2 Kings 23:18

2 Kings 23:18

And he said, Let him alone; let no man move his bones. So they let his bones alone, with the bones of the prophet that came out of Samaria.

a. ASV: And he said, Let him be; let no man move his bones. So they let his bones alone, with the bones of the prophet that came out of Samaria.  [Thomas Nelson & Sons first published the American Standard Version in 1901. This translation of the Bible is in the public domain.]

b. YLT: And he saith, 'Let him alone, let no man touch his bones;' and they let his bones escape, with the bones of the prophet who came out of Samaria.    [The Young's Literal Translation was translated by Robert Young, who believed in a strictly literal translation of God's word. This version of the Bible is in the public domain.]

c. Classic Amplified: He said, Let him alone; let no man move his bones. So they let his bones alone, with the bones of the prophet that came out of Samaria.  [Amplified Bible, Classic Edition (AMPC) Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation]

d. The Rubin Edition, The Early Prophets, 1 & 2 Kings, Rabbinic Commentary:  He said, “Leave it alone, Let no man move those bones. “His bones saved the bones of the prophet who came from Samaria.  [The ArtScroll Series/Rubin Edition THE PROPHETS: KINGS Copyright 2006 by MESORAH PUBLICATIONS, Ltd.]

e.  Torah, Judaism and Jewish information on the web: www.chabad.org;  And he said, "Let him be. Let no one move his bones. " And they spared his bones with the bones of the prophet who came from Samaria. Online English Translation of the Tanakh (Jewish Bible): [English Translation, Ⓒ Copyright The Judaica Press All rights reserved.]

1. “And he said, Let him alone; let no man move his bones…”

a. [And he] said [Strong: 559 'amar aw-mar' a primitive root; to say (used with great latitude):--answer, appoint, avouch, bid, boast self, call, certify, challenge, charge, + (at the, give) command(-ment), commune, consider, declare, demand, X desire, determine, X expressly, X indeed, X intend, name, X plainly, promise, publish, report, require, say, speak (against, of), X still, X suppose, talk, tell, term, X that is, X think, use (speech), utter, X verily, X yet.]

b. [Let him] alone [Strong: 3240 yanach yaw-nakh' a primitive root; to deposit; by implication, to allow to stay:--bestow, cast down, lay (down, up), leave (off), let alone (remain), pacify, place, put, set (down), suffer, withdraw, withhold. (The Hiphil forms with the dagesh are here referred to, in accordance with the older grammarians; but if any distinction of the kind is to be made, these should rather be referred to 5117, and the others here.)]

c. [let] no [Strong: 408 'al al a negative particle (akin to 3808); not (the qualified negation, used as a deprecative); once (Job 24:25) as a noun, nothing:--nay, neither, + never, no ,nor, not, nothing (worth), rather than.]

d. man [Strong: 376 'iysh eesh contracted for 582 (or perhaps rather from an unused root meaning to be extant); a man as an individual or a male person; often used as an adjunct to a more definite term (and in such cases frequently not expressed in translation):--also, another, any (man), a certain, + champion, consent, each, every (one), fellow, (foot-, husband-)man, (good-, great, mighty) man, he, high (degree), him (that is), husband, man(-kind), + none, one, people, person, + steward, what (man) soever, whoso(-ever), worthy.]

e. move [Strong: 5128 nuwa` noo'-ah a primitive root; to waver, in a great variety of applications, literally and figuratively (as subjoined):--continually, fugitive, X make, to (go) up and down, be gone away, (be) move(-able, -d), be promoted, reel, remove, scatter, set, shake, sift, stagger, to and fro, be vagabond, wag, (make) wander (up and down).]

f. [his] bones [Strong: 6106 `etsem eh'tsem from 6105; a bone (as strong); by extension, the body; figuratively, the substance, i.e. (as pron.) selfsame:--body, bone, X life, (self-)same, strength, X very.]

1). The Rubin Edition, The Early Prophets, 1 & 2 Kings, Rabbinic Commentary: [The ArtScroll Series/Rubin Edition THE PROPHETS: KINGS Copyright 2006 by MESORAH PUBLICATIONS, Ltd.] Note under verse 18: Josiah instructed his men not to touch the grave, because if they tried to remove the bones of the false prophet, the remains of the true prophet would be distrurbed (Radak). Thus the verse testifies that the plan of the false prophet was successful; his bones were spared thanks to their proximity to the true prophet. 

2. “...So they let his bones alone, with the bones of the prophet that came out of Samaria.”

a. [So they let his] bones [Strong: 6106 `etsem eh'tsem from 6105; a bone (as strong); by extension, the body; figuratively, the substance, i.e. (as pron.) selfsame:--body, bone, X life, (self-)same, strength, X very.]

b. alone [Strong: 3240 yanach yaw-nakh' a primitive root; to deposit; by implication, to allow to stay:--bestow, cast down, lay (down, up), leave (off), let alone (remain), pacify, place, put, set (down), suffer, withdraw, withhold. (The Hiphil forms with the dagesh are here referred to, in accordance with the older grammarians; but if any distinction of the kind is to be made, these should rather be referred to 5117, and the others here.)]

c. with [Strong: 854 'eth ayth probably from 579; properly, nearness (used only as a preposition or an adverb), near; hence, generally, with, by, at, among, etc.:--against, among, before, by, for, from, in(-to), (out) of, with. Often with another prepositional prefix.]

d. [the] bones [Strong: 6106 `etsem eh'tsem from 6105; a bone (as strong); by extension, the body; figuratively, the substance, i.e. (as pron.) selfsame:--body, bone, X life, (self-)same, strength, X very.]

e. [of th] prophet  [Strong: 5030 nabiy' naw-bee' from 5012; a prophet or (generally) inspired man:--prophecy, that prophesy, prophet.]

f. that [Strong: 834 'aher ash-er' a primitive relative pronoun (of every gender and number); who, which, what, that; also (as an adverb and a conjunction) when, where, how, because, in order that, etc.:--X after, X alike, as (soon as), because, X every, for, + forasmuch, + from whence, + how(-soever), X if, (so) that ((thing) which, wherein), X though, + until, + whatsoever, when, where (+ -as, -in, -of, -on, -soever, -with), which, whilst, + whither(- soever), who(-m, -soever, -se). As it is indeclinable, it is often accompanied by the personal pronoun expletively, used to show the connection.]

g. came [Strong: 935 bow' bo a primitive root; to go or come (in a wide variety of applications):--abide, apply, attain, X be, befall, + besiege, bring (forth, in, into, to pass), call, carry, X certainly, (cause, let, thing for) to come (against, in, out, upon, to pass), depart, X doubtless again, + eat, + employ, (cause to) enter (in, into, -tering, -trance, -try), be fallen, fetch, + follow, get, give, go (down, in, to war), grant, + have, X indeed, (in-)vade, lead, lift (up), mention, pull in, put, resort, run (down), send, set, X (well) stricken (in age), X surely, take (in), way.]

h. [out of] Samaria [Strong: 8111 Shomrown sho-mer-one' from the active participle of 8104; watch-station; Shomeron, a place in Palestine:--Samaria.]

1). This is the fulfillment of the word spoken by the unknown prophet from Judah.

a). 1 Kings 13:1-10 And, behold, there came a man of God out of Judah by the word of the Lord unto Bethel: and Jeroboam stood by the altar to burn incense.

13:2 And he cried against the altar in the word of the Lord, and said, O altar, altar, thus saith the Lord; Behold, a child shall be born unto the house of David, Josiah by name; and upon thee shall he offer the priests of the high places that burn incense upon thee, and men's bones shall be burnt upon thee.

13:3 And he gave a sign the same day, saying, This is the sign which the Lord hath spoken; Behold, the altar shall be rent, and the ashes that are upon it shall be poured out.

13:4 And it came to pass, when king Jeroboam heard the saying of the man of God, which had cried against the altar in Bethel, that he put forth his hand from the altar, saying, Lay hold on him. And his hand, which he put forth against him, dried up, so that he could not pull it in again to him.

13:5 The altar also was rent, and the ashes poured out from the altar, according to the sign which the man of God had given by the word of the Lord.

13:6 And the king answered and said unto the man of God, Intreat now the face of the Lord thy God, and pray for me, that my hand may be restored me again. And the man of God besought the Lord, and the king's hand was restored him again, and became as it was before.

13:7 And the king said unto the man of God, Come home with me, and refresh thyself, and I will give thee a reward.

13:8 And the man of God said unto the king, If thou wilt give me half thine house, I will not go in with thee, neither will I eat bread nor drink water in this place:

13: 9 For so was it charged me by the word of the Lord, saying, Eat no bread, nor drink water, nor turn again by the same way that thou camest.

13:10 So he went another way, and returned not by the way that he came to Bethel.

2). The Rubin Edition, The Early Prophets, 1 & 2 Kings, Rabbinic Commentary, under verse 15: That Josiah extended his campaign to Beth-el shows how zealous he was to rid the land of idolatry. Beth-el was in the territory of the banished Ten Tribes and was then occupied by the new Cuthite inhabitants, but Josiah made this incursion into the north in order to eradicate the altar that was most symbolic of Jeroboam's sinfulness.  [The ArtScroll Series/Rubin Edition THE PROPHETS: KINGS Copyright 2006 by MESORAH PUBLICATIONS, Ltd.]    

3). Approximately 300 years later. The kingdom was divided in 931 B.C and Josiah reigned from 640 to 609 B.C. 

4). The Rubin Edition, The Early Prophets, 1 & 2 Kings, Rabbinic Commentary, under verse 16: Josiah now fulfilled the prophecy to Jeroboam that a king named Josiah would one day exhume the bones of those who introduced the calamitous innovation of state-sponsored idolatry (1 Kings 13:1-3). [The ArtScroll Series/Rubin Edition THE PROPHETS: KINGS Copyright 2006 by MESORAH PUBLICATIONS, Ltd.]

5). Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible: Then he said, what title is that that I see?.... A high and large monument over a grave, with an inscription on it, more remarkable than any of the rest, which made Josiah take notice of it; and the Jews have a tradition, as Kimchi observes, that on one side of the grave grew nettles and thistles, and on the other side odoriferous herbs; which is not to be depended on; but what he further observes may be right, that the old prophet, as he gave orders to his sons to lay his body in the same grave with the man of God, believing his words would be fulfilled, so he likewise gave orders to have a distinguished monument or pillar erected over the grave; and which people in later times took care to support, in memory of the man of God, that thereby it might be known; by which means not only the bones of the man of God were preserved from being burnt, but those of the old prophet also, buried with him: