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2 Kings 23:7

Old Testament Historical ASV (1901)

What does 2 Kings 23:7 say?

The American Standard Version records this verse as: “And he brake down the houses of the sodomites, that were in the house of Jehovah, where the women wove hangings for the Asherah.” Read the surrounding verses and the named sources below before drawing broader conclusions.

The verse

And he brake down the houses of the sodomites, that were in the house of Jehovah, where the women wove hangings for the Asherah.
2 Kings 23:7 — American Standard Version

Context — 2 Kings 23

American Standard Version (1901) — public domain. Click any verse for its study page.
4And the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest, and the priests of the second order, and the keepers of the threshold, to bring forth out of the temple of Jehovah all the vessels that were made for Baal, and for the Asherah, and for all the host of heaven, and he burned them without Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron, and carried the ashes of them unto Beth-el.
5And he put down the idolatrous priests, whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense in the high places in the cities of Judah, and in the places round about Jerusalem; them also that burned incense unto Baal, to the sun, and to the moon, and to the planets, and to all the host of heaven.
6And he brought out the Asherah from the house of Jehovah, without Jerusalem, unto the brook Kidron, and burned it at the brook Kidron, and beat it to dust, and cast the dust thereof upon the graves of the common people.
7And he brake down the houses of the sodomites, that were in the house of Jehovah, where the women wove hangings for the Asherah.
8And he brought all the priests out of the cities of Judah, and defiled the high places where the priests had burned incense, from Geba to Beer-sheba; and he brake down the high places of the gates that were at the entrance of the gate of Joshua the governor of the city, which were on a man`s left hand at the gate of the city.
9Nevertheless the priests of the high places came not up to the altar of Jehovah in Jerusalem, but they did eat unleavened bread among their brethren.
10And he defiled Topheth, which is in the valley of the children of Hinnom, that no man might make his son or his daughter to pass through the fire to Molech.
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What do historical commentaries say?

John Gill's Exposition
John Gill (1697–1771) · Exposition of the Old and New Testament · 18th-century historical commentary
“And he brake down the houses of the Sodomites that were by the house of the Lord, etc.] 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 <450127>Romans 1:27,28) 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…”
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Jamieson, Fausset & Brown
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible · 19th-century historical commentary
“brake down the houses of the sodomites--not solid houses, but tents, called elsewhere [Kg2 17:30] Succoth-benoth, "the booths of the young women," who were devoted to the service of Asherah, for which they made embroidered hangings, and in which they gave themselves to unbridled revelry and lust. Or the hangings might be for Asherah itself, as it is a popular superstition in the East to hang pieces of cloth on trees.”
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Barnes' Notes
Albert Barnes (1798–1870) · Notes on the Whole Bible · 19th-century historical commentary
“A parenthesis giving the earlier reforms of Josiah. 2 Kings 23:4 The priests of the second order - This is a new expression; and probably refers to the ordinary priests, called here “priests of the second order,” in contrast with the high priest, whose dignity was reviving (2 Kings 12:2 note). The vessels - This would include the whole apparatus of worship, altars, images, dresses, utensils, etc., for Baal, etc. (2 Kings 21:3-5 notes). The ashes of the idolatrous objects burned in the first instance in the “fields of Kidron” (i. e., in the part of the valley which lies northeast of the city, a part much broader than that between the Temple Hill and the Mount of Olives) were actually taken to…”
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Wesley's Explanatory Notes
John Wesley (1703–1791) · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament and Old Testament notes · 18th-century historical commentary
“Sodomites - Sodomy was a part of idol - worship, being done to the honour of some of their idols, and by the appointment of those impure and diabolical spirits, which were worshipped in their idols. Hangings - Or, curtains, either to draw before the idols which were worshipped in the grove, to preserve them from defilement, or to gain more reverence for them: Or, garments for the service of the grove, for the idols or the priests belonging to them. Heb. houses, that is, either little chappels 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 -…”
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Treasury of Scriptural Knowledge
R. A. Torrey and contributors · The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge · Cross-reference reference work
“the sodomites: Gen 19:4, Gen 19:5; Kg1 14:24, Kg1 15:12, Kg1 22:46; Ch2 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 4 Kings (2 Kings) 23:8”
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Related study paths

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Sources and verification