A free-standing incense altar or sun pillar associated with Baal worship β a symbol of idolatry condemned throughout the Prophets.
The Hebrew chamman refers to a cult object used in Canaanite worship β likely a standing incense burner, sun pillar, or altar for burning offerings to Baal or the sun god. The word may derive from chamah (sun/heat). It appears eight times in the OT (Leviticus 26:30; 2 Chronicles 14:5; 34:4,7; Isaiah 17:8; 27:9; Ezekiel 6:4,6) and is consistently connected with judgment β God promises to hack down these idolatrous structures when He cleanses the land.
The chammanim were portable or standing incense stands set up at high places throughout Israel and Judah. Their destruction becomes a sign of covenant renewal: King Asa 'removed the foreign altars and the high places, smashed the sacred stones and cut down the Asherah poles, and commanded Judah to seek the LORD' (2 Chronicles 14:3-5, including chammanim). Josiah's reform (2 Chronicles 34:4-7) similarly demolished them. The prophets saw these objects as the physical embodiment of Israel's spiritual adultery β and their destruction as the prerequisite for restoration.