2 Kings 21:4

4 He even built these pagan altars in The Temple of God, the very Jerusalem Temple dedicated exclusively by God's decree ("in Jerusalem I place my Name") to God's Name.

2 Kings 21:4 Meaning and Commentary

2 Kings 21:4

And he built altars in the house of the Lord
In the holy place, as distinct from the courts in the next verse; and these were sacred to the idols of the Gentiles:

of which the Lord said, in Jerusalem will I put my name;
in the temple there, devoted to his service, called by his name, and where his name was called upon, see ( Deuteronomy 12:5 ) ( 16:6 ) and to erect altars to idols here must be very abominable to him.

2 Kings 21:4 In-Context

2 In God's judgment he was a bad king - an evil king. He reintroduced all the moral rot and spiritual corruption that had been scoured from the country when God dispossessed the pagan nations in favor of the children of Israel.

3 He rebuilt all the sex-and-religion shrines that his father Hezekiah had torn down, and he built altars and phallic images for the sex god Baal and sex goddess Asherah, exactly what Ahaz king of Israel had done. He worshiped the cosmic powers, taking orders from the constellations.

4 He even built these pagan altars in The Temple of God, the very Jerusalem Temple dedicated exclusively by God's decree ("in Jerusalem I place my Name") to God's Name.

5 And he built shrines to the cosmic powers and placed them in both courtyards of The Temple of God.

6 He burned his own son in a sacrificial offering. He practiced black magic and fortunetelling. He held sŽances and consulted spirits from the underworld. Much evil - in God's judgment, a career in evil. And God was angry.