2 Kings 23:13

Before Jerusalem. That is, toward the east of the city. Directions were determined from the standpoint of facing east. The left hand would thus be the north, the right hand would thus be the south, and the back would be the west. See 1 Kings 11:5-8 for an account of the high places that Solomon built for strange gods. Good kings, such as Asa, Jehoshaphat, and Hezekiah, doubtless did not permit the worship of strange gods at these high places, but probably allowed the worship of Jehovah to be carried on there.

Mount of corruption. Presumably the southern slope of the Mt. of Olives, evidently so called by way of contempt, to show the detestation of the abominable idol worship carried on to the east of the holy Temple.

Did the king defile. The record says, not that these high places were broken down, but only that they were defiled. Some of them, presumably, consisted largely of native stones or flat surfaces of rock with holes scooped in them for receiving libations, etc. Such sites are well known in Palestine. It is hardly conceivable that buildings erected by Solomon for the worship of Ashtoreth, Chemosh, and Milcom would have been allowed to remain through the reformatory movements of Asa, Jehoshaphat, and Hezekiah. Hezekiah “removed the high places,” “utterly” destroying “them all” (2 Kings 18:4; 2 Chron. 31:1). Yet such was the case (PK 405).