4-я Царств 21:7

He set a graven image of the grove that he had made in the house - Every one may see that Asherah here must signify an idol, and not a grove; and for the proof of this see the observations at the end of the chapter, Kg2 21:26 (note).

And he set a graven image--The placing of the Asherah within the precincts of the temple, which was dedicated to the worship of the true God, is dwelt upon as the most aggravated outrage of the royal idolater.

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 (b), 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, Kg1 11:5, the same the Phoenicians are said to call Astroarche, and affirm it to be the moon (c): in Ch2 33:7 it is called a carved image the idol he had made; and an Arabic writer (d) says, it had four faces, which seems to be a figure of the cherubim; but, according to Suidas (e), 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 Kg1 8:29; see Gill on Kg2 21:3. (b) De Dis Syris, Syntagm. 2. c. 2. p. 233. (c) Herodian. l. 5. c. 15. (d) Abulpharag. Hist. Dynast. Dyn. 3. p. 66. (e) In voce

In this chapter we have a short but sad account of the reigns of two of the kings of Judah, Manasseh and Amon. I. Concerning Manasseh, all the account we have of him here is, 1. That he devoted himself to sin, to all manner of wickedness, idolatry, and murder (Kg2 21:1-9 and Kg2 21:16). 2. That therefore God devoted him, and Jerusalem for his sake, to ruin (Kg2 21:10-18). In the book of Chronicles we have an account of his troubles, and his repentance. II. Concerning Amon we are only told that he lived in sin (Kg2 21:19-22), died quickly by the sword, and left good Josiah his successor (Kg2 21:23-26). By these two reigns Jerusalem was much debauched and much weakened, and so hastened apace towards its destruction, which slumbered not.