Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 2 Kings 23:14
And he broke in pieces the images, and cut down the groves, and filled their places with the bones of men.
14. he brake in pieces the images [R.V. pillars ], and cut down the groves ] R.V. the Asherim. From such passages as this we may conclude that the images of Asherah were generally of wood.
bones of men ] To the mind of a Jew, trained by the Law to consider the touch of a dead body to be defilement (Num 5:2) a place defiled in this manner could never again be used for any religious purpose, and we may feel sure that the people would not have shaken off this feeling though they had begun to worship idols.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 14. Filled their places with the bones of men.] This was allowed to be the utmost defilement to which any thing could be exposed.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
i.e. of the idolatrous priests, which he caused to be taken out of their graves, 2Ki 21:18.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
14. filled their places with thebones of menEvery monument of idolatry in his dominion he inlike manner destroyed, and the places where they stood he defiled bystrewing them with dead men’s bones. The presence of a dead carcassrendered both persons and places unclean in the eyes both of Jews andheathens.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And he brake in pieces the images,…. Of Ashtoreth, Chemosh, and Milcom, in the above high places; which as these high places had been rebuilt by Manasseh or Amon, so new images of these deities were placed there:
and cut down the groves; in which they were set:
and filled their places with the bones of men; of idolatrous priests and worshippers, buried in parts adjacent; these he dug up and scattered in the high places and groves to defile them, bones of the dead being by law unclean, Nu 19:15.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(14) The images . . . the groves.The pillars . . . the ashrahs. These pillars and sacred trees may have been set up at the high places mentioned in the last verse; but the Hebrew construction does not prove this, for comp. 2Ki. 23:10. The reference is probably general.
Their places.Their place or station; a technical term for the position of an idol (the Heb. mqm, equivalent to Saban maqmum. and Arabic muqm, which is still the common designation of holy sites in Palestine.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
14. Filled their places with the bones of men Turned them into burial grounds, so as utterly to defile them, and prevent their ever being used again for idolatrous purposes.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
2Ki 23:14 And he brake in pieces the images, and cut down the groves, and filled their places with the bones of men.
Ver. 14. And he brake in pieces the images. ] He made no spare of any of those idols and monuments of idolatry, though there wanted not some about him, doubtless, that could have wished it otherwise, and moved him to spare those goodly horses and chariots of the sun, &c. But he was resolved to make a hand with them all. We may give peace to buy truth, but we may not give truth to buy peace.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
images = pillars, or statues.
men. Hebrew. ‘adam. Used collectively. App-14.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
he brake: Exo 23:24, Num 33:52, Deu 7:5, Deu 7:25, Deu 7:26, 2Ch 34:3, 2Ch 34:4, Mic 1:7
images: Heb. statues
the bones of men: 2Ki 23:16, Num 19:16, Num 19:18, Jer 8:1, Jer 8:2, Eze 39:12-16, Mat 23:27, Mat 23:28
Reciprocal: Exo 34:13 – ye shall Deu 12:3 – and burn Jdg 3:7 – the groves 1Ki 11:7 – build an high 2Ki 11:18 – went 2Ch 14:3 – images Jer 19:13 – defiled Eze 6:4 – and I
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
2Ki 23:14. And filled their places The places of the groves; with the bones of men Of the idolatrous priests, which he caused to be taken out of their graves, 2Ki 23:18. As he carried the ashes of the images to the graves, to mingle them with dead mens bones, so he carried dead mens bones to the places where the images had been, that both ways idolatry might be rendered loathsome. Dead men and dead gods were indeed much alike, and fittest to go together.