2 Kings 21:3 - Exposition

For he built up again the high places which Hezekiah his father had destroyed . On the high-place worship, see the comment upon 1 Kings 14:23 . It is quite clear that the people were deeply attached to it, and gladly saw it restored. And he reared up altars for Baal ; i.e. he reintroduced the Phoenician Baal-worship, the special abomination of the house of Ahab ( 1 Kings 16:31 ; 1 Kings 22:53 ; 2 Kings 8:18 , 2 Kings 8:27 , etc.), which Athaliah had been the first to introduce into Judah ( 2 Kings 11:18 ), which Joash had put away ( 2 Kings 11:18 ), but which Ahaz ( 2 Chronicles 28:2 ) had recalled. And made a grove ; literally, an Asherah , or emblem of Astarte (compare the comment on 1 Kings 14:23 )— as did Ahab King of Israel (see 1 Kings 16:33 ) and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served them. The worship the host of heaven, or the entire multitude of the heavenly bodies, commonly known as Sabaeanism or Ssabianism, was an ancient Babylonian, Arabian, and Syrian practice. It had, perhaps, been introduced among the Jews by Ahaz ( 2 Kings 23:12 ). At any rate, it was from the time of Manasseh one of the favorite idolatries of the Jewish people. The stars were believed to guide the destiny of men, and astrology was cultivated as a main part, or even as the essence, of religion. Astrological tracts form an important element in the literature of the Babylonians. The chief objects of adoration in this worship were the sun and moon, the five planets, and the signs of the zodiac.