he broke down the altars and beat the Asherah poles and the carved images into powder. He cut down all the incense altars throughout all the land of Israel, and returned to Jerusalem.
“beat the Asherah poles and the carved images into powder.” Josiah destroyed the idols, as the Law of Moses commanded (see commentary on Deut. 7:5). The fact that these were beaten to powder indicated they were stone or perhaps clay.