2 Kings 23:12

12 He pulled down the altars that the kings of Judah had set up on the roof near the upper chamber of Ahaz, and the altars that Manasseh had set up in the two courtyards of the house of the LORD. The king pulverized them there ^[a] and threw their dust into the Kidron Valley.

2 Kings 23:12 Meaning and Commentary

2 Kings 23:12

And the altars that were on the top of the upper chamber of
Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made
Which were on the roof of the royal palace; the roofs of houses in Judah being flat, ( Deuteronomy 21:8 ) altars might be built upon them; so, in Arabia, altars were built on the tops of houses to offer incense thereon daily to the sun ^F16; as here by Manasseh and Amon very probably, which might be chosen because nearer the heavens; for which reason the Heathens made use of high places to worship in, see ( Jeremiah 19:13 ) ( 32:29 ) ( Zephaniah 1:5 )

and the altars which Manasseh had made in the two courts of the house
of the Lord;
( 2 Kings 21:5 )

did the king beat down;
ordered to be demolished:

and brake them down from thence, and cast the dust of them into the
brook Kidron;
that there might be no remains of them to be put to any superstitious use.

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FOOTNOTES:

F16 Strabo, Geograph l. 16. p. 539.

2 Kings 23:12 In-Context

10 He also desecrated Topheth in the Valley of Ben-hinnom so that no one could sacrifice his son or daughter in the fire to Molech.

11 And he removed from the entrance to the house of the LORD the horses that the kings of Judah had dedicated to the sun. They were in the court near the chamber of an official named Nathan-melech. And Josiah burned up the chariots of the sun.

12 He pulled down the altars that the kings of Judah had set up on the roof near the upper chamber of Ahaz, and the altars that Manasseh had set up in the two courtyards of the house of the LORD. The king pulverized them there and threw their dust into the Kidron Valley.

13 The king also desecrated the high places east of Jerusalem, to the south of the Mount of Corruption, which King Solomon of Israel had built for Ashtoreth the abomination of the Sidonians, for Chemosh the abomination of the Moabites, and for Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites.

14 He smashed the sacred pillars to pieces, cut down the Asherah poles, and covered the sites with human bones.

Footnotes

• [a]. Or quickly removed them from there