Ver. 1. And the king sent.] This he did, that he might the better insure the promise made to himself; and avert, if possible, the judgments threatened against the people by Huldah the prophetess.
Ver. 2. And the king went up…and all the men of Judah.] Solemnly to renew their covenant with God; a course ever found to be of singular avail in case of any common calamity felt or feared.
Ver. 3. And the king stood by a pillar.] See 2 Kings 11:14. To walk after the Lord.] To be in communion with him, and in conformity unto him. This is elsewhere called walking with God, and walking before God. And all the people stood to the covenant.] They pretended and professed so to do; but the most of them dissembled and dealt deceitfully, not turning to God with their whole hearts, as good Jeremiah complaineth, (Jeremiah 3) and therefore calleth upon them (Jeremiah 4:3,14) to “break up their fallow ground, to circumcise themselves unto the Lord, and to wash their hearts from wickedness, that they might be saved.”
Ver. 4. And the priests of the second order.] Ithamar’s race. And carried the ashes of them unto Bethel.] Called also Bethaven, because there had stood one of Jeroboam’s golden calves: hither therefore this good king sent the ashes of those burnt idols and their trinkets to disgrace it, and that such wicked dust might not remain in Judah, that holy land, saith Cajetan.
Ver. 5. And he put down the idolatrous priests.] Heb., Chemarims, Baal’s chimney-chaplains, [see Zephaniah 1:14, with the note there] black sooty fellows, like those greasy mass priests, or abbey lubbers, amongst the Papists. And to the planets.] Or, Influences: a radice Nazal fluxit.
Ver. 6. And he brought out the grove.] See on 2 Kings 21:7. Upon the graves of the children of the people.] The vulgar sort, the rascality, who are usually most irrational, and so most idolatrous. “Thou knowest the people, that they are set on mischief,” said Aaron of those that said unto him, “Make us gods,” &c. (Exodus 32:22,23)
Ver. 7. The houses of the sodomites.] Abominable brothel houses. Where the women wove hangings.] Heb., Houses, aedicula, sacella textilia, as Acts 19:24. There were at Ephesus that made templa portabilia, small portable temples, resembling that greater temple.
Ver. 8. The high places of the gates.] Where, in imitation of the heathens, they had set their tutelar and guardian gods, and had their fans profana. Of Joshua the governor of the city.] A great man, but none of the best. He had a good name; but Josiah might have said to him, as Alexander did to a soldier of his own name, but a coward, Either change thy name, or put on more courage; so, more piety.
Ver. 9. But they did eat of the unleavened bread.] Care was taken for their maintenance: (1.) As Levites; (2.) As penitents; though, for service at the altar, they were laid aside. Penitency and punishment are words of one derivation, and are near of kin.
Ver. 10. And he defiled Tophet.] A pleasant valley near to Jerusalem, but, for the abominable abuse of it, taken afterwards for hell, (Isaiah 30:33 Matthew 5:22) a place of torments, without end, and past imagination.
Ver. 11. And he took away the horses.] Not statues of horses and chariots dedicated to the sun, as some interpret it; sed equos veros et vivos, living and light horses dedicated to the sun, after the Persian mode, ωσπερ το ταχιστον τω ταχοτατω θεω, as the swiftest creature to the swiftest god. These Josiah caused to be killed. Macrobius telleth us that the Syrians called God Adad (Achad, he should have said); that is, One, quia unus est sol—sic dictus quasi Solus—aeque ac Deus in mundo: because, as there is but one sun in the world, so but one God. But how many gods they worshipped, see learned Mr Selden, De diis Syris. Nathanmelech the chamberlain.] Qui fuit imberbis, qualis est sol, saith Villapandus; a beardless officer for a beardless god. The Persians called the sun Mithras and Apollo. This Nathanmelech, though a courtier, thought it an honour to be groom of the sun’s stable. And burnt the chariots of the sun with fire.] Chrysostom saith that Peter, for his zeal, was like a man made all of fire walking among stubble. Josiah was surely so. Angelomus saith, that herein he represented Christ, who, by the fire of the last day, shall destroy all impiety, and not suffer any defiled one to enter into his kingdom. Pausan. Herodot. Xenoph. Lib iii. cap. 32, in Ezech., cap. 40, p. 221.
Ver. 12. And the altars that were on the top.] See Jeremiah 19:13 Zep 1:5. Ahaz was ειδωλομανης. And the altars which Manasseh had made.] These, after his repentance, he cast out of the city, (2 Chronicles 33:15) but not so thoroughly abolished; hence they became snares to his successors. And brake them down from thence.] Or, Ran from thence; quam citissime potuit discedens illinc, he got out of those loathsome places as soon as he could. Into the brook Kidron,] i.e., The town ditch. Vatab.