1 Kings 15:13

And also Maachah his mother, oven her he removed from being queen [Rather, queen-mother . Gebiruh, as already pointed out on 1 Kings 2:19 , answers to the Sultana Valide . The Vulgate reads, Ne esset princeps in sacris Priapi . Wordsworth reminds us of the position which the queen-mother Atossa holds in the Persae . A queen consort is hardly possible in a polygamous household; see Kitto, 4:177] because [Heb. which, as in verse 5] she had made all idol [ מִפְלֶצֶת from פָמלץ terruit, signifies an object of fear, formido— not pudendum , a thing of shame, as the Rabbis and others have held, i.e; a phallic image ( simulacrum obscoenum, Jerome), but horrendum . The devout Jew could not but regard such objects with horror] in a grove [Heb. for ( i.e; to serve as) an Asherah . See note on 1 Kings 14:15 , 1 Kings 14:23 . Asherah is not the name of the goddess (= Astarte), as Wordsworth thinks, but of the image], and Asa destroyed [ Marg . cut off, Heb. simply cut, which here must mean cut down. The image was, no doubt, planted erect in the ground] her idol [horror, as above], and burnt it [this shows that it was made of wood] by the brook Kidron . [Cf. Exodus 32:20 . Here, as in 1 Kings 17:3 (where see note), our translators have been unable to adhere strictly to the original " in the brook," etc; from not knowing that נַחַל , which primarily means "brook," also means" watercourse," wady . It is probable that the brook was at this time flowing, and that the ashes of the wooden Asherah were cast into it; but the burning also took place in the Wady, or valley. We read of another similar burning in 2 Kings 23:4 , 2 Kings 23:6 ; but in this ease the ashes were either carried to Bethel or cast upon the graves, to defile them. It is a fair inference that on this latter occasion the Kedron was dry. The valley, "the fields of the Kedron" ( 2 Kings 23:4 l.c. ), is conveniently placed for such a purpose.]