Comforted as to the fate of his people during his own reign, King Josiah pursued the task of regeneration with great energy. He took the newly-discovered book of the law as his guiding principle, and was far more severe and thorough than Hezekiah in the uprooting of idolatry. He first summoned all the elders of the people from the capital and the country, as also the entire population of the capital, the priests and prophets, and even the humble hewers of wood and drawers of water of the Temple, and had the contents of the law-book read to them. He himself stood during the reading on a stand which had been erected for the king in the Temple. For the first time the entire nation of Judah was informed of its duties, its expectations and prospects in obeying or disobeying the laws. The king proposed to form a covenant by which all present should bind themselves to carry out with heart and soul the laws and ordinances which had been read to them. Then the words were loudly proclaimed, "May all those be cursed who shall depart from this law," and all present said "Amen." The king commanded the high-priest Hilkiah, the priests of the second order, who had to watch over the Temple, and the Levitical guardians of the Temple gates, to cleanse it from the various forms of idol-worship. Thus the disgraceful figure of Astarte, the altars and cells of the prostitutes, also all articles belonging to the worship of Baal and Astarte, the sun-horses at the entrance of the Temple, and lastly the altars for the worship of the stars were all removed, crushed and burnt in the vale of Kidron, and the ashes cast over the graves of the dead. The altar in the vale of Hinnom, where children were sacrificed, was desecrated by order of the king. All the chief altars throughout the country were destroyed. This purification extended as far as Bethel, where the Cuthæans, who had settled in the place, and the remnant of Israel still had their sanctuaries, and as far as those towns which had formerly belonged to Samaria. The priests of the idols and altars were deposed, those of Levitical descent were obliged to remain in Jerusalem, where they could be kept under supervision, and where, though not allowed to offer sacrifices, they received their share of the tithes of the descendants of Aaron. The foreign priests were all removed, and probably sent out of the country. Josiah made a cruel exception of the Israelitish priests in Bethel, who had continued the worship of the bull, which had been introduced by Jeroboam, and had caused the degradation of the nation. These priests were killed on the altars, and the latter were desecrated by human remains. The king determined to make a striking example of Bethel, the spot where the negation and neglect of God's ancient law had originated. The less guilty descendants had in this case, as in many others, to atone for their more guilty forefathers. The king himself commenced the desecration of the idolatrous altar at Bethel.