2 Kings 23

Josiah ruled Judah from about 641-609 BC. He died in what many scholars say was an unnecessary and unprovoked battle with the Egyptian army. The Egyptians were trying to pass peacefully through the land to reinforce Assyrians who had been run out of their homeland by Babylonians and Medes.

The fabric may have been to make clothes to dress the idol in robes. Just a guess.

Many scholars say Geba is today’s Palestinian city of Jaba, about six miles (10 km) northeast of the Jerusalem Temple Mount, where the Jewish Temple once stood.

The writer doesn’t say here how he spoils the site. But he says in verse 14 and later that he covered the sacred spaces with bones of the dead. See note for 23:14.

Location of the Joshua Gate is unknown. This is the only mention of the gate in the Old Testament.

The bread is also known as consecrated bread, or the Bread of the Presence (of God), or the shewbread. Every Sabbath day, priests put 12 fresh loaves of bread on the table. A week later, priests ate those loaves and replaced them with another dozen loaves of bread (Leviticus 24:5-9).

Topheth was a site in the Hinnom Valley just outside Jerusalem’s city walls, to the south. This is where some people of Judah reportedly sacrificed their own children to a god named Molech, much like others sacrificed sheep and bulls.

Scholars debate who or what Molech was and whether children were literally sacrificed or perhaps figuratively presented to Molech and dedicated to him. Many scholars say Molech was a god, because of the way Bible writers describe people prostituting themselves to Molech (Leviticus 20:5). Most scholars seem to agree that some people of Israel “ built places to worship Baal so they could burn their sons and daughters as sacrifices to Molech” (Jeremiah 32:35 New Century Version). Scholars, however, question why this note got added to a chapter about sex sins. Theories: Sex sins and killing your own children each have the power to destroy a family. Both sins are rotten to the core and despicable. Molech’s worship may have focused on family, such as communicating with the dead and worshiping the peoples’ ancestors.

It’s unclear if the horses were real or statues. Archaeologists have found in Jerusalem figurines of horses with discs on their back, reminiscent of Egyptian discs representing their sun god Ra.

Astarte is a different name than Ashteroth. Until recently, Hebrew scholars have said they were different goddesses. Now, many scholars guess that Astarte, a Greek name, got merged with the Hebrew word bosh, meaning “shame.” So, the goddess’s new nickname became something like “Shame on Astarte.” One argument from the Bible for this theory is that King Solomon “worshiped Astarte, goddess of Sidon” (1 Kings 11:5). By whatever name, she was a goddess of fertility, like Baal, a male god. But Astarte was also a go-to goddess for matters of love and war. Sometimes she’s described as Baal’s wife. Her figurines portray her as well-endowed, and then some—with her privates exposed and prominently displayed. People worshiped her throughout and beyond what is now Israel and Palestinian Territory. When Philistines defeated King Saul, they hung his armor as a war trophy in a temple devoted to Astarte (1 Samuel 31:10).

Chemosh was Moab’s national god, and possibly the Ammonites as well. When King Solomon married into the religion and built a sanctuary to Chemosh on the Mount of Olives, he legitimized this idolatry for about 400 years. Israel’s idolatry, the prophets said, would be why God would allow invaders to wipe the Jewish nation off the political map. Babylonians from what is now Iraq did that in 586 BC. The god’s name shows up in a Canaanite inscription chiseled into a stone record known as the Mesha Stele or the Moabites Stone, from the 800’s BC. It’s on display in the Louvre Museum in Paris.

Milcom shows up elsewhere in the Bible and in archaeological discoveries around Ammon, capital of Jordan. Some features on statues of him suggest a connection to the Egyptian god Osiris, best known as god of the dead and the afterlife.

The hill is more literally translated “offensive mountain” or “mountain of destruction.” The point seems to be to give it a bad nickname, possibly in sarcasm, to reflect the fact that a king of Judah put pagan altars there. Some scholars link the hill to the one that overshadows the Palestinian village of Silwan, just outside the Old City of Jerusalem.

Canaanite religion, featuring Baal the chief god, included ritual poles. These may have been trees or poles meant to represent trees, as symbols of the Canaanite fertility goddess Asherah, goddess of motherhood. She was the love interest of Baal. Canaan is now known as Israel and Palestinian Territories.

Contact with a dead human or human bones rendered a person ritually unclean and unfit for entering a place of worship for a week (Numbers 19:16-19). This may reveal how Josiah made the other pagan shrines “unfit” for use.” Burn a few bones, rake it into the soil, and voila, toxic turf. People could try to clean it by removing the soil. But some might fear that if they missed any bad dirt, the pagan god would react with punishing force.

1 Kings 13:1-2; 32.

There were two prophets who predicted the altar’s destruction: a northern prophet substantiated the prediction of a southern prophet after a lion killed the southern prophet (1 Kings 32:32). The prophet in this verse seems to be the northerner, a Samaria local.

The last phrase is only implied. The verse simply refers to the “old prophet” who came up from Judah. His sad story is preserved in 1 Kings 13:11-32. He came to criticize construction of the pagan shrine.

Whoa, pushing toward half a millennium is a long time to skip one of Israel’s most revered annual holy days. This was the festival people of Israel were supposed to observe “every year for all the years to come” (Exodus 12:17). The word “Passover” is from the Hebrew word is pesach (PAY sock). It refers to the annual Passover meal today called a seder (SAY dur), which means “order.” That’s a reference to the fact that the Passover meal is eaten as a meticulously detailed ritual of reading, remembering, and prayer. The word “Passover” comes from the story of God or one of his angels killing the Egyptian firstborn, but “passing over” Hebrew homes with animal blood on the doorframes. The people were to begin celebrating the religious holiday around Eastertime. (Jesus went to Jerusalem to observe Passover when he was arrested and crucified.) Passover observance began on the “fourteenth day of the first month” (Exodus 12:18). That translates this way: the first month on the Jewish calendar is Nisan. Months are based on cycles of the moon, and Nisan falls on March-April. Jewish holidays begin at sundown. So the week of Passover begins at sundown on day 14 and ends at sundown on day 21.

This battle took place in 610 BC at the Megiddo fortress. That’s where a mountain pass opens into the sprawling Jezreel Valley. Neco’s army came up from the south along the Mediterranean seacoast, apparently hoping to peacefully travel through the region and then reinforce Assyrians who had been run out of their own country (2 Chronicles 35:25). Coalition forces of Babylonians and Medes, from what are now southern Iraq and Iran, overran the Assyrian capital of Nineveh, today’s Mosul, in northern Iraq. Babylonians intended to finish off the Assyrians, which happened later, in the Battle of Carchemish (605 BC). Why Josiah decided to turn his army into a speed bump is unknown. Perhaps he felt the Babylonian team needed his support. They didn’t. Neco ran over the speed bump and continued north, where they then attempted to help Assyrians capture the city of Haran. He went home disappointed. On his way home, through Judah, he stopped to settle the score by demanding wealth and the right to pick Judah’s next king.

That’s 34 kilograms of gold. In ancient Hebrew measurement, the tribute was 100 talents of silver and one talent of gold. Neco apparently felt the nation owed him for the lives he lost in a battle he didn’t seem to want to fight with Judah. It was Judah who attacked him as he traveled in peace, to reinforce the Assyrians.

One reason people in Bible times might change another person’s name is to show them who’s boss, likely in this case. The name change is odd. “Eliakim” means El “God” iakim “makes it happen” or “establishes” or “lifts up.” “Jehoiakim” simply removes the El “God” and replaces the term with God’s name, Jeho (as in Jehovah), a form of “LORD,” or Yahweh (YAH way) in Hebrew.