Reading for January 24th

 Read 2 Kings 23.1-14. In verses 1-3: Huldah's original oracle may not have been so bleak or at least it may have been conditional, since it motivated Josiah to try to carry out reforms so as to avoid disaster. On the the language of v. 3, compare 23.25 and Deut 6.5. In verses 4-5: Josiah's reform included purging the Temple of the trappings of the worship of other gods. The Kidron was the valley between the city of Jerusalem and the Mount of Olives. In verse 6: Throwing the dust from the image of Asherah upon the graves would defile the image all the more. In verse 7: The word translated male temple prostitutes may actually include both male and female prostitutes who served in the fertility rituals of the worship of Baal and Asherah. In verse 8: In bringing the priests out of the towns of Judah and destroying the high places Josiah was executing the deuteronomic ideal of centralization, according to which the Temple in Jerusalem was the only legitimate place to worship the Lord. From Geba to Beer-sheba was the extent of the kingdom of Judah. In verse 9: The priests of the high places, however, refuse to go to Jerusalem. Eating unleavened bread accompanied sacrifices (Lev 6.14-18), which apparently continued outside of Jerusalem despite Josiah's efforts. In verse 10: Topheth was a valley that marked Jerusalem's western border. Also known as the valley of (the son of) Hinnon (Heb., "ge'hinnom"), it became Jerusalem's trash dump and was used by Jesus as the image for hell (Gehenna, see Mt 10.28). It was despised because it had served as a place of child sacrifice to the Ammonite god Molech (a distortion of the name Milcom made by borrowing the vowels from the word "bosheth," meaning "abomination"). In verse 11: This verse suggests that horses were an important part of worship of the sun , which was imagined as being drawn daily across the sky in a chariot. In verse 12: Offerings from altars on the roof are mentioned in Jer 32.29. The altars that Manasseh had made are mentioned in 21.5. In verse 13: Mount of destruction is a play on the Hebrew name for the Mount of Olives ("Mount of Anointing") because of the altars to foreign gods erected there. In verse14: Pillars and sacred poles were used in the worship of the Canaanite gods. Cover(ing) the sites with human bones would further defile them. Comments or Questions..