2 Kings 21:7

7 The carved image of Asherah that he had made he set in the house of which the Lord said to David and to his son Solomon, "In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put my name forever;

2 Kings 21:7 Meaning and Commentary

Ver. 7 And he set a graven image of the grove that he had made in the
house
Which was either an image that had been placed in a grove planted by him, and now removed into the house or temple of the Lord; or, as some think, this was a representation of a grove, a carved grove of gold or silver, in the midst of which an image was placed in the temple; though what Selden observes ^F2, seems best of all, that this was an image of Asherah, as in the original text; that is, of Astarte or Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Zidonians, ( 1 Kings 11:5 ) , the same the Phoenicians are said to call Astroarche, and affirm it to be the moon ^F3: in ( 2 Chronicles 33:7 ) it is called a carved image the idol he had made; and an Arabic writer ^F4 says, it had four faces, which seems to be a figure of the cherubim; but, according to Suidas ^F5, it was the statue of Jupiter, who also says it had four faces:

of which the Lord said to David, and to Solomon his son:
that is, of which house or temple:

in this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the
tribes of Israel, will I put my name forever;
see ( 1 Kings 8:29 ) ( 9:3 ) (See Gill on 2 Kings 21:3).

---

FOOTNOTES:

F2 De Dis Syris, Syntagm. 2. c. 2. p. 233.
F3 Herodian. l. 5. c. 15.
F4 Abulpharag. Hist. Dynast. Dyn. 3. p. 66.
F5 In voce (manasshva) .

2 Kings 21:7 In-Context

5 He built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the Lord.

6 He made his son pass through fire; he practiced soothsaying and augury, and dealt with mediums and with wizards. He did much evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking him to anger.

7 The carved image of Asherah that he had made he set in the house of which the Lord said to David and to his son Solomon, "In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put my name forever;

8 I will not cause the feet of Israel to wander any more out of the land that I gave to their ancestors, if only they will be careful to do according to all that I have commanded them, and according to all the law that my servant Moses commanded them."

9 But they did not listen; Manasseh misled them to do more evil than the nations had done that the Lord destroyed before the people of Israel.