2 Kings 23:11

11. Took away the horses Just as he “put down the idolatrous priests.” 2 Kings 23:5. The Hebrew word is in each place the same: he made them cease from the work they had been performing.

Kings of Judah Especially Ahaz, Manasseh, and Amon.

Had given to the sun Had consecrated them as sacred to the sun, and to be used in drawing the chariots of the sun in processions which moved forth to worship that luminary. The rabbies say, they drove to meet the rising sun; but the sun was probably conceived of as a chariot drawn through the heavens, and this idea was symbolized in his worship by sacred chariots drawn by horses sacred to the sun. The law had forbidden the king to multiply horses, (Deuteronomy 17:16;) but the kings of Judah had even gone so far as to devote them to the idolatrous worship of the sun. The horse was regarded as sacred to the sun by many ancient nations, and Herodotus says of the Massagetae, (i, 216,) “The only god they worship is the sun, and to him they offer the horse in sacrifice.” There is no evidence that the kings of Judah offered the horse in sacrifice; and while Josiah burned the chariots, he merely took away the horses, and probably turned them to other and better services.

At the entering in of the house These horses were ordinarily kept near by the entrance to the temple. The Hebrew is, from the entering, ( מבא ) and is most naturally construed with took away; that is, he removed the horses from the entrance of the temple.

By the chamber of Nathan-melech The cell or room, possibly one of the side chambers mentioned in 1 Kings 6:5, which Nathan-melech occupied, and which was close by ( אל , at or in) the stable in which the sacred horses were kept. Keil thinks that the chamber itself was arranged and used for a stable. This chamberlain ( סריס , eunuch) was an officer who had charge of the horses.

Which was in the suburbs The relative which refers to chamber. The eunuch’s chamber was בפרורים , in the Parvars. The Hebrew word is probably identical with Parbar of 1 Chronicles 26:18, which was a spot apparently west of the temple, and inside of the gate that opened into the court at which two Levite porters were stationed. All the ancient versions render it as a proper name, except the Targum, which is followed by the translators of our version in the suburbs. “Of the six watchmen who were posted at the west side, four had posts assigned them on the street, (English version, causeway,) that is, at the gate which led to the street, and only two at the Parbar. The latter must, therefore, have been inside the court, otherwise it could not have been left to the weaker guard.” Bahr. The meaning and etymology of the word are uncertain.