Commentaries:
Adam Clarke
The garden of Uzza - The family sepulcher or burying-place.
It is said II Kings 21:3, II Kings 21:7, that "Manasseh made a grove; and he set a graven image of the grove," etc. vaiyasem eth pesel haasherah , asher asah : "And he put the graven image of Asherah, which he had made," into the house.
Asherah, which we translate grove, is undoubtedly the name of an idol; and probably of one which was carved out of wood.
R. S. Jarchi, on Genesis 12:3, says, "that asherah means a tree which was worshipped by the Gentiles;" like as the oak was worshipped by the ancient Druids in Britain.
Castel, in Lex. Hept. sub voce , defines asherah thus, Simulacrum ligneum Astartae dicatum ; "A wooden image dedicated to Astrate or Venus."
The Septuagint render the words by ; and Flamminius Nobilis, on II Kings 23:4, says Rursus notat Theodoretus esse Astartem et Venerem, et ab aliis interpretibus dictum Ashatroth ; i.e. "Again Theodoret observes, is Astarte and Venus; and by other interpreters called Ashtaroth."
The Targum of Ben Uzziel, on Deuteronomy 7:5, vaasheyrehem tegaddeun ; i.e., "Their groves shall ye cut down" - translates the place thus, ,suht ecalp e veilaney sigedeyhon tekatsetsun ; "And the oaks of their adoration shall ye cut down."
From the above it is pretty evident that idols, not groves, are generally intended where asherah and its derivatives are used.
Here follow proofs: -
In II Kings 23:6, it is said that "Josiah brought out the grove from the house of the Lord." This translation seems very absurd; for what grove could there be in the temple? There was none planted there, nor was there room for any. The plain meaning of vaiyotse eth haasherah mibbeyth Jehovah , is, "And he brought out the (goddess) Asherah from the house of the Lord, and burnt it," etc.
That this is the true meaning of the place appears farther from II Kings 23:7, where it is said, "He broke down the houses of the sodomites," ( hakkedeshim , of the whoremongers), "where the women wove hangings for the grove" ( bottim laasherah , "houses or shrines for Asherah." ) Similar perhaps to those which the silversmiths made for Diana, Acts 19:24. It is rather absurd to suppose that the women were employed in making curtains to encompass a grove.
The Syriac and Arabic versions countenance the interpretation I have given above. In II Kings 23:6, the former says, "He cast out the idol, dechlotho , from the house of the Lord;" and in II Kings 23:7 : "He threw down the houses, dazoine , of the prostitutes; and the women who wove garments, ledechlotho , for the idols which were there." The Arabic is exactly the same.
From the whole it is evident that Asherah was no other than Venus; the nature of whose worship is plain enough from the mention of whoremongers and prostitutes.
I deny not that there were groves consecrated to idolatrous worship among the Gentiles, but I am sure that such are not intended in the above-cited passages; and the text, in most places, reads better when understood in this way.
Other Adam Clarke entries containing 2 Kings 21:26:
2 Kings 21:7
2 Kings 21:18
2 Kings 23:6
2 Kings 23:7
2 Chronicles 33:25
John 19:41
DISCLAIMER: Church of the Great God (CGG) provides these resources to aid the individual in studying the Bible. However, it is up to the individual to "prove all things, and hold fast to that which is good" (I Thessalonians 5:21). The content of these resources does not necessarily reflect the views of CGG. They are provided for information purposes only.
