Isaiah 30:22 - Exposition

Ye shall defile also the covering of thy graven images of silver . Idolatry, greatly encouraged by Ahaz, had been strictly forbidden by Hezekiah at the beginning of his reign ( 2 Kings 18:4 ); but the present passage, among others, shows how impossible it was for a king, with the best intentions, to effect the extirpation of idolatry, if his subjects were attached to it. Evidently the Jews had, in many cases, secretly maintained their idols and their idolatrous practices, despite the efforts of Hezekiah. But now, in their repentance, they would "defile" ( i.e. destroy) both the outer "covering" of precious rectal, and the inner core of wood or stone, or base metallic substance. The ornament of thy molten images of gold ; rather, the coating or overlaying . It was usual to overlay with gold or silver molten images of bronze or other inferior metal. Cast them away ; literally, scatter ; i.e. either grind them to powder ( 2 Kings 23:6 ), or at any rate break them to bits, dud then disperse the fragments far and wide.