And he brought out the grove from the house of the LORD, without Jerusalem, unto the brook Kidron, and burned it at the brook Kidron, and stamped it small to powder, and cast the powder thereof upon the graves of the children of the people.
He removed the Asherah pole from the LORD's temple and took it outside Jerusalem to the Kidron Valley, where he burned it. Then he ground it into powder and scattered the powder over the graves of the common people.
King Josiah completely destroyed a pagan worship object by burning it, grinding it to dust, and scattering it on graves to show his complete rejection of idol worship.
📚 Historical Context
This occurred during King Josiah's religious reforms around 621 BC, when he was purging Judah of all pagan worship practices that had been introduced by previous kings. The Asherah pole was a wooden symbol used in Canaanite fertility worship that had been placed in God's temple. The Kidron Valley was located east of Jerusalem and served as the city's main burial ground and garbage dump.
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