Kings II 21:7

7 But the king spared Memphibosthe son of Jonathan the son of Saul, because of the oath of the Lord that was between them, even between David and Jonathan the son of Saul.

Kings II 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).

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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) .

Kings II 21:7 In-Context

5 And he said, What say ye? speak, and I will do it for you. And they said to the king, The man who would have made an end of us, and persecuted us, who plotted against us to destroy us, let us utterly destroy him, so that he shall have no standing in all the coasts of Israel.

6 Let one give us seven men of his sons, and let us hang them up in the sun to the Lord in Gabaon of Saul, as chosen out for the Lord. And the king said, I will give .

7 But the king spared Memphibosthe son of Jonathan the son of Saul, because of the oath of the Lord that was between them, even between David and Jonathan the son of Saul.

8 And the king took the two sons of Respha the daughter of Aia, whom she bore to Saul, Hermonoi and Memphibosthe, and the five sons of Michol daughter of Saul, whom she bore to Esdriel son of Berzelli the Moulathite.

9 And he gave them into the hand of the Gabaonites, and they hanged them up to the sun in the mountain before the lord: and they fell, even the seven together: moreover they were put to death in the days of harvest at the commencement, in the beginning of barley-harvest.