Commentaria in IV Regum
Chapter Twenty-three. Synopsis of the Chapter
Josias establishes a covenant between God and the people, and therefore abolishes idols, shrines, soothsayers, the horses of the sun, the high places, the golden calves of Jeroboam, and, v. 21, celebrates a solemn Pasch. Finally, v. 29, he is slain at Mageddo by Pharao Nechao, who sets up Joachaz, the son of Josias, and then, he being carried away, Joakim his brother, as king.
1. And they brought the king word again what she had said. And all the ancients of Juda and Jerusalem were gathered to him. 2. And the king went up to the temple of the Lord, and with him all the men of Juda, and all that dwelt in Jerusalem, the priests and prophets, and all the people, both small and great: and the king read in the hearing of them all the words of the book of the covenant, which was found in the house of the Lord. 3. And the king stood upon the step, and made a covenant before the Lord, to walk after the Lord, and to keep his commandments, and his testimonies, and ceremonies, with all their heart, and all their soul, and to perform the words of this covenant, which were written in that book: and the people agreed to the covenant. 4. And the king commanded Helcias the high priest, and the priests of the second order, and the door keepers, to cast forth out of the temple of the Lord all the vessels that were made for Baal, and in the grove, and for all the host of heaven: and he burnt them without Jerusalem in the valley of Cedron, and carried the dust of them to Bethel. 5. And he destroyed the soothsayers, whom the kings of Juda had appointed to sacrifice in the high places in the cities of Juda, and round about Jerusalem: and them that burnt incense to Baal, and to the sun, and to the moon, and to the twelve signs, and to all the host of heaven. 6. And he caused the grove to be carried out of the house of the Lord without Jerusalem to the brook Cedron, and burnt it there, and brought it to dust, and cast the dust of it upon the graves of the common people. 7. He destroyed also the places of those that were consecrated to uncleanness, which were in the house of the Lord, for which women wove as it were little houses for the grove. 8. And he brought together all the priests out of the cities of Juda: and defiled the high places, where the priests sacrificed, from Gabee to Bersabee; and he broke down the altars of the gates in the entering in of the door of Josue the governor of the city, which was on the left hand of the gate of the city. 9. Nevertheless the priests of the high places came not up to the altar of the Lord in Jerusalem: but only did eat unleavened bread in the midst of their brethren. 10. He defiled also Topheth, which is in the valley of the son of Ennom: that no man should consecrate his son or his daughter through fire to Moloch. 11. And he took away the horses which the kings of Juda had given to the sun, at the entering in of the temple of the Lord, by the chamber of Nathanmelech the eunuch, which was in the suburbs: and the chariots of the sun he burnt with fire. 12. And the altars that were on the roof of the upper chamber of Achaz, which the kings of Juda had made, and the altars which Manasses had made in the two courts of the temple of the Lord, the king broke down: and he ran from thence, and cast the dust of them into the torrent Cedron. 13. The high places also that were in Jerusalem on the right hand of the mount of offence, which Solomon the king of Israel had built for Astaroth the idol of the Sidonians, and for Chamos the offence of Moab, and for Melchom the abomination of the children of Ammon, the king defiled. 14. And he broke the statues in pieces, and cut down the groves: and filled their places with dead men’s bones. 15. Moreover the altar that was at Bethel, and the high place that was made by Jeroboam the son of Nabat, who made Israel to sin: that altar also and the high place he destroyed, and burnt, and broke to pieces, and reduced to dust, and burnt the grove also. 16. And Josias turning about, saw there sepulchres that were on the mount: and he sent and took the bones out of the sepulchres, and burnt them upon the altar, and defiled it according to the word of the Lord which the man of God spoke who foretold these words. 17. And he said: What is that monument which I see? And the men of that city answered him: It is the sepulchre of the man of God who came from Juda, and foretold these words which thou hast done upon the altar of Bethel. 18. And he said: Let him alone, let no man move his bones. So his bones were left untouched, with the bones of the prophet who came from Samaria. 19. And Josias took away also all the temples of the high places, which the kings of Israel had made in the cities of Samaria to provoke the Lord: and he did to them according to all the things that he had done in Bethel. 20. And he slew all the priests of the high places that were there upon the altars: and burnt men’s bones upon them: and returned to Jerusalem. 21. And the king commanded all the people, saying: Keep the Phase to the Lord your God, according as it is written in the book of this covenant. 22. Neither was there kept such a Phase from the days of the judges that judged Israel, and of all the days of the kings of Israel, and of the kings of Juda, 23. As in the eighteenth year of king Josias: this Phase was kept to the Lord in Jerusalem. 24. Moreover Josias took away the pythons, and soothsayers, and the figures of idols, and the uncleannesses, and the abominations that had been in the land of Juda and Jerusalem: that he might establish the words of the law, which were written in the book that Helcias the priest found in the temple of the Lord. 25. There was no king before him like unto him, that returned to the Lord with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his strength, according to all the law of Moses: neither after him did there arise any like him. 26. But yet the Lord turned not away from the wrath of his great fury, wherewith his wrath was kindled against Juda, because of the provocations wherewith Manasses had provoked him. 27. And the Lord said: I will cast off Juda also from my face, as I have removed Israel: and I will cast off this city which I have chosen, Jerusalem, and the house of which I said: My name shall be there. 28. Now the rest of the acts of Josias, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the words of the days of the kings of Juda? 29. In his days Pharao Nechao king of Egypt went up against the king of the Assyrians to the river Euphrates, and king Josias went out to meet him: and was slain at Mageddo, when he had seen him. 30. And his servants carried him dead from Mageddo: and brought him to Jerusalem, and buried him in his own sepulchre. And the people of the land took Joachaz the son of Josias: and anointed him, and made him king in his father’s stead. 31. Joachaz was three and twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem: his mother’s name was Amital the daughter of Jeremias of Lobna. 32. And he did evil before the Lord, according to all that his fathers had done. 33. And Pharao Nechao bound him at Reblatha, which is in the land of Emath, that he might not reign in Jerusalem: and he put the land to a fine of a hundred talents of silver, and a talent of gold. 34. And Pharao Nechao made Eliacim the son of Josias king, in the place of Josias his father: and changed his name to Joakim. But he took Joachaz away, and brought him into Egypt, and he died there. 35. And Joakim gave the silver and the gold to Pharao, after he had taxed the land for every one to contribute according to the commandment of Pharao: and he exacted of every man according to his ability, both silver and gold, of the people of the land, to give it to Pharao Nechao. 36. Joakim was five and twenty years old when he began to reign: and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem: his mother’s name was Zebida the daughter of Phadaia of Ruma. 37. And he did evil before the Lord, according to all that his fathers had done.