2 Kings 23

King proclaims Book of Law, makes vow to God

Then the king gathered all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem. He went to the Existing One’s house, and brought everyone with him, both small and great, including all of Judah’s men, all of Jerusalem’s inhabitants, the priests, and the prophets. Loud enough for everyone to hear, he read them the Book of the Covenant which had been found in the Existing One’s house. The king stood by the pillar and promised the Existing One to follow him, his orders, his statements, and his decrees with his entire heart and soul. He vowed to carry out the agreement that was outlined in the book, and all the people joined in making that promise.

King destroys pagan altars, burns human bones on them

The king commanded Hilkiah the high priest and the other priests to remove everything from the Existing One’s temple that was used for Baal and Asherah and the other hosts of heaven. He burned them outside Jerusalem in the Kidron field and brought their ashes to Bethel. He removed from office all the priests who Judah’s former kings had ordained to make offerings at the shrines, including the ones who burned incense to Baal, the sun, the moon, the constellations, and all the other hosts of heaven. He removed the Asherah from the Existing One’s house, and took them outside of Jerusalem to the Kidron brook where he burned it and beat it it dust which he scattered on the graves of the common people. He knocked down the houses that the male cult prostitutes were using where women wove hangings for the Asherah. He removed all the priests from Judah’s cities and defiled the shrines they used from Geba all the way to Beersheba. He broke down the shrines that were near the gates by the city governor Joshua’s house. However, the shrine priests didn’t come to the Existing One’s altar in Jerusalem, but instead, they ate flat bread with their brothers. He defiled Topheth (which is in the Valley of Hinnom’s Son) so that no one could burn their children as an offering to Molech. He removed the horses that Judah’s kings had dedicated to the sun which were kept outside the Existing One’s temple (near the room for the custodian, Nathan-melech). With fire he burned the chariots that were dedicated to the sun. Judah’s kings had made altars on the roof of Ahaz’s chamber, and Manasseh had made altars in the courtyards of the Existing One’s temple, but the king tore them down, shattering them to pieces, and then he dumped their dust into the Kidron brook. The king defiled the shrines that were east of Jerusalem and south of the corrupted mountain which King Solomon had built for Ashtoreth (the Sidonians’ abomination) and Chemosh (Moab’s abomination) and Milcom (the Ammonites’ abomination). He tore down the Asherim pillars, shattering them to pieces, and filled their places with human bones.

Even more, Jeroboam (Nebat’s son who led Israel to sin) had erected a shrine at Bethel which King Josiah tore down and burned along with the Asherah, reducing them to dust. As Josiah turned, he saw the tombs on the side of mountain, so he took out the bones that were in them and burnt them on the alter, defiling it just like the Existing One said through the man of God’s prediction. Then he asked, “What is that monument I see?” and the city’s men answered, “That’s the tomb for the man of God who came from Judah and predicted these things you’ve done against the altar in Bethel.” He said, “Leave him alone. Don’t let anyone move his bones.” So they left his bones alone, along with the bones of the prophet who came from Samaria. And Josiah removed all the shrines in Samaria’s cities that Israel’s kings had angered the Existing One with. The same thing he did to the shrine in Bethel is what he did to the rest. He sacrificed all the priests who operated those shrines on their own altars, burning human bones on them. Then after all that he finally returned to Jerusalem.

Passover reinstated

The king ordered all the people, “Keep the Passover for the Existing One your God, just like it’s written in this Book of the Covenant.” Because no such Passover had been observed since the days of the Israel’s judges which was before kings ruled in Israel of Judah. But in the eighteenth year of King Josiah’s reign, this Passover was finally observed for the Existing One in Jerusalem.

What’s even more, Josiah put away the mediums, necromancers, household gods, idols, and all the abominations throughout Judah and Jerusalem in hopes of establishing the law found in that book Hilkiah found in the Existing One’s house. None of the kings who came before him or after were anything like him, because he turned to the Existing One with his entire heart, soul, and strength and aligned himself with the Law of Moses.

God remains fed up with Judah

Even so, the fire of the Existing One’s anger still raged against Judah because of all the ways Manasseh had provoked him. So the Existing One said, “I will remove Judah from my sight, just like I have removed Israel, and I will throw away this city of Jerusalem in which I had chosen for my name to live.”

The rest of Josiah’s history and everything he did is recorded in the book The Chronicles of the Kings of Judah. During his reign, Pharaoh Neco from Egypt went to see Assyria’s king at the Euphrates. King Josiah went to meet him, and Pharaoh Neco killed him at Megiddo as soon as he saw him. His servants carried his body from Megiddo to Jerusalem where he was buried in his own tomb. And the people anointed his son Jehoahaz to reign in his father’s place.

Jehoahaz becomes Judah’s king, captured by Egypt, dies

Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he took the throne, and he reigned for three months from Jerusalem. His mom’s name was Hamutal (daughter of Jeremiah from Libnah). He did what was evil in the sight of the Existing One, just like his forefathers. Pharaoh Neco imprisoned him at the town of Riblah in Hamath so that he couldn’t reign in Jerusalem. They ransomed him, demanding that Judah pay 7,500 pounds of silver and 75 pounds of gold as tribute. In Jehoahaz’s place, Pharaoh Neco made Eliakim (Josiah’s son) king and changed his name to Jehoiakim. He took Jehoahaz back to Egypt where he died. Jehoiakim taxed the country to give Pharaoh Neco the money he demanded.

Jehoiakim becomes Judah’s king

Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned for eleven years from Jerusalem. His mom was Zebidah (daughter of Pedaiah from Rumah). He did what was evil in the Existing One’s sight, just like his fathers had done.