1 Kings 3:2

Only the people sacrificed in high places,.... On the tops of their houses, on hills and mountains, and particularly at the high place in Gibeon, where the tabernacle was: because there was no house

Only the people sacrificed in high places, because there was no house built unto the name of the LORD, until those days. No JFB commentary on this verse.

Only: this particle is used here and , as an exception to Solomon’ s integrity and glory, and as his infirmity, and a blemish to his government, that he himself both permitted and practised this which was expressly forbidden, ,4 Deuteronomy 12:13,14, except in some extraordinary cases. Possibly he permitted it because he thought it better to allow an error in a circumstance, than to occasion a neglect of the substance of God’ s worship, which he apprehended would follow upon a severe prohibition of that practice, because the people’ s hearts were generally and constantly set upon these high places, as appears from all the following history; and they were not willing to submit to so much trouble and charge as the bringing of all their sacrifices to one place would cause; nor would yield to it until the temple was built, which he knew would easily incline and oblige them to it; and that being speedily to be done, he might think it more advisable rather to delay the execution of that law of God for an approaching season, wherein he doubted not they would be sweetly and freely drawn to it, than at present to drive them to it by force; although these and all other prudential considerations should have given place to the will and wisdom of God. In high places; which were groves, or other convenient places upon hills, in which the patriarchs used to offer up their worship and sacrifices to God; and from them this custom was derived both to the Gentiles and the Jews; and in them the Gentiles sacrificed to idols, ,4 Hosea 10:8, the Hebrews to the true God. Because there was no house; which reason was not sufficient, for there was a tabernacle, to which they were as much confined as to the temple, Deuteronomy 12$, &c. Unto the name of the Lord; either, 1. To the Lord; the name of the Lord being oft put for the Lord himself, as 116:13 135:1. Or, 2. To the honour, and praise, and service of God; to the glory of his name, i.e. of his majesty, and all his perfections, which shall be adored and manifested there.

1 Kings 3:2 Only the people sacrificed in high places, because there was no house built unto the name of the LORD, until those days.Ver. 2. Only the people sacrificed in high places.] And Solomon not only permitted it - though it were a fault - but was himself also in the common error; through a perverse imitation of the ancient patriarchs: yea, and peradventure of the neigbbouring heathens, who did the like, as Xenophon testifieth of the Persians, and Apollonius of the Romans. Because there was no house.] This excused them a tanto, from so much, but not a toto: from all, for it was no better than will worship. But why was there yet no house built, since Solomon had now reigned three or four years? It was a great work, and required great preparation both at home and abroad, &c. Great bodies, we say, move slowly: neither is it to be doubted but the business was expedited as much as might be, since Nescit tarda molimina Spiritus Sancti gratia. Zeal is of quick despatch.

(2) In high places.—The historian, writing from the point of view of his own time, when, after the solemn consecration of the Temple, the worship at “the high places,” which form natural sanctuaries, was forbidden, explains that “because there was no house built unto the name of the Lord,” the people, and Solomon himself, sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places. It is clear that these high places were of two kinds—places of sacrifice to false gods, and unauthorised sanctuaries of the Lord, probably associating His worship with visible representations of Deity. The former class were, of course, absolute abominations, like the high places of the Canaanite races, so sternly denounced in Deuteronomy 12:2-3. The prohibition of the other class of high places—constantly disobeyed by some even of the better kings—appears to have had two distinct objects—(a) to guard against all local corruptions of God’s service, and all idolatry, worshipping Him (as at Bethel) under visible forms; (b) to prevent the breach of national unity, by the congregation of the separate tribes round local sanctuaries. But besides these objects, it served (c), as a very remarkable spiritual education for the worship of the invisible God, without the aid of local and visible emblems of His presence, in accordance with the higher prophetic teaching, and preparatory for the perfect spirituality of the future. It is, indeed, hardly to be conceived that there should not have been before the Captivity some places of non-sacrificial worship, in some degree like the synagogues of the period after the exile, although not as yet developed into a fully organised system. Unless we refer Psalms 74:8 to the Maccabæan times, it must be supposed to describe the Chaldæan invasion, as destroying not only the Temple, but also “all the houses of God”—properly “assemblies,” and in our Bible version actually translated “synagogues “—“in the land.” But these places of prayer and praise and instruction would be different in their whole idea from the “high places” rivalling the Temple. Up to this time it is clear that, even under Samuel and David, sacrificial worship elsewhere than in the Tabernacle was used without scruple, though certainly alien from the spirit of the Mosaic Law as to the supreme sacredness of the “place which God should choose to place his name there.” (See, for example, 1 Samuel 7:10; 1 Samuel 13:9; 1 Samuel 14:35; 1 Samuel 16:5; 1 Chronicles 21:26.) After the solemn consecration of the Temple, the circumstances and the character of such worship were altogether changed.

Verse 2. The people sacrificed in high places] Could there be any sin in this, or was it unlawful till after the temple was built? for prophets, judges, the kings which preceded Solomon, and Solomon himself, sacrificed on high places, such as Gibeon, Gilgal, Shiloh, Hebron, Kirjath-jearim, c. But after the temple was erected, it was sinful to offer sacrifices in any other place yet here it is introduced as being morally wrong, and it is introduced, 1Kg 3:3, as being an exceptionable trait in the character of Solomon. The explanation appears to be this: as the ark and tabernacle were still in being, it was not right to offer sacrifices but where they were; and wherever they were, whether on a high place or a plain, there sacrifices might be lawfully offered, previously to the building of the temple. And the tabernacle was now at Gibeon, 2 Chronicles 1:3. Possibly the high places may be like those among the Hindoos, large raised-up terraces, on which they place their gods when they bathe, anoint, and worship them. Juggernaut and Krishnu have large terraces or high places, on which they are annually exhibited. But there was no idol in the above case.

2. Only the people sacrificed] The first word here seems to force us to connect this verse with the last clause of the previous chapter. The kingdom was established and all was well in temporal matters, but there was still a part of the Divine appointment not duly observed. There were high places in considerable numbers on which the people offered sacrifices. It was ordained (Deuteronomy 12:13-14) that this should not be so. “Offer not thy burnt offerings in every place that thou seest, but in the place which the Lord shall choose in one of thy tribes.’ But as yet this one place had not been fixed. So the previous ordinance of Exodus (1 Kings 20:24) intended for an unsettled time was still adhered to. God had there said ‘In all places where I record my name I will come unto thee and I will bless thee.’ An altar of earth was to be erected, and burnt offerings and peace offerings brought thither. This early ordinance was doubtless meant to be superseded as soon as possible after the settlement in Canaan, but events happened which delayed the choice of one place for all offerings, and so we find that God accepts the sacrifice of Gideon at Ophrah (Judges 6:23), of Manoah at Zorah (Judges 13:19), while Samuel (1 Samuel 9:12) offers sacrifice at the high place in the land of Zuph, and many other instances of the worship in the high places are to be found in the books of Samuel, and there is no expression anywhere of God’s disapproval. As soon as we enter on the books of the Kings we find that the writer has another standpoint, and counts it an evil that the high places still remain. Hence the language of this verse. sacrificed] It is not possible to express the exact force in good English of the participle used both here and in the next verse. It implies the continuance of this custom, both with king and people, of worshipping on the high places. The Hebrew requires both here and in the following verse ‘in the high places.’ They were well-known seats of worship. unto the name of the Lord] The phrase in the Pentateuch is that God ‘chooses to place His name’ where He desires to be worshipped. Cf. Deuteronomy 12:11; Deuteronomy 14:23; Deuteronomy 16:2; Deuteronomy 16:6; Deuteronomy 16:11; &c. Hence ‘Name’ came to be synonymous with ‘worship’; nomen gained the sense of numen.

The word “only” introduces a contrast. The writer means to say that there was one exception to the flourishing condition of things which he has been describing, namely, that “the people sacrificed in

STATE OF AT THE OF SOLOMON’S REIGN, 1 Kings 3:2-3. 2. Only — A particle apparently having reference to the last sentence of 1 Kings 2:46.