The power of Assyria being now (629-624 B.C.) greatly weakened, if not completely broken, Josiah aimed not merely at a religious reformation, but at a restoration of the kingdom to its ancient limits (see the 2 Kings 23:19 note).
With their mattocks ... - Or “in their desolate places” (comparePsalms 109:10 Psalms 109:10). Another reading gives the sense, “he proved their house round about.”