Introduction: The King Who Translates Awakening into Action
In the previous chapter the Book of the Torah was found in the House of Hashem, and King Yoshiyahu heard the words of rebuke and the prophecy of Chuldah the prophetess. Chapter 23 is the practical continuation: Yoshiyahu does not remain in a private awakening, but rather holds an assembly of awakening for the entire nation, renews the covenant with the Holy One, blessed be He, and then sets out on a long and thorough campaign to eradicate idolatry from all the land of Yehudah. We will go through the pesukim according to the explanation of the Malbim and the words of the commentators.
The Assembly of Awakening: After the Rebuke Comes "Atem Nitzavim"
וַיִּשְׁלַח הַמֶּלֶךְ וַיַּאַסְפוּ אֵלָיו כׇּל־זִקְנֵי יְהוּדָה וִירוּשָׁלִָם׃ - And the king sent, and they gathered to him all the elders of Yehudah and Yerushalayim.
וַיַּעַל הַמֶּלֶךְ בֵּית־יְהֹוָה וְכׇל־אִישׁ יְהוּדָה וְכׇל־יֹשְׁבֵי יְרוּשָׁלִַם אִתּוֹ וְהַכֹּהֲנִים וְהַנְּבִיאִים וְכׇל־הָעָם לְמִקָּטֹן וְעַד־גָּדוֹל וַיִּקְרָא בְאׇזְנֵיהֶם אֶת־כׇּל־דִּבְרֵי סֵפֶר הַבְּרִית הַנִּמְצָא בְּבֵית יְהֹוָה׃ - And the king went up to the House of Hashem, and every man of Yehudah and all the inhabitants of Yerushalayim with him, and the Kohanim and the prophets and all the people, from small to great, and he read in their ears all the words of the Book of the Covenant that was found in the House of Hashem.
Yoshiyahu understands that the matter requires arousing the nation, and therefore he gathers to himself all the elders of Yehudah and Yerushalayim, and brings up to the House of Hashem all the inhabitants of Yerushalayim, the Kohanim, the prophets, and all the people, from small to great. He reads in their ears the relevant pesukim, the ones the book was open to, in order to say to them: hear now what things are destined for us, hear what the prophetess of Hashem, Chuldah, says, things that are, Heaven forbid, destined to be fulfilled in us.
The Malbim makes a wonderful precise observation here: they found that the book was rolled open to the section of the rebuke. Now, the rebuke concludes with "these are the words of the covenant," and immediately after it comes the section of Nitzavim: "You are standing today, all of you," in which Moshe Rabbeinu assembles all of Israel. From this Yoshiyahu understood that the Torah itself was hinting to him what to do: after the words of rebuke one needs "Nitzavim," one needs "Vayak'hel," to gather all the people - "to bring you into the covenant of Hashem your God and into His oath," to renew the covenant with the Holy One, blessed be He. And therefore the verse specifically used this language: "all the words of the Book of the Covenant that was found in the House of Hashem." He renews that very same covenant, and through this seeks to arouse the nation as well.
The Covenant Upon the Pillar
וַיַּעֲמֹד הַמֶּלֶךְ עַל־הָעַמּוּד וַיִּכְרֹת אֶת־הַבְּרִית לִפְנֵי יְהֹוָה לָלֶכֶת אַחַר יְהֹוָה וְלִשְׁמֹר מִצְוֺתָיו וְאֶת־עֵדְוֺתָיו וְאֶת־חֻקֹּתָיו בְּכׇל־לֵב וּבְכׇל־נֶפֶשׁ לְהָקִים אֶת־דִּבְרֵי הַבְּרִית הַזֹּאת הַכְּתֻבִים עַל־הַסֵּפֶר הַזֶּה וַיַּעֲמֹד כׇּל־הָעָם בַּבְּרִית׃ - And the king stood upon the pillar and cut the covenant before Hashem, to walk after Hashem and to keep His commandments and His testimonies and His statutes with all the heart and with all the soul, to fulfill the words of this covenant that are written upon this book, and all the people stood in the covenant.
"Upon the pillar" refers to an elevated place, a platform of sorts, like a stage. So too it was at the Hak'hel ceremony: they would build a high platform and the king would ascend it. And this is exactly what Yoshiyahu does here - he assembles the nation. "And all the people stood in the covenant" means that they cut a covenant anew with the Holy One, blessed be He, renewing the covenant we had had with Him, that we return to serve Hashem as before.
Removing the Vessels of Idolatry from the Sanctuary
וַיְצַו הַמֶּלֶךְ אֶת־חִלְקִיָּהוּ הַכֹּהֵן הַגָּדוֹל וְאֶת־כֹּהֲנֵי הַמִּשְׁנֶה וְאֶת־שֹׁמְרֵי הַסַּף לְהוֹצִיא מֵהֵיכַל יְהֹוָה אֵת כׇּל־הַכֵּלִים הָעֲשׂוּיִם לַבַּעַל וְלָאֲשֵׁרָה וּלְכֹל צְבָא הַשָּׁמָיִם וַיִּשְׂרְפֵם מִחוּץ לִירוּשָׁלִַם בְּשַׁדְמוֹת קִדְרוֹן וְנָשָׂא אֶת־עֲפָרָם בֵּית־אֵל׃ - And the king commanded Chilkiyahu the Kohen Gadol and the priests of the second rank and the keepers of the threshold to bring out from the Sanctuary of Hashem all the vessels made for the Baal and for the Asherah and for all the host of the heavens, and he burned them outside Yerushalayim in the fields of Kidron, and carried their ashes to Beit-El.
The "kohanei hamishneh" are the deputy priests. The "shomrei hasaf" are the treasurers, those appointed over the needs of the House: what must be bought and brought for the offering of the sacrifices, such as oil, libations, water and all the needs of the Beit HaMikdash. The king commands all of them to remove from the Heichal the vessels that had been made for Baal, for the Asherah and for all the host of heaven, vessels that the wicked kings who preceded him had brought into the Beit HaMikdash, and there they sacrificed and burned incense inside the House of Hashem. Now Yoshiyahu wants to purify everything.
Here a question arises: Menasheh repented, and we saw that he was in a state of teshuvah for thirty three years. If Menasheh removed the Asherah that he had brought in, how is there again a vessel of idolatry in the Heichal? The answer is simple: Menasheh brought idolatry into the House of Hashem, and after he repented he removed it. But Menasheh fathered a son, Amon, and Amon was wicked, and he brought the vessels of idolatry back in. Yoshiyahu son of Amon is the one who now purifies and cleanses what his father had done.
"And he carried their ashes to Beit El" - after he burns the vessels outside Yerushalayim, he carries the ash and dust that remained to Beit El. And what was in Beit El? The calf that Yaravam set up. Yoshiyahu wants to defile specifically the place where the calf had stood, as if to say: this place has impurity in it, it has idolatry in it, and there we cast the remnants of the burning of the vessels of idolatry. We will see this more explicitly later in the chapter: he aims specifically at the place that was a center of idolatry, in order to create in the people a link between idolatry and impurity, distance and revulsion.
Abolishing the priests
וְהִשְׁבִּית אֶת־הַכְּמָרִים אֲשֶׁר נָתְנוּ מַלְכֵי יְהוּדָה וַיְקַטֵּר בַּבָּמוֹת בְּעָרֵי יְהוּדָה וּמְסִבֵּי יְרוּשָׁלִָם וְאֶת־הַמְקַטְּרִים לַבַּעַל לַשֶּׁמֶשׁ וְלַיָּרֵחַ וְלַמַּזָּלוֹת וּלְכֹל צְבָא הַשָּׁמָיִם׃ - And he abolished the idolatrous priests whom the kings of Yehudah had appointed, who burned incense on the high places in the cities of Yehudah and around Yerushalayim, and those who burned incense to Baal, to the sun and to the moon and to the constellations and to all the host of heaven.
The kings of Yehudah appointed idolatrous priests, and those priests burned incense on the high places in the cities of Yehudah - this is the meaning of "vayekater," referring to those priests; and Yoshiyahu abolished them too. Who are the "kemarim"? People designated for the service of idolatry. And why were they called by that name? Because their garments were black, from the language of the verse "our skin was scorched like an oven," for "nichmar" means to blacken. The kemarim were dressed in black, and from this comes their name. Yoshiyahu abolishes not only the idolatry itself but also those who serve it: the priests had appointments and were important, something like archbishops, and he abolished them all.
"And around Yerushalayim" - the surroundings of Yerushalayim. "To Baal, to the sun and to the moon" - names of idolatry. "And to the constellations" - the reference is to the stars; each person would draw powers from a particular star, this one from the star Saturn and that one from the star Jupiter, and they would supposedly draw powers from them to influence physical reality. All these Yoshiyahu abolished.
The Asherah, Nachal Kidron and the graves of the idolaters
וַיֹּצֵא אֶת־הָאֲשֵׁרָה מִבֵּית יְהֹוָה מִחוּץ לִירוּשָׁלִַם אֶל־נַחַל קִדְרוֹן וַיִּשְׂרֹף אֹתָהּ בְּנַחַל קִדְרוֹן וַיָּדֶק לְעָפָר וַיַּשְׁלֵךְ אֶת־עֲפָרָהּ עַל־קֶבֶר בְּנֵי הָעָם׃ - And he brought out the Asherah from the House of Hashem, outside Yerushalayim to Nachal Kidron, and he burned it at Nachal Kidron, and ground it to dust, and cast its dust upon the graves of the common people.
The Asherah that Amon had brought into the Beit HaMikdash he brings out beyond Yerushalayim to Nachal Kidron and burns it there. "In the nachal" does not mean inside the water. "Nachal" in the holy tongue is a wadi, and in that wadi water may flow or it may be that there is no water in it: if it is a seasonal stream, in the summer it has no water, and if it is a perennial stream it has water even in the summer. But the essential meaning of nachal is a wadi, a place of a slope. So we find with the eglah arufah, which is done "in a strong nachal," and there too the meaning is a place of a slope. Here too: in that wadi called Kidron.
"And he cast its dust upon the graves of the common people" - the dust from the burning of the Asherah, which is a disgrace to idolatry, he poured upon the graves of those people from among the nation who served idolatry and upon the graves of its priests. For their custom was to bury their dead beside the idolatry, as we see to this day in churches, which usually have a cemetery beside them; the idolaters would be buried alongside it, as if it would protect them there above, that its merit would stand for them. Yoshiyahu came and poured the ash of the idolatry upon their graves to disgrace them: here, take for yourselves that which you served.
The houses of the kadesh and the houses of the Asherah
וַיִּתֹּץ אֶת־בָּתֵּי הַקְּדֵשִׁים אֲשֶׁר בְּבֵית יְהֹוָה אֲשֶׁר הַנָּשִׁים אֹרְגוֹת שָׁם בָּתִּים לָאֲשֵׁרָה׃ - And he broke down the houses of the kedeshim that were in the House of Hashem, where the women wove hangings for the Asherah.
Rashi explains "the houses of the kedeshim" from the expression "there shall not be a kedeshah," which refers to licentiousness, meaning the houses of harlotry that were in the House of Hashem. Here we must understand a great principle stated by the Vilna Gaon: next to every house of idolatry there was a house of harlotry. And why? Because Israel did not sin with idolatry except in order to permit themselves forbidden relations in public. In other words: if I believe in Hashem, I am limited, do not do this, do not look here, do not go there. So what does one do? One dismisses the Creator of the world and takes a more liberal god, a god for whom everything is permitted, a god "who understands me." It emerges, then, that the idolatry was not purely for the sake of idolatry, but an excuse to throw off the yoke and to ease things upon themselves.
From here we also understand why idolatry is described many times in the language of harlotry: "who stray after the Baalim," "who stray after the idols." In its plain sense "zenut" means to deviate from the path, and this is the meaning of the word; "which you go astray after them" means deviating from the path after them, and not necessarily the familiar expression. But in the depth of the matter, the deviation after idolatry was in the end for the sake of actual harlotry.
And what is "where they wove hangings for the Asherah"? The commentators explain that they would weave special curtains with which they would cover the Asherah, or make for it a kind of small garments, like a house and tent inside which they set up the Asherah. The Radak, by contrast, explains that "the houses of the kedeshim" is not a place of licentiousness, but as the Targum renders it: "the houses of the holiness of the abomination," and "taavuta" in Aramaic is idolatry from the expression of abomination, meaning the houses of the abomination. And he proves that this is more reasonable, for the verse itself says "where the women wove hangings for the Asherah," which implies that it was a place of the Asherah; and if you say it was a place of licentiousness, what has licentiousness to do with the House of Hashem? Therefore the Radak accepts the explanation that this place was designated for idolatry and was not a place of harlotry.
Bringing Back the Priests and Defiling the High Places
וַיָּבֵא אֶת־כׇּל־הַכֹּהֲנִים מֵעָרֵי יְהוּדָה וַיְטַמֵּא אֶת־הַבָּמוֹת אֲשֶׁר קִטְּרוּ־שָׁמָּה הַכֹּהֲנִים מִגֶּבַע עַד־בְּאֵר שָׁבַע וְנָתַץ אֶת־בָּמוֹת הַשְּׁעָרִים אֲשֶׁר־פֶּתַח שַׁעַר יְהוֹשֻׁעַ שַׂר־הָעִיר אֲשֶׁר־עַל־שְׂמֹאול אִישׁ בְּשַׁעַר הָעִיר׃ - And he brought all the priests out of the cities of Yehudah, and defiled the high places where the priests had burned incense, from Geva to Beer Sheva, and he broke down the high places of the gates that were at the entrance of the gate of Yehoshua the governor of the city, which was on a man's left at the city gate.
"All the priests" - priests from the seed of Aharon, who had been taken and made into ministers for idolatry. On the contrary, the idol worshipers had great interest in bringing specifically the priests of the House of Hashem and making them into ministers for idolatry, for these are of distinguished lineage, men of standing, dedicated to spiritual service. And so we find with Michah, who made an idol and rejoiced greatly when the young Levi came to him, who was Yehonatan son of Gershom son of Moshe. Why did he rejoice so? Because of the lineage: a grandson of Moshe Rabbeinu, a Levi; with such lineage, what a minister for idolatry he would be. And so it indeed was, and he succeeded in drawing many people after him. Now Yoshiyahu does the opposite deed: he takes those very priests whom idolatry had drawn to itself, brings them, and returns them in repentance.
"And he defiled the high places" - he would throw carcasses there and every impurity, in order to create among the people the association that idolatry is impure, detestable and loathsome. He turned the places into latrines, into a place of refuse and impurity. And the Malbim explains that most of these high places were for the sake of Heaven, or for the sake of Heaven and for the sake of something else, but that they were forbidden: from the time the Beit HaMikdash was built, it became forbidden for us to offer sacrifices on the high places, such as peace offerings, vow offerings and freewill offerings. A bamah is a private altar that a person builds for himself in the courtyard of his home. And we have already discussed that this was a very difficult temptation, for a person says: I am offering to Hashem! And not only that, but the high places were beloved in the days of the forefathers, and only after the Beit HaMikdash was built were they forbidden. Therefore it was not easy to detach the people from them, and so we saw that most of the righteous kings did not succeed in this, and "still the people were sacrificing and burning incense on the high places." Yoshiyahu did succeed.
And why did he only defile the high places and not break them down? Because houses of idolatry are to be broken down. Breaking down is not shattering: to shatter means to split the stone in two, while to break down means to turn it into gravel and crumble it. The houses of idolatry were broken down, but the high places, which in the end were for the sake of Heaven, were not broken down, and it was enough that he cast into them every impurity and made them into a dungheap, and through this the people distanced themselves from idolatry.
"And he broke down the high places of the gates" - special high places that they would make at the city gate, and apparently they were central high places. The central high place was at the entrance of the gate of Yehoshua, which was named after Yehoshua the governor of the city, and the verse notes its location: "which was on a man's left at the city gate," meaning to the left of a person entering through the city gate. This high place he broke down, for it was for the sake of idolatry, unlike the first high places which were for the sake of Hashem and which he only defiled.
"But the priests of the high places did not come up" - a priest who served idolatry
אַךְ לֹא יַעֲלוּ כֹּהֲנֵי הַבָּמוֹת אֶל־מִזְבַּח יְהֹוָה בִּירוּשָׁלִָם כִּי אִם־אָכְלוּ מַצּוֹת בְּתוֹךְ אֲחֵיהֶם׃ - But the priests of the high places did not come up to the altar of Hashem in Yerushalayim, but they ate matzot among their brethren.
Here a tremendous question is resolved. How can it be that Yoshiyahu takes the idolatrous priests, the kohanim, and reinstates them? After all, a kohen who performed idolatry can never again serve in the House of Hashem. And by the way, this has a practical ramification for the priestly blessing as well: a kohen who performed idolatry, for example one who was in India and mixed in there, and bowed to images and worshipped not as a hobby but as a genuine believer, cannot raise his hands for the blessing even if he repents, and he cannot perform the service.
The answer is in the pasuk before us: "but the priests of the high places did not go up to the altar of Hashem in Jerusalem." Those priests who were priests of the high places were not permitted to slaughter and offer incense on the altar in the House of Hashem; one who slaughtered and offered incense to idolatry is disqualified forever from ascending the altar of Hashem. So what could they do? "but they ate matzot among their brethren." The parallel is to blemished kohanim, who likewise are forbidden to ascend the altar. What do they do? They were responsible, for example, for preparing the wood for the arrangement and checking that it was not worm ridden, and all sorts of tasks that are not offering. Any task that is not the actual service in the Temple but a preparation for the service is possible. And a blemished kohen is permitted to eat of the holy portions, for he is truly a kohen, and even a kohen's slave eats of the holy portions. So too here: the kohanim who had been idolatrous priests could eat of the holy portions, but could not ascend the altar.
And what is "they ate matzot"? That all the meal offerings come as matzah. And one must know a general rule: every bread that was in the Temple was matzah, and there was no leavened bread in the Temple, except for the loaves of Atzeret and ten out of the forty loaves of the thanksgiving offering, of which ten were leavened and the rest matzah. All the other breads and meal offerings had to be matzah, all year round. "Matzah" means that the dough is not allowed to reach a state of rising. Even the showbread was not allowed to rise: although it was a handbreadth thick, it was matzah a handbreadth thick, for they would bake it before it had a chance to rise.
The Defilement of the Tofet in the Valley of Ben Hinnom
וְטִמֵּא אֶת־הַתֹּפֶת אֲשֶׁר בְּגֵי בֶן־הִנֹּם לְבִלְתִּי לְהַעֲבִיר אִישׁ אֶת־בְּנוֹ וְאֶת־בִּתּוֹ בָּאֵשׁ לַמֹּלֶךְ׃ - And he defiled the Tofet which is in the Valley of Ben Hinnom, so that no man would pass his son or his daughter through the fire to Molech.
See how many places of idolatry they had. "For according to the number of your cities were your gods, O Yehudah" - thus the prophet rebukes them. They had deities as numerous as the cities, and not only that, but they had a deity for each day of the year, three hundred sixty five kinds of deities and idolatry. From this one understands how much work Yoshiyahu had in order to succeed in eradicating it all. Now he defiles the Tofet, meaning he throws there garbage and carcasses and every impure thing, so that people would not go and do such a deed.
And what is the Tofet? This is the Molech. In the worship of the Molech there are two main explanations. The more familiar explanation: they would make two bonfires and run the child, whom a person brings as an offering to idolatry, between the two bonfires, and usually because of the heat and the fire he would give up his soul. And he would scream terrible screams, and they would beat drums so that the parents would not hear the child's screams and regret it, and for this reason the place is called "Tofet."
And the place is called the Valley of Ben Hinnom, and the Radak explains that it was a valley that belonged to a man named Hinnom, and his son was called Ben Hinnom, meaning the son of that man named Hinnom.
And the Radak brings in the name of Chazal another description of the Molech: even though all the houses of idolatry were in Jerusalem, the Molech was outside Jerusalem. And it was made as a hollow image, set behind seven enclosures, meaning there were seven gates before the image. And whoever offered fine flour, they would open one of them for him - there were degrees of drawing near to the idolatry. One who offered fine flour, they open one gate for him; turtledoves and young pigeons, they open two; a lamb, three; a ram, four; a calf, five; an ox, six; and one who offered his son, they open all seven gates for him, so that he could draw near up to the image itself.
And the face of the image was the face of a calf, and its hands were outstretched like a man who opens his hands to receive from his fellow, and it was made of metal, and they would heat it with fire: they fill its inside with wood and kindle it, and this entire mighty statue with its outstretched hands turns red. And the priests would take the infant and place it in the hands of the Molech, and the infant would expire. And why is it called Tofet and Hinnom? "Tofet" - because they would drum with drums (tupim) so that the father would not hear the voice of the child and have mercy on him and turn back; and "Hinnom" is from the expression of groaning, for they would groan with the drums, and also on account of the infant who would groan and all his groans would rise up. And another reason for the name Hinnom: that the priests would say to the idolatry, "Here it is for you, may it be pleasing to you, may it be sweet to you," and Hinnom is from the expression "Here it is for you" (hineh lecha).
This is the place called Tofet, and about it the Torah said that a person is forbidden to pass his son and his daughter to the Molech, for such was their way. And the Holy One, blessed be He, said "which I did not command, nor did it enter My heart" - that it never entered His heart to ask that a person offer Him a human sacrifice. And even regarding Avraham, Chazal say: the Holy One, blessed be He, said, I did not tell Avraham to offer up his son; I told him to bring him up, and now I told him to bring him down. And also regarding Yiftach it is said "nor did it enter My heart," concerning the deed he did to his daughter. From this we learn how much this matter is despised in the eyes of Hashem.
And by the way, this itself was the hardest test of Avraham Avinu. Avraham fought all his days against idolatry and against human sacrifices; for years he delivered sermons that the most despised thing in the eyes of Hashem is human sacrifices. And suddenly they would hear: Avraham took and offered up his son! This is what troubled Avraham: I am about to demolish all the faith in Hashem that I have built up until now. This was the great difficulty. And nevertheless, since Hashem commanded, Avraham went with self sacrifice to do the will of God.
In summary:
Yoshiyahu does not content himself with his own awakening: he gathers all the people, from the smallest to the greatest, reads in their ears the words of the Book of the Covenant, and following the hint of Scripture that after the rebuke comes the portion of "Atem Nitzavim," he stands upon the pillar and renews the covenant with the Holy One, blessed be He, and all the people stand in the covenant. From there he descends to the labor in the field: he removes the vessels of the Baal and the Asherah that Amon his father had returned to the Temple, burns them and scatters their dust in Beit El, abolishes the priests and those who burned incense to the sun, the moon, and the constellations, burns the Asherah in the brook of Kidron and casts its dust upon the graves of the idol worshippers, tears down the houses of the temple prostitutes, restores the kohanim who had become idolatrous priests and defines their place - they eat of the holy portions but do not ascend to the altar, defiles the high places that had been made for the sake of Heaven and tears down the high places of idolatry, and defiles the Tofet that is in the Valley of Ben Hinnom. One single aim guides all his deeds: to forge in the heart of the people a connection between idolatry and impurity, revulsion and distance, and to return Israel to serve Hashem as of old.