Useful Bible Studies > 2 Kings Commentary > chapter 23
This was about 100 years after Assyria’s king had defeated the last king of northern and central Israel. Since then, that country had become a wild place, with many lions (17:25) and other wild animals. Few people lived there.
The king of Assyria had sent some foreigners there, to try to rebuild the principal towns (17:24). However, the few people from Israel who remained there, seemed to accept Josiah’s rule over them. They accepted his law that they must turn from their wrong religions to serve only the true God.
However, some people would not agree to change their religion. They were the priests of these wrong religions. They were not really trying to defend their traditions and ceremonies. Rather, these were people who cared about magic and power in the spirit world. They had handed their lives over completely to their false gods. So, they fought to defend those places that they considered sacred to those gods.
Josiah considered it necessary to kill those priests in order to destroy their evil religions. These were not good religions that encouraged right attitudes and actions. They were wicked religions that supported and encouraged murder, cruelty, and wrong sex acts. These terrible religions had brought the true God’s anger against the people of northern and central Israel. Now God had sent Josiah to act in judgment against these religions, their priests, and the places that they considered sacred (1 Kings 13:1-2).
Next part: Josiah's Passover (2 Kings 23:21-23)
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