Deep Dive

II Chronicles 30:14

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They proceeded to remove the altars in Jerusalem and to take away the incense altars and throw them into the Kidron Valley.

Commentaries

Excerpts gathered from published commentaries to ground the reading.

Keil-Delitzsch Old Testament Commentaryv. 14

Destruction of the idols and the altars of the high places. Provisions for the ordering and maintenance of the temple worship, and the attendants upon it. - Ch2 31:1. At the conclusion of the festival, all the Israelites who had been present at the feast (הנּמצאים כּל־שׂראל to be understood as in Ch2 30:21) went into the cities of Judah, and destroyed all the idols, high places, and altars not only in Judah and Benjamin (the southern kingdom), but also in Ephraim and Manasseh (the domain of the ten tribes), utterly (עד־לככּה, cf. Ch2 24:10), and only then returned each to his home; cf. Kg2 18:4.

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Matthew Henry Bible Commentaryv. 14

In this chapter we have an account of the solemn passover which Hezekiah kept in the first year of his reign. I. The consultation about it, and the resolution he and his people came to for the observance of it (Ch2 30:2-5). II. The invitation he sent to Judah and Israel to come and keep it (Ch2 30:1, Ch2 30:6-12). III. The joyful celebration of it (Ch2 30:13-27). By this the reformation, set on foot in the foregoing chapter, was greatly advanced and established, and that nail in God's holy place clenched.

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Tyndale Open Study Notesv. 14

30:14 Several challenges faced Hezekiah before Passover could be observed. Although the Temple had been purified, the city was not pure. The first task of the assembled multitude was to remove all pagan altars, which they disposed of in the Kidron Valley, where they could be burned.

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Cross-references

Other passages the community most often connects to this one. Tap to read.

II Chronicles 28:24rank 5

Then Ahaz gathered up the articles of the house of God, cut them into pieces, shut the doors of the house of the LORD, and set up altars of his own on every street corner in Jerusalem.

II Chronicles 15:16rank 3

King Asa also removed his grandmother Maacah from her position as queen mother because she had made a detestable Asherah pole. Asa chopped down the pole, crushed it, and burned it in the Kidron Valley.

II Chronicles 29:16rank 3

So the priests went inside the house of the LORD to cleanse it, and they brought out to the courtyard all the unclean things that they found in the temple of the LORD. Then the Levites took these things and carried them out to the Kidron Valley.

II Samuel 15:23rank 3

Everyone in the countryside was weeping loudly as all the people passed by. And as the king crossed the Kidron Valley, all the people also passed toward the way of the wilderness.

II Chronicles 34:7rank 2

He tore down the altars and Asherah poles, crushed the idols to powder, and cut to pieces all the incense altars throughout the land of Israel. Then he returned to Jerusalem.

John 18:1rank 2

After Jesus had spoken these words, He went out with His disciples across the Kidron Valley, where they entered a garden.

II Chronicles 34:4rank 2

Then in his presence the altars of the Baals were torn down, and he cut to pieces the incense altars that were above them. He shattered the Asherah poles, the carved idols, and the cast images, crushed them to dust, and scattered them over the graves of those who had sacrificed to them.

II Kings 18:22rank 2

But if you say to me, ‘We trust in the LORD our God,’ is He not the One whose high places and altars Hezekiah has removed, saying to Judah and Jerusalem: ‘You must worship before this altar in Jerusalem’?

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