2 Kings 23

There are references to three notable landmarks in Jerusalem in this story of Josiah purging Judah of idolatry. Two of them show the extent of the idolatry; the other speaks of the removal of idolatry.  Taking them in reverse order ...

v13: The Mount of Corruption. This is in fact The Mount of Olives which is east of Jerusalem as the passage indicates.  Olivett has 3 peaks from north to south.  It is here called "corruption" because Solomon had established a high place for his wives to worship foreign gods on the southern peak some 350 years before.  This high place would have been high enough to be in view of worshipers at the temple.  Israel's struggle with and capitulation to idolatry had been going on for a long time.

v10: The Valley of the Son of Hinnom.  This is the valley at the southern end of the city of David beginning at the southern end of the Mount of Olives.  It was here that the people of Israel, including two of her kings, carried out horrible and cruel acts of idolatry, including walking on beds of hot coals and sacrificing children to be burned in the fire.. "Tophet" refers to this place of burning.  In Mark 9:48 Jesus uses this location as a picture of hell.  The word for hell is Gehenna, the valley of Hinnom.  In Jesus' day it was the trash heap where "‘Their worm does not die, And the fire is not quenched. ’". Truly idolatry had reached to the depths of wickedness.

v4,6,12: The Brook Kidron.  Between the Temple Mount and the Mt. of Olives is the Kidron Valley where the Brook Kidron runs through the narrow fields.  It is here that Josiah emptied all the pulverized evidence of idolatry and burned it so as to be unusable.  This place speaks loudly of our own need to be rid of anything that does not honor God.  In 2 Sam. 15 David fled the city during the uprising of Absolum.  As he did he undoubtedly struggled with his own failures that had brought the kingdom to such a terrible state. He would later walk back through the Kidron in his return to the throne.

But he was not the only one to walk this valley.  His greater Son, our Lord Jesus, crossed over after His supper with the disciples to go to Gethsemanae.  There He prayed the ultimate prayer of those who would be free of idolatry: "not MyWill but Thine be done."  This One who "learned obedience from the things that He suffered" (Hebrew. 5:8) had learned that night.  He returned to face the agony of the cross confident that He was fully submitted to His Father and God!

Cross the Kidron as you begin this day.  Deposit every trace of idolatry.  Then return as living sacrifice, your only reasonable worship.