And he brought out the grove from the house of the
Lord
Not a real grove of trees, but a carved one, as some think; or
rather the image of the grove, ( 2 Kings 21:7
) that is, the idol Ashtoreth, or Astarte, which was set up
there; so Theodoret says; some interpreters call it Astoreth, the
name of Venus, whom they call Astarte: this Josiah ordered to be
brought
without Jerusalem, unto the brook Kidron, and burnt it at
the brook
Kidron;
the black brook, where the filth of the sacrifices was carried:
and stamped it small to powder;
as Moses did the golden calf:
and cast the powder thereof upon the graves of the children
of the
people;
the common people, see ( Jeremiah
26:23 ) or rather on the graves of the worshippers of idols,
as it seems from ( 2 Chronicles
34:4 ) the Targum is,
``on the graves of the children of Galia,''
which, Kimchi says, is the name of an idol; this was done partly in contempt of the idol, groves being, according to law, impure; and partly to the reproach of the deceased, and the memory of them, for their idolatry, and to deter from it those that survived them.