2 Kings 17:16

17:16 They abandoned all the commandments of the Lord their God; they made two metal calves and an Asherah pole, bowed down to all the stars in the sky, ¹  and worshiped ²  Baal.

2 Kings 18:4

18:4 He eliminated the high places, smashed the sacred pillars to bits, and cut down the Asherah pole. ³  He also demolished the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for up to that time ⁴  the Israelites had been offering incense to it; it was called Nehushtan. ⁵ 

2 Kings 23:4

23:4 The king ordered Hilkiah the high priest, the high-ranking priests, ⁶  and the guards ⁷  to bring out of the Lord’s temple all the items that were used in the worship of ⁸  Baal, Asherah, and all the stars of the sky. ⁹  The king ¹⁰  burned them outside of Jerusalem in the terraces ¹¹  of Kidron, and carried their ashes to Bethel. ¹² 

Deuteronomy 7:5

7:5 Instead, this is what you must do to them: You must tear down their altars, shatter their sacred pillars, ¹³  cut down their sacred Asherah poles, ¹⁴  and burn up their idols.

Deuteronomy 7:1

The Dispossession of Nonvassals

7:1 When the Lord your God brings you to the land that you are going to occupy and forces out many nations before you – Hittites, ¹⁵  Girgashites, ¹⁶  Amorites, ¹⁷  Canaanites, ¹⁸  Perizzites, ¹⁹  Hivites, ²⁰  and Jebusites, ²¹  seven ²²  nations more numerous and powerful than you –

Deuteronomy 16:1

The Passover-Unleavened Bread Festival

16:1 Observe the month Abib ²³  and keep the Passover to the Lord your God, for in that month ²⁴  he ²⁵  brought you out of Egypt by night.

¹ tn The phrase כָל צְבָא הַשָּׁמַיִם (khol tsÿva’ hashamayim), traditionally translated “all the host of heaven,” refers to the heavenly lights, including stars and planets. In 1 Kgs 22:19 these heavenly bodies are pictured as members of the Lord’s royal court or assembly, but many other texts view them as the illegitimate objects of pagan and Israelite worship.

² tn Or “served.”

³ tn The term is singular in the MT but plural in the LXX and other ancient versions. It is also possible to regard the singular as a collective singular, especially in the context of other plural items.

⁴ tn Heb “until those days.”

⁵ tn In Hebrew the name sounds like the phrase נְחַשׁ הַנְּחֹשֶׁת (nÿkhash hannÿkhoshet), “bronze serpent.”

⁶ tn Heb “the priests of the second [rank],” that is, those ranked just beneath Hilkiah.

⁷ tn Or “doorkeepers.”

⁸ tn Heb “for.”

⁹ tn Heb “all the host of heaven” (also in v. 5).

¹⁰ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the king) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹¹ tn Or “fields.” For a defense of the translation “terraces,” see M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 285.

¹² map For location see Map4-G4; Map5-C1; Map6-E3; Map7-D1; Map8-G3.

¹³ sn Sacred pillars. The Hebrew word (מַצֵּבֹת, matsevot) denotes a standing pillar, usually made of stone. Its purpose was to mark the presence of a shrine or altar thought to have been visited by deity. Though sometimes associated with pure worship of the Lord (Gen 28:18, 22; 31:13; 35:14; Exod 24:4), these pillars were usually associated with pagan cults and rituals (Exod 23:24; 34:13; Deut 12:3; 1 Kgs 14:23; 2 Kgs 17:10; Hos 3:4; 10:1; Jer 43:13).

¹⁴ sn Sacred Asherah poles. A leading deity of the Canaanite pantheon was Asherah, wife/sister of El and goddess of fertility. She was commonly worshiped at shrines in or near groves of evergreen trees, or, failing that, at places marked by wooden poles (Hebrew אֲשֵׁרִים [’asherim], as here). They were to be burned or cut down (Deut 12:3; 16:21; Judg 6:25, 28, 30; 2 Kgs 18:4).

¹⁵ sn Hittites. The center of Hittite power was in Anatolia (central modern Turkey). In the Late Bronze Age (1550-1200 b.c.) they were at their zenith, establishing outposts and colonies near and far. Some elements were obviously in Canaan at the time of the Conquest (1400-1350 b.c.).

¹⁶ sn Girgashites. These cannot be ethnically identified and are unknown outside the OT. They usually appear in such lists only when the intention is to have seven groups in all (see also the note on the word “seven” later in this verse).

¹⁷ sn Amorites. Originally from the upper Euphrates region (Amurru), the Amorites appear to have migrated into Canaan beginning in 2200 b.c. or thereabouts.

¹⁸ sn Canaanites. These were the indigenous peoples of the land, going back to the beginning of recorded history (ca. 3000 b.c.). The OT identifies them as descendants of Ham (Gen 10:6), the only Hamites to have settled north and east of Egypt.

¹⁹ sn Perizzites. This is probably a subgroup of Canaanites (Gen 13:7; 34:30).

²⁰ sn Hivites. These are usually thought to be the same as the Hurrians, a people well-known in ancient Near Eastern texts. They are likely identical to the Horites (see note on the term “Horites” in Deut 2:12).

²¹ sn Jebusites. These inhabited the hill country, particularly in and about Jerusalem (cf. Num 13:29; Josh 15:8; 2 Sam 5:6; 24:16).

²² sn Seven. This is an ideal number in the OT, one symbolizing fullness or completeness. Therefore, the intent of the text here is not to be precise and list all of Israel’s enemies but simply to state that Israel will have a full complement of foes to deal with. For other lists of Canaanites, some with fewer than seven peoples, see Exod 3:8; 13:5; 23:23, 28; 33:2; 34:11; Deut 20:17; Josh 3:10; 9:1; 24:11. Moreover, the “Table of Nations” (Gen 10:15-19) suggests that all of these (possibly excepting the Perizzites) were offspring of Canaan and therefore Canaanites.

²³ sn The month Abib, later called Nisan (Neh 2:1; Esth 3:7), corresponds to March-April in the modern calendar.

²⁴ tn Heb “in the month Abib.” The demonstrative “that” has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons.

²⁵ tn Heb “the Lord your God.” The pronoun has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons to avoid redundancy.