2 Chronicles 15:16 - Exposition

Maachah the mother of Asa ; i.e. the grandmother ( 2 Chronicles 11:20-22 ; 2 Chronicles 13:2 ; 1 Kings 15:2 , 1 Kings 15:10 , 1 Kings 15:13 ) of Asa; and the statement amounts to this, that Asa removed her from the dignity she had enjoyed, with all its influences of "queen-mother." An idol in a grove . This, probably, literally translated, says, an hideous fright for, i.e. in place of Asherah, i.e. Ashtoreth, or Astarte; but some translate to Asherah. The word we translate "an hideous fright" ( מִפְלָצֶת ) occurs only here and in the parallel ( 1 Kings 15:13 ), and its derivation root guides to this rendering; but some give it the idea of an object of reverent fear among idols . Asa cut down . So it was enjoined ( Exodus 34:13-15 ). And stamped it ; Hebrew, וַיָּדֶק ; hiph. of דָקַק ; the meaning being "stamped it" in the dust, from its upright position, finally burning it. The word is used in 2 Chronicles 34:4 , 2 Chronicles 34:7 ; 2 Kings 23:6 , 2 Kings 23:15 ; Exodus 30:36 ; Micah 4:13 . The word used in the parallel is "cut off;" or "cut down; of course also preparatory to burning. At the brook Kidron . The Kidron was a torrent rather than a brook . It flowed between Jerusalem and the Mount of Olives, and finally emptied itself into the Dead Sea. The references to Kidron in the Old Testament are interesting, hut all reinvested with heightened interest from those in the New Testament. The first two references in the Old Testament are 2 Samuel 15:23 ; 1 Kings 2:37 . Passing these, the present place, with its parallel, brings the Kidren valley next under notice as, the place of destruction for Maachah's obscene phallic abomination, and then ( 2 Kings 11:16 ) as the place where Athalish was destroyed. Its associations are similar when spoken of in 2 Kings 13:4 , 2 Kings 13:6 , 2 Kings 13:12 ; 2 Chronicles 29:16 ; 2 Chronicles 30:14 , becoming the "regular receptacle for the impurities and abominations of the idol-worship, when removed from the temple and destroyed by the adherents of Jehovah." In the time of Josiah, this valley was the common burying-place of the city ( 2 Kings 23:6 ; Jeremiah 26:23 ; Jeremiah 31:40 ). (For Robinson's description of the modern state of the Kidron valley, see Dr. Smith's ' Bible Dictionary,' 2.14-16).