15 Furthermore , the altar that was at Bethel and the high place which Jeroboam the son of Nebat , who made Israel sin , had made , even that altar and the high place he broke down . Then he demolished its stones, ground them to dust , and burned the Asherah . 16 Now when Josiah turned , he saw the graves that were there on the mountain , and he sent and took the bones from the graves and burned them on the altar and defiled it according to the word of the Lord which the man of God proclaimed , who proclaimed these things . 17 Then he said , "What is this monument that I see ?" And the men of the city told him, " It is the grave of the man of God who came from Judah and proclaimed these things which you have done against the altar of Bethel ." 18 He said , "Let him alone ; let no one disturb his bones ." So they left his bones undisturbed with the bones of the prophet who came from Samaria . 19 Josiah also removed all the houses of the high places which were in the cities of Samaria , which the kings of Israel had made provoking the Lord ; and he did to them just e as he had done in Bethel 20 All the priests of the high places who were there he slaughtered on the altars and burned human bones on them; then he returned to Jerusalem .
21 Then the king commanded all the people saying , " Celebrate the Passover to the Lord your God as it is written in this book of the covenant . 22 Surely such a Passover had not been celebrated from the days of the judges who judged Israel , nor in all the days of the kings of Israel and of the kings of Judah . 23 But in the eighteenth e year of King Josiah , this Passover was observed to the Lord in Jerusalem .
24 Moreover , Josiah removed the mediums and the spiritists and the teraphim and the idols and all the abominations that were seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem , that he might confirm the words of the law which were written in the book that Hilkiah the priest found in the house of the Lord .
Matthew Henry's Commentary on 2 Kings 23:15-24
Commentary on 2 Kings 23:15-24
(Read 2 Kings 23:15-24)
Josiah's zeal extended to the cities of Israel within his reach. He carefully preserved the sepulchre of that man of God, who came from Judah to foretell the throwing down of Jeroboam's altar. When they had cleared the country of the old leaven of idolatry, then they applied themselves to the keeping of the feast. There was not holden such a passover in any of the foregoing reigns. The revival of a long-neglected ordinance, filled them with holy joy; and God recompensed their zeal in destroying idolatry with uncommon tokens of his presence and favour. We have reason to think that during the remainder of Josiah's reign, religion flourished.