The High Place
The High Place
Another object connected with idolatrous worship is the High Place. The word used for it is Bamah (, Ass. bamahi). The usual rendering in the LXX is , high; but we also find , a house; a grove; , a hill; , an idol; , sin (Mic 1:5); and , an altar; , a desert; , a pillar; , stones; a foundation; , a neck; and (Deu 32:13), strength.
The word appears without reference to idolatry in Deu 32:13, ‘He made him ride on the high places of the earth,’ where it is only used in a general sense. The same, perhaps, may be said of its usage in Deu 33:29 in Job 9:8, the ‘waves’ of the sea are literally ‘High Places.’ A high place is spoken of in 1Sa 10:13, where it seems to signify a hill, as also in 2Sa 1:19; 2Sa 1:25; 2Sa 22:34. See also Num 21:28; Num 22:41; Psa 18:33; Psa 78:69; Isa 15:2; Isa 16:12; Jer 48:35; Amo 4:13; Amo 7:9; Mic 1:3; Mic 1:5; Hab 3:19; with regard to some of these passages, it may be doubtful whether the word is used in its general or special sense.
In the days of Solom on (1Ki 3:2-3), we are told that ‘the people sacrificed in high places, because there was no house built;’ and when he went to Gibeon, ‘where was a great high place,’ he offered a thous and burnt offerings up on the altar. [ in the parallel passage (2Ch 1:3) it is stated that the tabernacle of the congregation was at Gibeon, and that the high place was connected with it.] Here the Lord appeared to him, but did not rebuke him for what he had done. At that time the permanent temple was not built, and consequently full liberty was allowed. Shortly afterwards, however, Solom on ‘built high places for Chemosh and for Molech,’ the idols of Moab and Ammon, and then ‘the Lord was angry with him’ (1Ki 11:7). See Lev 26:30; Num 33:52. Jeroboam also made ‘houses of high places’ (1Ki 12:31), with priests, altars, and golden calves. These priests of the high places burned incense on the altar at Bethel, and were denounced by the man of God who came out of Judah. The building and use of high places with statues and groves now became very common in both kingdoms. See 1Ki 14:23; 1Ki 22:43; 2Ki 12:3; 2Ki 16:4 (Ahaz ‘sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places, and on the hills, and under every green tree’), 17:9, 29, 32. Asa, [Asa removed the high places from Judah (2Ch 14:5), but not from Israel (2Ch 15:17).] Jehosaphat, and afterwards Hezekiah, removed them, as far as possible, but Jehoram and Manasseh rebuilt them (2Ki 21:3). Josiah again destroyed them, but the passion for these idolatrous rites was not easily to be rooted out. They appear to have been sometimes natural eminences, and sometimes constructed of earth or stones; occasionally they seem to have been used as altars; at other times they were surmounted by the Asherah in the discussion on Pre-Christian crosses already referred to (see p.309, note 3), it is stated that the old emblems of the tree of life were constantly placed on hills or mounds. this may throw some light on the orig in of the High Place. [When riding through the country of the Ammonites in 1860, the writer was struck with the great number of rude cromlechs which are visible on the hillsides. If these were for religious purposes, as seems most probable, may they not have been of the nature of high places?]