And he broke down the houses of the male cult prostitutes who were in the house of the LORD, where the women wove hangings for the Asherah.
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
And he brought all the priests out of the cities of Judah,.... Who were of the sons of Aaron, and had served in the high places there: and defiled the high places where the priests had burnt incense; by casting dead carcasses, or the bones of dead men, or dung, or anything that was unclean, into them, by way of contempt: from Geba to Beersheba...
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