Useful Bible Studies > 2 Kings Commentary > chapter 10
Jehu had killed the priests and the other leaders of the religion of the false god, Baal. However, that was not everything that he wanted to do. His intention was to destroy completely that religion in Israel, so that Israel’s people would not serve Baal in the future.
For that reason, Jehu ordered his soldiers to destroy everything that was sacred in the religion of Baal.
The inner room of a temple (house of a god) was its most sacred room. Probably, only the chief priest of Baal entered it; anyone else who entered it, would die. However, after the soldiers had killed all the priests, they could enter it. So, they took out of that room the sacred stone. This was the image of Baal and it was the temple’s most sacred object. They destroyed it in fire. Stone of course does not burn – but you can use a fire to break stone into small pieces.
The soldiers then destroyed the temple, so that people would not pray to Baal there. This was the great and splendid building that Ahab had built for the honour of Baal (1 Kings 16:32). They did not just destroy it. They also made it into an unclean place. It became a public toilet or rather, a public sewer – a place where waste from the human body flowed. It would then disgust people even to think to use such a place for the purposes of religion. It continued to be a sewer until the time when the author wrote this part of 2 Kings, and perhaps long afterwards.
Next part: Jehu's wrong religion (2 Kings 10:28-29)
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