2Ki 23:4-14 | TNotes | STEP | 23:4 remove ... all the articles: Josiah eliminated from the Temple detestable items associated with pagan worship. • terraces of the Kidron Valley: This area, near the Valley of Ben-Hinnom where the loathsome Molech rituals of child sacrifice had been carried out, became a place where ashes and dead bodies were taken (Jer 26:23 ). • Taking the ashes away to Bethel , where Jeroboam had erected one of his cult altars (1 Kgs 12:28-29 ), would defile the site forever.

23:4 ^a remove ... all the articles: Josiah eliminated from the Temple detestable items associated with pagan worship.

• terraces of the Kidron Valley: This area, near the Valley of Ben-Hinnom where the loathsome Molech rituals of child sacrifice had been carried out, became a place where ashes and dead bodies were taken (Jer 26:23 ^b).

• Taking the ashes away to Bethel, where Jeroboam had erected one of his cult altars (1 Kgs 12:28-29 ^c), would defile the site forever.
Summary for 2Kgs 23:5-7: 23:5-7 ^d Josiah stopped the idolatrous priests from officiating over pagan rituals. He also demolished the living quarters of the cult prostitutes. Manasseh and Amon apparently had allowed the prostitution carried over from Canaanite practices (see 1 Kgs 14:24 ^e; 15:12 ^f; 22:46 ^g) to be practiced within the Temple itself.
Summary for 2Kgs 23:8-9: 23:8-9 ^h The gate of Joshua is otherwise unknown; it might have been used by the city governor, a title known to refer to a city official in Samaria (1 Kgs 22:26 ⁱ; 2 Chr 18:25 ^j) and to Maaseiah in Jerusalem (2 Chr 34:8 ^k).
23:10 ^l Topheth was a precinct in the valley of Ben-Hinnom, which lay southwest of the city of David and led into the Kidron Valley. The detestable rite of child sacrifice had occurred there.

• Molech has been identified with a number of deities (see 1 Kgs 11:5 ^m, 7 ⁿ, 33 ^o) and with the name of a sacrifice offered to Baal (Jer 7:31-32 ^p; 19:5-6 ^q; 32:35 ^r).
23:11 ^s The horse was used in sun worship in the ancient Near East. The Assyrian sun-god Shamash and other deities were depicted riding across the sky in horse-drawn chariots. Archaeological evidence suggests that a solar cult existed in Israel as early as the 800s BC. The cult’s popularity likely increased during the reigns of Manasseh and Amon, when it was sponsored by the crown (21:3-5 ^t, 21-22 ^u). Despite Josiah’s reforms, shortly after his death Ezekiel denounced the sun worshipers again for performing their rituals within the inner court of the Temple (Ezek 8:16 ^v).

• the eunuch, an officer of the court: The term translated eunuch can refer not only to those who were physically eunuchs but also to high officials.
23:12 ^w upper room of Ahaz: Roof-top altars were used for astral worship (Jer 19:13 ^x; Zeph 1:5 ^y) and rituals associated with Baal (Jer 32:29 ^z).
23:13 ^aa Solomon had erected the pagan shrines because of his many foreign wives (1 Kgs 11:5 ^ab, 7 ^ac, 33 ^ad).