High Place

The word commonly used for the high place is bamah, signifying what is high or elevated (cf. Eze 20:29), and then the hills on which altars were erected. There were such places in Canaan before the Israelites entered it, which they were told to destroy. Num 33:52. If the Israelites had such, God would destroy them and cut down their images. Lev 26:30.

In the above passages the high places are connected with idolatry; but it would appear that before the temple was built, altars for the worship of God had been erected elsewhere than at the tabernacle. With Samuel at Zuph, there was ’a sacrifice of the people’ in the ’high place’ (God having forsaken the tabernacle at Shiloh, this disorder resulted). It was evidently on elevated ground, for they went up to it and came down. 1Sa 9:12-25. At the beginning of the reign of Solomon the people sacrificed in high places because the temple was not yet built. This was failure, for we read that "Solomon loved the Lord, walking in the statutes of David his father: only he sacrificed and burnt incense in high places." 1Ki 3:2-4. The tabernacle was there (Gibeon), 1Ch 16:39; 2Ch 1:3, so that it appeared to be the right place to go to, and it was where God appeared to Solomon in the night; yet it was ’the great high place.’ The reason of this implied disapproval is doubtless because the ark was not there, the symbol of God’s presence, which was the true place of worship. At the close of Solomon’s life he sinned greatly in building a high place for the gods of all his strange wives. 1Ki 11:7-8. On the division of the kingdom, Jeroboam set up his idols and "ordained him priests for the high places, and for the devils, and for the calves which he had made." 2Ch 11:15. With these two examples it is not surprising that in the whole land there were many high places. Hezekiah and Josiah zealously destroyed the high places, which included the buildings thereon and the idols connected therewith. The word bamah is used apparently for any idolatrous erection, for we once read of high places in a valley. Jer 7:31.

The term ’high places’ has another application under the Hebrew word ramah, which also signifies ’exalted;’ for Israel is charged with making a high place in every street, and at every head of the way, which doubtless refers to some shrine or symbol of idolatry connected with abominable practices. Eze 16:24-25; Eze 16:31; Eze 16:39. They courted the favour of the heathen by adopting their idolatrous worship and customs.

1. General

(1) “High place” is the normal translation of בּמה, bāmāh, a word that means simply “elevation” (Jer 26:18; Eze 36:2, etc.; compare the use in Job 9:8 of the waves of the sea. For the plural as a proper noun see BAMOTH). In the King James Version of Eze 16:24, Eze 16:25, Eze 16:31, Eze 16:39, “high places” is the translation of רמה, rāmāh (the Revised Version (British and American) “lofty places”), a common word (see RAMAH) of exactly the same meaning, indistinguishable from bamah in Eze 16:16. In three of these verses of Ezek (Eze 16:24, Eze 16:31, Eze 16:39) ramah is paralleled by גּב, gabh, which again has precisely the same sense (“eminent place” in the King James Version, the English Revised Version), and the “vaulted place” of the American Standard Revised Version (English Revised Version margin) is in disregard of Hebrew parallelism. In particular, the high places are places of worship, specifically of idolatrous worship. So the title was transferred from the elevation to the sanctuary on the elevation (1Ki 11:7; 1Ki 14:23; compare the burning of the “high place” in 2Ki 23:15), and so came to be used of any idolatrous shrine, whether constructed on an elevation or not (note how in 2Ki 16:4; 2Ch 28:4 the “high places” are distinguished from the “hills”). So the “high places” in the cities (2Ki 17:9; 2Ch 21:11 (Septuagint)) could have stood anywhere, while in Eze 16:16 a portable structure seems to be in point. (2) The use of elevations for purposes of worship is so widespread as to be almost universal, and rests, probably, on motives so primitive as to evade formal analysis. If any reason is to be assigned, the best seems to be that to dwellers in hilly country the heaven appears to rest on the ridges and the sun to go forth from them - but such reasons are certainly insufficient to explain everything. Certain it is that Israel, no less than her neighbors, found special sanctity in the hills. Not only was’ Sinai the “Mount of God,” but a long list can be drawn up of peaks that have a special relation to Yahweh (see MOUNT; MOUNTAIN; and for the New Testament, compare Mar 9:2; Heb 12:18-24, etc.). And the choice of a hilltop for the Temple was based on considerations other than convenience and visibility. (But bāmāh is not used of the Temple Mount.)

2. Description

Archaeological research, particularly at Petra and Gezer, aided by the Old Testament notices, enables us to reconstruct these sanctuaries with tolerable fullness. The cult was not limited to the summit of the hill but took place also on the slopes, and the objects of the cult might be scattered over a considerable area. The most sacred objects were the upright stone pillars (maccēbhāh), which seem to have been indispensable. (Probably the simplest “high places” were only a single upright stone.) They were regarded as the habitation of the deity, but, none the less, were usually many in number (a fact that in no way need implicate a plurality of deities). At one time they were the only altars, and even at a later period, when the altar proper was used, libations were sometimes poured on the pillars directly. The altars were of various shapes, according to their purpose (incense, whole burnt offerings, etc.), but were always accompanied by one or more pillars. Saucer-shaped depressions, into which sacrifices could be poured, are a remnant of very primitive rites (to this day in Samaria the paschal lamb is cooked in a pit). The trees of the high place, especially the “terebinths” (oaks?), were sacred, and their number could be supplemented or their absence supplied by an artificial tree or pole (’ăshērāh, the “grove” of the King James Version). (Of course the original meaning of the pillar and asherah was not always known to the worshipper.) An amusing feature of the discoveries is that these objects were often of minute size, so that the gods could be gratified at a minimum of expense to the worshipper. Images (ephods?; the t^erāphı̄m were household objects, normally) are certain, but in Palestine no remnants exist (the little Bes and Astarte figures were not idols used in worship). Other necessary features of a high place of the larger size were ample provision of water for lustral purposes, kitchens where the sacrifices could be cooked (normally by boiling), and tables for the sacrificial feasts. Normally, also, the service went on in the open air, but slight shelters were provided frequently for some of the objects. If a regular priest was attached to the high place (not always the case), his dwelling must have been a feature, unless he lived in some nearby village. Huts for those practicing incubation (sleeping in the sanctuary to obtain revelations through dreams) seem not to have been uncommon. But formal temples were very rare and “houses of the high places” in 1Ki 12:31; 1Ki 13:32; 2Ki 17:29, 2Ki 17:32; 2Ki 23:19 may refer only to the slighter structures just mentioned (see the comm.). In any case, however, the boundaries of the sanctuary were marked out, generally by a low stone wall, and ablutions and removal of the sandals were necessary before the worshipper could enter.

For the ritual, of course, there was no uniform rule. The gods of the different localities were different, and in Palestine a more or less thorough rededication of the high places to Yahweh had taken place. So the service might be anything from the orderly worship of Yahweh under so thoroughly an accredited leader as Samuel (1Sa 9:11-24) to the wildest orgiastic rites. That the worship at many high places was intensely licentious is certain (but it must be emphasized against the statements of many writers that there is no evidence for a specific phallic cult, and that the explorations have revealed no unmistakable phallic emblems). The gruesome cemetery for newly born infants at Gezer is only one of the proofs of the prevalence of child-sacrifice, and the evidence for human sacrifice in other forms is unfortunately only too clear. See GEZER, and illustration on p. 1224.

3. History

(1) The opposition to the high places had many motives. When used for the worship of other gods their objectionable character is obvious, but even the worship of Yahweh in the high places was intermixed with heathen practices (Hos 4:14, etc.). In Amo 5:21-24, etc., sacrifice in the high places is denounced because it is regarded as a substitute for righteousness in exactly the same way that sacrifice in the Temple is denounced in Jer 7:21-24. Or, sacrifice in the high places may be denounced under the best of conditions, because in violation of the law of the one sanctuary (2Ch 33:17, etc.).

(2) In 1 Samuel, sacrifice outside of Jerusalem is treated as an entirely normal thing, and Samuel presides in one such case (1Sa 9:11-24). In 1 Ki the practice of using high places is treated as legitimate before the construction of the Temple (1Ki 3:2-4), but after that it is condemned unequivocally. The primal sin of Northern Israel was the establishment of high places (1Ki 12:31-33; 1Ki 13:2, 1Ki 13:33 f), and their continuance was a chief cause of the evils that came to pass (2Ki 17:10 f), while worship in them was a characteristic of the mongrel throng that repopulated Samaria (2Ki 17:32). So Judah sinned in building high places (1Ki 14:23), but the editor of Kings notes with obvious regret that even the pious kings (Asa, 1Ki 15:14; Jehoshaphat, 1Ki 22:43; Jehoash, 2Ki 12:3; Amaziah, 2Ki 14:4;Azariah, 2Ch 15:4; Jotham, 2Ki 15:35) did not put them away; i.e. the editor of Kings has about the point of view of Deu 12:8-11, according to which sacrifice was not to be restricted to Jerusalem until the country should be at peace, but afterward the restriction should be absolute. The practice had been of such long standing that Hezekiah’s destruction of the high places (2Ki 18:4) could be cited by Rabshakeh as an act of apostasy from Yahweh (2Ki 18:22; 2Ch 32:12; Isa 36:7). Under Manasseh they were rebuilt, in connection with other idolatrous practices (2Ki 21:3-9). This act determined the final punishment of the nation (2Ki 21:10-15), and the root-and-branch reformation of Josiah (2 Ki 23) came too late. The attitude of the editor of Chronicles is still more condemnatory. He explains the sacrifice at Gibeon as justified by the presence of the Tabernacle (1Ch 16:39; 1Ch 21:29; 2Ch 1:3, 2Ch 1:13), states that God-fearing northerners avoided the high places (2Ch 11:16; compare 1Ki 19:10, 1Ki 19:14), and (against Kings) credits Asa (2Ch 14:3, 2Ch 14:5) and Jehoshaphat (2Ch 17:6) with their removal. (This last notice is also in contradiction with 2Ch 20:33, but 1Ch 16:17 is probably meant to refer to the Northern Kingdom, despite 1Ch 16:17.) On the other hand, the construction of high places is added to the sins of Jehoram (2Ch 21:11) and of Ahaz (2Ch 28:4, 2Ch 28:5).

(3) Among the prophets, Elijah felt the destruction of the many altars of God as a terrible grief (1Ki 19:10, 1Ki 19:14). Amos and Hosea each mention the high places by name only once (Amo 7:9; Hos 10:8), but both prophets have only denunciation for the sacrificial practices of the Northern Kingdom. That, however, these sacrifices were offered in the wrong place is not said. Isa has nothing to say about the high places, except in Isa 36:7, while Mic 1:5 equates the sins of Jerusalem with those of the high places (if the text is right), but promises the exaltation of Jerusalem (Mic 4:1 f). In the references in Jer 7:31; Jer 19:5; Jer 32:35; Eze 6:3, Eze 6:1; Eze 16:16; Eze 20:29; Eze 43:7, idolatry or abominable practices are in point (so probably in Jer 17:3, while Jer 48:35 and Isa 16:12 refer to non-Israelites).

(4) The interpretation of the above data and their historical import depend on the critical position taken as to the general history of Israel’s religion. See RELIGION OF ISRAEL; CRITICISM; DEUTERONOMY, etc.

Literature

See, especially, IDOLATRY, and also ALTARS; ASHERAH, etc. For the archaeological literature, see PALESTINE.

A place of worship usually on

top of a hill, a mountain, or a man-made

platform. Although high places were

sometimes used for the worship of God,

they are most often associated with

pagan worship of false gods.

Phrase commonly translated from the Hebrew bamah, which apparently derived from a word originally meaning “the back (or ridge) of an animal.” Thus it came to refer to a height or hill or a stone burial cairn. Usually it was an elevated worship center, such as the ones referred to in Numbers 33:51–52, 1 Samuel 9:13–14, 2 Kings 12:3, 2 Chronicles 21:11, and Ezekiel 36:1–2. But sometimes (as in 2 Kgs 23:8) it was a bamah of the gate, a sanctuary with no special reference to height, located at the city gate as in Dan and Beersheba. It might even have been placed in a declivity (Jer 7:31).

That a bamah might simply be a burial place with commemorative stelae or memorial stones is clear from such a passage as Ezekiel 43:7. An illustration of such a bamah is the so-called Gezer high place. This Bronze Age center with its 10 huge pillars is now interpreted as a mortuary shrine instead of a sanctuary in the strict sense of the term.

A second word translated “high place” is ramah (elevation), from the Hebrew meaning “to be high.” Ezekiel used this term to refer to illicit worship centers (16:24–25, 31–39) that evidently had no necessary connection with height.

One of the best-known and best-preserved of all high places in the vicinity of Palestine is the great high place at Petra, discovered by George L. Robinson in 1900. Located on a ridge west of the Khazneh, or treasury, it consists of a large rectangular court and adjacent altars. The court is about 47 feet (14.3 meters) long and 21 feet (6.4 meters) wide and is cut into the rock platform to a depth of 18 inches (45.7 centimeters). West of the court stand a square and a round altar, each hewn from the solid rock. South of the court is a pool measuring about eight and a half by nine and a half feet (2.6 by 2.9 meters) and cut four feet (1.2 meters) into the rock. South of the pool stand two sacred obelisks or pillars, also cut out of the solid rock. This whole complex is reached from a lower terrace by two flights of stairs. At this center the ancient Nabatean inhabitants of Petra evidently engaged in feasts and sacrifices to honor their gods. Though the worship center in its present form does not date before the first century BC, it preserves an ancient tradition of Transjordan and illustrates the pagan and Israelite high places of OT times.

The pagan high place was usually located on a physical height, where one could feel closer to the god. Its first essential was an altar, which might be a heap of earth, unhewn stones, or a unit cut out of the solid rock. Second, there was a stone pillar (Dt 12:3) or obelisk (matsebah) representing the male deity and having phallic associations; third, a tree or pole (asherah) representing the female deity (a fertility goddess); and fourth, a laver for ceremonial washings. A sanctuary with an image of the deity also required a building of some sort to protect it (2 Kgs 17:29).

At these pagan high places sacrifices of animals and sometimes of human beings took place, and religious prostitution or homosexual acts were common. It is natural that such practices should develop in a context of sympathetic magic, where promiscuity and breeding among human beings was supposed to influence animals and crops.

The Hebrews had legitimate high places between the time of the destruction of the tabernacle at Shiloh and construction of the temple, though there was little similarity to pagan accoutrements or practices, apart from the presence of an altar and the offering of sacrifices. At one high place the people ate a sacrificial meal before Samuel anointed Saul king (1 Sm 9:12–10:1). The tabernacle was located at the high place of Gibeon during the reign of David (1 Chr 16:39; 21:29). Solomon offered sacrifices at several high places (1 Kgs 3:2–3), and at the high place of Gibeon he met God and was granted the gift of wisdom for his administration (vv 4–15). Once Solomon’s temple was completed, high places were eliminated and were off-limits for the Hebrews.

When the Hebrews entered Canaan, they encountered pagan peoples who had long worshiped at high places. God commanded the Israelites to destroy those sanctuaries (Nm 33:51–52) to avoid contamination by them, but the warning went largely unheeded. At the height of the Hebrew kingdom, after Solomon had completed the temple, he built high places for the god Chemosh of Moab, Molech of Ammon, and other gods of his pagan wives. For this sin God determined to split the Hebrew kingdom (1 Kgs 11:7–11).

After the division of the kingdom, Jeroboam established high places at Dan and Bethel, and Ahab and others proliferated their construction. Judgment was prophesied (1 Kgs 13:2–3; 2 Kgs 17:7–18), and ultimately the kingdom of Israel went into captivity to Assyria for her idolatry.

Rehoboam, the first king of the southern kingdom, spread high places all over his domain (1 Kgs 14:23–24). Though King Asa launched a revival of true religion, he did not remove the high places (15:12–14). Jehoshaphat also initiated revival, but again the high places remained (22:43). On the other hand, his son Jehoram and his wife, Athaliah, encouraged their construction (2 Chr 21:11). Joash, during his revival, did not eliminate the high places (2 Kgs 12:3), nor did the good king Uzziah in similar efforts (15:3–4). Ahaz made no pretense of faithfulness to God, and actively encouraged the idolatry of the pagan sanctuaries (16:3–4). Finally, Hezekiah launched a campaign against the high places (2 Chr 31:1), but his policies were reversed during the reign of his wicked son Manasseh (2 Kgs 21:2–9). Josiah led the last Judean revival and again attacked the high places (23:5, 8).

The prophets Isaiah (Is 15:2; 16:12), Jeremiah (Jer 48:35), Ezekiel (Ez 6:3), Hosea (Hos 10:8), and Amos (Am 7:9) roundly condemned these centers of idolatry. See Canaanite Deities and Religion; Gods and Goddesses; Grove; Idols, Idolatry.

Aquifer Open Bible Dictionary © 2026 Mission Mutual, an adaptation of the Tyndale Open Bible Dictionary © 2023 Tyndale House Publishers. Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.