Moreover, the altar at Bethel, the high place erected by Jeroboam son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin—he pulled down that altar and the high place; he burned the high place, crushing it to dust; and he burned the sacred pole — Josiah's reformation extends beyond Judean territory to Bethel, the primary site of Jeroboam I's schismatic apostasy. The systematic destruction—pulling down the altar, burning the high place, crushing it to dust, burning the Asherah—represents comprehensive desecration of the original source of northern apostasy. The phrase 'who made Israel to sin' invokes Jeroboam's foundational role in the northern kingdom's spiritual decline.

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