1 Kings 15:13

_AND ALSO MAACHAH HIS MOTHER, EVEN HER HE REMOVED FROM BEING QUEEN, BECAUSE SHE HAD MADE AN IDOL IN A GROVE; AND ASA DESTROYED HER IDOL, AND BURNT IT BY THE BROOK KIDRON._ Also Maachah his mother ... her he removed from being queen (cf. 2 Chronicles 15:16 with 2 Kings 10:13; 2 Kings 24:12) х_ MIGªBIYRAAH_ (H1377) = _ 'EEM_ (H517) _ HAMELEK_ (H4428), king's mother, a title of dignity; Septuagint, tou mee einai heegoumeneen, from being leader (see the notes at 1 Kings

9-24 Asa did what was right in the eyes of the Lord. That is right indeed which is so in God's eyes. Asa's times were times of reformation. He removed that which was evil; there reformation begins, and a great deal he found to do. When Asa found idolatry in the court, he rooted it out thence. Reformation must begin at home. Asa honours and respects his mother; he loves her well, but he loves God better. Those that have power are happy when thus they have hearts to use it well. We must not only cease to do evil, but learn to do well; not only cast away the idols of our iniquity, but dedicate ourselves and our all to God's honour and glory. Asa was cordially devoted to the service of God, his sins not arising from presumption. But his league with Benhadad arose from unbelief. Even true believers find it hard, in times of urgent danger, to trust in the Lord with all their heart. Unbelief m...

Verse 1 Kings 15:13. _SHE HAD MADE AN IDOL IN A GROVE_] The original word, מפלצת _miphletseth_, is variously understood. I shall give its different views in the versions:- "Besides, he removed his mother Maacha from being chief in the sacred rites of Priapus, and in his grove which she had consecrated." - VULGATE. "And Ana, [other copies Maacha,] he removed from being governess, because she had made an assembly in her grove." - SEPTUAGINT. "Moreover, he deprived Maacha, his mother, of her own magnificence, because she had celebrated a solemnity to her own worship." - SYRIAC. "And even Maacha, his mother, he removed from the kingdom, because she had made an idol in a grove." - CHALDEE. "Besides, he removed Maacha, his mother, from her kingdom, because she had made a high tree into an idol." - ARA

Asa degraded Maachah from the rank and state of queen-mother. The word translated “idol” both here and in the parallel passage (marginal reference), does not occur elsewhere in Scripture. It is derived from a root signifying “fear” or “trembling,” and may perhaps best be understood as “a fright, a horror.” Such a name would seem best to apply to a grotesque and hideous image like the Phthah of the Egyptians. She made it to serve in lieu of the ordinary “grove” - asherah, or idolatrous emblem of Astarte (Exodus 34:13 note). Asa cut it down, for like the usual “asherah,” Maachah’s “horror” was fixed in the ground. AND BURNT IT AT THE BROOK KIDRON - Similarly Josiah, when he removed Manasseh’s “grove” - asherah - from the house of the Lord, brought it out to the brook Kidron, and burned it the

EXPOSITION THE REIGNS OF ABIJAM AND ASA, KINGS OF JUDAH. _The Reign of Abijam_. 1 KINGS 15:1 NOW IN THE EIGHTEENTH YEAR OF KING JEROBOAM, THE SON OF NEBAT, REIGNED ABIJAM [see note on 1 Kings 14:31. It is implied in 2 Chronicles 11:20-14 that he was not the firstborn among Rehoboam's twenty-eight sons, but the eldest son of the favourite wife. As he left behind him thirty-eight children ...

AND ALSO MAACHAH HIS MOTHER, EVEN HER HE REMOVED FROM BEING QUEEN,.... From the kingdom, as the Targum; from having any share in the government, as she might have had during his minority, his mother being dead, as some conjecture; and not only took away her power and authority, but all the ensigns of it, and perhaps forbid her the court: or he removed her from the queen, his own wife, that she might not be corrupted by her; or rather it was from presiding over the rites of the idol next mentioned, and the worshipping of it: BECAUSE SHE HAD MADE AN IDOL IN A GROVE; which had its name from horror and trembling; either because it was of a terrible aspect, or injected horror into its worshippers, or brought terrible calamities and judgments upon them: according to some Jewish writers r, it was a Priapus, of an obscene figure; and so others s, who suppose she presided over the sacred rites o...

3. ABIJAM AND ASA, KINGS OF JUDAH CHAPTER 15 _ 1. Abijam of Judah (1 Kings 15:1; 2 Chronicles 13)_ 2. Asa of Judah (1 Kings 15:9; 1 Kings 2 Chronicles 14-16) Abijam is called in Chronicles Abijah; in 2 Chronicles 13:21 he is called Abijahu. Abijam was undoubtedly the older form. It is possible that on account of his great address of rebuke to Jeroboam (2 Chronicles 13:4) they may have called him Abijah (Jehovah is my fat

ABIJAM AND ASA OF JUDAH, AND NADAB AND BAASHA OF ISRAEL. Abijam, called Abijah (2 Chronicles 13:1), had a short and evil reign. It would appear, notwithstanding 1 Kings 15:8, that he was succeeded by his brother Asa, as both are said to have had the same mother, Maacah, the daughter of Abishalom. Josephus says the granddaughter of Absalom; see 2 Chronicles 11:20). Except that Asa could not remove the high places he is said to have done right during his long reign of forty-one years. Asa deposed Maacah from the position of queen-mother for her idolatry. She had made (1 Kings 15:13) an abominable image (Heb. a horror o

_And also Maachah_ Here, as above, the LXX. has _Ana_. _his mother, even her he removed_ The R.V. omits -even her". The Hebrew has this construction, but it is Hebrew, not English, though like several other Hebrew idioms, it has become accepted, through the influence of the A. V. _from_being _queen_ i.e. From the influential position of queen mother. The title is not the usual word for -queen" but one which implies special authority and influence. _she had made an idol in a grove_ R.V. -had made AN ABOMINABLE IMAGE FOR AN ASHÊRAH." The word which the A.V. renders -idol" is one of the numerous terms which the Hebrew language applied to the objects of idolatrous worship. It is cognate with words which signify -horror," -trembling," -fearfulness," and indicates an erection which was likely to excite such feelings. On -Ashêrah," which is used sometimes for the goddess, sometimes for the id...

MAACHAH HIS MOTHER—HE REMOVED FROM BEING QUEEN, BECAUSE SHE HAD MADE AN IDOL IN A GROVE— The word which we render idol, is in the original מפלצת _mepletzet,_ the signification of which has been doubted. The Vulgate, however, has in a great measure cleared the matter, by rendering the passage that this queen-mother was the high priestess in the sacrifices of Priapus; and when the LXX, according to the Vatican copy, informs us, that she held an assembly in this grove, and that her son Asa cut down all the close harbours or places of retreat; as the word Συνοδος which we render _assembly,_ may have a more carnal meaning; and the other, καταδυους properly signifies _hiding places,_ or places of retirement for wicked and obscene purposes; we may hence infer, that both the Latin and Greek translators took the idol of Maachah to be some lewd and lascivious deity, which loved to be worshipped in...