Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 2 Kings 23:7
And he broke down the houses of the sodomites, that [were] by the house of the LORD, where the women wove hangings for the grove.
7. And he brake down ] On like reforms cf. 1Ki 15:12; 1Ki 22:46.
by [R.V. in ] the house of the Lord ] The text says that these abominations were in the temple. There is no reason why the English should not represent it plainly.
the women wove hangings for the grove ] R.V. the Asherah. It seems that at some of the shrines dedicated to the false gods, instead of more permanent erections, tents were put up, and it was for these that the women were employed in weaving curtains. The Hebrew word rendered ‘hangings’ is the same which is used in other passages for ‘houses’ of the high places. The Jewish tradition explains it by ‘curtains’. Some have thought that the ‘tabernacles’ alluded to in Amo 5:26 were of this character, tent-like erections which could be moved when not in use. Another allusion to such curtained structures for idolatrous worship is found in Eze 16:16. ‘Of thy garments thou didst take and deckedst thy high places with divers colours’.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 7. The houses of the sodomites] We have already often met with these kedeshim or consecrated persons. The word implies all kinds of prostitutes, as well as abusers of themselves with mankind.
Wove hangings for the grove.] For Asherah; curtains or tent coverings for the places where the rites of the impure goddess were performed. 2Kg 21:26.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The houses of the sodomites; wherein some males prostituted their bodies to the lusts of others; which abominable practice was both a punishment of idolatry, Rom 1:23,24,27, and a part of idol worship, this being done to the honour of some of their idols, and by the appointment and instigation of those impure and diabolical spirits which were worshipped in their idols. See 1Ki 14:24; 15:12; 22:46.
Hangings, or curtains, either to draw before the idol or idols which were worshipped in the grove, to preserve them from defilement, or to gain more reverence for them; or which were set up in the grove, that the abominable filthiness last mentioned might be committed within them. Or, garments for the service of the grove, for the idols or the priests belonging to them. Heb. houses, i.e. either little chapels made of woven work, like those which were made of silver, Act 19:24; within which there were some representations of their grove idols; or rather, tents made of those curtains for the use above mentioned.
For the grove, or, for Asherah, an idol so called, as was noted before.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
7. brake down the houses of thesodomitesnot solid houses, but tents, called elsewhere [2Ki17:30] Succoth-benoth, “the booths of the youngwomen,” who were devoted to the service of Asherah, for whichthey made embroidered hangings, and in which they gave themselves tounbridled revelry and lust. Or the hangings might be for Asherahitself, as it is a popular superstition in the East to hang pieces ofcloth on trees.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And he brake down the houses of the Sodomites that were by the house of the Lord,…. Near the temple were apartments, in which men, the worshippers of idols, prostituted their bodies to each other; committing that unnatural sin with one another, which has its name from Sodom, and from which those are so called, and which sin they committed in honour of the idols they worshipped; to such vile affections were they, in a judicial manner, delivered up, because of their idolatry; see Ro 1:27 the word signifies “Holy Ones”, they being called so by an antiphrasis; though Abarbinel thinks these were the idolatrous priests, whom the worshippers of idols reckoned “holy”, and so built houses for them near the temple to lodge in; the Targum is,
“and broke down the houses of things consecrated to idols,”
where they were put; and Theodoret on the place observes, that by an homonymy, they called the demons or idols themselves “Holy Ones”; and it is not likely, indeed, that the Sodomites should be
where the women wove hangings for the grove; that is, for Astarte, as the same writer observes: or “curtains”, as the Jewish writers generally interpret it, in which either the idol was enclosed, or these made apartments for the idolaters to commit their abominable wickedness privately; though the Syriac and Arabic versions are,
“they wove garments for the idols that were there;”
and so the Septuagint version, of the Complutensian edition; that is, they wove garments for the goddess Astarte, which they dressed her with: the word signifies “houses”, and may mean the shrines of the idol made of woven work.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(7) The houses . . . by the house.The cabins of the Kedshim . . . in the house. The Kedshim were males, perhaps eunuchs, who prostituted themselves like women in honour of the Asherah. (See 1Ki. 14:24; 1Ki. 15:12; Hos. 4:14.) The passage shows that the last infamy of Canaanite nature-worship had been established in the very sanctuary of Jehovah. The revolt of Judah could go no farther.
Where the women wove hangings for the grove.Wherein the women used to weave tents for the Ashrah. The word we have rendered cabins and tents is bttm, houses. What is meant in the latter case is not clear. Perhaps the female harlots attached to the Temple wove portable tabernacles or sanctuaries of the goddess for sale to the worshippers; or tents (screens) for their own foul rites may be meant.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
7. Sodomites See note on 1Ki 14:24. These abominable prostitutes had grown so bold as to build their houses, or tents, by the house of the Lord, striking evidence of the fearful extent to which the nation had become corrupted.
The women The female prostitutes, who were devoted to the lewd rites of Ashtoreth.
Wove hangings Rather, wove little tents, or houses for Asherah. Keil calls them “tent-temples,” and quotes Movers, who conjectures “that the women of Jerusalem gave themselves up, in honour of the goddess, in the tents of the sodomites which were pitched in the temple circle, on which account the money received for prostitution went to the temple treasury.”
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
2Ki 23:7 And he brake down the houses of the sodomites, that [were] by the house of the LORD, where the women wove hangings for the grove.
Ver. 7. The houses of the sodomites. ] Abominable brothel houses.
Where the women wove hangings.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
sodomites = male prostitutes. Suppression directed in Deu 23:17, Deu 23:18. See note on 1Ki 14:23, 1Ki 14:24.
hangings. Hebrew houses. Probably veils to cover the ‘Asherah, as it is covered in Romish processions to-day.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
grove
(See Scofield Deu 16:21).
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
the sodomites: Gen 19:4, Gen 19:5, 1Ki 14:24, 1Ki 15:12, 1Ki 22:46, 2Ch 34:33, Rom 1:26, Rom 1:27
where: Exo 35:25, Exo 35:26, Eze 8:14, Eze 16:16, Hos 2:13
hangings: Heb. houses
Reciprocal: Deu 23:17 – sodomite 2Ki 10:27 – brake down the image Eze 16:50 – and committed Hos 4:14 – and they
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
2Ki 23:7. He brake down the houses of the sodomites The name sometimes given to the most infamous of all prostitutes, who exposed their bodies to be abused contrary to nature, in honour of those filthy deities whom they worshipped. Their houses were near the temple, and the persons themselves were dedicated to impurity, and, that they might commit their abominations with the greater licentiousness, they had women appointed to make them tents, wherein they were wont to retire upon these detestable occasions. Calmet. Thus corporal and spiritual whoredoms went together, and the vile affections to which they were given up were the punishment of their vain imaginations. They that dishonoured their God were justly left thus to dishonour themselves. Where the women wove hangings for the grove For the idols worshipped in the grove, or rather for Asherah, or Ashtaroth, an idol so called, as observed before, and probably the same with the Grecian Venus. These hangings might possibly be curtains to draw before the idol, to preserve it from defilement, or to gain more reverence to it: or garments for it, or for the priests or priestesses belonging to it. But the Hebrew word , bathim, here used, properly means houses; which, most likely, were either little chapels or shrines made of woven work, like those mentioned Act 19:24, which were made of silver, within which were representations of the idol; or they were tents, encompassing the image, where the worshippers committed all manner of lewdness, and that in or near the house of the Lord, in an impudent defiance of the holiness of God and his temple. Well might the apostle call these kinds of worship abominable idolatries! Can any wonder that wrath, not to be quenched, was kindled against this city and people?