Justin Houtz

2 Kings 23, John 8

DateVersionReading Plan
December 2, 2025ESV (2016)OT/NT Plan 2025 – 2027

2 Kings 23

Observation & Interpretation

2 Kings 23:5 – Josiah deposed the priests whom the king of Judah had ordained to make offerings in the high places.

  • In Judah the orders of idolatrous priests, founded and perhaps also funded by earlier kings, were deposed or disbanded rather than being slaughtered as in the north (v. 20). (CSB Notes)

2 Kings 23:13 – Josiah defiled the high places that Solomon had built.

  • The eradication of idolatry was so comprehensive that it destroyed high places that went as far back as Solomon.
  • (v. 12-14) Josiah’s program continued with the desecration of every illegal altar or place of worship he could find, even those founded by Solomon. (CSB Notes)

2 Kings 23:16 – Josiah burned the bones in the nearby tombs on the mount on the high place altar at Bethel, defiling it.

  • Both Israelites and heathen regarded dead men’s bones as a perpetual defilement. (BBC – quoting Williams’ Commentary)

John 8

Observation & Interpretation

John 8:38 – In speaking to the Jews, Jesus contrasted that He spoke of what He had seen with His Father with what they did and had heard from their father.

  • The Lord Jesus perfectly represented His Father while here on earth. In contrast, the Jews did those things which they had learned from their “father”. The Lord Jesus did not mean their literal, earthly father, but rather the devil. (BBC)

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