Bible Strands
2 Kings 10:27
They also demolished the sacred pillar of Baal. Then they tore down the temple of Baal and made it into a latrine, which it is to this day.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Jehu’s officials act inside the Samaria temple during a coordinated purge of Canaanite worship, immediately after Jehu ordered the execution of Baal’s prophets and the burning of the sacred pillar (2 Kings 10:26).
The words — The Hebrew verb וַֽיִּתְּצוּ (va-yi-t'tzu, H5422) means “they pulled down” or “demolished,” applied twice here to the sacred pillar (מַצֵּבָת, maṣṣēḇāṯ) and the house of Baal (בֵּית הַבַּעַל, bêt hab-bāʿal).
The thread — This deliberate dismantling of idolatrous structures parallels later royal decrees that enforce destruction against defiance, as seen in Ezra 6:11 and Daniel 3:29.
Why it lands — The text records the physical conversion of a sacred space into a latrine to demonstrate the complete irrelevance of Baal, demanding readers recognize that idolatry leaves no room for enduring reverence.
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 they brake down the image of Baal, and brake down the house of Baal, and made it a draught house unto this day.
Cross-references
- Ezra 6:11 I also decree that if any man interferes with this directive, a beam is to be torn from his house and raised up, and he is to be impaled on it. And his own house shall be made a pile of rubble for this offense.
- Daniel 2:5 The king replied to the astrologers, “My word is final: If you do not tell me the dream and its interpretation, you will be cut into pieces and your houses will be reduced to rubble.
- Daniel 3:29 Therefore I decree that the people of any nation or language who say anything offensive against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego will be cut into pieces and their houses reduced to rubble. For there is no other god who can deliver in this way.”
- 1 Kings 16:32 First, Ahab set up an altar for Baal in the temple of Baal that he had built in Samaria.
- 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 7:25 You must burn up the images of their gods; do not covet the silver and gold that is on them or take it for yourselves, or you will be ensnared by it; for it is detestable to the LORD your God.
- 2 Kings 18:4 He removed the high places, shattered the sacred pillars, and cut down the Asherah poles. He also demolished the bronze snake called Nehushtan that Moses had made, for up to that time the Israelites had burned incense to it.
- 2 Kings 23:7 He also tore down the quarters of the male shrine prostitutes that were in the house of the LORD, where the women had woven tapestries for Asherah.
- 2 Chronicles 34:3 In the eighth year of his reign, while he was still young, Josiah began to seek the God of his father David, and in the twelfth year he began to cleanse Judah and Jerusalem of the high places, the Asherah poles, the carved idols, and the cast images.