Charles Ellicott Commentary 2 Kings 23:15

"Moreover the altar that was at Beth-el, and the high place which Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, had made, even that altar and the high place he brake down; and he burned the high place and beat it to dust, and burned the Asherah." — 2 Kings 23:15 (ASV)

The altar ... and the high place. —The and is missing in the Hebrew, Septuagint, and Targum. It is supplied in the Syriac, Vulgate, and Arabic, correctly regarding the sense; see below. Grammatically, “the high place” may be in apposition to “the altar,” and may include it, as being a more general term.

Which Jeroboam the son of Nebat ... —See 1 Kings 12:28 and following.

Burned the high place. —Was it, then, a wooden structure, as Thenius supposes? Perhaps it resembled a dolmen (many hundred such have been found in Palestine); and fire may have been kindled under it, to crack the huge slabs of stone of which it was built. The fragments might then be more easily crushed.

Burned the grove. —The present text is, burned an ash ç rah. Perhaps the article has fallen out; especially as this is not the only indication that the text has suffered in this place. Thenius understands the word in the general sense of an idol-image, comparing 2 Kings 17:29 and following. But it is doubtful whether the word Ash ç rah is so used. It is noteworthy that the present passage indirectly agrees with Hosea 10:6, for no mention is made of what used to be the chief object of worship at Beth-el, namely, the golden bullock. It had been carried away to Assyria, as the prophet foretold.