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2 Kings 23:2 King James Version with Strong's Concordance (STRONG)

2 And the king H4428 went up H5927 into the house H1004 of the LORD, H3068 and all the men H376 of Judah H3063 and all the inhabitants H3427 of Jerusalem H3389 with him, and the priests, H3548 and the prophets, H5030 and all the people, H5971 both small H6996 and great: H1419 and he read H7121 in their ears H241 all the words H1697 of the book H5612 of the covenant H1285 which was found H4672 in the house H1004 of the LORD. H3068

Cross Reference

2 Kings 22:8 STRONG

And Hilkiah H2518 the high H1419 priest H3548 said H559 unto Shaphan H8227 the scribe, H5608 I have found H4672 the book H5612 of the law H8451 in the house H1004 of the LORD. H3068 And Hilkiah H2518 gave H5414 the book H5612 to Shaphan, H8227 and he read H7121 it.

Revelation 20:12 STRONG

And G2532 I saw G1492 the dead, G3498 small G3398 and G2532 great, G3173 stand G2476 before G1799 God; G2316 and G2532 the books G975 were opened: G455 and G2532 another G243 book G975 was opened, G455 which G3739 is G2076 the book of life: G2222 and G2532 the dead G3498 were judged G2919 out of G1537 those things which were written G1125 in G1722 the books, G975 according to G2596 their G846 works. G2041

Deuteronomy 31:10-13 STRONG

And Moses H4872 commanded H6680 them, saying, H559 At the end H7093 of every seven H7651 years, H8141 in the solemnity H4150 of the year H8141 of release, H8059 in the feast H2282 of tabernacles, H5521 When all Israel H3478 is come H935 to appear H7200 before H6440 the LORD H3068 thy God H430 in the place H4725 which he shall choose, H977 thou shalt read H7121 this law H8451 before all Israel H3478 in their hearing. H241 Gather H6950 the people H5971 together, H6950 men, H582 and women, H802 and children, H2945 and thy stranger H1616 that is within thy gates, H8179 that they may hear, H8085 and that they may learn, H3925 and fear H3372 the LORD H3068 your God, H430 and observe H8104 to do H6213 all the words H1697 of this law: H8451 And that their children, H1121 which have not known H3045 any thing, may hear, H8085 and learn H3925 to fear H3372 the LORD H3068 your God, H430 as long as H3117 ye live H2416 in the land H127 whither ye go over H5674 Jordan H3383 to possess H3423 it.

Nehemiah 9:3 STRONG

And they stood up H6965 in their place, H5977 and read H7121 in the book H5612 of the law H8451 of the LORD H3068 their God H430 one fourth part H7243 of the day; H3117 and another fourth part H7243 they confessed, H3034 and worshipped H7812 the LORD H3068 their God. H430

Acts 26:22 STRONG

Having G5177 therefore G3767 obtained G5177 help G1947 of G3844 God, G2316 I continue G2476 unto G891 this G5026 day, G2250 witnessing G3140 both G5037 to small G3398 and G2532 great, G3173 saying G3004 none other things G3762 than G1622 those which G3739 G5037 the prophets G4396 and G2532 Moses G3475 did say G2980 should G3195 come: G1096

Psalms 115:13 STRONG

He will bless H1288 them that fear H3373 the LORD, H3068 both small H6996 and great. H1419

Job 3:19 STRONG

The small H6996 and great H1419 are there; and the servant H5650 is free H2670 from his master. H113

Esther 1:5 STRONG

And when these days H3117 were expired, H4390 the king H4428 made H6213 a feast H4960 unto all the people H5971 that were present H4672 in Shushan H7800 the palace, H1002 both unto great H1419 and small, H6996 seven H7651 days, H3117 in the court H2691 of the garden H1594 of the king's H4428 palace; H1055

Nehemiah 13:1 STRONG

On that day H3117 they read H7121 in the book H5612 of Moses H4872 in the audience H241 of the people; H5971 and therein was found H4672 written, H3789 that the Ammonite H5984 and the Moabite H4125 should not come H935 into the congregation H6951 of God H430 for H5704 ever; H5769

Genesis 19:11 STRONG

And they smote H5221 the men H582 that were at the door H6607 of the house H1004 with blindness, H5575 both small H6996 and great: H1419 so that they wearied H3811 themselves to find H4672 the door. H6607

Nehemiah 8:1-8 STRONG

And all the people H5971 gathered themselves together H622 as one H259 man H376 into the street H7339 that was before H6440 the water H4325 gate; H8179 and they spake H559 unto Ezra H5830 the scribe H5608 to bring H935 the book H5612 of the law H8451 of Moses, H4872 which the LORD H3068 had commanded H6680 to Israel. H3478 And Ezra H5830 the priest H3548 brought H935 the law H8451 before H6440 the congregation H6951 both of men H376 and women, H802 and all that could hear H8085 with understanding, H995 upon the first H259 day H3117 of the seventh H7637 month. H2320 And he read H7121 therein before H6440 the street H7339 that was before H6440 the water H4325 gate H8179 from the morning H216 until midday, H4276 H3117 before the men H582 and the women, H802 and those that could understand; H995 and the ears H241 of all the people H5971 were attentive unto the book H5612 of the law. H8451 And Ezra H5830 the scribe H5608 stood H5975 upon a pulpit H4026 of wood, H6086 which they had made H6213 for the purpose; H1697 and beside H681 him stood H5975 Mattithiah, H4993 and Shema, H8087 and Anaiah, H6043 and Urijah, H223 and Hilkiah, H2518 and Maaseiah, H4641 on his right hand; H3225 and on his left hand, H8040 Pedaiah, H6305 and Mishael, H4332 and Malchiah, H4441 and Hashum, H2828 and Hashbadana, H2806 Zechariah, H2148 and Meshullam. H4918 And Ezra H5830 opened H6605 the book H5612 in the sight H5869 of all the people; H5971 (for he was above all the people;) H5971 and when he opened H6605 it, all the people H5971 stood up: H5975 And Ezra H5830 blessed H1288 the LORD, H3068 the great H1419 God. H430 And all the people H5971 answered, H6030 Amen, H543 Amen, H543 with lifting up H4607 their hands: H3027 and they bowed H6915 their heads, and worshipped H7812 the LORD H3068 with their faces H639 to the ground. H776 Also Jeshua, H3442 and Bani, H1137 and Sherebiah, H8274 Jamin, H3226 Akkub, H6126 Shabbethai, H7678 Hodijah, H1941 Maaseiah, H4641 Kelita, H7042 Azariah, H5838 Jozabad, H3107 Hanan, H2605 Pelaiah, H6411 and the Levites, H3881 caused the people H5971 to understand H995 the law: H8451 and the people H5971 stood in their place. H5977 So they read H7121 in the book H5612 in the law H8451 of God H430 distinctly, H6567 and gave H7760 the sense, H7922 and caused them to understand H995 the reading. H4744

2 Chronicles 17:9 STRONG

And they taught H3925 in Judah, H3063 and had the book H5612 of the law H8451 of the LORD H3068 with them, and went about H5437 throughout all the cities H5892 of Judah, H3063 and taught H3925 the people. H5971

2 Chronicles 15:13 STRONG

That whosoever would not seek H1875 the LORD H3068 God H430 of Israel H3478 should be put to death, H4191 whether H4480 small H6996 or great, H1419 whether man H376 or woman. H802

1 Kings 8:9 STRONG

There was nothing in the ark H727 save H7535 the two H8147 tables H3871 of stone, H68 which Moses H4872 put H3240 there at Horeb, H2722 when the LORD H3068 made H3772 a covenant with the children H1121 of Israel, H3478 when they came out H3318 of the land H776 of Egypt. H4714

1 Samuel 30:2 STRONG

And had taken the women H802 captives, H7617 that were therein: they slew H4191 not any, H376 either great H1419 or small, H6996 but carried them away, H5090 and went H3212 on their way. H1870

1 Samuel 5:9 STRONG

And it was so, that, after H310 they had carried it about, H5437 the hand H3027 of the LORD H3068 was against the city H5892 with a very H3966 great H1419 destruction: H4103 and he smote H5221 the men H582 of the city, H5892 both small H6996 and great, H1419 and they had emerods H2914 H6076 in their secret parts. H8368

Deuteronomy 31:26 STRONG

Take H3947 this book H5612 of the law, H8451 and put H7760 it in the side H6654 of the ark H727 of the covenant H1285 of the LORD H3068 your God, H430 that it may be there for a witness H5707 against thee.

Commentary on 2 Kings 23 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible


CHAPTER 23

2Ki 23:1-3. Josiah Causes the Law to Be Read.

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.

2. he read in their ears—that is, "caused to be read."

3. all the people stood to the covenant—that is, they agreed to the proposals made; they assented to what was required of them.

2Ki 23:4-28. He Destroys Idolatry.

4. the king commanded Hilkiah, &c.—that is, the high priest and other priests, for there was not a variety of official gradations in the temple.

all the vessels, &c.—the whole apparatus of idol-worship.

burned them without Jerusalem—The law required them to be consigned to the flames (De 7:25).

in the fields of Kidron—most probably that part of the valley of Kidron, where lies Jerusalem and the Mount of Olives. It is a level, spacious basin, abounding at present with plantations [Robinson]. The brook winds along the east and south of the city, the channel of which is throughout a large portion of the year almost or wholly dry, except after heavy rains, when it suddenly swells and overflows. There were emptied all the impurities of the temple (2Ch 29:15, 16) and the city. His reforming predecessors had ordered the mutilated relics of idolatry to be thrown into that receptacle of filth (1Ki 15:13; 2Ch 15:16; 30:14); but Josiah, while he imitated their piety, far outstripped them in zeal; for he caused the ashes of the burnt wood and the fragments of the broken metal to be collected and conveyed to Beth-el, in order thenceforth to associate ideas of horror and aversion with that place, as odious for the worst pollutions.

5. put down the idolatrous priests—Hebrew, chemarim, "scorched," that is, Guebres, or fire-worshippers, distinguished by a girdle (Eze 23:14-17) or belt of wool and camel's hair, twisted round the body twice and tied with four knots, which had a symbolic meaning, and made it a supposed defense against evil.

them also that burned incense unto Baal, to the sun, and to the moon, &c.—or Baal-shemesh, for Baal was sometimes considered the sun. This form of false worship was not by images, but pure star-worship, borrowed from the old Assyrians.

and—rather, "even to all the host of heaven."

6. brought out the grove—that is, Asherah, the mystic tree, placed by Manasseh in the temple [2Ki 21:5; 2Ch 33:5], removed by him after his conversion [2Ch 33:15], but replaced in the sanctuary by his wicked son Amon [2Ki 21:20, 21]. Josiah had it taken to Kidron, burnt the wood, ground the metal about it to powder, and strewed the ashes "on the graves of the children of the people." The poor were buried in a common on part of the valley of Kidron. But reference is here made to the graves "of those that had sacrificed" (2Ch 34:4).

7. brake down the houses of the sodomites—not solid houses, but tents, called elsewhere [2Ki 17:30] Succoth-benoth, "the booths of the young women," who were devoted to the service of Asherah, for which they made embroidered hangings, and in which they gave themselves to unbridled revelry and lust. Or the hangings might be for Asherah itself, as it is a popular superstition in the East to hang pieces of cloth on trees.

8, 9. he brought all the priests out of the cities of Judah, and defiled the high places, &c.—Many of the Levitical order, finding in the reigns of Manasseh and Amon the temple-worship abolished and the tithes and other offerings alienated, had been betrayed into the folly of officiating on high places, and presenting such sacrifices as were brought to them. These irregularities, even though the object of that worship was the true God, were prohibited in the law (De 12:11). Those who had been guilty of this sin, Josiah brought to Jerusalem. Regarding them as defiled, he debarred them from the service of the temple, but gave them an allowance out of the temple revenues, like the lame and disabled members of the priesthood (Le 21:21, 22).

from Geba to to Beer-sheba—the most northern and the most southern places in Judah—meaning all parts of the kingdom.

the high places … which were in the entering in of the gate of Joshua—The governor's house and gate were on the left of the city gate, and close by the entrance of that civic mansion house were public altars, dedicated, it might be, to the true God, but contrary to His own ordinance of worship (Isa 57:8).

10. 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.

11. took away the horses that the kings of Judah had given to the sun—Among the people who anciently worshipped the sun, horses were usually dedicated to that divinity, from the supposed idea that the sun himself was drawn in a chariot by horses. In some cases these horses were sacrificed; but more commonly they were employed either in the sacred processions to carry the images of the sun, or for the worshippers to ride in every morning to welcome his rise. It seems that the idolatrous kings, Ahaz, Manasseh, and Amon, or their great officers, proceeded on these horses early on each day from the east gate of the temple to salute and worship the sun at his appearing above the horizon.

12. the altars that were on the top of the upper chamber of Ahaz—Altars were reared on the flat roofs of houses, where the worshippers of "the host of heaven" burnt incense (Zep 1:5; Jer 19:13). Ahaz had reared altars for this purpose on the oleah, or upper chamber of his palace, and Manasseh on some portion of the roof of the temple. Josiah demolished both of these structures.

13, 14. the high places … which Solomon … had builded—(See on 1Ki 11:5).

the right hand of the mount of corruption—The Mount of Olives is a hilly range on the east of Jerusalem. This range has three summits, of which the central one is the Mount of Corruption, so called from the idol temples built there, and of course the hill on the right hand denotes the southernmost peak. Josiah is said not to have destroyed, but only defiled, "the high places on the hill of corruption." It is most probable that Hezekiah had long before demolished the idolatrous temples erected there by Solomon but, as the superstitious people continued to regard the spot as consecrated ground, Josiah defiled it.

14. filled their places with the bones of men—Every monument of idolatry in his dominion he in like manner destroyed, and the places where they stood he defiled by strewing them with dead men's bones. The presence of a dead carcass rendered both persons and places unclean in the eyes both of Jews and heathens.

15-20. Moreover the altar that was at Beth-el, &c.—Not satisfied with the removal of every vestige of idolatry from his own dominion, this zealous iconoclast made a tour of inspection through the cities of Samaria and all the territory formerly occupied by the ten tribes, destroying the altars and temples of the high places, consigning the Asherim to the flames, putting to death the priests of the high places, and showing his horror at idolatry by ransacking the sepulchers of idolatrous priests, and strewing the burnt ashes of their bones upon the altars before he demolished them.

16. according to the word of the Lord which the man of God proclaimed, &c.—In carrying on these proceedings, Josiah was prompted by his own intense hatred of idolatry. But it is remarkable that this act was predicted three hundred twenty-six years before his birth, and his name also was expressly mentioned, as well as the very place where it should be done (1Ki 13:2). This is one of the most most remarkable prophecies in the Bible.

17. What title is that that I see?—The king's attention probably, had been arrested by a tombstone more conspicuous than the rest around it, bearing on an inscription the name of him that lay beneath; and this prompted his curiosity to make the inquiry.

the men of the city—not the Assyrian colonists—for they could know nothing about the ancient transactions of the place—but some of the old people who had been allowed to remain, and perhaps the tomb itself might not then have been discoverable, through the effects of time and neglect, had not some "Old Mortality" garnished the sepulcher of the righteous.

21-23. the king commanded all the people, saying, Keep the passover unto the Lord your God, &c.—It was observed with great solemnity and was attended not only by his own subjects, but by the remnant people from Israel (see on 2Ch 35:1-19). Many of the Israelites who were at Jerusalem might have heard of, if they did not hear, the law read by Josiah. It is probable that they might even have procured a copy of the law, stimulated as they were to the better observance of Jehovah's worship by the unusual and solemn transactions at Jerusalem.

26. Notwithstanding, the Lord turned not from the fierceness of his wrath,—&c. The national reformation which Josiah carried on was acquiesced in by the people from submission to the royal will; but they entertained a secret and strong hankering after the suppressed idolatries. Though outwardly purified, their hearts were not right towards God, as appears from many passages of the prophetic writings; their thorough reform was hopeless; and God, who saw no sign of genuine repentance, allowed His decree (2Ki 21:12-15) for the subversion of the kingdom to take fatal effect.

29. In his days Pharaoh-nechoh—(See 2Ch 35:20-27).