahaz’, a sanctuary possibly built on the roof of the palace. Roof sanctuaries were especially suited for worshipping astral gods (compare Jer 19:13; Jer 32:29; Zep 1:5). These altars were broken down, along with the altars which Manasseh had made in the two courts of the house of YHWH for the worship of all the host of heaven (compare 2Ki 21:5). These also were beaten down, and their dust cast into the Brook Kidron.
‘The two courts of the house of YHWH’ suggests that the original Temple court had been divided into two, one section for the worship of Baal and Asherah and the other for the worship of YHWH. Alternately it could refer to the court of the Temple, and the court leading from there to the place complex.
2Ki 23:13
‘And the high places which were before Jerusalem, which were on the right hand of the mount of the destroyer, which Solomon the king of Israel had built for Ashtoreth the abomination of the Sidonians, and for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for Milcom the abomination of the children of Ammon, did the king defile.’
These idolatrous high places were built on the mountain to the east of Jerusalem (1Ki 11:7) to the right of the Mount of the Destroyer (either a section of the Mount of Olives, or a play on words between mashchith (destroyer) and mashchah (oil)). They were built by Solomon for his wives, and may well have been maintained since then in order to service the foreign treaty wives of later kings. Now at last Josiah defiled them, rendering them unusable. There would be no more such worship within the vicinity of Jerusalem.
Ashtoreth was the Phoenician (Canaanite) mother goddess connected with fertility, love and war. Chemosh was the national god of Moab. The name Milcom (which appears in Ugaritic texts) is the same as Molech (Melech), the fierce national god of the equally fierce, half-wild Ammonites, but also worshipped throughout the area of Palestine, and even beyond.
2Ki 23:14
‘And he broke in pieces the pillars, and cut down the Asherim, and filled their places with the bones of men.’
Having defiled the high places, he also broke in pieces the pillars which represented Baal, and cut down the Asherah images, defiling their sites with dead men’s bones.
2Ki 23:15
‘Moreover the altar which was at Beth-el, and the high place which Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, had made, even that altar and the high place he broke down, and he burned the high place and beat it to dust, and burned the Asherah.’
By this time, probably some years after the eighteenth year of his reign, Josiah’s reforms were reaching beyond Judah. This was because Assyrian control over the province of Samaria had become non-existent as a result of the fact that they were engaged in their death struggles elsewhere (Nineveh was finally destroyed in 612 BC by the triumphant Babylonians, Medes and Scythians). Meanwhile Josiah appears to have been extending his rule over large parts of Samaria, filling the vacuum left by the Assyrians. In consequence he was able to purify Bethel, by destroying and defiling the altar and high place which Jeroboam I had set up there (1Ki 12:29-33). The altar and high place were broken down, burned and smashed to pieces. The accompanying Asherah image was also burned.
2Ki 23:16
‘And as Josiah turned himself, he spied the sepulchres that were there in the mount, and he sent, and took the bones out of the sepulchres, and burned them on the altar, and defiled it, according to the word of YHWH which the man of God proclaimed, who proclaimed these things.’
As Josiah turned about, having given instructions concerning the destruction of the altar and high place, he spotted the tombs in the mountain, and the result was that he ordered that the bones be brought from them and burned on the altar as part of the process of defilement and destruction. This, as the author points out, was in accordance with what YHWH had declared through the man of God who had proclaimed these things in the time of Jeroboam (see 1Ki 13:2). What YHWH had said, He now performed.
2Ki 23:17
‘Then he said, “What is that monument which I see?” And the men of the city told him, “It is the sepulchre of the man of God, who came from Judah, and proclaimed these things that you have done against the altar of Beth-el.” ’
Then he spotted a gravestone and asked what it was. And he was told by the men of the city that it marked the sepulchre of the man of God (whose ministry is mentioned in the previous verse) who had come from Judah and prophesied what Josiah had now done, which is one reason why his sepulchre is given such prominence here. It was present proof of the faithfulness of YHWH to His promises.
“It is the sepulchre of the man of God, who came from Judah, and proclaimed these things that you have done against the altar of Beth-el.” The literal wording is more startling, ‘The grave! The man of God who came from Judah —.’
2Ki 23:18
‘And he said, “Let him be. Let no man move his bones.” So they let his bones alone, with the bones of the prophet that came out of Samaria.’
So Josiah immediately declared that his bones must not be touched. They were not to be used like the other bones had been as a method for defiling the altar and high place in Bethel. Rather they were to be left in peace, along also with the bones of the old prophet of Samaria. Of course ‘Samaria’ here is the equivalent of Israel (the ‘modern’ term being used). Thus the bones of prophets from both Israel and Judah were preserved.
2Ki 23:19
‘And all the houses also of the high places which were in the cities of Samaria, which the kings of Israel had made to provoke YHWH to anger, Josiah took away, and did to them according to all the acts that he had done in Beth-el.’
Josiah then went throughout all the cities of the region of Samaria, destroying all the sanctuaries with their accompanying ‘high places’ (high altars reached by steps) which had so provoked YHWH to anger. He treated them in the same way as he had the altar and high place in Bethel. This was an indication of the extent to which his kingdom now reached.
2Ki 23:20
‘And he slew all the priests of the high places who were there, on the altars, and burned men’s bones on them, and he returned to Jerusalem.’
Furthermore he slew all the priests who had been involved with sacrificing and offering incense at the high places, and he did it on the altars of the high places, and also burned men’s bones on them in order to defile them further. The ashes of the dead would prevent anyone in those days from ever seeing them as sacred again. They were to be seen as religiously defiled beyond repair. Then he returned to Jerusalem.
We naturally react against the idea of the slaughter of these men, but we must remember they were at the time seen as traitors to YHWH and his covenant, and therefore as worthy of death. No one in those days would have doubted that their crimes were deserving of the death penalty, for they were seen as in direct rebellion against YHWH. Furthermore it is probable that at the time they were not seeking to submit to the king and pleading for mercy, but were fiercely seeking to defend their high places, which they saw as sacred, against the assaults of Josiah’s men.
2Ki 23:5. The idolatrous priests In the Hebrew kemarim. It is plain from this place, that their particular business was to burn incense. Hence the faithful Jews seem to call them in contempt, as being continually scorched by their fumigating fires. Bishop Patrick thinks, that they were so called from being clothed in black; for the Egyptians, as well as many other pagan nations, made use of black garments when they sacrificed to the infernal deities: in opposition to which, the Jewish priests were clothed in white at their sacrifices.
2Ki 23:5 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.
Ver. 5. And he put down the idolatrous priests. ] Heb., Chemarims, Baal’s chimney-chaplains, see Zep 1:14 , with the note there black sooty fellows, like those greasy mass priests, or abbey lubbers, amongst the Papists.
And to the planets. idolatrous priests = black-robed; not kohen, as appointed by God, but kemarlm, as appointed by man. Compare Hos 10:5, Zep 1:4.
Planets = stations: i.e. the twelve signs of the Zodiac. Hebrew. mazzaloth. Spelled Mazzaroth in Job 38:32 = stations. The Babylonian name for the divisions of the zodiac. Called in the Assyrian inscriptions “Mauzalti”. (See Western Asiatic Inscriptions.)
Destroying Inducements to Evil
2Ki 23:5-14
Encouraged by the prophets Zephaniah, Urijah, and perhaps Jeremiah, Josiah set himself to the work of thorough reform, in which he endeavored to carry his people. The various items mentioned here prove how deeply the heart of the nation had become corrupted. In the very Temple itself were altars and vessels for the unholy rites of Baal and Ashtaroth. Multitudes of black-hooded priests filled the streets. At the Temple gates were the horses and chariots of the sun-worship. Around the hills glittered idol shrines. These were all swept away.
In all our lives there are times when we should carefully examine ourselves-not by our own conceptions of what may be right or wrong, nor by the conventional standards which are accepted by our neighbors, but by the high and holy standards of the New Testament-the example and precepts of our Lord. We are too prone to suit our conceptions of what He requires to the fancies or choices of our own desires, instead of testing ourselves by the pattern given in the Mount. If hand or foot or eye cause us to offend, we must show ourselves no mercy.
put down: Heb. caused to cease
the idolatrous priests: Heb. Chemarim. Hos 10:5, *marg. “Foretold. Zep 1:4, Zep 1:5.”
planets: or, twelve signs, or constellations, So the Vulgate duodecim signa, “the twelve signs,” i.e., the zodiac; which is the most probable meaning of the word mazzaloth, from the Arabic manzeel, a caravanserai, house, or dwelling, as being the apparent dwellings of the sun in his annual course; and the Targumists and Rabbins often employ the words tereysar mazzalaya, to denote the signs of the zodiac.
all the host: 2Ki 21:3, 2Ki 21:4, Jer 8:1, Jer 8:2, Jer 44:17-19
Reciprocal: Deu 4:19 – when thou 2Ki 23:11 – the sun 2Ch 33:3 – the host 2Ch 34:4 – images Job 31:26 – beheld Job 38:32 – Mazzaroth Jer 11:13 – For according Eze 8:16 – their faces Eze 16:24 – thou hast 2Co 6:16 – what
A ROYAL ICONOCLAST
He put down the idolatrous priests.
2Ki 23:5
I. What deserves to be borne in mind is this: If mild measures would not have availed to accomplish the desired object of rooting out idolatry and restoring the Mosaic constitution, neither did these violent measures have that effect.Josiahs reformatory efforts failed of any permanent effect, and his arrangements disappeared almost without a trace. It is very remarkable that the prophets, who might have been expected to rejoice in this undertaking, and to date from it as an epoch and a standing example of what a king of Judah ought to do, scarcely refer to it, if at all. There was a violent and bloody attempt by Manasseh to crush out the Jehovah religion, and establish the worship of other gods. Violence for violence, can we approve of the means employed in the one case any more than in the other? Is the most highly cultured Christian conscience so uncertain of its own principles that it is incapable of any better verdict than this: violence when employed by the party with which we sympathise is right; when employed against that party it is wrong? We justify Josiah, and we condemn the Christian persecutors and inquisitors. Are these views inconsistent, and, if not, how can we reconcile them?
II. We have to bear in mind that it is one thing to admit excuses for a line of conduct, and another to justify it.Judaism certainly had intolerance as one of its fundamental principles. Violence in the support of the Jehovah religion was a duty of a Jewish king. In attempting to account for and understand the conduct of Josiah, it would be as senseless to expect him to see and practise toleration as to expect him to use firearms against Necho. We can never carry back modern principles into ancient times, and judge men by the standards of to-day. To do so argues an utter want of historical sense. On the other hand, however, when we have to judge actions, which may be regarded as examples for our own conduct, we must judge them inflexibly by the highest standards of right and justice and wisdom with which we are acquainted. How else can we deny that it is right to persecute heresy by violent means when that is justified by the example of Josiah?
III. Judged by the best standards, Josiahs reformation was unwise in its method.The king was convinced, and he carried out the reformation by his royal authority. The nation was not converted, and therefore did not heartily concur in the movement. It only submitted to what was imposed. Hence this reformation passed without fruit, as it was without root in public conviction. We are sure of our modern principles of toleration, and of suffering persecution rather than inflicting it. We believe in these principles even as means of propagating our opinions. Let us be true to those principles, and not be led into disloyalty to them by our anxiety to apologise for a man who is here mentioned with praise and honour. Violence is the curse of all revolutions, political or religious. Has not our generation seen enough of them to be convinced of this at last? Do we not look on during political convulsions with anxiety to see whether the cause with which we sympathise will succeed in keeping clear of this curse? Is it not the highest praise which we can impart to a revolution, and our strongest reason to trust in the permanence of its results, that it was peaceful? Josiahs reformation is not an example for us. Its failure is a warning. We have not to justify the method of it. We cannot condemn the man, for his intentions and motives were the best, but we cannot approve of or imitate the method of action. Its failure warns us that no reformation can be genuine which is imposed by authority, or which rests on anything but a converted heart, and that all the plausible justifications of violence which may be invented are delusions.
2Ki 23:5. He put down the idolatrous priests , chemarim. Their particular business, as appears from this place, was to burn incense. Hence it is thought by some, that the faithful Jews gave them this name by way of contempt, as being continually scorched by their fumigating fires. But, according to Bishop Patrick, they were so called from being clothed in black: for the Egyptians, as well as many other pagan nations; made use of black garments when they sacrificed to the infernal deities: in opposition to which the Jewish priests were clothed with white at their sacrifices.
23:5 And he put down the {f} 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.
(f) Or Chemarims, meaning the priests of Baal who were called Chemarims either because they wore black garments or else were smoked with burning incense to idols.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes