2 Kings 23:19
And all the houses also of the high places that were in the cities of Samaria, which the kings of Israel had made to provoke the Lord to anger, Josiah took away, and did to them according to all the acts that he had done in Beth-el. And all the houses also of the high places that were in the cities of Samaria, which the kings of Israel had made to provoke the Lord to anger, Josiah took away, and did to them according to all the acts that he had done in Beth-el.
Josiah's reform after the finding of the lost book of the law included removing the shrines of the high places in the cities of Samaria and treating them as he had treated those at Bethel. His campaign against idolatry reached beyond Judah and Jerusalem to the territory of the former northern kingdom, destroying its relics, defiling its altars, degrading its corrupt priests and even burning their bones upon their own altars. He swept these shrines away with zeal and resolve because the worship of Baal and Ashtoreth and the honor of the sun had supplanted the worship and honor of Jehovah, to restore honor to Jehovah as Father and Master. Though it was the greatest reformation in restoring the worship of God, it could not turn the nation from its downward course toward sun and Baal worship, for as a nation it had sinned away its day of grace, yet because he sought God while young he himself was spared its punishments. His example teaches steady and courageous devotion to what is right without turning aside, honoring God by keeping His law and His Sabbath now when worship of the beast and honor of the venerable day of the sun are supplanting the worship and honor of Jehovah.
Josiah's Reform in Context
The verse records Josiah taking away the houses of the high places in the cities of Samaria that the kings of Israel had made to provoke the Lord to anger, and doing to them according to all that he had done in Beth-el, as part of his reformation after the book of the law was found and read. He removed and destroyed objects and places used for idolatrous worship, including those high-place shrines in Samaria, dealing with them as he had dealt with the shrines at Bethel. His campaign against idolatry in this national reform extended beyond Judah and Jerusalem to the other end of the kingdom into the former northern kingdom.
This occurred in the history of the remaining kingdom of Judah after the ten tribes had been swept away. Samaria later became home to people brought from various lands who worshiped their own gods as well as Jehovah, a mixed worship tied to departure from God. Put on the throne at eight years old after a wicked father over a wicked and idolatrous people, Josiah began at sixteen to seek the God of David his father and purged Jerusalem and the whole land of idols. In the eighteenth year of his reign he repaired the temple, which led to finding the long-lost roll of the law in the rubbish of the temple, which he read to the people in a Bible-centered revival that removed the nation's idols and idolatrous shrines.
The idolatry he confronted included at least ten forms polluting temple and people, including Baal and Astarte, Asherah abominations, sodomites, Tophet or Moloch, Chemosh of Moab, Milcom of Ammon, calf worship at Bethel, familiar spirits, and incense in high places. It included what Solomon had built for Ashtoreth of the Zidonians and for Milcom of the Ammonites and for Chemosh of Moab, with images and priests for the worship of the sun and the moon and the twelve constellations and all the host of heaven. The host of heaven means deified departed souls of men together with a higher order of demons never joined to a mortal body, the wise gods whose dwelling is not with flesh.
He dealt with them thoroughly throughout the land by destroying all existing relics of idolatry, banishing many idols, defiling idol altars and sites, and degrading priests of Jehovah who had corrupted His worship. He repaired and beautified the Lord's temple and restored neglected worship. He even burned the bones of the idolatrous priests on their own altars. This action fulfilled the prophecy concerning him. The account identifies Josiah as the last king who obeyed the Lord's commandments and kept His statutes, placing the end of his reign at 607 B.C. as the end of the Jews' observance of release years and jubilees.
Reform's Meaning for Today
The verse belongs to the record of Josiah's zealous, devoted and resolute reformation, his thorough removal of idolatry throughout the land and his restoration of the worship of God. He took away all the houses of the high places in the cities of Samaria which the kings of Israel had made, because the worship of Baal and Ashtoreth and the honor of the sun had supplanted the worship and honor of Jehovah. His work removed that false worship in order to restore honor to Jehovah as Father and Master.
Though devoted to God, his reforms could not stop the people's downward course or their attraction to sun and Baal worship. Israel as a nation had sinned away her day of grace. Because he sought God while yet young, Josiah himself was not visited with the punishments that came on the nation for evil deeds, though he died in battle defending his own land.
His example teaches that devotion to God's claims should be steady and courageous, without turning aside from doing what is right. His throwing down of the idolatrous temples in the cities of Samaria was part of a reform in which God Himself was recognized. It shows that when God's people are nearest to Him there is the least outward expression in mere stone and wood, because what God desires is beauty of character and beauty in souls, not architectural beauty.
The same supplanting is happening now, when the worship of the beast, which is the papacy, and his image, and the honor of the venerable day of the sun are fast supplanting the worship and honor of Jehovah. It requires the same honoring of God by keeping His law and His Sabbath.