2 Kings 23:5

5 He did away with the idolatrous priests, who had been appointed by the previous kings of Judah, for they had offered sacrifices at the pagan shrines throughout Judah and even in the vicinity of Jerusalem. They had also offered sacrifices to Baal, and to the sun, the moon, the constellations, and to all the powers of the heavens.

2 Kings 23:5 Meaning and Commentary

2 Kings 23:5

And he put down the idolatrous priests
The Cemarim, so called, because they wore black clothes, as Kimchi and others, whereas the priests of the Lord were clothed in white linen, (See Gill on Zephaniah 1:4).

whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense in the high
places, in the cities of Judah, and in the places round about
Jerusalem;
for though those high places were destroyed by Hezekiah, they were rebuilt by Manasseh his son, and priests put in them to officiate there, whom Josiah now deposed, ( 2 Kings 21:3 ) ,

them also that burnt incense unto Baal;
in the same high places; these were the priests, and the others in the preceding clause are thought to be ministers unto them:

to the sun, and to the moon, and to the planets;
the five planets besides the sun and moon, as Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Mercury, and Venus; or to the twelve celestial signs in the firmament, as some ^F20; though Theodoret takes it to be a single star, the evening star:

and to all the host of heaven;
or even to the host of heaven, all the stars thereof: this part of worship,

burning incense,
which was peculiar to the most high God, yet was frequently made by idolaters to their deities; and from the word ^F21 by which it is here and elsewhere expressed may "nectar" be derived, so much spoken of by the Heathen poets as of a sweet smell ^F23, and as delicious to their gods; and so Porphyry ^F24 represents the gods as living on smoke, vapours, and perfumes; and frankincense is said, by Diodorus Siculus ^F25, to be most grateful to them, and beloved by them; this therefore is a much better derivation of the word "nectar" than what Suidas ^F26 gives, that is, as if it was "nectar", because it makes those young that drink it; or than the account Athenaeus ^F1 gives of it, that it is a wine in Babylon so called.

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FOOTNOTES:

F20 David de Pomis Lexic. fol. 77. 3.
F21 (rjq) "suffitum fecit. Et diis acceptus--" Nidor. Ovid. Metamorph. 1. 12, fab. 4.
F23 Theocrit. Idyll. xvii. ver. 29.
F24 De Abstinentia, l. 2. c. 42. Celsus apud Origen. l. 8. p. 417.
F25 Biblioth. l. 2. p. 132.
F26 In voce (nektareou) .
F1 Deipnosophist. l. 1.

2 Kings 23:5 In-Context

3 The king took his place of authority beside the pillar and renewed the covenant in the LORD ’s presence. He pledged to obey the LORD by keeping all his commands, laws, and decrees with all his heart and soul. In this way, he confirmed all the terms of the covenant that were written in the scroll, and all the people pledged themselves to the covenant.

4 Then the king instructed Hilkiah the high priest and the priests of the second rank and the Temple gatekeepers to remove from the LORD ’s Temple all the articles that were used to worship Baal, Asherah, and all the powers of the heavens. The king had all these things burned outside Jerusalem on the terraces of the Kidron Valley, and he carried the ashes away to Bethel.

5 He did away with the idolatrous priests, who had been appointed by the previous kings of Judah, for they had offered sacrifices at the pagan shrines throughout Judah and even in the vicinity of Jerusalem. They had also offered sacrifices to Baal, and to the sun, the moon, the constellations, and to all the powers of the heavens.

6 The king removed the Asherah pole from the LORD ’s Temple and took it outside Jerusalem to the Kidron Valley, where he burned it. Then he ground the ashes of the pole to dust and threw the dust over the graves of the people.

7 He also tore down the living quarters of the male and female shrine prostitutes that were inside the Temple of the LORD, where the women wove coverings for the Asherah pole.