Israel
After the nation split into two kingdoms at the start of the reign of Rehoboam, Jeroboam became king in Israel over the ten tribes, and he built many high places which stayed until the nation went
into captivity. God summarised how Israel behaved as follows:
And the people of Israel did secretly against the Lord their God things that were not right. They built for themselves high places in all their towns, from watchtower to fortified city. They set up for themselves pillars and Asherim on every high hill and under every green tree, and there they made offerings on all the high places, as the nations did whom the Lord
carried away before them. And they did wicked things, provoking the Lord to anger,
2 Kings 17:9-11
When Israel was taken into captivity, the Assyrians brought people from many defeated nations and made them live in Israel. This mix of nations became the Samaritans mentioned from time to time in the New Testament. They continued to worship their own gods in the high places but, after Yahweh sent lions among them (2 Kings 17:25-28,
32-33), they worshipped him as well as their other gods. The only time we read of kings destroying high places in the northern kingdom is in the times of the good kings of Judah, Hezekiah and Josiah, when they went into some of the northern areas and destroyed many high places. It is never made clear whether this was done with the approval of the Assyrian rulers or not.
Judah
Judah followed much the same
paths of idolatry as Israel did, but they took longer. The table above lists twelve kings of Judah. Four of these constructed high places or allowed them to be constructed. Four left them alone. Two destroyed some and left others. Only two out of the twelve destroyed as many as they could.
A study of human nature through the Bible shows that evil people pursue their goals more consistently and relentlessly than righteous people when they are in
positions of power.
Bold and decisive action is more common in support of evil than in support of good; inertia wins against good more often than it does against evil. For example, Solomon built high places to idols which were not destroyed for 300 years, despite the fact that several kings who are described as “good” reigned during that time.
Most of these good kings refused to use the high places themselves, but did not remove them – despite God’s explicit
command to do so (Deuteronomy 12:2). No wonder the worship of idols continued and grew so readily even when the king was against it.
As a whole, the nation ignored God’s commands about worship, and most good kings failed to use their authority as God wanted it used.
The result? Idolatry won and God sent the nation into captivity.
Quiz
Do you think you know a lot
about high places in the Bible? Why not take this
quiz? But note, it's not easy!
