Ten lavers, mounted on wheels, and decorated with images of lions, bulls, and cherubs, stood on either side of the bronze sea in the Jerusalem Temple’s courtyard. Are these the “chariots of the sun” (2 Kings 23:11) that Josiah’s reform purges from the Temple?This is a very interesting idea, although the fact that the lavers were in the Temple for the Babylonians to take away (as noted in the essay), is a point against it.
It is also true that the sun rides in a chariot in extra-Israelite mythology (e.g. Greek Helios and Mesopotamian Utu/Shamash), so Josiah could have been removing mythological architectual additions by his predecessor King Manasseh (cf. 2 Kings 21:3-7). But who knows?
If Prof. Scurlock is right, perhaps Ezekiel approved of Josiah's reform. His (imaginary) restored Temple had cherub decorations (Ezek 41:17-20, 25), but there is no mention of the lavers.
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