The man cried out. He shouted a message from the Lord against the altar. He said,“ Altar! Altar! The Lord says,‘ A son named Josiah will be born into the royal family of David. Altar, listen to me! Josiah will sacrifice the priests of the high places on you. They will be the children of the priests who are offering sacrifices here. So human bones will be burned on you.’ ”
In spite of all this, their sister nation Judah did not come back to me. They were not faithful to me either. They did not return with all their heart. They only pretended to,” announces the Lord.
“‘ Do not pollute the land where you are. Murder pollutes the land. Only one thing can pay to remove the pollution in the land where murder has been committed. The blood of the one who spilled another’s blood must be spilled.
“ At that time the tombs will be opened,” announces the Lord.“ The bones of the kings and officials of Judah will be brought out. The bones of the priests and prophets will be removed. So will the bones of the people of Jerusalem.They will lie outside under the sun, moon and all the stars. All these people had loved and served these things. They had followed them and worshiped them. They had asked them for advice. So the bones of these people will not be gathered up or buried again. Instead, they will be like human waste lying there on the ground.
Then Josiah looked around. He saw the tombs on the side of the hill. He had the bones removed from them. And he burned them on the altar to make it“ unclean.” That’s what the Lord had said would happen. He had spoken that message through a man of God. The man had announced those things long before they took place.
Everywhere Josiah went he tore down the altars and the Asherah poles. He crushed the statues of gods to powder. He cut to pieces all the altars for burning incense. He destroyed all those things everywhere in Israel. Then he went back to Jerusalem.