2 Kings 23:19 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

Cities of Samaria— City of Samaria; Houbigant. Josiah, perhaps, may be thought by some to have followed the dictates of his zeal rather too far, in destroying the images and altars, and other monuments of idolatry, in the kingdom of Israel, where he had neither any regal nor judicial authority; but it should be remembered, that his authority in this regard was founded upon an ancient prediction, wherein he is particularly named and appointed to this work of reformation by God himself, and that consequently he could not be guilty of an infringement upon another's right, even though he had no further permission. But the ten tribes, we are to recollect, being now gone into captivity, the ancient right which David and his posterity had to the whole kingdom of Israel, before it was dismembered by Jeroboam and his successors, devolved upon Josiah. The people who escaped the captivity were united with his subjects, and put themselves under his protection; they came to the worship of God at Jerusalem, and, doubtless, gladly complied with the extirpation of idolatry; at which the Cuthites, the new inhabitants of the country, who worshipped their gods in another manner, were not at all offended. The kings of Assyria, it is true, were the lords and conquerors of the country; but from the time of Manasseh's restoration they seem to have conferred upon the kings of Judah, who might thereupon become their homagers, a sovereignty in all the land of Canaan. So that Josiah, upon various pretensions, had sufficient power and authority to visit the kingdom of Israel, and to purge it from idolatry, as well as his own. See Le Clerc and Calmet.