![]() Ironically, we find one of the first references to high places in the narrative of Solomon, the very king who built the temple. But despite this new temple, God’s people were still found worshiping at high places. Yahweh took up residency in His temple and the need for other centers of worship became obsolete (1 Kgs 9:3). ![]() …The temple, built in Jerusalem by Solomon, ushered in a new period of Israelite worship, bringing the 12 tribes together as one people to worship God in one place. In 1 Kings 3:2, we find these high places were intended to serve Israel’s worshiping needs for a season “because no house had yet been built for the name of the Lord.” The prophet Samuel blessed sacrifices that were offered at high places, and Solomon sacrificed 1,000 burnt offerings on the altars in Gibeon (1 Sam 9:12–25 1 Kgs 3:4). Until a temple to Yahweh was built, the Israelites primarily worshiped Yahweh at a local center of worship-a practice that was not condemned. The Canaanites, Israel’s enemy who worshiped Baal as their chief deity, also used them. Worship at these local shrines often included making sacrifices, burning incense and holding feasts or festivals (1 Kgs 3:2–3 12:32). Here are four paragraphs from it:Ī high place was a localized or regional worship center dedicated to a god. Bible Study Magazine has a great article by Adam Couturier about the high places. To answer the question more fully I’m going to quote from three excellent sources. The greatest time of compromise for God’s people in the Old Testament, the Israelites, was when in addition to worshiping Yahweh, the only true God, they worshipped false gods too. The “high places” is a shorthand term for places of pagan worship, usually (though not always) on hills or mountains to bring them closer to their false gods. ![]() Thus, it is thought that making graven images without bowing down and worshipping them is acceptable.Recently someone asked me, “ I’m intrigued by a phrase that’s repeated word for word in 2 Kings four times in 12:3, 14:4, 15:4, and 15:35 related to Uzziah and his father, grandfather, and son: ‘The high places, however, were not removed.’ What is this referring to?” The most common means to get around the problem is to insert an “and” between the prohibition against making graven images and the prohibition against worshipping them. It would be rare to find a Christian church that doesn’t violate this commandment and most either ignore the problem or interpret it in a metaphorical manner that is contrary to the text. Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves for ye saw no manner of similitude on the day that the Lord spake unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire: Lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image, the similitude of any figure, the likeness of male or female, The likeness of any beast that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged fowl that flieth in the air, The likeness of any thing that creepeth on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the waters beneath the earth: And lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the sun, and the moon, and the stars, even all the host of heaven, shouldest be driven to worship them, and serve them, which the Lord thy God hath divided unto all nations under the whole heaven.
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