“And the high places that were before Jerusalem, which were on the right hand of the mount of corruption, which Solomon the king of Israel had builded for Ashtoreth the abomination of the Zidonians, and for Chemosh the abomination of the Moabites, and for Milcom the abomination of the children of Ammon, did the king defile.”
My Notes
What Does 2 Kings 23:13 Mean?
Josiah, the great reformer, tears down the high places that Solomon himself built — the ones Solomon constructed for his foreign wives' gods: Ashtoreth (Sidon), Chemosh (Moab), and Milcom (Ammon). Three hundred years of standing idolatry, built by the wisest king in history, finally demolished by the most faithful one.
The phrase "which Solomon the king of Israel had builded" is the narrator's knife: the high places weren't built by a pagan conqueror. They were built by Israel's own golden-age king. The wisest man alive constructed the altars that corrupted the nation for three centuries. Solomon's compromise outlasted Solomon's kingdom.
The Mount of Olives — here called "the mount of corruption" — was the location. The same mountain where Jesus would later weep over Jerusalem (Luke 19:41) and ascend to heaven (Acts 1:12) was once the site of Solomon's idolatrous shrines. Sacred geography has layers.
Reflection Questions
- 1.What 'high places' have been built in your family or community that are still standing because no one has had the courage to remove them?
- 2.Does Solomon (wisest king) building the idolatry challenge your confidence in human wisdom?
- 3.What does it take to be a 'Josiah' — to tear down what centuries of leadership left standing?
- 4.Does the three-hundred-year duration of Solomon's compromise make you more careful about what you're building today?
Devotional
The high places Solomon built. Three hundred years ago. Still standing. Until Josiah finally tore them down.
Solomon — wisest king, temple builder, writer of Proverbs — built shrines for Ashtoreth, Chemosh, and Milcom. For his wives. On the Mount of Olives. And they stood there for three centuries. No king between Solomon and Josiah had the will to remove what the greatest king had built.
The narrator names Solomon deliberately: "which Solomon the king of Israel had builded." The shame isn't anonymous. The wisest man alive built the idolatry that corrupted the nation for three hundred years. His love for foreign women produced the shrines that outlasted his kingdom, survived the split of Israel and Judah, and stood as a permanent testimony to what compromise builds.
Three hundred years. That's how long Solomon's compromise stood before someone dealt with it. Thirty generations of kings saw those high places on the Mount of Olives and left them alone. Too politically costly. Too culturally embedded. Too historically significant to tear down. Until Josiah — a young king with a tender heart (2 Chronicles 34:27) — said: enough.
The Mount of Olives. Solomon put idolatry there. Josiah removed it. Jesus would later weep there. And ascend from there. The same mountain. Layer after layer of sacred and profane, building and destroying, corruption and redemption.
What you build in compromise stands longer than you think. Solomon built it. It took three hundred years to tear it down. Your compromise might produce a high place that outlasts your grandchildren.
Build carefully. What you construct in a moment of weakness might stand for centuries.
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
And he brake in pieces the images,.... Of Ashtoreth, Chemosh, and Milcom, in the above high places; which as these high…
A parenthesis giving the earlier reforms of Josiah. 2Ki 23:4 The priests of the second order - This is a new expression;…
Mount of corruption - This, says Jarchi, following the Chaldee, was the mount of Olives, for this is the mount המשחה…
We have here an account of such a reformation as we have not met with in all the history of the kings of Judah, such…
Cross References
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