2 Kings 23:15

15 Next, he took care of the altar at the shrine in Bethel that Jeroboam son of Nebat had built - the same Jeroboam who had led Israel into a life of sin. He tore apart the altar, burned down the shrine leaving it in ashes, and then lit fire to the phallic Asherah-pole.

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 The king proceeded to make a clean sweep of all the sex-and-religion shrines that had proliferated east of Jerusalem on the south slope of Abomination Hill, the ones Solomon king of Israel had built to the obscene Sidonian sex goddess Ashtoreth, to Chemosh the dirty-old-god of the Moabites, and to Milcom the depraved god of the Ammonites.
14 He tore apart the altars, chopped down the phallic Asherah-poles, and scattered old bones over the sites
15 Next, he took care of the altar at the shrine in Bethel that Jeroboam son of Nebat had built - the same Jeroboam who had led Israel into a life of sin. He tore apart the altar, burned down the shrine leaving it in ashes, and then lit fire to the phallic Asherah-pole.
16 As Josiah looked over the scene, he noticed the tombs on the hillside. He ordered the bones removed from the tombs and had them cremated on the ruined altars, desacralizing the evil altars. This was a fulfillment of the word of God spoken by the Holy Man years before when Jeroboam had stood by the altar at the sacred convocation.
17 Then the king said, "And that memorial stone - whose is that?" The men from the city said, "That's the grave of the Holy Man who spoke the message against the altar at Bethel that you have just fulfilled."
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.