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BerianAardvark -> RE: High place in the bible (8/7/2008 11:30:56 AM)
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quote:
ORIGINAL: vondakay
Hi, I was reading 1 king 3:1-14. In verse 4, it mentions that solomon
when to the highest place (Gibeon) to sacrifice. Why did people choose the highest
place? was it to be seen ( i dont think so) was it because it was closer to God (that idea
seems odd)
High places weren't always on the tops of hills or mountains, though that was traditionally where they were. According to the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia:
“High place” is the normal translation of בּמה, bāmāh, a word that means simply “elevation” (Jeremiah 26:18; Ezekiel 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 Ezekiel 16:24, Ezekiel 16:25, Ezekiel 16:31, Ezekiel 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 Ezekiel 16:16.
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 (1st Kings 11:7; 1st Kings 14:23; compare the burning of the “high place” in 2nd Kings 23:15), and so came to be used of any idolatrous shrine, whether constructed on an elevation or not (note how in 2nd Kings 16:4; 2nd Chronicles 28:4 the “high places” are distinguished from the “hills”). So the “high places” in the cities (2nd Kings 17:9; 2nd Chronicles 21:11 (Septuagint)) could have stood anywhere, while in Ezekiel16:16 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 Mark 9:2; Hebrews 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.)
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