2 Chronicles 14:5

Also he took away out of all the cities of Judah the high places and the images: and the kingdom was quiet before him.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

14:1-15 Asa's piety, He strengthens his kingdom. - Asa aimed at pleasing God, and studied to approve himself to him. Happy those that walk by this rule, not to do that which is right in their own eyes, or in the eye of the world, but which is so in God's sight. We find by experience that it is good to seek the Lord; it gives us rest; while we pursue the world, we meet with nothing but vexation. Asa consulted with his people how to make a good use of the peace they enjoyed; and concluded with them that they must not be idle, nor secure. A formidable army of Ethiopians invaded Asa's kingdom. This evil came upon them, that their faith in God might be tried. Asa's prayer is short, but it is the real language of faith and expectation from God. When we go forth in God's name, we cannot but prosper, and all things work together for the good of those whom he favours.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Images - See the margin, sun-images; and Leviticus 26:30 note.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

5. he took away … the high places—that is, those devoted to idolatrous rites.

took away out of all the cities of Judah the high places and the images—All public objects and relics of idolatry in Jerusalem and other cities through his kingdom were destroyed; but those high places where God was worshipped under the figure of an ox, as at Beth-el, were allowed to remain (1Ki 15:14); so far the reformation was incomplete.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

No text from Poole on this verse.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Also he took away out of all the cities of Judah the high places and the images,.... Perhaps the high places in 2 Chronicles 14:3 design only the high places and altars in Jerusalem, and near it; these in all the rest of the cities of the land; the "images were", as the word signifies, "sun images", either made in the form of the sun, or dedicated to it, or temples for it; See Gill on Leviticus 26:30,

and the kingdom was quiet before him; he had no foreign enemy to molest him, and so took that opportunity to reform divine worship, and in that he met with no opposition from his people.

Geneva Study Bible

Also he took away out of all the cities of Judah the high places and the images: and the kingdom was {b} quiet before him.

(b) He shows that the rest and quietness of kingdoms stands in abolishing idolatry and advancing true religion.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

5. the images] R.V. the sun-images. Cp. 2 Chronicles 34:4; Isaiah 17:8; Isaiah 27:9, The Heb. word (“ḥamman”) is of uncertain meaning, and it is possible that no kind of image is meant, but rather the hearth on which the sacred fire was kept. The Heb. root means “to be hot.” (W. R. Smith, Religion of the Semites, p. 489.)

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 5. - The images; Hebrew, חַמָּנֹים. The images spoken of here are, of coarse, not the same with those (noted upon already) of ver. 3. The present khammanim are mentioned seven times beside, viz. Leviticus 26:30; 2 Chronicles 34:4, 7; Isaiah 17:8; Isaiah 27:9; Ezekiel 6:4, 6. Gesenius says Khamman is an epithet of Baal as bearing rule over the sun (חַמָה, "heat," or "the sun"), in the oft-found compound expression, בַֹּעַל חַמָּן; he thinks the plural (חַמָּנִים), invariably found in the Old Testament, is short for בְּעָלִים חַמָּנִים. He does not agree with the translation of Haenaker ('Miscell. Phoen.,' p. 50), "sun-image" by aid of the word פֶסֶל understood, images said to have been of a pyramid form, and placed in the most sacred positions of Baal-temples. This, however, is the rendering adopted by not a few modern commentators (so 2 Chronicles 34:4). Gesenius would render "the Sun-Bard," or "the Sun-Lord," i.e. statues of the sun, representing a deity to whom (see ' Phoen. Inseript.') votive stones,were inscribed. In his 'Thesaurus' (p. 489) Gesenius instances the Phoenician inscriptions, as showing that our chemmanim denoted statues of both Baal, the sun-god, and Astarte, the moon-goddess. 2 Chronicles 14:5

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

He removed from all the cities of Judah the altars of the high places, and the חמּנים, sun-pillars, pillars or statues consecrated to Baal as sun-god, which were erected near or upon the altars of Baal (2 Chronicles 34:4; see on Leviticus 26:30). In consequence of this the kingdom had rest לפניו, before him, i.e., under his oversight (cf. Numbers 8:22). This ten-years' quiet (2 Chronicles 14:1) which God granted him, Asa employed in building fortresses in Judah (2 Chronicles 14:5). "We will build these cities, and surround them with walls and towers, gates and bolts." It is not said what the cities were, but they were at any rate others than Geba and Mizpah, which he caused to be built after the war with Baasha (2 Chronicles 16:6). "The land is still before us," i.e., open, free from enemies, so that we may freely move about, and build therein according to our pleasure. For the phraseology, cf. Genesis 13:9. The repetition of דּרשׁנוּ, 2 Chronicles 14:6, is impassioned speech. "They built and had success;" they built with effect, without meeting with any hindrances.