מלכים ב, פרק ג׳, פסוק ב׳

The reign of Yehoram marks a period of partial spiritual reform in the kingdom of Israel, stepping away from the extreme practices of his parents, Ahab and Jezebel. Although he abandoned some of their idol worship, he still committed evil before God by maintaining the golden calves established by Jeroboam son of Nebat [רלב״ג, רד״ק]. However, the root of his wrongdoing was fundamentally different from that of his parents. Yehoram maintained these practices out of political fear and a desire to avoid harm. His parents, on the other hand, fully embraced idol worship [ביאור שטיינזלץ] and promoted the worship of Baal with the deliberate intention of angering God [רש״י, מלבי״ם].

Breaking away from this destructive family path [רלב״ג], the new king took concrete action by dismantling the monument of Baal [מצודת ציון] that his father had originally erected. Yet, his spiritual correction was incomplete. While he personally refused to worship both Baal and Asherah, he only targeted his father's monument. He left the Asherah set up by his mother completely untouched. This was a practical limitation rather than a religious preference; Jezebel was still alive and actively engaging in her idol worship, making it impossible for him to entirely eliminate her practices from the kingdom [רלב״ג, רד״ק].