HarperCollins Study Bible

by Harold W. Attridge

  10The LORD said by his servants the prophets, 11“Because King Manasseh of Judah has committed these abominations, has done things more wicked than all that the Amorites did, who were before him, and has caused Judah also to sin with his idols; 12therefore thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, I am bringing upon Jerusalem and Judah such evil that the ears of everyone who hears of it will tingle. 13I will stretch over Jerusalem the measuring line for Samaria, and the plummet for the house of Ahab; I will wipe Jerusalem as one wipes a dish, wiping it and turning it upside down. 14I will cast off the remnant of my heritage, and give them into the hand of their enemies; they shall become a prey and a spoil to all their enemies, 15because they have done what is evil in my sight and have provoked me to anger, since the day their ancestors came out of Egypt, even to this day.”

  16Moreover Manasseh shed very much innocent blood, until he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another, besides the sin that he caused Judah to sin so that they did what was evil in the sight of the LORD.

  17Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh, all that he did, and the sin that he committed, are they not written in the Book of the Annals of the Kings of Judah? 18Manasseh slept with his ancestors, and was buried in the garden of his house, in the garden of Uzza. His son Amon succeeded him.

  Amon Reigns over Judah

  19Amon was twenty-two years old when he began to reign; he reigned two years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Meshullemeth daughter of Haruz of Jotbah. 20He did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, as his father Manasseh had done. 21He walked in all the way in which his father walked, served the idols that his father served, and worshiped them; 22he abandoned the LORD, the God of his ancestors, and did not walk in the way of the LORD. 23The servants of Amon conspired against him, and killed the king in his house. 24But the people of the land killed all those who had conspired against King Amon, and the people of the land made his son Josiah king in place of him. 25Now the rest of the acts of Amon that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Annals of the Kings of Judah? 26He was buried in his tomb in the garden of Uzza; then his son Josiah succeeded him.

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  a Heb Asherah

  21.1–18 In the eyes of the Deuteronomistic narrator, the long reign of Manasseh was the epitome of evil. Perhaps reacting against the religious reforms of his father, Hezekiah (18.4–6), Manasseh restored the cultic practices of Ahaz (16.2–4) and elaborated on them, in the process violating many of the provisions for worship laid down in Deuteronomy. More to the point, he committed many of the same sins that led to the devastation of the Northern Kingdom and to the exile of its inhabitants (17.7–18). It is not surprising, then, that the narrator blames Manasseh for the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem and the exile. Chronicles, however, has a more positive view of this king (2 Chr 33.1–20).

  21.1 Manasseh ruled ca. 687/6–642 BCE.

  21.2 Following the abominable practices of the nations is forbidden in Deut 12.29–31 (cf. 2 Kings 17.7).

  21.3 High places. See note on 1 Kings 3.2. Sacred pole. See note on 1 Kings 14.15. The destruction of these installations is commanded in Deut 12.2–4 (cf. 2 Kings 17.9–10, 16). In the narrator’s view, Ahab was the most sinful of all of the Northern kings because of his official encouragement of the worship of Baal and Asherah (see the assessment in 1 Kings 16.31–33). Host of heaven. See note on 17.16.

  21.5 It is not clear exactly where these altars were placed in the temple courts.

  21.6 Made his son pass through fire. See note on 16.3. This practice and the various types of divination mentioned here are forbidden in Deut 18.9–14 (cf. 2 Kings 17.17).

  21.7 Asherah. See note on 1 Kings 14.15.

  21.7–8 For the Deuteronomistic narrator, the promise of an eternal Davidic line and the promise of the permanent dwelling of Israel in the land were both always contingent on obedience to the divine law; see, e.g., 1 Kings 9.3–9.

  21.10 The prophets who delivered this judgment oracle are not identified.

  21.11 The Amorites were among the original inhabitants of Canaan and therefore one of the peoples whose practices were to be avoided.

  21.13 The same standards that were applied to Israel will also be applied to Judah. The parallels between the two are already evident. For the narrator’s opinions on the house of Ahab, see note on 21.3. One wipes a dish and turns it upside down to be sure that all of its contents have been removed.

  21.14 After the destruction of the Northern Kingdom, only Judah remained as the remnant of God’s heritage.

  21.18 Garden of Uzza. Location unknown.

  21.19–26 The reign of Amon saw the continuation of all of the evil policies of his father, Manasseh.

  21.19 Amon ruled ca. 642–640 BCE.

  21.24 People of the land. See note on 11.14.

  2 KINGS 22

  Josiah Reigns over Judah

  1Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign; he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jedidah daughter of Adaiah of Bozkath. 2He did what was right in the sight of the LORD, and walked in all the way of his father David; he did not turn aside to the right or to the left.

  Hilkiah Finds the Book of the Law

  3In the eighteenth year of King Josiah, the king sent Shaphan son of Azaliah, son of Meshullam, the secretary, to the house of the LORD, saying, 4“Go up to the high priest Hilkiah, and have him count the entire sum of the money that has been brought into the house of the LORD, which the keepers of the threshold have collected from the people; 5let it be given into the hand of the workers who have the oversight of the house of the LORD; let them give it to the workers who are at the house of the LORD, repairing the house, 6that is, to the carpenters, to the builders, to the masons; and let them use it to buy timber and quarried stone to repair the house. 7But no accounting shall be asked from them for the money that is delivered into their hand, for they deal honestly.”

  8The high priest Hilkiah said to Shaphan the secretary, “I have found the book of the law in the house of the LORD.” When Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, he read it. 9Then Shaphan the secretary came to the king, and reported to the king, “Your servants have emptied out the money that was found in the house, and have delivered it into the hand of the workers who have oversight of the house of the LORD.” 10Shaphan the secretary informed the king, “The priest Hilkiah has given me a book.” Shaphan then read it aloud to the king.

  11When the king heard the words of the book of the law, he tore his clothes. 12Then the king commanded the priest Hilkiah, Ahikam son of Shaphan, Achbor son of Micaiah, Shaphan the secretary, and the king’s servant Asaiah, saying, 13“Go, inquire of the LORD for me, for the people, and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book that has been found; for great is the wrath of the LORD that is kindled against us, because our ancestors did not obey the words of this book, to do according to all that is written concerning us.”

  14So the priest Hilkiah, Ahikam, Achbor, Shaphan, and Asaiah went to the prophetess Huldah the wife of Shallum son of Tikvah, son of Harhas, keeper of the wardrobe; she resided in Jerusalem in the Second Quarter, where they consulted her. 15She declared to them, “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: Tell the man who sent you to me, 16Thus says the LORD, I will indeed bring disaster on this place and on its inhabitants—all the words of the book that the king of Judah has read. 17Because they have abandoned me and have made offerings to other gods, so that they have provoked me to anger with all the work of their hands, therefore my wrath will be kindled against this place, and it will not be quenched. 18But as to the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of the LORD, thus shall you say to him, Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: Regarding the words that you have heard, 19because your heart was penitent, and you humbled yourself before the LORD, when you heard how I spoke against this place, and against its inhabitants, that they should become a desolation and a curse, and because you have torn your clothes and wept before me, I also have heard you, says
the LORD. 20Therefore, I will gather you to your ancestors, and you shall be gathered to your grave in peace; your eyes shall not see all the disaster that I will bring on this place.” They took the message back to the king.

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  22.1–2 The narrator of Kings views Josiah as the Judean king who most closely conformed to the Davidic model. Even more than the highly praised Hezekiah, Josiah was obedient to God’s law, a fact the historian illustrates by describing in detail the king’s religious reforms.

  22.1 Josiah reigned ca. 640–609 BCE.

  22.3–20 Josiah’s pious concern for repairing the temple leads to the discovery of a lawbook, which motivates the king to make a new covenant between the people and the Lord and to carry out a religious reform throughout the land. Most scholars identify this book as an early version of the present book of Deuteronomy. Like Deuteronomy, the lawbook contains dire threats against people who reject the Lord and worship other gods (vv. 16–17; cf. Deut 27–28). Similarly, the book leads to the making of a covenant (23.2–3), a concept that plays an important role throughout Deuteronomy (see, e.g., Deut 29). Finally, the reforms carried out by Josiah generally conform to the sort of worship that Deuteronomy demands. In the eyes of the narrator, then, Josiah was the ideal king precisely because his rule was guided by Deuteronomic law (cf. Deut 17.18–20).

  22.3 Josiah’s eighteenth year, 622 BCE. According to 2 Chr 34.3–18, Josiah began his religious reforms in his twelfth year, even though the lawbook was not discovered in the temple until Josiah’s eighteenth year. Many scholars believe the chronology of Chronicles to be correct, and if it is, then it is likely that the writer of Kings reordered events to emphasize the crucial role of the lawbook. Shaphan and his descendants seem to have been supporters of the Deuteronomistic theology advocated by the narrator of Kings, and they later aided the prophet Jeremiah in the final days before the capture of Jerusalem (Jer 26.24; 29.3; 36.10–12).

  22.4–7 On the arrangements for making repairs on the temple, see 12.4–16 and notes.

  22.8 Book of the law, probably a scroll. The precise circumstances of its discovery are not related. Some scholars have speculated that the scroll had been stored in the temple or hidden away during the anti-Deuteronomic reforms of Manasseh (21.2–9). Others have suggested that the book was in fact written by Hilkiah and then conveniently “found.”

  22.11 Tore his clothes. See note on 2.12.

  22.13 People inquired of a deity through a prophet in times of personal or national distress (1.2; 8.7–15; 1 Kings 14.1–18; 22.5–12).

  22.14 Huldah is not mentioned elsewhere, but she was clearly an important figure in Jerusalemite society. The Second Quarter was on the western hill of Jerusalem, an area enclosed by a city wall during the reign of Hezekiah. The expansion of the city at that time was perhaps to accommodate refugees from the Assyrian invasion of the Northern Kingdom.

  22.16–17 Huldah’s judgment oracle is reminiscent of 21.12; Deut 27–28.

  22.20 Huldah’s prophecy to Josiah implies that the king will have a nonviolent death. In this case, the prophecy was not fulfilled (23.29–30).

  2 KINGS 23

  Josiah’s Reformation

  1Then the king directed that all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem should be gathered to him. 2The king went up to the house of the LORD, and with him went all the people of Judah, all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the priests, the prophets, and all the people, both small and great; he read in their hearing all the words of the book of the covenant that had been found in the house of the LORD. 3The king stood by the pillar and made a covenant before the LORD, to follow the LORD, keeping his commandments, his decrees, and his statutes, with all his heart and all his soul, to perform the words of this covenant that were written in this book. All the people joined in the covenant.

  4The king commanded the high priest Hilkiah, the priests of the second order, and the guardians of the threshold, to bring out of the temple of the LORD all the vessels made for Baal, for Asherah, and for all the host of heaven; he burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron, and carried their ashes to Bethel. 5He deposed the idolatrous priests whom the kings of Judah had ordained to make offerings in the high places at the cities of Judah and around Jerusalem; those also who made offerings to Baal, to the sun, the moon, the constellations, and all the host of the heavens. 6He brought out the image ofa Asherah from the house of the LORD, outside Jerusalem, to the Wadi Kidron, burned it at the Wadi Kidron, beat it to dust and threw the dust of it upon the graves of the common people. 7He broke down the houses of the male temple prostitutes that were in the house of the LORD, where the women did weaving for Asherah. 8He brought all the priests out of the towns of Judah, and defiled the high places where the priests had made offerings, from Geba to Beer-sheba; he broke down the high places of the gates that were at the entrance of the gate of Joshua the governor of the city, which were on the left at the gate of the city. 9The priests of the high places, however, did not come up to the altar of the LORD in Jerusalem, but ate unleavened bread among their kindred. 10He defiled Topheth, which is in the valley of Ben-hinnom, so that no one would make a son or a daughter pass through fire as an offering to Molech. 11He removed the horses that the kings of Judah had dedicated to the sun, at the entrance to the house of the LORD, by the chamber of the eunuch Nathan-melech, which was in the precincts;b then he burned the chariots of the sun with fire. 12The altars on the roof of the upper chamber of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made, and the altars that Manasseh had made in the two courts of the house of the LORD, he pulled down from there and broke in pieces, and threw the rubble into the Wadi Kidron. 13The king defiled the high places that were east of Jerusalem, to the south of the Mount of Destruction, which King Solomon of Israel had built for Astarte the abomination of the Sidonians, for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. 14He broke the pillars in pieces, cut down the sacred poles,c and covered the sites with human bones.

  15Moreover, the altar at Bethel, the high place erected by Jeroboam son of Nebat, who caused Israel to sin—he pulled down that altar along with the high place. He burned the high place, crushing it to dust; he also burned the sacred pole.d 16As Josiah turned, he saw the tombs there on the mount; and he sent and took the bones out of the tombs, and burned them on the altar, and defiled it, according to the word of the LORD that the man of God proclaimed,e when Jeroboam stood by the altar at the festival; he turned and looked up at the tomb of the man of God who had predicted these things. 17Then he said, “What is that monument that I see?” The people of the city told him, “It is the tomb of the man of God who came from Judah and predicted these things that you have done against the altar at Bethel.” 18He said, “Let him rest; let no one move his bones.” So they let his bones alone, with the bones of the prophet who came out of Samaria. 19Moreover, Josiah removed all the shrines of the high places that were in the towns of Samaria, which kings of Israel had made, provoking the LORD to anger; he did to them just as he had done at Bethel. 20He slaughtered on the altars all the priests of the high places who were there, and burned human bones on them. Then he returned to Jerusalem.

  The Passover Celebrated

  21The king commanded all the people, “Keep the passover to the LORD your God as prescribed in this book of the covenant.” 22No such passover had been kept since the days of the judges who judged Israel, even during all the days of the kings of Israel and of the kings of Judah; 23but in the eighteenth year of King Josiah this passover was kept to the LORD in Jerusalem.

  24Moreover Josiah put away the mediums, wizards, teraphim,f idols, and all the abominations that were seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, so that he established the words of the law that were written in the book that the priest Hilkiah had found in the house of the LORD. 25Before him there was no king like him, who turned to the LORD with all his heart, with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the law of Moses; nor did any li
ke him arise after him.

  26Still the LORD did not turn from the fierceness of his great wrath, by which his anger was kindled against Judah, because of all the provocations with which Manasseh had provoked him. 27The LORD said, “I will remove Judah also out of my sight, as I have removed Israel; and I will reject this city that I have chosen, Jerusalem, and the house of which I said, My name shall be there.”

  Josiah Dies in Battle

  28Now the rest of the acts of Josiah, and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Annals of the Kings of Judah? 29In his days Pharaoh Neco king of Egypt went up to the king of Assyria to the river Euphrates. King Josiah went to meet him; but when Pharaoh Neco met him at Megiddo, he killed him. 30His servants carried him dead in a chariot from Megiddo, brought him to Jerusalem, and buried him in his own tomb. The people of the land took Jehoahaz son of Josiah, anointed him, and made him king in place of his father.

  Reign and Captivity of Jehoahaz

  31Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he began to reign; he reigned three months in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hamutal daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. 32He did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, just as his ancestors had done. 33Pharaoh Neco confined him at Riblah in the land of Hamath, so that he might not reign in Jerusalem, and imposed tribute on the land of one hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold. 34Pharaoh Neco made Eliakim son of Josiah king in place of his father Josiah, and changed his name to Jehoiakim. But he took Jehoahaz away; he came to Egypt, and died there. 35Jehoiakim gave the silver and the gold to Pharaoh, but he taxed the land in order to meet Pharaoh’s demand for money. He exacted the silver and the gold from the people of the land, from all according to their assessment, to give it to Pharaoh Neco.