Charles Ellicott Commentary 2 Kings 23:11

"And he took away the horses that the kings of Judah had given to the sun, at the entrance of the house of Jehovah, by the chamber of Nathan-melech the chamberlain, which was in the precincts; and he burned the chariots of the sun with fire." — 2 Kings 23:11 (ASV)

He took away. —This is the same word as “put down” (2 Kings 23:5). Here, as there, the Syriac and Arabic render it as “he killed,” which is possibly a correct gloss.

The horses ... the sun. —These horses drew “the chariots of the sun” in solemn processions held in honor of that deity. (See Herodotus 1.189; Xenophon, Anabasis IV, 5.34 and following; Quintus Curtius III.3.11.) Horses were also sacrificed to the sun. The sun’s apparent course through the heavens, poetically conceived as the progress of a fiery chariot and steeds, explains these customs.

Had given — that is, had dedicated.

At the entrance of the house of the Lord. —This appears correct. Along with the next clause, it states where the sacred horses were kept, namely, in the outer court of the Temple, near the entrance. (So the Septuagint and Vulgate. This rendering involves a different pointing of the Hebrew text—měbô for mibbô. The latter, which is the ordinary reading, gives the sense, “so that they should not come into the house, etc.”)

By the chamber. —Rather, towards the cell, further defining the position of the stalls. Regarding the cells in the outer court, see the Note on 1 Chronicles 9:26 and Ezekiel 40:45 and following.

Nathan-melech the chamberlain, or, eunuch, is otherwise unknown. He may have been charged with the care of the sacred horses and chariots. Meleck was a title of the sun-god in one of his aspects (2 Kings 23:10).

Which was in the suburbs. —Rather, which was in the cloisters or portico. Parwârîm is a Persian word explained in the Note on 1 Chronicles 26:18.

Burned the chariots ... —Literally, and the chariots of the sun he burnt. The treatment of the chariots is thus contrasted with that of the horses. If the whole had been, as some expositors have thought, a work of art in bronze or other material, placed over the gateway, no such difference would have been made.