1 Kings 15:13

13 Furthermore and he removed Maachah, his (grand)mother, that she should not be princess in the solemn things of the idol Priapus, and in his maumet wood that she had hallowed; and he destroyed the den of him, and he brake the foulest simulacrum, and burnt it in the strand of Kidron; (And furthermore he removed Maachah, his grandmother, so that she would no longer be the queen mother, for she had erected an idol of Priapus in a grove, and worshipped it/for she had made an obscene idol for the worship of Asherah; and he broke up, and destroyed, that most foul idol, and burned it by the Kidron Stream/and burned it in the Kidron Gorge;)

1 Kings 15:13 Meaning and Commentary

1 Kings 15:13

And also Maachah his mother, even her he removed from being
queen
From the kingdom, as the Targum; from having any share in the government, as she might have had during his minority, his mother being dead, as some conjecture; and not only took away her power and authority, but all the ensigns of it, and perhaps forbid her the court: or he removed her from the queen, his own wife, that she might not be corrupted by her; or rather it was from presiding over the rites of the idol next mentioned, and the worshipping of it:

because she had made an idol in a grove;
which had its name from horror and trembling; either because it was of a terrible aspect, or injected horror into its worshippers, or brought terrible calamities and judgments upon them: according to some Jewish writers ^F18, it was a Priapus, of an obscene figure; and so others ^F19, who suppose she presided over the sacred rites of this impure deity, the same with Baalpeor; and the Heathens used to place Priapus in their gardens ^F20, to fright away birds, (See Gill on Jeremiah 49:16), others take it to be Pan, from whence the word "Panic", used for any great fright:

and Asa destroyed her idol, and burnt it by the brook Kidron:
and cast the ashes of it into it, that none might have any profit by it, the gold and silver on it, and in indignation to it, see ( Exodus 32:20 ) .

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FOOTNOTES:

F18 T. Bab. Avodah Zarah, fol. 44. 1.
F19 Vid. D. Herbert de Cherbury de Relig. Gent. c. 4. p. 34. Lyram in loc.
F20 "----custos es pauperis horti", Virgil. Bucol. Ecl. 7. ver. 34. & Georgic. l. 4. ver. 110. "----furum aviumque maxima formido", Horat. Sermon. l. 1. ode 8.

1 Kings 15:13 In-Context

11 And Asa did rightfulness in the sight of the Lord, as David, his father, did;

12 and he took away from the land men of women's conditions, and he purged all the filths of idols, which his fathers (had) made.

13 Furthermore and he removed Maachah, his (grand)mother, that she should not be princess in the solemn things of the idol Priapus, and in his maumet wood that she had hallowed; and he destroyed the den of him, and he brake the foulest simulacrum, and burnt it in the strand of Kidron; (And furthermore he removed Maachah, his grandmother, so that she would no longer be the queen mother, for she had erected an idol of Priapus in a grove, and worshipped it/for she had made an obscene idol for the worship of Asherah; and he broke up, and destroyed, that most foul idol, and burned it by the Kidron Stream/and burned it in the Kidron Gorge;)

14 soothly he did not (do) away the high things (but he did not do away the hill shrines); nevertheless the heart of Asa was perfect with his Lord God, in all his days.

15 And he brought into the house of the Lord those things, which his father had hallowed, and avowed, (the) silver, and gold, and vessels.