High Place

Occurrences in Scripture

High places appear mainly in 1 Kings, 2 Kings, and Chronicles. Before the temple was built, Samuel blessed the sacrifice at a high place (1 Samuel 9:12-14). Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings at Gibeon, "the great high place" (1 Kings 3:2-4). In his later years, however, he built high places for Chemosh and Molech (1 Kings 11:7). In the northern kingdom of Israel, Jeroboam built high places and appointed priests who were not descendants of Levi (1 Kings 12:31).

In the accounts of the kings of Judah, the verdict that "the high places were not taken away" recurs throughout. This qualification is attached even to kings who receive favorable evaluations, such as Asa (1 Kings 15:14) and Jehoshaphat (1 Kings 22:43). Hezekiah removed the high places and broke in pieces the bronze serpent (2 Kings 18:4), but his son Manasseh rebuilt them (2 Kings 21:3). During his reforms, Josiah defiled the high places of Judah and tore down the altar and high place at Bethel (2 Kings 23:8, 15). The prophetic books also foretell that the high places will be made desolate (Amos 7:9; Ezekiel 6:3).

Background

The word bamah is generally understood to have originally meant a height or ridge. In the land of Canaan it was customary to build altars on elevated sites, and pillars or Asherah images were sometimes erected alongside high places (1 Kings 14:23). However, there were also high places beside city gates (2 Kings 23:8), and the installation in the Valley of Hinnom that the New Korean Revised Version renders "the shrine of Tophet" (Jeremiah 7:31) is designated by the same word in the original Hebrew. For this reason, many interpreters do not regard high places as necessarily located on hilltops. Scholars differ over which archaeological sites were high places.

Significance Across Scripture

The Law commands that the high places of Canaan be destroyed (Numbers 33:52) and that sacrifices be offered at the place God chooses (Deuteronomy 12:5, 13-14). The books of Kings evaluate the kings by this standard and portray the high places as a channel through which the worship of the LORD became mixed with pagan religion. The term does not appear in the New Testament. Some interpreters, however, connect this issue with the passage in which Jesus speaks of worship in spirit and in truth to the Samaritan woman who asked about the proper place of worship (John 4:20-23).

Interpretations and Issues

• High places before the temple: 1 Kings 3:2 explains that the people sacrificed at high places because the temple had not yet been built. Many commentaries regard this practice as tolerated during a transitional period.
• High places of the LORD and high places of foreign gods: 2 Chronicles 33:17 records that the people sacrificed at the high places "unto the LORD their God only." On this basis, some interpreters distinguish between the two.
• The timing of the centralization of worship: Some critical scholars hold that the requirement to worship at a single place was especially emphasized around the time of Josiah's reform. Conservative scholars hold that this requirement had already been given in the Law of Moses.

In the Korean Church

In Korean church preaching, the phrase "the high places were not taken away" is often applied metaphorically to sins or idols that believers have failed to abandon. This interpretation applies the historical meaning of the text to present-day Christian life.