성경 주석서

And the king sent, and they gathered unto him all the elders of Judah and of Jerusalem.

And the king sent. — This he did, that he might the better insure the promise made to himself; and avert, if possible, the judgments threatened against the people by Huldah the prophetess.

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And the king went up into the house of the LORD, and all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem with him, and the priests, and the prophets, and all the people, both small and great: and he read in their ears all the words of the book of the covenant which was found in the house of the LORD.

And the king went up … and all the men of Judah. — Solemnly to renew their covenant with God; a course ever found to be of singular avail in case of any common calamity felt or feared.

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And the king stood by a pillar, and made a covenant before the LORD, to walk after the LORD, and to keep his commandments and his testimonies and his statutes with all [their] heart and all [their] soul, to perform the words of this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people stood to the covenant.

And the king stood by a pillar. — See 2 Kings 11:14 .

To walk after the Lord. — To be in communion with him, and in conformity unto him. This is elsewhere called walking with God, and walking before God.

And all the people stood to the covenant. — They pretended and professed so to do; but the most of them dissembled and dealt deceitfully, not turning to God with their whole hearts, as good Jeremiah complaineth, Jeremiah 3:1-25 and therefore calleth upon them Jeremiah 4:3 ; Jeremiah 4:14 to "break up their fallow ground, to circumcise themselves unto the Lord, and to wash their hearts from wickedness, that they might be saved."

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And the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest, and the priests of the second order, and the keepers of the door, to bring forth out of the temple of the LORD all the vessels that were made for Baal, and for the grove, and for all the host of heaven: and he burned them without Jerusalem in the fields of Kidron, and carried the ashes of them unto Bethel.

And the priests of the second order. — Ithamar’s race.

And carried the ashes of them unto Bethel. — Called also Bethaven, because there had stood one of Jeroboam’s golden calves: hither therefore this good king sent the ashes of those burnt idols and their trinkets to disgrace it, and that such wicked dust might not remain in Judah, that holy land, saith Cajetan.

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And he put down the idolatrous priests, whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense in the high places in the cities of Judah, and in the places round about Jerusalem; them also that burned incense unto Baal, to the sun, and to the moon, and to the planets, and to all the host of heaven.

And he put down the idolatrous priests. — Heb., Chemarims, Baal’s chimney-chaplains, see Zephaniah 1:14 , with the note there black sooty fellows, like those greasy mass priests, or abbey lubbers, amongst the Papists.

And to the planets. — Or, Influences: a radice Nazal fluxit.

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And he brought out the grove from the house of the LORD, without Jerusalem, unto the brook Kidron, and burned it at the brook Kidron, and stamped [it] small to powder, and cast the powder thereof upon the graves of the children of the people.

And he brought out the grove. — See on 2 Kings 21:7 .

Upon the graves of the children of the people. — The vulgar sort, the rascality, who are usually most irrational, and so most idolatrous. "Thou knowest the people, that they are set on mischief," said Aaron of those that said unto him, "Make us gods," … Exodus 32:22-23

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And he brake down the houses of the sodomites, that [were] by the house of the LORD, where the women wove hangings for the grove.

The houses of the sodomites. — Abominable brothel houses.

Where the women wove hangings. — Heb., Houses, aedicula, sacella textilia, as Acts 19:24 . There were at Ephesus that made templa portabilia, small portable temples, resembling that greater temple.

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And he brought all the priests out of the cities of Judah, and defiled the high places where the priests had burned incense, from Geba to Beersheba, and brake down the high places of the gates that [were] in the entering in of the gate of Joshua the governor of the city, which [were] on a man’s left hand at the gate of the city.

The high places of the gates. — Where, in imitation of the heathens, they had set their tutelar and guardian gods, and had their fans profana.

Of Joshua the governor of the city. — A great man, but none of the best. He had a good name; but Josiah might have said to him, as Alexander did to a soldier of his own name, but a coward, Either change thy name, or put on more courage; so, more piety.

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