Reference: High place
Easton
an eminence, natural or artificial, where worship by sacrifice or offerings was made (1Ki 13:32; 2Ki 17:29). The first altar after the Flood was built on a mountain (Ge 8:20). Abraham also built an altar on a mountain (Ge 12:7-8). It was on a mountain in Gilead that Laban and Jacob offered sacrifices (Ge 31:54). After the Israelites entered the Promised Land they were strictly enjoined to overthrow the high places of the Canaanites (Ex 34:13; De 7:5; 12:2-3), and they were forbidden to worship the Lord on high places (De 12:11-14), and were enjoined to use but one altar for sacrifices (Le 17:3-4; De 12; 16:21). The injunction against high places was, however, very imperfectly obeyed, and we find again and again mention made of them (2-Kings/14/4/type/darby'>2Ki 14:4; 2-Kings/15/4/type/darby'>15:4,2, etc.).
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And Noah built an altar to Jehovah; and took of every clean animal, and of all clean fowl, and offered up burnt-offerings on the altar.
And Jehovah appeared to Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land. And there he built an altar to Jehovah who had appeared to him. And he removed thence towards the mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, having Bethel toward the west, and Ai toward the east; and there he built an altar to Jehovah, and called on the name of Jehovah.
And Jacob offered a sacrifice upon the mountain, and invited his brethren to eat bread: and they ate bread, and lodged on the mountain.
but ye shall demolish their altars, shatter their statues, and hew down their Asherahs.
Every one of the house of Israel that slaughtereth an ox, or sheep, or goat, in the camp, or that slaughtereth it out of the camp, and doth not bring it to the entrance of the tent of meeting to present it as an offering to Jehovah, before the tabernacle of Jehovah, blood shall be reckoned unto that man: he hath shed blood; and that man shall be cut off from among his people,
But thus shall ye deal with them: ye shall break down their altars, and shatter their statues, and hew down their Asherahs, and burn their graven images with fire.
Ye shall utterly destroy all the places wherein the nations which ye shall dispossess have served their gods, upon the high mountains, and upon the hills, and under every green tree; and ye shall break down their altars, and shatter their statues, and burn their Asherahs with fire; and ye shall hew down the graven images of their gods, and ye shall destroy the names of them out of that place.
then there shall be a place which Jehovah your God will choose to cause his name to dwell there; thither shall ye bring all that I command you: your burnt-offerings, and your sacrifices, your tithes, and the heave-offering of your hand, and all your choice vows which ye shall vow to Jehovah. And ye shall rejoice before Jehovah your God, ye, and your sons, and your daughters, and your bondmen, and your handmaids, and the Levite that is within your gates; for he hath no portion nor inheritance with you. read more. Take heed to thyself that thou offer not thy burnt-offerings in every place that thou seest; but in the place which Jehovah will choose in one of thy tribes, there thou shalt offer thy burnt-offerings, and there thou shalt do all that I command thee.
For the word that he cried by the word of Jehovah against the altar in Bethel, and against all the houses of the high places that are in the cities of Samaria, shall certainly come to pass.
Only, the high places were not removed: the people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places.
He was sixteen years old when he began to reign; and he reigned fifty-two years in Jerusalem; and his mother's name was Jecholiah of Jerusalem.
Only, the high places were not removed: the people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places.
Morish
The word commonly used for the high place is bamah, signifying what is high or elevated (cf. Eze 20:29), and then the hills on which altars were erected. There were such places in Canaan before the Israelites entered it, which they were told to destroy. Nu 33:52. If the Israelites had such, God would destroy them and cut down their images. Lev. 26:80.
In the above passages the high places are connected with idolatry; but it would appear that before the temple was built, altars for the worship of God had been erected elsewhere than at the tabernacle. With Samuel at Zuph, there was 'a sacrifice of the people' in the 'high place' (God having forsaken the tabernacle at Shiloh, this disorder resulted). It was evidently on elevated ground, for they went up to it and came down. 1Sa 9:12-25. At the beginning of the reign of Solomon the people sacrificed in high places because the temple was not yet built. This was failure, for we read that "Solomon loved the Lord, walking in the statutes of David his father: only he sacrificed and burnt incense in high places." 1Ki 3:2-4. The tabernacle was there (Gibeon), 1Ch 16:39; 2Ch 1:3, so that it appeared to be the right place to go to, and it was where God appeared to Solomon in the night; yet it was 'the great high place.' The reason of this implied disapproval is doubtless because the ark was not there, the symbol of God's presence, which was the true place of worship. At the close of Solomon's life he sinned greatly in building a high place for the gods of all his strange wives. 1Ki 11:7-8. On the division of the kingdom, Jeroboam set up his idols and "ordained him priests for the high places, and for the devils, and for the calves which he had made." 2Ch 11:15. With these two examples it is not surprising that in the whole land there were many high places. Hezekiah and Josiah zealously destroyed the high places, which included the buildings thereon and the idols connected therewith. The word bamah is used apparently for any idolatrous erection, for we once read of high places in a valley. Jer 7:31.
The term 'high places' has another application under the Hebrew word ramah, which also signifies 'exalted;' for Israel is charged with making a high place in every street, and at every head of the way, which doubtless refers to some shrine or symbol of idolatry connected with abominable practices. Eze 16:24-25,31,39. They courted the favour of the heathen by adopting their idolatrous worship and customs.
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then ye shall dispossess all the inhabitants of the land from before you, and ye shall destroy all their figured images, and all their molten images shall ye destroy, and all their high places shall ye lay waste;
And they answered them and said, He is; behold, he is before thee: make haste now, for he came to-day to the city; for the people have a sacrifice to-day in the high place. As soon as ye come into the city, ye shall straightway find him, before he goes up to the high place to eat; for the people eat not until he has come, because he blesses the sacrifice; afterwards they eat that are invited. And now go up; for this very day shall ye find him. read more. And they went up into the city. As they were coming into the midst of the city, behold, Samuel was coming out towards them, to go up to the high place. Now Jehovah had apprised Samuel one day before Saul came, saying, To-morrow about this time I will send thee a man out of the land of Benjamin, and thou shalt anoint him prince over my people Israel; and he will save my people out of the hand of the Philistines; for I have looked upon my people, because their cry is come unto me. And as Samuel saw Saul, Jehovah answered him, Behold the man of whom I spoke to thee! this man shall rule over my people. And Saul drew near to Samuel in the midst of the gate, and said, Tell me, I pray thee, where the seer's house is. And Samuel answered Saul and said, I am the seer: go up before me to the high place, and ye shall eat with me to-day; and to-morrow I will let thee go, and will tell thee all that is in thy heart. And as for the asses that thou didst lose three days ago, set not thy heart on them; for they are found. And on whom is all the desire of Israel set? Is it not on thee, and on all thy father's house? And Saul answered and said, Am not I a Benjaminite, of the smallest of the tribes of Israel, and my family the least of all the families of the tribe of Benjamin? and why dost thou speak such words to me? And Samuel took Saul and his servant, and brought them into the chamber, and gave them a place at the head of them that were invited; and they were about thirty persons. And Samuel said to the cook, Bring the portion that I gave thee, of which I said to thee, Set it by thee. And the cook took up the shoulder, and what was on it, and set it before Saul. And he said, Behold that which has been reserved! set it before thee, eat; for against the set time has it been kept for thee, since I said, I will invite the people. So Saul ate with Samuel that day. And they came down from the high place into the city, and he spoke with Saul upon the roof.
Only, the people sacrificed on the high places; for there was no house built to the name of Jehovah, until those days. And Solomon loved Jehovah, walking in the statutes of David his father; only, he sacrificed and burned incense on the high places. read more. And the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there; for that was the great high place: a thousand burnt-offerings did Solomon offer up upon that altar.
Then did Solomon build a high place for Chemosh the abomination of the Moabites, on the hill that is before Jerusalem, and for Molech the abomination of the children of Ammon. And so he did for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods.
And Zadok the priest, and his brethren the priests, before the tabernacle of Jehovah in the high place that was at Gibeon,
and he ordained for himself priests for the high places, and for the he-goats and for the calves that he had made.
And they have built the high places of Topheth, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire; which I commanded not, neither did it come up into my mind.
that thou didst also build unto thee a place of debauchery, and didst make thee a high place in every street: thou didst build thy high place at every head of the way, and madest thy beauty to be abhorred, and thou didst open thy feet to every one that passed by, and multiply thy whoredom.
in that thou buildest thy place of debauchery at the head of every way, and makest thy high place in every street! And thou hast not been as a harlot, in that thou scornest reward,
and I will give thee into their hand, and they shall throw down thy place of debauchery, and shall break down thy high places; and they shall strip thee of thy garments, and shall take thy fair jewels, and leave thee naked and bare.
And I said unto them, What is the high place whither ye go? And the name thereof is called Bamah unto this day.