and Esther.

Above all, it shows with what absolute freeness the Spirit of God selected the instruments which

He employed in the execution of the Divine behests (comp. Jo el 2:28, 29).

The plain and faithful words in which the prophetess announced the coming judgment (2 Kings

22:14 -20) give a new and deeper meaning to the assembly of priests, prophets, and people from

Jerusalem and from all parts of the land whom Josiah g athered to hear "the words of the book of

the covenant which was found in the house of the LORD" (2 Kings 23:2).

Evidently in all that he did, the king was actuated by higher motives than merely the wish to avert

punishment. In the Temple a solemn national "covenant" was made - no doubt, by the people

expressing their assent to the law as binding upon them. In consequence of this, immediate

measures were taken under the supervision of the high-priest and his subordinates* (2 Kings 23:4)

for the removal o f all the emblems of idolatry which had defiled the Temple. The various "vessels

made for Baal and for the Asherah, and for all the host of heaven" were burnt (comp.

Deuteronomy 7:25; 12:3), "in the fields of Kidron, north-east of the city** (comp. Jeremiah

31:40). Next, the Kemarim,*** or non-Levitical priesthood, that officiated whether at the high

places, or at the various shrines of idolatry, were "put down." Thus the vile idol of Asherah was

brought out from the sanctuary which it had desecrated, burn t by the brook Kidron, its ashes

stamped to powder, and further to mark its profanation scattered over the common burying-

place.|* Lastly, the houses erected in close proximity to the Temple itself, for the lowest form of

frenzied heathen degradation, were broken down.

* "Priests of the second order" (2 Kings 23:4). We regard these as younger and subordinate priests

- not as the suffragans of the high-priest.

** Probably in the place where the manure for these fields was deposited. The reference to Bethel

at the close of ver. 4 may possibly depend on some corruption in the text. It does not occur in 2

Chronicles 34:3, 4.

*** Various derivations and explanations of the word have been proposed - none of them,

however, quite satisfactory. The same designation occurs in Hosea 10:5 and Zephaniah 1:4. They

are distinguished from the Levitical priests, or Kohanim.

|* The place where the common people and strangers were buried. All those of the better classes

had sepulchers of their own.

But these measures were not limited to the removal of idolatry from the Temple, and of the non-

Levitical priesthood from office. Beside the Kemarim there were those of Levitical descent -

Kohanim, or priests - who had celebrated an unlawful worship at the high places througho ut

Judah.* These unworthy members of the priesthood were brought to Jerusalem and declared unfit

for strictly priestly service in the Temple, although not deprived of what to many must have been

the only means of subsistence.**

* "From Geba to Beer-sheba" (2 Kings 23:8). The former in Benjamin was a priest-city, and

marked what afterwards was the northernmost town in the kingdom of Judah. Beer-sheba was the

most southern seat of this worship (Amos 5:5; 8:14).

** As priests they had neither tribal possessions, nor yet other avocations. They were treated like

priests in a state of Levitical impurity (Leviticus 21:21 -23), but do not seem to have shared in the

common meals of the regular priests. Probably they were allowed to discharge inferior functions

(comp. Ezekiel 44:10 -14).