High places

(1 Sam. 9:12), or elevations on hills and mountains, were frequently chosen as places for the true worship of God, but also, very often, for idol-worship as well. It seems that from the most ancient times, elevated places were chosen for the building of altars or shrines (Gen. 12:7; 22:2; 31:54). Before the Temple became the fixed place for divine worship, altars and shrines were usually built on mountaintops (Judg. 6:25; 1 Sam. 9:12; 1 Chron. 16:39, and elsewhere). After the building of the Temple, such high places became an abomination precisely because they were very often defiled by pagan idol-worship.

Holy Scripture notes of one king of Judah (Jehoash) that he did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord in all things… only the high places were not taken away (2 Kings 15:34 [as given]). Mountains and high places were always considered the most sacred sites in nearly all eastern religions, as places raised above the earth and drawing nearer to heaven. The high places mentioned in Holy Scripture were located: a) at Gibeon (1 Kings 3:4); b) at Arnon (Num. 21:28); c) the high places of Baal (Num. 22:41); d) the high places of Topheth (Jer. 7:31); e) the high places of Bamah (Ezek. 20:29); f) the high places of Aven (Hos. 10:8), and others.

Distinguished by their particular zeal for the building of high places were: Jehoram (2 Chron. 21:11), Ahaz (2 Chron. 28:24, 25), and Manasseh (2 Chron. 33:3–7). In the destruction of the high places, distinguished especially were the kings Hezekiah (2 Kings 18:4) and Josiah (2 Kings 23:8). After Josiah, the high places are no longer mentioned in the Bible.