2 Kings 23:15

15 Josiah also tore down the place of worship in Bethel, which had been built by King Jeroboam son of Nebat, who led Israel into sin. Josiah pulled down the altar, broke its stones into pieces, and pounded them to dust; he also burned the image of Asherah. ¹

2 Kings 23:15 Meaning and Commentary

2 Kings 23:15

Moreover, the altar that was at Bethel, and the high place
which Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, had made.
] For the worship of the calf there:

both that altar, and the high place, he brake down;
according to an ancient prophecy of the man of God, ( 1 Kings 13:3 ) and of Amos in later times, ( Amos 9:1 )

and burnt the high place, and stamped it small to powder;
that there might be no remains of it:

and burnt the grove;
either the grove of trees on it, or the idol that was in it.

2 Kings 23:15 In-Context

13 Josiah desecrated the altars that King Solomon had built east of Jerusalem, south of the Mount of Olives, for the worship of disgusting idols - Astarte the goddess of Sidon, Chemosh the god of Moab, and Molech the god of Ammon.

14 King Josiah broke the stone pillars to pieces, cut down the symbols of the goddess Asherah, and the ground where they had stood he covered with human bones

15 Josiah also tore down the place of worship in Bethel, which had been built by King Jeroboam son of Nebat, who led Israel into sin. Josiah pulled down the altar, broke its stones into pieces, and pounded them to dust; he also burned the image of Asherah.

16 Then Josiah looked around and saw some tombs there on the hill; he had the bones taken out of them and burned on the altar. In this way he desecrated the altar, doing what the prophet had predicted long before during the festival as King Jeroboam was standing by the altar. King Josiah looked around and saw the tomb of the prophet who had made this prediction.

17 "Whose tomb is that?" he asked. The people of Bethel answered, "It is the tomb of the prophet who came from Judah and predicted these things that you have done to this altar."

Cross References

• 1. 23.15 1 Kings 12.33.

Footnotes

• [a]. [One ancient translation] broke its stones into pieces; [Hebrew] burned the altar.