2 Chronicles 31:1

DESTRUCTION OF IDOLATRY, 2 Chronicles 31:1.

1. All Israel that were present All the representatives of the Israelitish nation that were present at the passover just described. Hezekiah deemed this a most appropriate occasion to overthrow idolatry in his kingdom, and as far beyond it as he might be able, and lost no time in turning the present religious zeal of the people to this object. Having already purged Jerusalem from idolatry, (2 Chronicles 30:14,) he now proceeded first to the cities of Judah, and destroyed all idolatrous images and altars that he found, and put an end to all idolatrous practices in the boundaries of Judah and Benjamin. Then he carried his iconoclasm even into Ephraim also and Manasseh, for probably the representatives of these tribes who had been at the passover were now so filled with zeal for the pure worship of Jehovah that they were unwilling that Hezekiah’s reforms should be confined solely to the southern kingdom; and such was their energy and fury in this work, and such the weakness of Hoshea’s government at Samaria, that there was no power to resist or stop this overthrow of images and altars until they had utterly destroyed them all. No doubt these images and altars were again restored in Ephraim and Manasseh, for those tribes persisted in their sinful practices until, in the sixth year of Hezekiah, Samaria was taken, and the ten tribes were carried into exile. 2 Kings 18:10.