SERIES N --- THE EXILE --- LESSON 16

COVENANT RENEWED

KING JOSIAH’S GREAT REFORM

From 2 Kings 23:1-29; 2 Chronicles 34:29-33

When the men whom King Josiah had sent to the prophetess Huldah brought her message to him, he summoned the people to a great convocation at the temple. The leaders of Judah and Jerusalem, priests and prophets, and people both great and small were present. The king read to them the entire Book of YHVH’s Law which had been found in the temple. Then, as he stood beside the pillar of the temple, King Josiah made a Covenant with Adonai to follow Him and to keep His Commandments, testimonies, and statutes with all his heart and soul, and to fulfil the Covenant which was written in the scroll. After that the king commanded everyone in Jerusalem and Benjamin to make this same Covenant with Adonai, according to the Covenant which was written in the scroll, and they did so. King Josiah also ordered Hilkiah the high priest and the other priests and doorkeepers of the temple to remove from the temple of Adonai all the vessels made for Baal and Asherah and for the worship of the sun, moon, and stars. He burned these vessels in the fields by the Kidron Valley outside of Jerusalem and carried the ashes to Bethel. Josiah removed the priests whom the previous kings of Judah had appointed to burn incense in the high places of Judah and Jerusalem, and who had also burned incense to Baal and to the gods of the sun, moon, and stars. He took the Asherah idol from the temple to the Kidron Brook, and there he burned it and ground it to powder and threw the powder on the graves of the common people. He also tore down the houses of the male prostitutes near the temple, where women wove robes for the Asherah idol. Josiah ordered the priests who had lived in other cities of Judah to return to Jerusalem, and he destroyed the high places where they had burned incense, as far away as Geba and Beersheba. These priests were permitted to eat with the other priests, but they were not allowed to take part in the worship at Adonai’s altar at the temple. The king also destroyed shrines by the entrance to the palace of Joshua, the previous mayor of Jerusalem, which was on the left side of the gate as one goes into the city. He destroyed the altar of Topheth in the Valley of Hinnom, so that no one ever again would burn his son or daughter on it as a sacrifice to Molech. Josiah destroyed the statues of horses and chariots beside the temple entrance, which previous kings of Judah had dedicated to the sun. These were next to the apartment of Nathan-melech the eunuch. He also destroyed the altars which previous kings of Judah had built on the roof of the upper chamber of Ahaz, as well as the altars which Manasseh had made in the two courts of the temple, grinding them to powder and scattering them in the Kidron Valley. After that King Josiah destroyed the high places east of Jerusalem, south of the mount of corruption, which Solomon had built for the evil Sidonian goddess Ashtoreth, the abominable Moabite god Chemosh, and the abominable Ammonite god Milcom. He destroyed the pillars and the Asherim idols and scattered human bones over these places to defile them. He also destroyed the altar at Bethel which the first Jeroboam had set up when he led Israel into idolatry. He ground these stones into powder and burned the Asherah idol. While he was at Bethel, Josiah saw some tombs on the side of the mountain. He sent some of his men to take the bones from these tombs and burned them upon the altar at Bethel, thus defiling it, just as Adonai through His prophet had predicted many years before. [What is that monument I see over there?] Josiah asked. [That is the tomb of the prophet of Judah who predicted that these things would happen to the altar at Bethel,] his men replied. [Do not disturb that tomb,] Josiah commanded. The men obeyed, leaving the prophet’s tomb and the tomb of the prophet of Samaria undisturbed. Next Josiah destroyed the high places which the kings of Israel had made in the cities of Samaria, which had made Adonai angry. He ground these into powder, as he had done at Bethel. Josiah then executed the heathen priests of these high places upon their own altars and burned human bones on the altars to defile them. Having done this, King Josiah returned to Jerusalem. Josiah continued his reforms by eliminating the mediums, wizards, teraphim, idols, and other abominations throughout Jerusalem and Judah. He was trying with all his heart to follow the Book of the Law which Hilkiah had found in the temple. No other king before and no other king since followed Adonai so completely, seeking to be obedient to Him. Even so, Adonai did not withdraw His anger against Judah because of all the evils which King Manasseh had caused. Adonai had already said, [I will remove Judah from My sight as I removed Israel, and I will reject Jerusalem, My chosen city, and My temple, which I had set up as a memorial to My Name.]

COMMENTARY

THE HINNOM VALLEY

The Hinnom Valley was singled out during Josiah’s religious reforms because it was a haven for pagan cults. The deep valley lay immediately west and south of Jerusalem, its eastern end intersecting the Kidron Valley. Near that point was a sacred area, Topeth, devoted to the worship of foreign deities. At Topeth’s altars, priests offered sacrifices to Canaanite and Phoenician gods such as Baal and Molech. Its reputation as a place of utter evil grew from their practices, including the ritual of making children [pass through the fire.] Jeremiah warned that YHVH’s punishment for the sins practiced there would be so great, people would call the Hinnom Valley the [Valley of Slaughter.] Josiah destroyed the altars of Topeth and the site was eventually buried under centuries of refuse from Jerusalem. However, the Israelites’ horror of the sacrifices offered there and their dread of cremation lived on in the memory of the place. Topeth and the Hinnom Valley became a symbol of total desolation and misery. By New Testament times the name of the valley, [Ge-ben Hinnom,] had become [Gehenna,] and stood for the place of eternal punishment.