2 Kings 23:16

And as Josiah turned himself, he spied the sepulchres that were there in the mount, and sent, and took the bones out of the sepulchres, and burned them upon the altar, and polluted it, according to the word of the LORD which the man of God proclaimed, who proclaimed these words.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(16-18) These verses are supposed by Stähelin to be a fictitious addition of the compiler’s. Thenius does not go so far as this, but assumes that the proper sequel of 1Kings 13:1-32, has been transferred to this place. He argues that it must be an interpolation here, because (1) the “moreover” of 2Kings 23:15 (wěgam) corresponds to the “and . . . also” (wěgam) of 2Kings 23:19, which does not prove much; and because (2) Josiah could not pollute the altar (2Kings 23:16) after he had already shattered it in pieces (2Kings 23:15). This reasoning is not conclusive, because it is obvious that, as is so often the case, the writer has first told in brief what was done to the altar and high place at Bethel, and then related at length an interesting incident that occurred at the time. In short, the statement of 2Kings 23:15 is anticipatory.

(16) Turned himself.—So that he caught sight of the tombs on the hill-side opposite—not on the hill where the high place was.

The man of God proclaimed.—Some words appear to have fallen out of the Hebrew text here, for the LXX. adds, “when Jeroboam stood in the feast at the altar. And he returned and lifted up his eyes upon the grave of the man of God.” (A transcriber’s eye wandered from one “man of God” to the other.) Josiah returned, when on the point of going away.

Benson Commentary

2 Kings 23:16. As Josiah turned himself — His care and zeal were so great that he would not trust his officers with these things, but would see them done with his own eyes. He spied the sepulchres that were in the mount — It is not said whose sepulchres they were, but it is probable they were those of the idolatrous priests, (for, 2 Chronicles 34:5, he is said to have burned their bones,) and of the false prophets and great men who had been instruments to promote Jeroboam’s idolatry, and who were so attached to their altar at Beth-el, that they were desirous to have their bones laid near it. And burned them, &c., according to the word which the man of God proclaimed — Who foretold, three hundred and sixty-two years before, that these very things should be done by a king called Josiah, 1 Kings 13:2. God always foresees, and has sometimes foretold as certain, that which yet to us seems most contingent. Of this we have here a remarkable instance. No word of God shall fall to the ground!

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

23:15-24 Josiah's zeal extended to the cities of Israel within his reach. He carefully preserved the sepulchre of that man of God, who came from Judah to foretell the throwing down of Jeroboam's altar. When they had cleared the country of the old leaven of idolatry, then they applied themselves to the keeping of the feast. There was not holden such a passover in any of the foregoing reigns. The revival of a long-neglected ordinance, filled them with holy joy; and God recompensed their zeal in destroying idolatry with uncommon tokens of his presence and favour. We have reason to think that during the remainder of Josiah's reign, religion flourished.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

To burn human bones was contrary to all the ordinary Jewish feelings with respect to the sanctity of the sepulchre, and had even been denounced as a sin of a heinous character when committed by a king of Moab Amos 2:1. Joshua did it, because justified by the divine command (marginal reference).

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

16. according to the word of the Lord which the man of God proclaimed, &c.—In carrying on these proceedings, Josiah was prompted by his own intense hatred of idolatry. But it is remarkable that this act was predicted three hundred twenty-six years before his birth, and his name also was expressly mentioned, as well as the very place where it should be done (1Ki 13:2). This is one of the most most remarkable prophecies in the Bible.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

As Josiah turned himself: Josiah’s care and zeal was so great, that he would not trust his officers with these things, but would see them done with his own eyes. Which the man of God proclaimed three hundred years before it was done.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And as Josiah turned himself,.... From the high place, and the altar at Bethel; for he not only gave orders for the destroying of idolatrous places and idols, but he saw them executed himself:

he spied the sepulchres that were there in the mount; the graves of idolatrous priests and worshippers, who chose to be buried near those places of idolatry; nor was it unusual for persons to be buried on hills and mountains, see Joshua 24:30 and this was a custom in other nations formerly (t), particularly among the Indians (u) now, who in many things agree with the Jews:

and sent and took the bones out of the sepulchres, and burnt them upon the altar; where they had sacrificed to idols:

and polluted it; with their bones, which, according to the law, were defiling, and which was done in contempt of their idolatrous worship there:

according to the word of the Lord which the man of God proclaimed, who proclaimed these words; or things; foretold that such a king by name would arise, and burn men's bones upon the altar, and which had been foretold more than three hundred and fifty years before this time.

(t) Vid. Servium in Virgil. Aeneid. 11. ver 849. "fuit ingens monte sub alto". (u) Manasseh ben Israel Spes Israelis. sect 6. p. 29.

Geneva Study Bible

And as Josiah turned himself, he spied the sepulchres that were there in the mount, and sent, and took the bones out of the sepulchres, and burned them upon the altar, and polluted it, according to the word of the LORD which the {o} man of God proclaimed, who proclaimed these words.

(o) According to the prophecy of Iddo, 1Ki 13:2.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

16. Josiah turned himself] i.e. To view the overthrow and to satisfy himself that all had been thoroughly destroyed. The king was zealous in the work, and personally superintended what he wished to have done.

he spied the sepulchres] Not close by where the altar and the high place had stood, but on some other hill, which was visible from where the king was standing.

burnt them upon the altar, and polluted [R.V. defiled] it] The change is for consistency. We have the verb translated ‘defile’ in verses 8, 10 and 13.

according to the word of the Lord] For the history here referred to see 1 Kings 13:2.

these words] R.V. things. This is the translation in the very next verse.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 16. - And as Josiah turned himself, he spied the sepulchers that were there in the mount. The Israelite sepulchers, excavated in the reeky sides of hills, are everywhere conspicuous. Those of Bethel may have been in the low hill on which the town stands, or in the sides of the Wady Suweinit, a little further to the south. His accidentally "spying the sepulchers" gave Josiah the thought of completing his desecration of Bethel by having bones brought from them and burnt upon the altar - whereby he exactly accomplished the old prophecy (1 Kings 13:2), which was not at all in his mind. And sent, end took the bones out of the sepulchers, and burned them upon the altar, and polluted it (see the comment on ver. 14), according to the word of the Lord which the men of God proclaimed, who proclaimed these words; rather, who prophesied these things. The reference is to 1 Kings 13:2, and the meaning is, not that Josiah acted as he did in order to fulfill the prophecy, but that in thus acting he unconsciously fulfilled it. 2 Kings 23:16

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

In order to desecrate this idolatrous site for all time, Josiah had human bones taken out of the graves that were to be found upon the mountain, and burned upon the altar, whereby the prophecy uttered in the reign of Jeroboam by the prophet who came out of Judah concerning this idolatrous place of worship was fulfilled; but he spared the tomb of that prophet himself (cf. 1 Kings 13:26-32). The mountain upon which Josiah saw the graves was a mountain at Bethel, which was visible from the bamah destroyed. ציּוּן, a sepulchral monument, probably a stone erected upon the grave. וימלּטוּ: "so they rescued (from burning) his bones (the bones of the prophet who had come from Judah), together with the bones of the prophet who had come from Samaria," i.e., of the old prophet who sprang from the kingdom of the ten tribes and had come to Bethel (1 Kings 13:11). משּׁמרון בּא in antithesis to מיהוּדה ot sisehtit בּא denotes simply descent from the land of Samaria.

(Note: 2 Kings 23:16-18 are neither an interpolation of the editor, i.e., of the author of our books of Kings (Staehelin), nor an interpolation from a supplement to the account in 1 Kings 13:1-32 (Thenius). The correspondence between the וגם in 2 Kings 23:15 and the וגם in 2 Kings 23:18 does not require this assumption; and the pretended discrepancy, that after Josiah had already reduced the altar to ruins (2 Kings 23:15) he could not possibly defile it by burning human bones upon it (2 Kings 23:16), is removed by the very natural solution, that המזבח in 2 Kings 23:16 does not mean the altar itself, but the site of the altar that had been destroyed.)