SEV Biblia, Chapter 34:4
Y derribaron delante de él los altares de los Baales, e hizo pedazos las imágenes del sol , que estaban puestas encima; y los bosques, y las esculturas e imagines de fundición, quebró y desmenuzó, y esparció el polvo sobre los sepulcros de los que habían sacrificado a ellos.
Clarke's Bible Commentary - 2 Chronicles 34:4
Verse 4. The altars of Baalim] How often have these been broken down, and how soon set up again! We see that the religion of a land is as the religion of its king. If the king were idolatrous, up went the altars, on them were placed the statues, and the smoke of incense ascended in ceaseless clouds to the honour of that which is vanity, and nothing to the world; on the other hand, when the king was truly religious, down went the idolatrous altars, broken in pieces were the images, and the sacrificial smoke ascended only to the true God: in all these cases the people were as one man with the king.
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 4. And they broke down the altars of Baalim in his presence , etc.] He not only ordered them to be broke down, but he went in person, and saw it done; these were the altars Manasseh had reared up to the idols; and though upon his humiliation he cast them out, they were rebuilt by Amon his son, (see 2 Chronicles 33:3,15,22), and the images that were above them he cut down ; sun images, as the word signifies; these Chamanim might be representatives of Cham or Ham, the son of Noah, the same with Jupiter Ammon; and there was another Heathen deity, Amanus, Strabo speaks of, supposed to be the sun, (See Gill on “ Leviticus 26:30”), these, as Jarchi says, were in the form of the sun, and were set above the altars, over against the sun, to whom worship was paid; though some think this respects not place, but time, and that these were images in times past; in the preceding age, as the Tigurine version: and the groves, and the carved images and the molten images, he brake in pieces ; ordered them to be broken; the groves were statues, or images in groves, and thereby distinguished from those made of wood, and were carved, and from those that were of molten metal, and were placed elsewhere: and made dust of them, and strewed it upon the graves of them that had sacrificed unto them , (see 2 Kings 23:6).
Matthew Henry Commentary
Josiah's good reign in Judah. --As the years of infancy cannot be useful to our fellow-creatures, ou earliest youth should be dedicated to God, that we may not waste any of the remaining short space of life. Happy and wise are those who see the Lord and prepare for usefulness at an early age, when others ar pursuing sinful pleasures, contracting bad habits, and forming ruinou connexions. Who can express the anguish prevented by early piety, an its blessed effects? Diligent self-examination and watchfulness wil convince us of the deceitfulness and wickedness of our own hearts, an the sinfulness of our lives. We are here encouraged to humble ourselve before God, and to seek unto him, as Josiah did. And believers are her taught, not to fear death, but to welcome it, when it takes them awa from the evil to come. Nothing hastens the ruin of a people, nor ripen them for it, more than their disregard of the attempts made for their reformation. Be not deceived, God is not mocked. The current and tid of affections only turns at the command of Him who raises up those tha are dead in trespasses and sins. We behold peculiar loveliness, in the grace the Lord bestows on those, who in tender years seek to know an to love the Saviour. Hath Jesus, the Day-spring from on high, visite you? Can you trace your knowledge of this light and life of man, lik Josiah, from your youth? Oh the unspeakable happiness of becomin acquainted with Jesus from our earliest years __________________________________________________________________
Original Hebrew
וינתצו 5422 לפניו 6440 את 853 מזבחות 4196 הבעלים 1168 והחמנים 2553 אשׁר 834 למעלה 4605 מעליהם 5921 גדע 1438 והאשׁרים 842 והפסלים 6456 והמסכות 4541 שׁבר 7665 והדק 1854 ויזרק 2236 על 5921 פני 6440 הקברים 6913 הזבחים׃ 2076
