2 Kings 23

Translator Notes

1. The assembly of kol ziqnei Yehudah vi-Yerushalayim ('all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem') creates a national gathering — the elders are the representative leaders of the people. The verb va-ya'asfu ('they gathered') indicates formal convocation. This is a covenant-renewal assembly, paralleling Moses at Sinai and Joshua at Shechem.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. The scroll is now called sefer ha-berit ('the Book of the Covenant') rather than sefer ha-torah — emphasizing its covenantal character. The gathering is comprehensive: le-miqaton ve-ad gadol ('from the small to the great') means every social class is present. The king himself reads — va-yiqra be-ozneihem ('he read in their ears') — assuming the role of covenant mediator that belongs to Moses (Deuteronomy 31:11). The public reading transforms a private discovery into a national event.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. The threefold division — mitsvot ('commands'), edot ('decrees, testimonies'), and chuqqot ('statutes') — is the standard Deuteronomic way of referring to the comprehensive body of divine law. The phrase le-haqim ('to establish, to carry out, to fulfill') indicates not just intellectual assent but active implementation. The people's response — va-ya'amod kol ha-am ba-berit ('all the people stood in the covenant') — uses the verb amad ('to stand') in its sense of 'taking a stand, committing oneself.'

Translator Notes

1. The reform begins inside the Temple itself — the defilement must be removed from the innermost sacred space outward. The kohanei ha-mishneh ('priests of the second rank') are the deputy priests. The burning takes place in shadmot Qidron ('the terraces/fields of the Kidron'), the valley east of Jerusalem that serves as a disposal site for ritual impurity. The transportation of ashes to Bethel is significant: the contamination is returned to the site of Jeroboam's great sin (1 Kings 12:28-33).

Translator Notes

1. The kemarim ('idolatrous priests') is a term distinct from kohanim ('legitimate priests') — it designates priests of non-Yahwistic cults, possibly derived from an Aramaic root meaning 'to be dark' or a Syriac word for priest. The verb hishbit ('he caused to cease, he deposed') means official removal from office. The astral deities listed — shemesh ('sun'), yareach ('moon'), mazzalot ('constellations, zodiacal signs') — reflect Assyrian-influenced astral worship that flourished under Manasseh.

Translator Notes

1. The treatment of the Asherah follows a pattern of total destruction: removal (va-yotse), burning (va-yisrof), grinding to powder (va-yadeq le-afar), and scattering the powder on graves (al qever benei ha-am, 'over the grave of the sons of the people' — the common cemetery). Scattering the dust on graves adds ritual defilement to physical destruction, ensuring the object can never be reconstituted or venerated. This reverses Manasseh's installation of the Asherah in the Temple (21:7).

Translator Notes

1. The battei ha-qedeshim ('houses/quarters of the cult prostitutes') were built within the Temple complex itself — a measure of how deeply pagan practice had infiltrated the sacred precinct. The women weaving battim la-Asherah ('coverings/houses for the Asherah') were likely producing ritual garments or tent-coverings for the Asherah image. The entire scene — cult prostitution and pagan textile work inside the LORD's Temple — illustrates the comprehensive desecration Josiah faced.

Translator Notes

1. The scope is comprehensive: mi-Geva ad Be'er Shava ('from Geba to Beer-sheba') describes the full extent of Judah from north to south. The priests from the high places are brought to Jerusalem — centralization of worship is the Deuteronomic ideal (Deuteronomy 12:5-14). The bamot ha-she'arim ('high places of the gates') were small shrines at city gate entrances, where worship and commerce intersected.

Translator Notes

1. The displaced priests receive a compromise: they cannot serve at the Jerusalem altar (maintaining the exclusive sanctity of centralized worship) but they eat matzot ('unleavened bread') — their priestly food allotment — be-tokh acheihem ('among their brothers'). This arrangement parallels Deuteronomy 18:6-8, which allows Levites from the provinces to serve in Jerusalem, though in practice the Jerusalem priesthood restricted access.

Translator Notes

1. The Tofet was the site in the Gei Ven-Hinnom ('Valley of the Son of Hinnom,' later 'Gehenna') where children were sacrificed by fire to Molech (or Molek). The verb timme ('he defiled, rendered ritually impure') means Josiah deliberately contaminated the site to make it unusable for worship — likely by spreading human bones or refuse on it. The phrase le-ha'avir et beno ve-et bitto ba-esh ('to pass his son and his daughter through the fire') uses the same language as 21:6 describing Manasseh's practice.

Translator Notes

1. Horses and chariots dedicated to the sun (la-shemesh) reflect Assyrian or broader Near Eastern solar worship. The horses were stationed at the Temple entrance — a powerful visual statement of syncretism. Nathan-melech ha-saris ('Nathan-melech the official/eunuch') had a chamber in the parvarim ('colonnade, precincts, suburbs') of the Temple. The burning of the markevot ha-shemesh ('chariots of the sun') — ceremonial vehicles associated with the sun-god's journey across the sky — eliminates the entire apparatus of solar cult.

Translator Notes

1. Two sets of altars are destroyed: rooftop altars (al ha-gag aliyyat Achaz, 'on the roof of the upper room of Ahaz') used for astral worship, and Manasseh's courtyard altars (21:5). The verb natats ('he demolished, tore down') followed by va-yarats ('he smashed, he ran/crushed') indicates violent destruction. The rubble is disposed of in the Kidron, which serves as Jerusalem's sacred waste site throughout the reform.

Translator Notes

1. The reform reaches back to Solomon himself — these high places had stood for over three centuries since 1 Kings 11:7. The Har ha-Mashchit ('Mount of Corruption/Destruction') is a wordplay on Har ha-Mishchah ('Mount of Anointing,' the Mount of Olives) — the narrator renames the hill to reflect its desecrated status. Solomon is identified as melekh Yisra'el ('king of Israel') rather than 'king of Judah,' a subtle rebuke linking him to the northern kingdom's sin. The three deities — Ashtoreth, Chemosh, Milcom — represent Sidonian, Moabite, and Ammonite religion respectively.

Translator Notes

1. The matssevot ('sacred pillars, standing stones') were upright stones used in Canaanite worship. The Asherim ('Asherah poles') were wooden cult objects. Filling the sites with atsmot adam ('human bones') ensured permanent ritual defilement — contact with the dead renders a site impure beyond reclamation. The method is systematic: destroy, then contaminate so thoroughly that the sites cannot be reused.

Translator Notes

1. The reform now crosses the old border into the former northern kingdom. The altar at Bethel — ha-mizbeach asher be-Veit El — was the foundational sin of the divided monarchy (1 Kings 12:28-33). The phrase Yarov'am ben Nevat asher hecheti et Yisra'el ('Jeroboam son of Nebat who caused Israel to sin') is the standard epithet that has accompanied every mention of Jeroboam's influence throughout Kings. The destruction follows the same pattern: demolition, burning, grinding to dust.

Translator Notes

1. The narrator explicitly marks this as prophetic fulfillment: ki-dvar YHWH asher qara ish ha-Elohim ('according to the word of the LORD that the man of God proclaimed'). The unnamed 'man of God' is the prophet from 1 Kings 13:1-2 who prophesied that a king named Josiah would burn human bones on the Bethel altar — a prophecy spoken roughly three hundred years earlier. The fulfillment is precise: the named king, the specific altar, the burning of bones.

Translator Notes

1. The tsiyyun ('marker, monument, gravestone') catches Josiah's eye. The townspeople identify it as the burial site of the Judean prophet from 1 Kings 13. Their description — va-yiqra et ha-devarim ha-elleh asher asita ('he proclaimed the very things you have done') — makes the prophetic fulfillment explicit within the narrative. The people of Bethel themselves testify that Josiah's actions were predicted centuries ago.

Translator Notes

1. Josiah honors the man of God by leaving his grave intact — the one tomb spared from desecration. The 'prophet who came from Samaria' is the old prophet from 1 Kings 13:11-32 who had asked to be buried alongside the man of God. Both sets of bones are preserved, fulfilling the old prophet's request (1 Kings 13:31). The detail connects the two narratives across the centuries.

Translator Notes

1. The reform extends throughout the former northern kingdom: be-arei Shomron ('in the towns of Samaria'). The phrase ke-khol ha-ma'asim asher asah be-Veit El ('according to all the acts he had done at Bethel') means the same pattern — demolition, burning, bone defilement — was applied to every northern high place. The scope implies Josiah exercised effective control over former Israelite territory during the Assyrian power vacuum of the late seventh century.

Translator Notes

1. The northern reform is violent: va-yizbach et kol kohanei ha-bamot ('he slaughtered all the priests of the high places'). The verb zavach normally means 'to sacrifice' — the priests are sacrificed on their own altars, a grim irony. This fulfilled the specific words of the man of God in 1 Kings 13:2: 'He will sacrifice on you the priests of the high places who burn incense on you.' The burning of human bones on the altars permanently defiles them. The return to Jerusalem (va-yashav Yerushalayim) transitions from destruction to restoration.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. The shift from destruction to celebration: asu Pesach la-YHWH Eloheikhem ('make/celebrate the Passover to the LORD your God'). The phrase ka-katuv al sefer ha-berit ha-zeh ('as it is written in this Book of the Covenant') anchors the celebration in the discovered scroll — specifically the Passover legislation of Deuteronomy 16:1-8, which requires centralized celebration in Jerusalem.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. The narrator's assessment is sweeping: mi-yemei ha-shoftim ('since the days of the judges'). This Passover surpasses not only the monarchic period but reaches back to the pre-monarchic era — roughly four hundred years. The statement implicitly surpasses Solomon's Temple dedication (1 Kings 8), Hezekiah's Passover (2 Chronicles 30), and every other national celebration. It is the apex of Israelite worship in the monarchic period.

Translator Notes

1. The date — the eighteenth year, the same year as the scroll's discovery — means all of Josiah's reforms and this unprecedented Passover belong to a single year of spiritual revolution. The phrase la-YHWH bi-Yerushalayim ('to the LORD in Jerusalem') emphasizes both the object of worship and the centralized location — exactly as Deuteronomy 16 requires.

Translator Notes

1. A comprehensive catalog of what was purged: ovot ('mediums'), yid'onim ('spiritists'), terafim ('household gods, figurines'), gillulim ('worthless idols'), and kol ha-shiqquttsim ('all the abominations'). The purpose clause — le-ma'an haqim et divrei ha-torah ('in order to carry out the words of the instruction') — explicitly ties every reform action to the discovered scroll. Josiah's program is not arbitrary iconoclasm but systematic obedience to a text.

Translator Notes

1. The superlative evaluation — lo hayah lefanav ('there was none before him') and lo qam acharav ('none arose after him') — brackets Josiah as the ultimate Deuteronomic king. The phrase ke-khol torat Mosheh ('according to all the instruction of Moses') makes the standard explicit: complete Mosaic obedience. This verse and 18:5 (Hezekiah's evaluation) create a theological pair — the two best kings, each praised in different terms, neither able to save the nation from the consequences of its collective history.

Translator Notes

1. The devastating akh ('yet, however, notwithstanding') overturns everything that preceded it. After the most comprehensive reform, the most perfect obedience, the greatest Passover — lo shav YHWH me-charon appo ha-gadol ('the LORD did not turn from the burning of his great anger'). The cause is named: Manasseh. The accumulated sin of Manasseh's fifty-five-year reign has created an irreversible trajectory. This is the theological crisis at the heart of the Deuteronomistic History: obedience matters, but late obedience cannot undo the consequences of sustained rebellion.

Translator Notes

1. The divine verdict is final: gam et Yehudah asir me'al panai ('even Judah I will remove from my presence'). The word gam ('also, even') links Judah's fate to Israel's — the northern kingdom's destruction in 722 BCE is now the template for the south. The rejection of Jerusalem (u-ma'asti et ha-ir ha-zot) and the Temple (ve-et ha-bayit asher amarti yihyeh shemi sham) revokes both the election of Zion and the name theology of Deuteronomy. Everything promised is now being un-promised.

Translator Notes

1. The standard source citation. For a king of Josiah's stature, the formula feels almost inadequate — 'everything he did' encompasses the most comprehensive reform in Judean history. But the Deuteronomistic historian is moving the narrative forward; the annals contain the details, while this text delivers the theological verdict.

Translator Notes

1. The death of Josiah is reported with shocking brevity. Pharaoh Neco II (610-595 BCE) was marching to aid the remnant of Assyria against Babylon at Carchemish on the Euphrates. The phrase al melekh Ashur ('against/toward the king of Assyria') likely means 'to assist,' not 'against.' Josiah intercepted Neco at Megiddo — probably as a Babylonian ally or to prevent Egyptian resurgence — and va-yemitehu ('he killed him'). The greatest king dies in a single sentence. The narrative refuses to explain why God allowed this or how it relates to Huldah's promise of death 'in peace.'

Translator Notes

1. The transport of Josiah's body — va-yarkivuhu avadav met mi-Megiddo ('his servants carried him dead from Megiddo') — is a somber reversal of the royal progress. He is buried bi-qvurato ('in his tomb'), receiving proper royal burial unlike Manasseh and Amon in the Garden of Uzza. The am ha-arets ('people of the land') again exercise their role as kingmakers, anointing Jehoahaz (also called Shallum in Jeremiah 22:11). They bypass the eldest son, possibly choosing someone they believed would continue Josiah's policies.

Translator Notes

1. The regnal formula for Jehoahaz signals a tragically brief reign — three months. His mother Chamutal ('my father-in-law is the dew') was from Libnah, a Judean town. The Jeremiah mentioned is not the prophet but a Libnite. The three-month reign (609 BCE) was cut short by Egyptian intervention.

Translator Notes

1. The negative evaluation — ke-khol asher asu avotav ('according to everything his ancestors had done') — is jarring after Josiah's superlative righteousness. The son of the best king immediately reverts to the pattern of the worst. The 'ancestors' in question are not Josiah but the broader royal line including Manasseh and Amon.

Translator Notes

1. Riblah in the land of Hamath (modern Lebanon) was a strategic military headquarters on the Orontes River — the same location Nebuchadnezzar would later use (25:6, 21). Neco's action demonstrates Egypt's control over Judah: he removes a king and imposes tribute. The levy — me'ah kikkar kesef ve-kikkar zahav ('one hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold') — is substantial, approximately 3,400 kg of silver and 34 kg of gold.

Translator Notes

1. Neco installs a puppet king: Eliakim (Elyaqim, 'God raises up') is renamed Jehoiakim (Yehoyaqim, 'the LORD raises up'). The name change — va-yassev et shemo ('he turned around his name') — is an act of sovereignty: the one who names rules. Paradoxically, the Egyptian pharaoh gives a Yahwistic name to his vassal. Jehoahaz is exiled to Egypt, where va-yamot sham ('he died there') — a terse end for Josiah's chosen successor. Jeremiah 22:10-12 mourns Jehoahaz (Shallum) and declares he will never return.

Translator Notes

1. The verb he'erikh ('he assessed, he valued') means Jehoiakim conducted a formal property assessment to determine each person's tax obligation — ish ke-erkko ('each man according to his valuation'). The phrase nagash et ha-kesef ve-et ha-zahav ('he exacted/extracted the silver and the gold') uses the verb nagash ('to drive, to press, to exact'), suggesting aggressive tax collection. The cost of Egyptian vassalage falls on the common people.

Translator Notes

1. The regnal formula for Jehoiakim: eleven years (roughly 609-598 BCE), the period during which Judah shifts from Egyptian to Babylonian vassalage. His mother Zevidah ('gift, endowment') was from Rumah, a town in Galilee or Judah. Jehoiakim is the older brother of Jehoahaz — Neco chose him over the people's choice, perhaps because he was more compliant.

Translator Notes

1. The chapter closes with the same negative verdict that opened the post-Josiah era (verse 32). The phrase ke-khol asher asu avotav ('according to everything his ancestors had done') is now a refrain of decline. After Josiah, every king does evil. The Deuteronomistic History has entered its final descent — from here to the fall of Jerusalem, the narrative moves with the inevitability of the divine sentence pronounced in verses 26-27.