2 Kings 18:4

Hezekiah tore down the high places, pillars, and Asherah, and even destroyed Moses' bronze serpent because Israel had begun worshiping it. He shows that even good things become idols when venerated.

Cross-references · 23

• 2 Chr 31:1When all this had ended, the Israelites in attendance went out to the cities of Judah and broke up the sacred pillars, chopped down the Asherah poles, and tore down the high places and altars throughout Judah and Benjamin, as well as in Ephraim and Manasseh, until they had utterly destroyed them all. Then all the Israelites returned to their cities, each to his own property.
• Num 21:8–9Then the LORD said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent and mount it on a pole. When anyone who is bitten looks at it, he will live.”
• 2 Kgs 18:22But if you say to me, ‘We trust in the LORD our God,’ is He not the One whose high places and altars Hezekiah has removed, saying to Judah and Jerusalem: ‘You must worship before this altar in Jerusalem’?
• Lev 26:30I will destroy your high places, cut down your incense altars, and heap your lifeless bodies on the lifeless remains of your idols; and My soul will despise you.
• Deut 7:5Instead, this is what you are to do to them: tear down their altars, smash their sacred pillars, cut down their Asherah poles, and burn their idols in the fire.
• 1 Kgs 3:2–3The people, however, were still sacrificing on the high places because a house for the Name of the LORD had not yet been built.
• 2 Kgs 12:3Nevertheless, the high places were not removed; the people continued sacrificing and burning incense there.
• Exod 23:24You must not bow down to their gods or serve them or follow their practices. Instead, you are to demolish them and smash their sacred stones to pieces.
• Judg 6:25On that very night the LORD said to Gideon, “Take your father’s young bull and a second bull seven years old, tear down your father’s altar to Baal, and cut down the Asherah pole beside it.
• Judg 6:28When the men of the city got up in the morning, there was Baal’s altar torn down, with the Asherah pole cut down beside it and the second bull offered up on the newly built altar.
• Deut 12:2–3Destroy completely all the places where the nations you are dispossessing have served their gods—atop the high mountains, on the hills, and under every green tree.
• 1 Kgs 15:12–14He banished the male shrine prostitutes from the land and removed all the idols that his fathers had made.
• 1 Kgs 22:43And Jehoshaphat walked in all the ways of his father Asa; he did not turn away from them, but did what was right in the eyes of the LORD. The high places, however, were not removed; the people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places.
• 2 Chr 33:3For he rebuilt the high places that his father Hezekiah had torn down, and he raised up altars for the Baals and made Asherah poles. And he worshiped and served all the host of heaven.
• 2 Kgs 14:4Nevertheless, the high places were not taken away, and the people continued sacrificing and burning incense on the high places.
• Ps 78:58They enraged Him with their high places and provoked His jealousy with their idols.
• Ezek 20:28–29When I brought them into the land that I swore to give them and they saw any high hill or leafy tree, there they offered their sacrifices, presented offerings that provoked Me, sent up their fragrant incense, and poured out their drink offerings.
• 2 Kgs 15:4Nevertheless, the high places were not taken away; the people continued sacrificing and burning incense there.
• 2 Chr 19:3However, some good is found in you, for you have removed the Asherah poles from the land and have set your heart on seeking God.”
• John 3:14–15Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up,
• 2 Kgs 15:35Nevertheless, the high places were not taken away; the people continued sacrificing and burning incense there. Jotham rebuilt the Upper Gate of the house of the LORD.
• 2 Kgs 16:15Then King Ahaz commanded Uriah the priest, “Offer on the great altar the morning burnt offering, the evening grain offering, and the king’s burnt offering and grain offering, as well as the burnt offerings, grain offerings, and drink offerings of all the people of the land. Sprinkle on the altar all the blood of the burnt offerings and sacrifices. But I will use the bronze altar to seek guidance.”
• 2 Kgs 23:4Then the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest, the priests second in rank, and the doorkeepers to remove from the temple of the LORD all the articles made for Baal, Asherah, and all the host of heaven. And he burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of Kidron and carried their ashes to Bethel.

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