Bible Strands
2 Kings 23:6
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.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The narrator describes King Josiah’s actions during his covenant reform, immediately after he purged Judah’s idolatrous priests (2 Kings 23:5). The account records his physical removal of a cult object from the Jerusalem temple precincts.
The words — הָ/אֲשֵׁרָה (ha.'a.she.Rah) denotes the Asherah pole, a carved wooden cultic stand, and וַ/יֹּצֵא (va/i.yo.Tze') means he brought it out. The text specifies the object’s origin as the house of Yahweh before its transport to the Kidron Valley.
The thread — The sequence of burning, grinding, and scattering debris mirrors Moses’ treatment of the golden calf in Exodus 32:20. Josiah’s systematic destruction of foreign altars and high places continues in 2 Kings 23:15 and 2 Chronicles 34:4.
Why it lands — The text demands recognition that ritual defilement (dust on graves) prevents any possibility of resurrection or cultic reuse. It establishes that Yahweh’s dwelling cannot tolerate syncretistic objects, requiring total physical removal rather than mere relocation.
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 he brought out the grove from the house of the Lord, without Jerusalem, unto the brook Kidron, and burned it at the brook Kidron, and stamped it small to powder, and cast the powder thereof upon the graves of the children of the people.
Cross-references
- 2 Kings 23:15 He even pulled down the altar at Bethel, the high place set up by Jeroboam son of Nebat, who had caused Israel to sin. Then he burned the high place, ground it to powder, and burned the Asherah pole.
- 2 Chronicles 34:4 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Judges 3:7 So the Israelites did evil in the sight of the LORD; they forgot the LORD their God and served the Baals and the Asherahs.
- 1 Kings 14:23 They also built for themselves high places, sacred pillars, and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every green tree.
- 1 Kings 16:33 Then he set up an Asherah pole. Thus Ahab did more to provoke the LORD, the God of Israel, to anger than all the kings of Israel before him.
- 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.
- 2 Kings 21:7 Manasseh even took the carved Asherah pole he had made and set it up in the temple, of which the LORD had said to David and his son Solomon, “In this temple and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will establish My Name forever.