II Kings 23:12
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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.
Commentaries
Excerpts gathered from published commentaries to ground the reading.
We have here, I. The happy continuance of the goodness of Josiah's reign, and the progress of the reformation he began, reading the law (Kg2 23:1, Kg2 23:2), renewing the covenant (Kg2 23:3), cleansing the temple (Kg2 23:4), and rooting out idols and idolatry, with all the relics thereof, in all places, as far as his power reached (v. 5-20), keeping a solemn passover (Kg2 23:21-23), and clearing the country of witches (Kg2 23:24); and in all this acting with extraordinary vigour (Kg2 23:25). II. The unhappy conclusion of it in his untimely death, as a token of the continuance of God's wrath against Jerusalem (Kg2 23:26-30). III. The more unhappy consequences of his death, in the bad reigns of his two sons Jehoahaz and Jehoiakim, that came after him (Kg2 23:31-37).
Open source ↗23:12 upper room of Ahaz: Roof-top altars were used for astral worship (Jer 19:13; Zeph 1:5) and rituals associated with Baal (Jer 32:29).
Open source ↗Cross-references
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The houses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah will be defiled like that place, Topheth—all the houses on whose rooftops they burned incense to all the host of heaven and poured out drink offerings to other gods.”
In both courtyards of the house of the LORD, he built altars to all the host of heaven.
those who bow on the rooftops to worship the host of heaven, those who bow down and swear by the LORD but also swear by Milcom,
In both courtyards of the house of the LORD, he built altars to all the host of heaven.
He removed the foreign gods and the idol from the house of the LORD, along with all the altars he had built on the temple mount and in Jerusalem, and he dumped them outside the city.
Then the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest, the priests second in rank, and the doorkeepers to remove from the temple of the LORD all the articles made for Baal, Asherah, and all the host of heaven. And he burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of Kidron and carried their ashes to Bethel.
He brought the Asherah pole from the house of the LORD to the Kidron Valley outside Jerusalem, and there he burned it, ground it to powder, and threw its dust on the graves of the common people.
If you build a new house, you are to construct a railing around your roof, so that you do not bring bloodguilt on your house if someone falls from it.