2 Kings 23

Chapter context

What is happening in 2 Kings 23?

prophetic witnessjudgmentexileidolatry

2 Kings 23 belongs to the middle movement of the book, especially the section often described as Jerusalem’s fall and the exile. Second Kings follows the ministries of Elijah and Elisha, recounts the decline of both kingdoms, and ends with Jerusalem’s fall and a faint glimmer of Davidic continuity. Read this chapter with the wider themes of prophetic witness, judgment, and exile in view so the individual verses keep their proper weight.

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 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 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. 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 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 Bethel. 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 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 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 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 Beersheba, 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 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 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 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 Nathanmelech the chamberlain, which was in the suburbs, and burned the chariots of the sun with fire. ¹² 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 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 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 was at Bethel, and the high place which Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, had made, both that altar and the high place he brake down, and burned the high place, and stamped it small to powder, and burned the grove. ¹⁶ And as Josiah turned himself, he spied the sepulchres that were there in the mount, and sent, and took the bones out of the sepulchres, and burned them upon the altar, and polluted it, according to the word of the LORD which the man of God proclaimed, who proclaimed these words. ¹⁷ 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 Bethel. 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 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 Bethel. ²⁰ 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. ²¹ 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 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, wherein this passover was holden to the LORD in Jerusalem. ²⁴ 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 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 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 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. ²⁸ 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 In his days Pharaohnechoh 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. ³¹ 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 And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his fathers had done. ³³ And Pharaohnechoh 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 And Pharaohnechoh 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 it unto Pharaohnechoh. ³⁶ 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 And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his fathers had done.

Study helps

Glossary

Jerusalem Place v. 1-2, 4-6, 8-9, 13, 20, 23-24, 27, 30-31, 33, 36: Biblical settlement. Modern identification: Jerusalem.
Bethel Place v. 4, 15-17, 19: House of God. (1. ) A place in Central Palestine, about 10 miles north of Jerusalem, at the head of the pass of Michmash and Ai. It was originally the royal Canaanite city of Luz ( Gen. 28:19 ). Modern identification: Beitin.
Hilkiah Person v. 4, 24: Portion of Jehovah. (1. ) 1 Chr. 6:54 . (2. ) 1 Chr. 26:11 . (3. ) The father of Eliakim ( 2 Kings 18:18 , 26, 37). (4. ) The father of Gemariah ( Jer. 29:3 ). (5. ) The father of the prophet Jeremiah (1:1).
Kidron Place v. 4, 6, 12: Biblical river. Modern identification: Kidron River.
Beersheba Place v. 8: Well of the oath, or well of seven, a well dug by Abraham, and so named because he and Abimelech here entered into a compact ( Gen. 21:31 ). On re-opening it, Isaac gave it the same name ( Gen. 26:31-33 ). Modern identification: Tel Beer Sheva.
City People v. 8, 17, 27: The earliest mention of city-building is that of Enoch, which was built by Cain ( Gen. 4:17 ). After the confusion of tongues, the descendants of Nimrod founded several cities (10:10-12).
Geba Place v. 8: Biblical settlement. Modern identification: Jaba.
Joshua Tribe v. 8: Jehovah is his help, or Jehovah the Saviour. The son of Nun, of the tribe of Ephraim, the successor of Moses as the leader of Israel. He is called Jehoshua in Num. 13:16 (A. V. ), and Jesus in Acts 7:45 and Heb. 4:8 .
Hinnom Person v. 10: A deep, narrow ravine separating Mount Zion from the so-called “Hill of Evil Counsel. ” It took its name from “some ancient hero, the son of Hinnom. ” It is first mentioned in Josh. 15:8 .
Topheth Place v. 10: =Topheth, from Heb. Modern identification: Hinnom Valley.
Valley of Hinnom Place v. 10: Biblical valley. Modern identification: Hinnom Valley.
Ammon Place v. 13: Biblical region. Modern identification: Amman.
Moab Place v. 13: Biblical region. Modern identification: Kerak.
Mount of Olives Place v. 13: Biblical hill. Modern identification: Mount of Olives.
Jeroboam Person v. 15: Increase of the people. (1. ) The son of Nebat ( 1 Kings 11:26-39 ), “an Ephrathite,” the first king of the ten tribes, over whom he reigned twenty-two years (B. C. 976-945).
Nebat Person v. 15: Sight; aspect, the father of Jeroboam, the king of Israel ( 1 Kings 11:26 , etc. ).
Josiah Person v. 16, 19, 23-24, 28-30, 34: Healed by Jehovah, or Jehovah will support. The son of Amon, and his successor on the throne of Judah ( 2 Kings 22:1 ; 2 Chr. 34:1 ). His history is contained in 2 Kings 22, 23.
Samaria Place v. 18-19: Biblical settlement. Modern identification: Samaria.
Assyria Place v. 29: Biblical region. Modern identification: Nineveh.
Egypt Place v. 29, 34: The land of the Nile and the pyramids, the oldest kingdom of which we have any record, holds a place of great significance in Scripture. Modern identification: Ain Shams.
Euphrates Place v. 29: Biblical river. Modern identification: Euphrates River.
Megiddo Place v. 29-30: Biblical settlement. Modern identification: Tel Megiddo.
Jehoahaz Person v. 30-31, 34: Jehovah his sustainer, or he whom Jehovah holdeth. (1. ) The youngest son of Jehoram, king of Judah ( 2 Chr. 21:17 ; 22:1 , 6, 8, 9); usually Ahaziah (q. v. ).
Hamutal Person v. 31: Kinsman of the dew, the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah, wife of king Josiah, and mother of king Jehoahaz ( 2 Kings 23:31 ), also of king Zedekiah ( 2 Kings 24:18 ).
Jeremiah Person v. 31: Raised up or appointed by Jehovah. (1. ) A Gadite who joined David in the wilderness ( 1 Chr. 12:10 ). (2. ) A Gadite warrior ( 1 Chr. 12:13 ). (3. ) A Benjamite slinger who joined David at Ziklag ( 1 Chr. 12:4 ).
Libnah Place v. 31: Biblical settlement. Modern identification: Tell Bornat.
Hamath Place v. 33: Biblical settlement. Modern identification: Hama.
Riblah Place v. 33: Biblical settlement. Modern identification: Rableh.
Eliakim Person v. 34: Whom God will raise up. (1. ) The son of Melea ( Luke 3:30 ), and probably grandson of Nathan. (2. ) The son of Abiud, of the posterity of Zerubbabel ( Matt. 1:13 ).
Jehoiakim Person v. 34-36: He whom Jehovah has set up, the second son of Josiah, and eighteenth king of Judah, which he ruled over for eleven years (B. C. 610-599). His original name was Eliakim (q. v. ).
Pedaiah Person v. 36: Redemption of the Lord. (1. ) The father of Zebudah, who was the wife of Josiah and mother of king Jehoiakim ( 2 Kings 23:36 ). (2. ) The father of Zerubbabel ( 1 Chr. 3:17-19 ). (3. ).
Rumah Place v. 36: Biblical settlement. Modern identification: Horbat Rumah.
Zebudah Person v. 36: Given, the wife of Josiah and mother of Jehoiakim ( 2 Kings 23:36 ).