2 Kings 23:6

6 He brought out the Asherah from the house of the LORD, outside of Yerushalayim, to the brook Kidron, and burned it at the brook Kidron, and beat it to dust, and cast the dust of it on the graves of the common people.

2 Kings 23:6 Meaning and Commentary

2 Kings 23:6

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.

2 Kings 23:6 In-Context

4 The king commanded Hilkiyah the Kohen Gadol, and the Kohanim of the second order, and the keepers of the threshold, to bring forth out of the temple of the LORD all the vessels that were made for Ba`al, and for the Asherah, and for all the host of the sky, and he burned them outside of Yerushalayim in the fields of the Kidron, and carried the ashes of them to Beit-El

5 He put down the idolatrous Kohanim, whom the kings of Yehudah had ordained to burn incense in the high places in the cities of Yehudah, and in the places round about Yerushalayim; those also who burned incense to Ba`al, to the sun, and to the moon, and to the planets, and to all the host of the sky.

6 He brought out the Asherah from the house of the LORD, outside of Yerushalayim, to the brook Kidron, and burned it at the brook Kidron, and beat it to dust, and cast the dust of it on the graves of the common people.

7 He broke down the houses of the sodomites, that were in the house of the LORD, where the women wove hangings for the Asherah.

8 He brought all the Kohanim out of the cities of Yehudah, and defiled the high places where the Kohanim had burned incense, from Geva to Be'er-Sheva; and he broke down the high places of the gates that were at the entrance of the gate of Yehoshua the governor of the city, which were on a man's left hand at the gate of the city.