2 Raja-raja 18:4

18:4 He eliminated the high places, smashed the sacred pillars to bits, and cut down the Asherah pole. ¹  He also demolished the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for up to that time ²  the Israelites had been offering incense to it; it was called Nehushtan. ³ 

2 Raja-raja 18:12

18:12 This happened because they did not obey ⁴  the Lord their God and broke his agreement with them. ⁵  They did not pay attention to and obey all that Moses, the Lord’s servant, had commanded. ⁶ 

2 Raja-raja 23:25

23:25 No king before or after repented before the Lord as he did, with his whole heart, soul, and being in accordance with the whole law of Moses. ⁷ 

[18:4]  ¹ tn The term is singular in the MT but plural in the LXX and other ancient versions. It is also possible to regard the singular as a collective singular, especially in the context of other plural items.

[18:4]  sn Asherah was a leading deity of the Canaanite pantheon, wife/sister of El and goddess of fertility. She was commonly worshiped at shrines in or near groves of evergreen trees, or, failing that, at places marked by wooden poles. These were to be burned or cut down (Deut 12:3; 16:21; Judg 6:25, 28, 30; 2 Kgs 18:4).

[18:4]  ² tn Heb “until those days.”

[18:4]  ³ tn In Hebrew the name sounds like the phrase נְחַשׁ הַנְּחֹשֶׁת (nÿkhash hannÿkhoshet), “bronze serpent.”

[18:12]  ⁴ tn Heb “listen to the voice of.”

[18:12]  ⁵ tn Heb “his covenant.”

[18:12]  ⁶ tn Heb “all that Moses, the Lord’s servant, had commanded, and they did not listen and they did not act.”

[23:25]  ⁷ tn Heb “and like him there was not a king before him who returned to the Lord with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his being according to all the law of Moses, and after him none arose like him.”

[23:25]  sn The description of Josiah’s devotion as involving his whole “heart, soul, and being” echoes the language of Deut 6:5.