2 Chronicles 31 · a question people ask
Did Hezekiah break the pillars, or did the people?
2 Chronicles 31 says the people did: "all Israel who were present went out to the cities of Judah and broke the pillars in pieces, cut down the Asherah poles" (31:1). 2 Kings, telling the same reign, says it of the king: "He removed the high places, broke the pillars, and cut down the Asherah" (2 Kings 18:4). 2 Chronicles also puts the high places and altars on Hezekiah, in the message Sennacherib sent by his servants (32:9-10): "Hasn’t the same Hezekiah taken away his high places and his altars" (32:12). 2 Kings adds that he "broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made" (2 Kings 18:4), which 2 Chronicles doesn't mention. The verses are set side by side here and not explained.
The verses
“Now when all this was finished, all Israel who were present went out to the cities of Judah and broke the pillars in pieces, cut down the Asherah poles, and broke down the high places and the altars out of all Judah and Benjamin, also in Ephraim and Manasseh, until they had destroyed them all. Then all the children of Israel returned, every man to his possession, into their own cities.”
“He removed the high places, broke the pillars, and cut down the Asherah. He also broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made, because in those days the children of Israel burned incense to it; and he called it Nehushtan.”