2 Re 23:10 Commento

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 (Kg2 23:1, Kg2 23:2), renewing the covenant (Kg2 23:3), cleansing the temple (Kg2 23:4), and rooting out idols and idolatry, with all the relics thereof, in all places, as far as his power reached (v. 5-20), keeping a solemn passover (Kg2 23:21-23), and clearing the country of witches (Kg2 23:24); and in all this acting with extraordinary vigour (Kg2 23:25). II. The unhappy conclusion of it in his untimely death, as a token of the continuance of God's wrath against Jerusalem (Kg2 23:26-30). III. The more unhappy consequences of his death, in the bad reigns of his two sons Jehoahaz and Jehoiakim, that came after him (Kg2 23:31-37).

INTRODUCTION TO 2 KINGS 23 This chapter treats of Josiah's reading the book of the law, and of him and the people renewing the covenant with God, Kg2 23:1, and of his removing idols and idolatry in every shape, and witchcraft, out of the land, which he did in the sincerity of his heart, Kg2 23:4, yet the wrath of God was still determined upon the land, Kg2 23:26 and Josiah was taken away by an untimely death, Kg2 23:29 and was succeeded by two sons of his, one after another, whose reigns were wicked, Kg2 23:31.

And he took away the horses that the kings of Judah had given to the sun,.... Consecrated to it; these were not images of horses, as some have thought, but real living ones; and the kings that gave them for the service of the sun, and for sacrifice to it, very probably were Manasseh and Amon: that horses were sacred to the sun with many Heathen nations, as the Massagetae, a people in Scythia, and the Persians, and Babylonians, and Ethiopians, is affirmed by various writers (c): and from them the Jews received this notion. According to the Jewish commentators, these were horses provided for the worshippers of the sun to ride upon, and meet the sun in the morning at its rising, and pay their homage to it; but certain it is that the Heathen nations before mentioned slew the horses, and sacrificed them as burnt offerings to the sun, as is asserted by Herodotus (d), Xenophon (e), Strabo (f), Pausanias (g), Philostratus (h), and other writers (i); and so the Indians of India (k) sacrificed them to Apollo, the same with the sun; these being the swiftest of creatures, they offered them to the swiftest of their gods, as Herodotus and Heliodorus observe, in the places before referred to. The stables in which these horses were kept were at the entering of the house of the Lord, by the chamber of Nathanmelech the chamberlain, which was in the suburbs; so that they reached from the temple to the suburbs of Jerusalem, to that part of them where this officer had a chamber, or lodgings, being in some place of power and authority there; though, according to L'Empereur (l), it is the same with Parbar, Ch1 26:18 and should not be rendered "suburbs", it being between the compass or wall of the temple, and the court: and burnt the chariots of the sun with fire; these were either chariots, in which the king and his nobles rode, when they went to meet and worship the rising sun; or rather such as were sacred to the sun, as well as the horses, or Josiah would not have burnt them; they seem to be such in which the images of the sun were carried. Herodotus (m) makes mention as of sacred horses, so of a sacred chariot. Xenophon (n) speaks of the chariot of the sun as being of a white colour, and drawn in procession at the worship of the sun; as does also Pausanias (o) of a chariot, in which were the sun, Jupiter, and Juno, and near them other deities; which notion of sacred chariots the Heathens might take from the chariot of the cherubim Jehovah sat and rode in, Ch1 28:18. (c) Justin e Trogo, l. 1. c. 10. Curt. Hist. l. 3. c. 3. Ovid. Fast. l. 1. Alex. ab Alex. Genial. Dier. l. 6. c. 26. Heliodor. Ethiop. l. 10. c. 6. 28. (d) Clio, sive, l. 1. c. 216. (e) Cyropaed. l. 8. c. 23, 24. (f) Geograph. l. 11. p. 353. (g) Laconica, sive, l. 3. p. 201. (h) Vit. Apollon. l. 1. c. 20. (i) Vid. Lactant. de fals. Relig. l. 1. c. 21. (k) Laon. Chalcondyl. de Rebus Turc. l. 3. p. 108. (l) Not. in Misn. Middot, c. 2. sect. 3. No. 3. So Boehart. Hierozoic. par. 1. l. 2. c. 10. col. 177. (m) Polymnia, sive, l. 7. c. 55. (n) Ut supra, (Cyropaed. l. 8.) c. 23. (o) Eliac. 1. sive, l. 5. p, 307.

"He also defiled Topheth, etc." [2 Kings 23:10] What is said about King Josiah: "He also defiled Topheth, which is in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, so that no man might consecrate his son or his daughter through the fire to Molech"; these places are frequently mentioned in Scripture, especially in the book of Kings and the prophet Jeremiah. Now the Valley of Hinnom, or the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, is near the wall of Jerusalem, toward the east, in which the beautiful grove of Siloam is watered by springs. But Topheth, or Tophet (both spellings are used), was a place in the same valley, near the fuller's pool, which is mentioned in Scripture, and near the field of Aceldama, which is shown to this day on the southern side of Mount Sion. In Topheth, which was a very pleasant place, altars were set up to sacrifice to demons, and to consecrate their children to a wicked fire, or to offer burnt offerings, as it is written in the book of Chronicles about King Ahaz: "He it was who burned incense in the valley of the son of Hinnom, and burned his children in the fire." Ben-Hinnom indeed means the son of Hinnom. The Valley of Hinnom is called Gehinnom in Hebrew, from which in the New Testament, the name Gehenna is applied to the punishment of hell, because just as in the Valley of Hinnom, those who served idols in it perished, as testified by the prophets, so too will sinners be punished with eternal damnation for their sins. Therefore, when Jeremiah relates that the Lord commanded him and said, "Go out to the valley of the son of Hinnom, which is by the entry of the Pottery Gate"; soon after he says: "And this place shall no longer be called Topheth, nor the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter: and I will make void the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem in this place, and I will cause them to fall by the sword" (Jer. 19). Isaiah also most clearly calls Topheth hell; he, while describing the perpetual destruction of the devil under the name of Asshur, saying: "For through the voice of the Lord shall Asshur be beaten down, who smote with a rod. And the passage of the rod is prepared, which the Lord shall cause to rest upon him" (Isa. 30), forthwith added how and where he should perish, saying: "For Topheth is ordained of old; yea, for the king it is prepared; it is deep and large." Beautifully he says "And large," because Topheth means width. His nourishments, it is said, are fire and much wood; the breath of the Lord, like a stream of sulfur, sets it ablaze. But Josiah defiled Tophet, either by scattering the bones of the dead there, as it is read that he did in other places of idols, or by dispersing any other unclean things, so that the place would appear to all who looked at it as more fitting for abomination than for delight.

“No one would make a son or a daughter pass through fire.” The passage through fire is the symbol of combustion. In fact, the demons demanded that [their worshipers] burn their own children, and sometimes they were immolated, sometimes they only underwent the symbolic rite mentioned above, as if they had been actually placed into the fire and consumed, and so the expectations of the demons were satisfied. Sometimes fire was also passed above somebody to signify that he was by now enveloped in fire. Then salt was thrown, too, according to the customs of those who worship the devil.

Josiah reads in the temple to the elders of Judah, the priests, the prophets, and the people, the book of the covenant which had been found, Kg2 23:1, Kg2 23:2. He makes a covenant, and the people stand to it, Kg2 23:3. He destroys the vessels of Baal and Asherah, and puts down the idolatrous priests; breaks down the houses of the sodomites, and the high places; defiles Topheth; takes away the horses of the sun; destroys the altars of Ahaz; breaks in pieces the images; and breaks down and burns Jeroboam's altar at Beth-el, Kg2 23:4-15. Fulfills the word of the prophet, who cried against the altar at Beth-el, Kg2 23:16-18. Destroys the high places in Samaria, slays the idolatrous priests, and celebrates a great passover, Kg2 23:19-23; and puts away all the dealers with familiar spirits, etc., Kg2 23:24. His eminent character; he is mortally wounded at Megiddo, and buried at Jerusalem, Kg2 23:25-30. Jehoahaz reigns in his stead, and does evil in the sight of the Lord, Kg2 23:31, Kg2 23:32. Is dethroned by Pharaoh-nechoh; and Eliakim, his brother, called also Jehoiakim, made king in his stead; the land is laid under tribute by the king of Egypt, and Jehoiakim reigns wickedly, Kg2 23:33-37.

He defiled Topheth - St. Jerome says that Topheth was a fine and pleasant place, well watered with fountains, and adorned with gardens. The valley of the son of Hinnom, or Gehenna, was in one part; here it appears the sacred rites of Molech were performed, and to this all the filth of the city was carried, and perpetual fires were kept up in order to consume it. Hence it has been considered a type of hell; and in this sense it is used in the New Testament. It is here said that Josiah defiled this place that no man might make his son or his daughter to pass through the fire. He destroyed the image of Molech, and so polluted the place where he stood, or his temple, that it was rendered in every way abominable. The rabbins say that Topheth had its name from תף toph, a drum, because instruments of this kind were used to drown the cries of the children that were put into the burning arms of Molech, to be scorched to death. This may be as true as the following definition: "Topheth, or the valley of the son of Hinnom, was a place near Jerusalem, where the filth and offal of the city were thrown, and where a constant fire was kept up to consume the wretched remains of executed criminals. It was a human shambles, a public chopping-block, where the arms and legs of men and women were quartered off by thousands." Query, On what authority do such descriptions rest?

JOSIAH CAUSES THE LAW TO BE READ. (Kg2 23:1-3) the king sent, and they gathered unto him all the elders--This pious and patriotic king, not content with the promise of his own security, felt, after Huldah's response, an increased desire to avert the threatened calamities from his kingdom and people. Knowing the richness of the divine clemency and grace to the penitent, he convened the elders of the people, and placing himself at their head, accompanied by the collective body of the inhabitants, went in solemn procession to the temple, where he ordered the book of the law to be read to the assembled audience, and covenanted, with the unanimous concurrence of his subjects, to adhere steadfastly to all the commandments of the Lord. It was an occasion of solemn interest, closely connected with a great national crisis, and the beautiful example of piety in the highest quarter would exert a salutary influence over all classes of the people in animating their devotions and encouraging their return to the faith of their fathers.

Topheth--so called from Toph--a "drum." It is the prevailing opinion among Jewish writers that the cries of the terrified children made to pass through the fire in that place of idolatrous horror were drowned by the sound of that instrument.