And the king commanded all the people, “Keep the Passover to the LORD your God, as it is written in this Book of the Covenant.”
What strikes me is the corruption that had festered in the very temple of God for so long, right under the king's own watch. Josiah himself had reigned eighteen years in piety, yet when he searched out idolatry, the filth he found was almost beyond belief. But here is the hard truth: all this thorough cleansing, all these hopeful reforms, could not save Jerusalem from utter ruin a few years after, for the people hated to be reformed.
AI summary
Commenting on 2 Kings 23:4-24
Surely there was not holden such a passover from the days of the judges that judged Israel,.... As the king commanded; the people obeyed and kept the passover, according to the law of the Lord; the manner of its being kept is not here recorded, but is at large in Ch2 35:1 where it is observed there had not been such an one from the...
Josiah burned all the idolatry apparatus in the fields of Kidron, where Jerusalem cast her filth, but then went further than his reforming forebears: he collected the ashes and fragments and had them carried to Bethel itself, making that accursed place a living monument of horror and aversion. His zeal far outstripped the piety of those who came before him.
AI summary
Commenting on 2 Kings 23:4-28