מלכים ב כ״ג

על העמוד. מקום מעמד המלך בבית המקדש:

At his place. The place where the king stands in the Beis Hamikdosh.¹See above 11:14. It was a special place in the Beis Hamikdosh where the king would stand when addressing the people.

ואת כהני המשנה. סגני כהונה, שהם שניים לכהנים גדולים:

The kohanim of the second rank. The assistants of the priesthood,²The kohein who was anointed for war was also included in this group.—Metzudas Dovid who are second in rank³They would substitute for the kohein gadol in the event that he was incapacitated to perform the service in the Beis Hamikdosh.—Radak to the Kohanim Gedolim.

שומרי הסף. אמרכלים הממונים על כל צרכי הבית, ומפתחות העזרה בידם:

And the gatekeepers. The supervisors in charge over all the necessities of the Beis [Hamikdosh], and the keys of the Temple's courtyard were in their charge.⁴See Rashi above, 12:10.

בשדמות קדרון. במישר קדרון:

In the plains of Kidron. In the plains of Kidron.

ונשא את עפרם בית אל. אל מקום טמא, אשר טמא שם את המזבח שעשה ירבעם, ושרף עליו את כהני הבמות:

And he carried their ashes to Beis Eil. To an unclean place, where he defiled the altar that Yorovom had made,⁵See v. 15 below. and he burned upon it the priests of the high places.

ויקטר בבמות. ואותן שקטרו בבמות בערי יהודה:

And who had burned incense on the high places. And those who burned incense on the high places in the cities of Yehudah.

את בתי הקדשים. בתי הזמה:

The houses devoted to pagan worship. The houses of lewdness.⁶Alternatively, houses designated for those individuals who dedicated their lives to worship the asheiroh and lived in seclusion.—Metzudas Dovid

אורגות שם בתים. יריעות:

Would weave coverings Curtains.⁷The curtains that they wove were used as enclosures for the asheiroh.—Metzudas Dovid

לא יעלו. הכהנים שקטרו בבמות לעבודה זרה, לא יעלו עוד לשרת על מזבח ה':

Were not permitted to ascend. The priests who burned incense on the high places to idols, were not permitted to ascend anymore to serve on the Altar of Adonoy.

כי אם אכלו מצות. כלומר כי אם בדבר זה לא יצאו מכהונתם, שמותרין לאכול בקדשים, הרי הם כבעלי מומין, חולקין ואוכלין אבל לא מקריבין:

They would eat matzohs. I.e., but in this thing they would not be disqualified from their priesthood, that they are allowed to eat hallowed things. They are like blemished [kohanim] and they share and eat [of the sacrifice], but they may not offer [sacrifices].⁸See Maseches Menachos 109a.

אכלו מצות. מנחות, והוא הדין לכל הקדשים:

They would eat matzohs. Meal-offerings,⁹All meal offerings were prepared in an unleavened state [=matzohs]. See Vayikra 2:10-11. and similarly, all hallowed things.

התופת. הוא המולך, ועל שם שהיו הכהנים מקישים בתופים, שלא ישמע האב את נהמת הבן כשהוא נכוה בידי הצורה של עבודה זרה מולך, קראוהו תופת:

The Tophes. This was the Molech, it is named [תפת] because priests would bang on drums [=תופים] so that the father should not hear the groans of the child when he was burned by the pagan image,¹⁰According to Ralbag, the service of Molech involved the passing of a child by priests between two fires. Molech, they called it Tophes.

את הסוסים. אותם המשתחוים לחמה, היו להם סוסים מוכנים לצאת לקראת החמה בבקר:

The horses. Those [people] who prostrated themselves to the sun, had horses ready in the morning to go out toward the sun.¹¹The idolatrous kings of Yehudah would ride these horses from the entrance of the Beis Hamikdosh to the chamber of Nesan Melech which was located to the east of the city.—Ralbag and Metzudas Dovid

נתן מלך. כך שמו:

Nesan Melech. That was its name.

אשר בפרורים. לא ידעתי מה הם:

In the outskirts. I do not know what they are.¹²”רורים are the open space areas located outside the city. In Yechezkeil 27:28 the verse states, “the surrounding areas [=מגרשות] will tremble,” and Targum renders “פרורים” for מגרשות.—Radak

וירץ משם. ובערם משם:

He quickly removed them from there. And he eliminated them from there.¹³Alternatively, וירץ stems from רוץ [=to run], and the phrase means, “he quickly removed them,” or וירץ stems from רצץ [=to smash], and the phrase means, “and he smashed them,” i.e. after he demolished the altars he further smashed the pieces.—Radak

להר המשחית. הר הזיתים, הוא הר המשחה, וכיון שהזכיר את שמו על ידי עבודה זרה, שינה שמו לגנאי:

Of Har Hamashchis. [I.e.,] the Mount of Olives, which is known as the Mount of Oil. But because its name is mentioned in reference to idolatry, [Scripture] changed its name to a derogatory expression.¹⁴I.e., from הר המשחה [=Mount of Oil] to הר המשחית [=Mount of Destroyer].

מה הציון הלז. ראה קבר, מצדו אחד עלה קמשונים וחרולים, וצדו אחד הדסים ובשמים, ותמה עליו ואמר מה זה והשיבו:

”What is this marker?” He saw a grave, one side of which was overgrown with thorns and thistles, and whose other side was graced with myrtles and spices. He wondered about it and said, “What is this?”¹⁵Alternatively, he saw a grave with a large and distinctive marker that was unlike the markers of other graves. The old [=false] prophet was certain that the prophecy of the prophet from Yehudah would be fulfilled and that Yoshiyahu would spare the bones of that prophet. He hoped that his bones would also be spared because of their proximity and he therefore instructed that a large and distinctive marker be erected on that prophet's grave.—Radak And they replied.

הקבר איש האלהים. ונביא השקר שצוה לבניו שיקברוהו אצלו (מלכים א פרק יג):

”It is the grave of the man of God.” And the false prophet, who commanded his sons that they bury him next to him.¹⁶See I Melochim 13:31-32. Although they were buried over 350 years ago, the people knew about it by tradition handed down from father to son.—Radak

אשר בערי שומרון. שהיה יאשיהו מלך על כל ישראל, מה שחזרו מעשרת השבטים על ידי ירמיהו:

In the cities of Shomron. For Yeshayohu was king over all Yisroel, of those who returned from the ten tribes through Yirmiyohu.

לא נעשה כפסח הזה. לא נתקבצו רוב עם בכל פסח כמו שנתקבצו בזה:

Such a Pesach sacrifice had not been offered. So many people had not assembled at any Pesach sacrifice as had assembled at this one.¹⁷The magnitude of the participation by the vast number of people was unprecedented. Alternatively, since the time of the Judges, the people had never celebrated Pesach so devotedly.—Ralbag

מימי השופטים. מימי שמואל, כתוב בדברי הימים (ב לה יח) לפי שאף שמואל החזיר ישראל למוטב, וקבצם המצפתה. דבר אחר: לא נעשה כפסח הזה לה' בירושלים, (אבל) משמלכו מלכי ישראל ומלכי יהודה, לא עשו פסח כל ישראל בירושלים, לפי שנחלקה המלכות לשנים מירבעם, והיו הולכים לעגל שבבית אל ובדן, עד עכשיו שגלו עשרת השבטים, והחזירם ירמיהו ומלך עליהם יאשיהו, ובאו כולם לירושלים:

Since the time of the Judges. ”Since the time of Shmuel,”¹⁸II Divrei Hayomim 35:18. In Divrei Hayomim, it is written, because Shmuel, too, led Yisroel to improve their ways,¹⁹Alternatively, Shmuel is mentioned because he was the last of the Judges.—Metzudas Dovid and he assembled them to Mitzpoh. Alternatively, such a Pesach had not been offered to God in Yerusholayim, [i.e.,] (but) when the kings of Yisroel and the kings of Yehudah reigned, all Yisroel did not perform a Pesach sacrifice in Yerusholayim, because the kingdom had been divided in two since Yorovom, and they would go to the calf in Beis Eil and in Dan until now, that the ten tribes were exiled, and Yirmiyohu brought them back, and Yoshiyahu reigned over them, and they all came to Yerusholayim.

התרפים. צורות שמדברים על ידי כשפים, והעושה אותן צריך לכוון שעה אחת בשנה, ושנה אחת ראויה לכך:

The teraphim. Images²⁰In I Shmuel 19:16, Rashi described teraphim as being made in the likeness of a human figure. that speak through sorcery, and the one who make them must determine a certain time in the year, and a certain year that is appropriate for this.

וימשחו. לא היה צריך משיחה, אלא מפני שהיה יהויקים אחיו גדול ממנו שתי שנים, כמו שכתוב בענין (פסוק לו):

Anointed. He did not require anointment,²¹Ordinarily, a king's son does not need to be anointed unless there is a dispute over his successor. See Maseches Kerisos 5b. nonetheless [he was anointed] because Yehoyakim his brother was two years older than he, as is explained in this section.²²Verse 31 below states that Yehoachaz was twenty three years old when he became king and v. 36 states that his brother Yehoyakim was twenty-five years old when he became king. Being that Yehoachaz reigned for only three months as indicated in v. 31, it follows that there is a two year age difference between them.

איש כערכו. כפי עשרו:

Each one according to his assessment. According to his wealth.