And all the houses also of the high places that were in the cities of Samaria, which the kings of Israel had made to provoke the Lord to anger, Josiah took away, and did to them according to all the acts that he had done in Bethel.
Josiah also removed all the shrines on the hills that were in the cities of Samaria. The kings of Israel had built these places to make the Lord angry. Josiah destroyed them just like he had destroyed the ones in Bethel.
King Josiah continued his religious reform by destroying all the illegal worship sites that previous kings had built, showing his complete commitment to following God's commands.
📚 Historical Context
This occurred during King Josiah's great religious reform around 621 BC, when he was systematically removing all forms of idol worship from both Judah and the former northern kingdom of Israel. Samaria had been the capital of the northern kingdom before it fell to Assyria in 722 BC, and these 'high places' were hilltop shrines where people worshipped other gods alongside or instead of the Lord.
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