1 Kings 22:46
“And the remnant of the sodomites, which remained in the days of his father Asa, he took out of the land.”
King James Version (KJV)
Read this verse in context with translation switching:
Read Full Chapter →Jehoshaphat continues his father Asa's spiritual cleansing by removing the remaining male cult prostitutes from Judah.
Context
The term 'sodomites' here refers to qadesh, males who served in temple prostitution associated with pagan religious rites. Asa had begun this reform; Jehoshaphat completes it, removing those who remained. This is presented as an act of religious purification.
What Does 1 Kings 22:46 Mean?
Where his father Asa had begun a work, Jehoshaphat continues it. He takes note of what remains: the last vestiges of the old religious practices, the men set apart for temple prostitution in service to false gods. These remnants he removes from the land. It is an act of purification, a completing of what Asa had initiated, a final severing of the ties that bound Judah to the old pagan ways.
This act, placed at the close of Jehoshaphat's introduction, shows us the specific character of his faithfulness. It is not merely personal piety or the maintenance of the status quo his father left him. It is an active, continuing work of reformation, a willingness to identify what remains of the old corruption and to remove it from the people's midst. It shows a king who inherits his father's vision and advances it, who does not rest content with half-measures but presses toward a fuller purification.
In the Original Language
sodomites (Hebrew qadesh or qadeshim), 'holy ones' in the sense of temple servants--specifically, males devoted to ritual prostitution in pagan worship; the term here refers to the religious function, not to sexual identity per se, though the practice involved sexual degradation in service to false gods.
Application
When we inherit a legacy of faithfulness, we are called not merely to maintain it but to complete it. Identify what remains of the old ways in your own heart and in your community, and work steadily to remove it. Faithfulness is not a resting place but a continuing journey of purification and return to God.