Bible Strands
1 Kings 15:13
He also removed his grandmother Maacah from her position as queen mother because she had made a detestable Asherah pole. Asa chopped down the pole and burned it in the Kidron Valley.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — King Asa acts during his reign to purge Judah of idolatry, specifically targeting his grandmother Maacah and her royal title. This follows his broader removal of shrine prostitutes and ancestral idols noted in the preceding context.
The words — The Hebrew verb וַיְסִרֶהָ (va/y.si.Re./ha) means "and he removed her," paired with מִגְּבִירָה (mi.ge.vi.Rah) for "from queen-mother." The clause אֲשֶׁר עָשְׂתָה ('a.Sher 'a.se.Tah) literally reads "that she had made," identifying the specific cause for her deposition.
The thread — The destruction of the Asherah pole in the Kidron Valley echoes the command to cut down Asherah poles in Deuteronomy 7:5. Burning the idol parallels Moses grinding the golden calf and scattering it in Exodus 32:20, while the purge of sacred sites anticipates God's judgment described in Leviticus 26:30.
Why it lands — The text records Asa stripping Maacah of her title and destroying her idol, demonstrating that royal authority must submit to covenant law. A reader must recognize that religious reform requires dismantling established power structures that enable idolatry, regardless of familial ties.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And also Maachah his mother, even her he removed from being queen, because she had made an idol in a grove; and Asa destroyed her idol, and burnt it by the brook Kidron.
Cross-references
- Exodus 32:20 Then he took the calf they had made, burned it in the fire, ground it to powder, and scattered the powder over the face of the water. Then he forced the Israelites to drink it.
- Leviticus 26:30 I will destroy your high places, cut down your incense altars, and heap your lifeless bodies on the lifeless remains of your idols; and My soul will despise you.
- Deuteronomy 7:5 Instead, this is what you are to do to them: tear down their altars, smash their sacred pillars, cut down their Asherah poles, and burn their idols in the fire.
- Deuteronomy 9:21 And I took that sinful thing, the calf you had made, and burned it in the fire. Then I crushed it and ground it to powder as fine as dust, and I cast it into the stream that came down from the mountain.
- Deuteronomy 13:6 If your very own brother, or your son or daughter, or the wife you embrace, or your closest friend secretly entices you, saying, “Let us go and worship other gods” (which neither you nor your fathers have known,
- Deuteronomy 33:9 He said of his father and mother, ‘I do not consider them.’ He disregarded his brothers and did not know his own sons, for he kept Your word and maintained Your covenant.
- Joshua 6:24 Then the Israelites burned up the city and everything in it. However, they put the silver and gold and articles of bronze and iron into the treasury of the LORD’s house.
- 2 Samuel 15:23 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.
- 1 Kings 15:2 and he reigned in Jerusalem three years. His mother’s name was Maacah daughter of Abishalom.
- 1 Kings 15:10 and he reigned in Jerusalem forty-one years. His grandmother’s name was Maacah daughter of Abishalom.