Historical chapter commentary
Verse 2. Prophets. Chal. “scribes.” But there were many prophets at this time, who were ordered to come and renew the covenant with God.—He read, in person, acting as a mediator, in imitation of Moses, Josue, Samuel, Joiada, and Ezechias. Calmet.
Verse 3. The step. His tribune or tribunal, a more eminent place, from whence he might be seen and heard by the people. Challoner.—This brazen tribune is described Calmet. 11:14. 2 Chronicles 6:12.—To the covenant, but with much less exactitude than the king. Calmet.
Verse 4. Order, who presided over the 24 classes of inferior priests. Menochius.—Jonathas understands it of those who supplied the place of the high priest when he could not attend. Grotius.—Baal, the sun: ( Calmet.) in Hebrew “for.”—The grove, Astarte, or the moon. Bible.—Cedron, to the east and south of Jerusalem, where Topheth and the sepulchres of the poor, and all unclean things, were placed. Here the pagans burnt their children in honour of Moloch. See 3 Kennicott. 15:13. 2 Chronicles 29:16 and 30:14.—Bethel, out of contempt for the golden calf, ( Bible.) and to remove those impurities to a greater distance. Calmet.
Verse 5. Soothsayers. Prot. “the idolatrous priests.” Grotius thinks that camilli, or “ministers of the gods,” (Serv. and Varro. vi.) may be derived from the Hebrew hacemarim, “the black-vested,” or cryers. The Rabbins give this title in derision to the religious of the Christian Church. There were some melanophori, or people “in black,” who honoured Isis, or the moon, by this dress; as if to condole with her on the absence of the sun. Plutarch Apuleius describes a shining black veil, which was carried in the procession of her statue.—Baal. Hebrew “to Baal the son;” ( Calmet.) or rather, “to Baal, to the son.” Bible.—The Hebrew mazatoth, ( Calmet.) Septuagint Mazouroth ( Bible.) is not better understood. S. Jerom translates signs of the zodiac; others have, influences, planets, Lucifer, Venus, and so forth Job (38:32) designates some stars by the name of Mozruth, and Mozrim. Calmet.
Verse 6. Grove. The idol of Astarte, or the representation of a grove in sculpture. Bible.—People, who were not rich enough to have a sepulchre. Jeremias (19:11) threatens the people of Jerusalem with such a burial. Calmet.—The common people here means the idolaters. 2 Chronicles 34:4. Bible.
Verse 7. Effeminate. Hebrew “consecrated” ( Calmet.) or “initiated” (Mont.) in the obscene mysteries of idols. See Deuteronomy 23:18 and 3 Kennicott. 15:12 and 2 Maccabees 6:4. These men prostituted themselves ( Menochius.) even in that sacred place. Calmet.—Prot. “he broke down the houses of the Sodomites, that were by the house of the Lord, where the women wove hangings for the grove.” These hangings, tents, or dwellings, ( Bible.) were destined for the idol; (Syr. and so forth) or they were intended to hid the abominations which were committed. They were called “tents of the daughters,” Calmet. 17:30. Calmet.—For. Lit. “of the grove:” luci. But the other translation is conformable to the Septuagint Vatable, and so forth Bible.
Verse 8. Bersabee; to which the Israelites went in pilgrimages, Amos 5:5. This place was situated at the southern extremity of the dominions of Juda, as Gabaa was at the northern. The priests being unable to offer sacrifice in the temple, and desirous to gain a livelihood, had been so weak as to conform to the illegal practices of the country; though they seem to have intended to worship God. Deuteronomy 12:11.—Altars. These might also be consecrated to the true God, but they were forbidden. There were others, placed in similar situations, in honour of Trivia, or the moon. Isaiah 57:8 and 65:11. Calmet.—City, to a person entering. Chal. Josue was the chief lay-judge, or magistrate. Menochius.
Verse 9. Brethren. Thus people are degraded in the Christian Church, that they may suffer some confusion ( Calmet.) in this world, and repent. Bible.—The priests, who had offered sacrifice unlawfully, where only permitted to perform the minor offices; but provision was made for their support, that they might not be tempted to relapse. Leviticus 21:17. 22. Ezekiel 44:10. Calmet.—They were reduced to the rank of Levites. Menochius.
Verse 10. Defiled, or declared it unlawful. Menochius.—Topheth may signify “a drum;” which the Jews say the idolaters beat, to prevent their childrens’ cries from being heard, when they were burning in the arms of Moloch. S. Jerom interprets it “latitude,” as the vale was very wide, and beautifully adorned with gardens and springs. It formed a part of the vale of Josaphat and of Cedron; ( Calmet.) or the same valley went by these different names, as well as ( Bible.) by that of Geh-hinnon, “the vale of Ennom,” whence Gehenna is formed, and applied to hell. Matthew 5:22. Mark 9:44. and so forth Calmet.—Yet some think that the term denotes a place of torment on earth, which those deserve who say, thou fool. Bible.
Verse 11. Nathan-melech. Septuagint “to the treasury (room. Pagnin) of Nathan, the king’s eunuch,” or chamberlain. Bible.—Pharurim, “the suburbs.” Vatable. Menochius. Chal.—It perhaps denotes the guard-house. See 1 Chronicles 26:18.—Chariots. The aforesaid horses were designed to draw them in honour of the sun. Some nations used to ride in this manner with all expedition, at its rising; and the Rabbins pretend that the king, or some other by his order, had been accustomed to ride from the eastern gate of the temple to the house of the governor, Nathan-melech. The horse was consecrated to the sun, on account of its agility.
Placat equo Persis radiis Hyperiona cinctum,
Ne detur celeri victima tarda Deo. Ovid, Fast. i.
The Persians sacrificed the horse to the sun, that a slow victim may not be offered to the swift deity. The sun gives vigour to the whole material system, as the instrumental cause in the hand of God; and horses perceive the influence, more particularly in the warmer climates, and exult in their strength. Job 39:21. Bible.—Perhaps these horses had been destined for sacrifice by the infidel kings of Juda, as well as the chariots. Calmet.—The Rhodeans threw some into the sea every year. Festus.—Others think that what Josias took away, was only engraved, or, that the horses had been set at liberty for superstitious observations, as was customary among the pagans. Tacit. Mor. Germ. Sueton. in Julio.
Verse 12. Upper chamber, to be nearer the host of heaven, which they adored. Bible.—We are assured that the Arabs also adored the sun, and offered incense to it on the tops of their houses. The prophets often upbraid the people with this practice. Jeremiah 19:13. Zephaniah 1:5. Calmet.—It is wonderful that Ezechias had not before removed these remnants of his father’s infidelity; and still more that Manasses, after his repentance, had not destroyed what he had unlawfully erected in the courts of the priests and of the people. But Amon might have restored them.—Ran. This shews the zeal of the king. Hebrew and Septuagint “and thence he broke or tore them.”
Verse 13. Offence; Olivet. Bible.—In the original, the terms are very much alike; and the Jews take a pleasure in deforming names, for which they had a horror. Solomon had erected temples here to various idols, (3 Kennicott. 11:7) which had probably been demolished by Ezechias, but had been rebuilt under Amon, and so forth and subsisted during the minority of Josias; ( Calmet.) or they had been neglected by the pious kings of Juda, as no longer dangerous. But Josias, in the fervour of his zeal, thought proper to remove every thing that had been the occasion of offence: Hebrew “of corruption.”—Idol, and scandal, and abomination, are the same in Heb.
Verse 14. Statues is more proper than the Prot. “images,” which would rather be torn.—Dead is not expressed in the Hebrew or Septuagint but must be understood. Bible.—The pagans had the same idea of their impurity: incestat funere classem. Virgil, Æneid vi.
Verse 15. Bethel had perhaps fallen into the hands of Juda, after the Israelites had been led away. Calmet.—Josias exercised the like authority throughout all Samaria, (verse 19.) as the country properly belonged to the house of David, and was God’s peculiar inheritance. Bible.—We may, therefore conclude that He authorized Josias to act in this manner; and the new inhabitants had no interest in maintaining the superstition of those who had lived there before them. The priest sent by Asarhaddon, had taken up his residence at Bethel; whence it is inferred that the town, at that time, was in the hands of the Samaritans, ( Calmet.) as it might be still, though Josias might exercise dominion in it as lord paramount. Bible.
Verse 16. Spoke. Septuagint subjoin some words, which seem to be lost in the original: [“when Jeroboam was standing, on the festival day, upon the altar. And turning, he lifted up his eyes towards the tomb of the man of God,] who spoke these words.” Bible.—“The copies, from which this version was made, read differently from the modern copies,” and often better. Kennicott, diss. ii. p. 335.
Verse 17. Monument. Hebrew tsiun, “an eminence” of “dry” earth, (Ezekiel 39:15) heaped upon a corpse; whence the Latin tumulus. Servius. Calmet.—It seems some inscription was still to be seen on the tomb. Menochius.—Thou, and so forth Septuagint “which he proclaimed against the altar.” Bible.
Verse 18. Samaria. It seems this word has been inserted instead of Juda, as it is certain the prophet came thence, verse 17 and 3 Kennicott. 13:32. Calmet.—But thus both prophets would be identified. It would rather appear that the seducing prophet, who resided at Bethel, is here said to have come out of Samaria, though that place was not raised to the dignity of a royal city ( Bible.) till 50 years afterwards. Calmet.—There might be a town there long before; and, at any rate, he belonged to the kingdom to Jeroboam, or of Samaria. Bible.—His faith in the prophet’s prediction was, perhaps, thus rewarded, ( Menochius.) as his bones were left unmolested, on account of their being buried in the same sepulchre with the man of God. Bible.
Verse 20. Slew. Most of the Israelites who had been left, ( Bible.) embraced the true religion, after the captivity of their brethren, ( Calmet.) and adhered to the kings of Juda, (verse 15. Bible.) who had taken possession of the whole country ( D.) after the fall of the Assyrian empire; ( Tirinus.) unless the emperors of Chaldea had given it to them as to their vassels. See verse 29. Calmet.
Verse 21. Covenant, in Deuteronomy, Calmet. 22:8. Menochius.
Verse 22. No such, is all respects. Bible.—The number of paschal lambs was certainly greater when all Israel was assembled; but the other victims presented by the king and his officers during the octave is here noticed, (2 Chronicles 35:7. Menochius.) as they are also styled the Phase; ( Bible.) and this explains John 18:28. Tirinus.—Neither ought we to push these expressions too far, as they only mean, that this solemnity was very great. See verse 25. Calmet. 18:5. Calmet.
Verse 24. Spirits. Lit. “the pythons.” Deuteronomy 18:11; Numbers 22:5.—Idols. Hebrew Teraphim; Prot. “images,” Genesis 21:19.—Uncleannesses. Hebrew and so forth “idols.”
Verse 25. Like him. Every person has some peculiarity, which distinguishes him from every other. Bible.—Thus we say of many saints: There was none found like unto him. Sirach 44:20. Tirinus.
Verse 26. Had provoked him. The impiety of this king must have been extreme, since his repentance did not avert the scourge. Bible.—Besides, many of the people were corrupt at heart, though they were afraid of shewing it, as we learn from the prophets Jeremias and Sophonias. God therefore withdrew the good Josias, who was their bulwark, that they might feel the effects of his just indignation. Calmet.
Verse 29. Nechao, six years (Usher, A. 3394.) after he had succeeded his father Psammetichus, with whose ambitious views hew as animated to attempt the conquest of Asia. Marsham sæc. 18. Pharao pretends that God had sent him to attack the Assyrians. 2 Chronicles 35:21. But Josias thought he was only imposing on him, or speaking through fear. The Jews assert that Jeremias also opposed the king’s design. 3 Ezra 1:28. Saint Jerome ad Ctesip. But this does not appear from the canonical Scripture. Calmet.—Meet him, in order to hinder him from passing through his dominions without leave; as this might prove dangerous. Bible.—Seen him, and fought. Menochius.—He received a mortal wound at Mageddo, but did at Jerusalem. 2 Chronicles 35:23. Joseph. x. 6.—Mageddo lay to the south of Cison, where Barak had fought before. Judges 5:19. Herodotus (ii. 159.) says, that Nechos gained a victory over the Syrians at Magdolum, and took Cadytis, which is probably Cades, a strong city of Galilee, though some take it to be Jerusalem, as it may be interpreted “the holy city.” Calmet.—Mageddo is called Magdala in the Greek, and Magedan in other copies, and in the Vulg. Matthew 15:39.
Verse 30. Sepulchre. Chronicles 35. in the monument (or mausoleum) of his fathers. Such was the end of Josias: he fell gloriously in defence of his country, as he had spent his life in promoting religion. God therefore withdrew him from the sight of the miseries which were shortly to fall on his devoted people. Calmet. 22:20. Bible.—He was a prince of most excellent disposition, and receives the highest encomium, verse 25 and Sirach 49:1. Jeremias composed his funeral canticle, which was sung on his anniversary for many years. 2 Chronicles 35:24. The mourning for this pious king became proverbial, and resembled that which should be made for the Messias. Zechariah 12:11. The life and death of Josias prefigured those of Jesus Christ; who should be long expected as the restorer of the true religion, the teacher of a more excellent law, and the most innocent victim for the sins of the people. The glorious Phase under Josias, was but a faint representation of the eucharistic sacrifice. Calmet.
Verse 31. Old. Eliacim his brother was 25. Bible.—Perhaps Joachaz was esteemed more by the people, as fitter to defend them against the king of Egypt, who had proceeded on his journey to attack Charchamis on the Euphrates. Calmet.—Having placed a garrison in it, he was met by Joachaz, and gained a victory over him at Rebla, ( Bible.) as Sanctius gathers from Ezekiel 19:4. Hence he treated the captive king with such severity, and sent him into Egypt to die in chains. Jeremiah 22:11. Joachaz is called Sellum (in Jer.) and Jechonias, 3 Ezra 1:34. Calmet.—He was a lion only against his own subjects. Tirinus.
Verse 33. Rebla. Syr. and Arab. “Deblat;” probably ( Calmet.) Apamea on the Orontes. Chal. on Num. xxxiv. 11.
Verse 34. Joakim. Thus he asserted his dominion over him, as Nabuchodonosor did afterwards over Matthanias. Calmet. 24:17. Daniel 1:6. Calmet.—Eliacim means nearly the same as Joakim, “the Lord’s strength,” or “appointment.” Menochius.
Verse 36. Old, of course Josias had him at 15. Some suspect we ought to read 15 here. D.
Verse 37. Fathers, or ancestors, not his immediate father Josias, verse 32. Bible.—Joakim chose to imitate the wicked, and was not deterred by the chastisement of his brother. Calmet.—His character was marked with avarice and cruelty. He slew the prophet Urias. Jeremiah 22:13 and 26:23. Bible.—Saint Matthew 1:11. calls him Jechonias. ( Menochius.) 1 Chronicles 3:15.
teraphim were household idols.
A talent is about 30 kilograms or 66 pounds or 965 Troy ounces