And as Josiah turned himself, he spied the sepulchres that were there in the mount, and sent, and took the bones out of the sepulchres, and burned them upon the altar, and polluted it, according to the word of the LORD which the man of God proclaimed, who proclaimed these words.
As Josiah looked around, he noticed the tombs that were on the mountainside. He had his men take the bones from those tombs and burn them on the altar, making it unclean. This happened exactly as the LORD had said through his prophet, who had spoken these words long ago.
King Josiah fulfilled an ancient prophecy by destroying a pagan altar, using the bones of false priests to make it permanently unclean for worship.
📚 Historical Context
This occurred around 621 BC during King Josiah's religious reforms to remove idol worship from Judah. The prophecy being fulfilled was given about 300 years earlier by an unnamed prophet who predicted that a king named Josiah would one day desecrate this very altar at Bethel. Burning human bones on an altar was considered the ultimate defilement in ancient times, making it permanently unusable for religious purposes.
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