And he brake in pieces the images, and cut down the groves, and filled their places with the bones of men.
He smashed the idols into pieces, cut down the sacred poles, and filled those places with human bones.
King Josiah completely destroyed all the pagan worship sites and made them ceremonially unclean by scattering human bones there.
📚 Historical Context
In the historical context of 2 Kings 23, King Josiah of Judah was leading a sweeping religious reform after rediscovering the Book of the Law in the temple, which exposed the nation's idolatry and prompted him to purge the land of pagan influences. He targeted idols and sacred groves associated with Canaanite worship, as these represented direct violations of God's commands in the covenant. This act of breaking the images and filling the sites with bones was a deliberate desecration to render these places permanently unclean and unusable for false worship.
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