Iconoclasm

How Nave’s arranged it

• Idols to be destroyedExodus 23:24Exodus 34:13Numbers 33:52Deuteronomy 7:5Deuteronomy 7:25Deuteronomy 7:26Deuteronomy 12:1–4Judges 2:2Jeremiah 50:2
• Destroyed by
• JacobGenesis 35:2–4
• MosesExodus 32:19Exodus 32:20
• GideonJudges 6:28–32
• David2 Samuel 5:211 Chronicles 14:12
• Jehu2 Kings 10:26–28
• Jehoiada2 Kings 11:18
• Hezekiah2 Kings 18:3–6
• Josiah2 Kings 23:4–20
• Asa2 Chronicles 14:3–52 Chronicles 15:8–16
• Jehoshaphat2 Chronicles 17:62 Chronicles 19:3

The passages, in Bible order (25)

The same references, sorted Genesis to Revelation. The first 16 are quoted in full; the rest are one click beneath them, book by book.

1. Genesis 35:2–4

   So Jacob told his household and all who were with him, “Get rid of the foreign gods that are among you. Purify yourselves and change your garments.

   ›Commentary on Genesis 35:2–42 voices

   “After he was called by God, Jacob ascends to Bethel, that is, to the house of God (this is how the name Bethel is interpreted), offers sacrifices to God and is declared chief and master of the holy rites. He teaches his successors and descendants how they must enter the house of God. He orders the foreign gods to be rejected like dung and filth and to change the garments. It is fitting for us to do likewise when we are called before God, or enter the divine temple, especially in the time of the holy baptism.

   “Put away the strange gods - אלהי הנכר elohey hannechar, the gods of the foreigners, which were among them. Jacob’s servants were all Syrians, and no doubt were addicted less or more to idolatry and superstition.

   Everything gathered on Genesis 35:2–4→

   Verse page →Original language →

2. Exodus 23:24

   You 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.

   ›Commentary on Exodus 23:242 voices

   “Break down their images - מצבתיהם matstsebotheyhem, from נצב natsab, to stand up; pillars, anointed stones, etc., such as the baitulia. See Clarke on Gen 28:18 (note).

   “They must not only not worship their gods, but they must utterly overthrow them, in token of their great abhorrence of idolatry, their resolution never to worship idols themselves, and their care to prevent any other from worshipping them; as the converted conjurors burnt their books, Acts xix. How rich the particulars of this promise are.

   Everything gathered on Exodus 23:24→

   Verse page →Original language →

3. Exodus 32:19

   As Moses approached the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, he burned with anger and threw the tablets out of his hands, shattering them at the base of the mountain.

   Verse page →Original language →

4. Exodus 32:20

   Then he took the calf they had made, burned it in the fire, ground it to powder, and scattered the powder over the face of the water. Then he forced the Israelites to drink it.

   ›Commentary on Exodus 32:201 voice

   “He took the calf - and burnt - and ground it to powder, etc. - How truly contemptible must the object of their idolatry appear when they were obliged to drink their god, reduced to powder and strewed on the water! “But,” says an objector, “how could gold, the most ductile of all metals, and the most ponderous, be stamped into dust and strewed on water?” In Deu 9:21, this matter is fully explained.

   Everything gathered on Exodus 32:20→

   Verse page →Original language →

5. Exodus 34:13

   Rather, you must tear down their altars, smash their sacred stones, and chop down their Asherah poles.

   Verse page →Original language →

6. Numbers 33:52

   you must drive out before you all the inhabitants of the land, destroy all their carved images and cast idols, and demolish all their high places.

   ›Commentary on Numbers 33:521 voice

   “Ye shall - destroy all their pictures - משכיתם maskiyotham, from שחה sachah, to be like, or resemble, either pictures, carved work, or embroidery, as far as these things were employed to exhibit the abominations of idolatry. Molten images צלמי מסכתם tsalmey massechotham, metallic talismanical figures, made under certain constellations, and supposed in consequence to be possessed of some extraordinary influences and virtues.

   Everything gathered on Numbers 33:52→

   Verse page →Original language →

7. Deuteronomy 7:5

   Instead, 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.

   ›Commentary on Deuteronomy 7:52 voices

   “If they were to be swept away like the antediluvians or the people of Sodom and Gomorrah, as incorrigible sinners who had filled up the measure of their iniquities, it mattered not to them in what way the judgment was inflicted; and God, as the Sovereign Disposer, had a right to employ any instruments that pleased Him for executing His judgments.

   “See Deu 6:10 note. Deu 7:5 Their groves - Render, their idols of wood: the reference is to the wooden trunk used as a representation of Ashtaroth; see Deu 7:13 and Exo 34:13 note. Deu 7:7 The fewest of all people - God chose for Himself Israel, when as yet but a single family, or rather a single person, Abraham; though there were already numerous nations and powerful kingdoms in the earth. Increase Deu 1:10; Deu 10:22 had taken place because of the very blessing of God spoken of in Deu 7:

   Everything gathered on Deuteronomy 7:5→

   Verse page →Original language →

8. Deuteronomy 7:25

   You must burn up the images of their gods; do not covet the silver and gold that is on them or take it for yourselves, or you will be ensnared by it; for it is detestable to the LORD your God.

   ›Commentary on Deuteronomy 7:251 voice

   “The silver or gold that is on them - The silver and gold with which the statues of the gods were overlaid. Paul is probably alluding to this command in Rom 2:22; and his accusation of the Jew thus shows that the prohibition of the text was very necessary. Lest thou be snared - As by the rich ephod made by Gideon: compare the marginal reference.

   Everything gathered on Deuteronomy 7:25→

   Verse page →Original language →

9. Deuteronomy 7:26

   And you must not bring any detestable thing into your house, or you, like it, will be set apart for destruction. You are to utterly detest and abhor it, because it is set apart for destruction.

   Verse page →Original language →

10. Deuteronomy 12:1–4

    These are the statutes and ordinances you must be careful to follow all the days you live in the land that the LORD, the God of your fathers, has given you to possess.

    ›Commentary on Deuteronomy 12:1–41 voice

    “Moses now passes on to apply Deut. 12–26 the leading principles of the Decalogue to the ecclesiastical, civil, and social life of the people. Particulars will be noticed which are unique to the Law as given in Deuteronomy; and even in laws repeated from the earlier books various new circumstances and details are introduced. This is only natural. The Sinaitic legislation was nearly 40 years old and had been given under conditions of time, place, and circumstance different and distant from those now present.

    Everything gathered on Deuteronomy 12:1–4→

    Verse page →Original language →

11. Judges 2:2

    and you are not to make a covenant with the people of this land, but you shall tear down their altars.’ Yet you have not obeyed My voice. What is this you have done?

    ›Commentary on Judges 2:21 voice

    “The two articles of the covenant here specified (compare margin references) are those which the Israelites had at this time broken. The other important prohibition Deu 7:3 is not specified by the Angel, and this is an indication that at the time the Angel spoke, intermarriages with the pagan spoken of Jdg 3:6 had not taken place; and this again is another evidence of the early date of this occurrence.

    Everything gathered on Judges 2:2→

    Verse page →Original language →

12. Judges 6:28–32

    When 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.

    ›Commentary on Judges 6:28–321 voice

    “The second bullock was offered - It appears that the second bullock was offered because it was just seven years old, Jdg 6:25, being calved about the time that the Midianitish oppression began; and it was now to be slain to indicate that their slavery should end with its life. The young bullock, Jdg 6:25, is supposed to have been offered for a peace-offering; the bullock of seven years old, for a burnt-offering.

    Everything gathered on Judges 6:28–32→

    Verse page →Original language →

13. 2 Samuel 5:21

    There the Philistines abandoned their idols, and David and his men carried them away.

    ›Commentary on 2 Samuel 5:211 voice

    “And there they left their images - An indication of the precipitancy of their flight, and the suddenness with which the Israelites burst upon them like a “breach of waters.” The King James Version rendering “Burned them,” does not give a translation (compare the margin), but a gloss, warranted by the explanation given in marginal references

    Everything gathered on 2 Samuel 5:21→

    Verse page →Original language →

14. 2 Kings 10:26–28

    They brought out the sacred pillar of the temple of Baal and burned it.

    ›Commentary on 2 Kings 10:26–281 voice

    “The images - Or “pillars” of wood. The Phoenician pillar idols were mere columns, obelisks, or posts, destitute of any shaping into the semblance of humanity (compare 1Ki 14:23 note).

    Everything gathered on 2 Kings 10:26–28→

    Verse page →Original language →

15. 2 Kings 11:18

    So all the people of the land went to the temple of Baal and tore it down. They smashed the altars and idols to pieces, and they killed Mattan the priest of Baal in front of the altars. And Jehoiada the priest posted guards for the house of the LORD.

    ›Commentary on 2 Kings 11:182 voices

    “His altars and images brake they in pieces - It is probable that Athaliah had set up the worship of Baal in Judah, as Jezebel had done in Israel; or probably it had never been removed since the days of Solomon. It was no wonder that Jehoiada began his reform with this act, when we learn from 2Ch 24:7, that the sons of Athaliah, that wicked woman, had broken up the house of God; and also all the dedicated things of the house of the Lord did they bestow upon Baalim.

    “All his worshippers, it should seem, deserted him; only his priest Mattan stuck to his altar. Though all men forsook Baal, he would not, and there he was slain, the best sacrifice that ever was offered upon that altar.

    Everything gathered on 2 Kings 11:18→

    Verse page →Original language →

16. 2 Kings 18:3–6

    And he did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, just as his father David had done.

    ›Commentary on 2 Kings 18:3–61 voice

    “He did that which was right ... - This is said without qualification of only three kings of Judah, Asa 1Ki 15:11, Hezekiah, and Josiah 2Ki 22:2. See some details of Hezekiah’s acts at the commencement of his reign in 2 Chr. 29, etc. It is thought that his reformation was preceded, and perhaps caused, by the prophecy of Micah recorded in Jer 26:18; Mic 3:12.

    Everything gathered on 2 Kings 18:3–6→

    Verse page →Original language →