The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Kings — Section 407

taxes In Bo.me.ria as freely as in J ud,:ea 1:2 J'udah. Buch a Passover, oue eo numerously Ohron. xuiii. 9). He reformed on the sarne attended (2 Chron. xxxv. 18), a.nd so exactly mode the religions of both countries. kept according to every or<lina.nce of the Whe•. flno.lly he bad to fight for bis throne, Le.w of Moses (2 Chron. xxx.v. 6), !,ad not he 111.e.rched hie army into the northern por- been celebrated during all the period of the tion of Samaria, o.nd there fought the battle judges, from Joshua. to Be.muel, nor under wh ich cost him hie life. Whioh the kings the kings of e.11 Israel, Baul, Da.vid, and of Israel had made to provoke the Lord to Solomon, nor under those of the separe.ted anger. The eo.rlier kings of Israel had kingdom of Judah, from Rehoboam to this simply allowed the "high ple.cee" to con- yee.r (the eighteenth) of Josiah. It is a.n tinue, without e,ctively increasing or mu}. extraordinary perversity which concludes tiplyiug them; but Manasseh had re-es- (a.s do De Wette a.nd Thenius), from this tablished them after their destruction by co_mparison of the present with former Pass- Hezekiah (oh. u.i. 3), and Amon had pro- overs under the judges and the kings, that bably done the BBme after Manasseh'e tardy there he.d been no such former Paosovers at reformation. J'oeiah took away, and did to a.11 ! Two, at any ra.te, are recorded (Josh. them according to all the aote that he had v. 10, 11; 2 Chron. xu. 13-26). Ewald done in :Bethel (see above, ver. 15). ha.a the good sense to express his dissent Ver. 20.-And he slew all the priests of from this view, a.nd to declare the meaning the high plaoea that were there upon the of the writer to be simply that "since the altars. It is not directly said that he had time of the judges there had never been done this at Bethel, though it had been. such a celebration of the Passover, in ench prophesied that he would do so (1 Kings strict e.ccorde.nce, that is, with the prescrip- xiii. 2). Possibly there were no priests at tions of a sacred book as that which now Bethel at the time, since the " calf" set up took place" (see his ' History of Israel,' vol. by Jeroboam had been carried off (Hos. x. iv. p. 239, Eng. truns.). 6) by the Assyrians. The difference be- Ver. 23.-But in the eighteenth year of tween the treatment of the high-place priests King Josiah, wherein this Passover was in Israel and in Judah (ver. 9) clearly im- holden to the Lord in J'eruealem (compare, plies that the former were attached to the on the date, eh. xxii. 3 and 2 Chron. x.xxv. worship of false gods, while the latter were 19). The eighteenth year of J osinh cor- priests of Jehovah who worshipped him responded probably, in pa.rt to B.c. 622, in with superstitious and unauthorized rites part to B.o. 621. and ceremonies. And burned men's bones Ver. 24. - Moreover the workers with upon them (oomp. ver. 16), and retumed to familiar spirits, and the wizards. Persons J'erusalem. of these classes had been enconraged by Ma- Ver. 21.-And the king oommandecl all nasseh, in his earlier reign (eh. xxi. 6), and the people, saying, Keep the Passover. The probably by Amon (ch.xx.i. 21). AsJosia.h account given of Josiah's Passover is much designed a. thorough reformation, it was ne- more full in Chronicles than in Kings. In cessary for him to put them down. And the Ohroniolee it occupies nineteen verses of images; literally, the teraphim, which are 2 Chron. x:xxv. We learu from Chronicles thought to have been small iI11e.ges kept na tho.t all the rites prescribed by the Law, household gods in many Isruelite families whether in Exodus, Leviticus, or Deutero- from e. very ancient date (see Gen. x.xxi. nomy, were duly observed, and that the 19-35). The superstition was exceedingly festival was attended, not only by the persistent. We find it under the judges Judroans, but by many Isrnelites from (Judg. xviil. H), under Saul (1 Sam. xix. among the ten tribes, who still remained 13), here under the later kingd, and it is intermixed with the Assyrian colonists in still mentioned after the return from tho the Samarit1m country (see 2 Chron. x:xxv. Captivity (Zech. x. 2). The superstition 17, 18). Unto the Lord your God, as it is was, appo.rcntly, Babylonittn (Ezek. ni. written in the book of this oovenant. The 21), and brought from Ur of the Chaldees ordiuancee for the due observance of the by the family of Abraham. Besides being Passover fee.et are contained ohiefly in regarded as household gods, the teraphim Exodus (xii. 3-20; xiii. 5-10). They were used in divination. And the idols, are repeated, but with much less fulness, and all the abominations tha.t were spied. in Deut. xvi. 1-8. The "book of the cove- The "idols," gillulim, are probably, like the nant" found by Hilkiah must, therefore, tero.phim, of a private nature, figures need c,erte.inly have contained Exodus (see below, as amulets or talismans. Excepting in ver. 25). Ezekiel, the word is an uncommon one. Ver. 22.-Surely there was not holden By the "abominations that were spied" are auoh a Passover from the days of the judges meant secret defilements and superstitious that judged Israel, nor in all the days of practices in households, which needed to the kinge of Illael, nor of the ~ af be 110arohed out. (So Thenius and Bahr.) 458 THE SECOND BOOK OF THE KlNGS. [~H. xxm. 1-37,