HIGH PLACE (usual tr. of the Heb. בָּמָה֒, H1195, whose basic meaning, derived from the Canaanite, is back, ridge). A high place was usually an elevated geographic site; in the OT, בָּמָה֒, H1195, takes on the specialized meaning of a place of worship ordinarily situated on a hill or mountain and commonly associated with false religions. The actual sanctuary may be called the house of bamah (1 Kings 12:31), though more usually it is known simply as bamah (1 Kings 3:4; 11:7; Hosea 10:8; Amos 7:9). The term may refer only to a geographic height, or physical elevation, such as a hill (Num 21:28; Jer 26:18; Ezek 36:2; Micah 3:12; cf. 1 Sam 9:13, 14). There were also “bamahs of the gates” (cf. 2 Kings 23:8), which have no apparent connection with an elevated area; and some bamahs were located even in valleys (Jer 7:31; 19:5, 6; 32:35).
Another term for the high place is רָמָה֙, H8229, from a root meaning “to be high.” Ezekiel uses ramah (16:24, 25, 31, 39) and also גַּב֒, H1461, as “mound,” as a place of illicit worship (16:24, 31, 39). A similar religious spot may be the שְׁפִי֒, H9155, “smooth or bare (treeless) height” (BDB, p. 1046); to such a place Balaam went to commune with God after making offerings in his efforts to comply with Balak’s desire to curse Israel (Num 23:3ff.). On “the bare heights” Israel wept and pleaded because of her perverse ways (Jer 3:21; cf. 7:29), for “truly the hills are a delusion, the orgies on the mountains” (3:23), and the land was polluted with harlotry, both physical and spiritual (3:2).
The typical high place was located on a physical height; the selection of an elevated spot seems psychological, for this location put the worshiper above his immediate environment with its mundane associations and placed him nearer the skies, where the ultimate object of worship was believed to reside. In the plains of ancient Mesopotamia the feeling for a height for religious observances led to the construction of the staged or terraced temple tower, or ziggurat. A requirement for the high place was an altar, often simply made of unhewn stones, on which animal sacrifices could be slain and then offered by fire. Related to the high place was a tree or pole of wood that served as an idol or as an adjunct to worship (cf. Asherah). In Muslim areas, a weli, or shrine, of a departed sheikh, typically has nearby a tree to which the faithful may attach items that will bring the needs of the worshiper to the attention of the spiritual benefactor. Frequently the high place had a stone symbol, a kind of obelisk, or pillar (Heb. מַצֵּבָה, H5167), which also was an object of veneration or a commemorative monument. The high place could also contain images of heathen gods placed in a shrine (cf. 2 Kings 17:29). Sometimes the high place had a basin or tank where water could be kept for ablutions or libations. In addition to violating the greatest commandment, the idolatry of the high place involved the breaking of other divine laws, for the worship of certain deities demanded human sacrifice (usually of infants or children) and the celebration of rites of a sexual nature, whether religious prostitution or homosexual acts. Among the best known examples of actual high places visible today are those of Gezer and Petra.
The Canaanites used the high places long before the Israelite conquest of the land, but the first mention of the high place in the Bible appears in connection with that event. The children of Israel were commanded to demolish the high places of the Canaanites, along with the idols of those people (Num 33:52). At the same time the Lord warned the Israelites that if they disobeyed His laws He would punish them and destroy their high places and false worship (Lev 26:30; cf. Ps 78:58). After the destruction of Shiloh and before the building of the Temple at Jerusalem, the high place was used as a site of true worship. Samuel blessed the offering which the people made at the high place (1 Sam 9:12-14). When Saul consulted Samuel, Samuel invited him to take part in the feast at the high place. On his way home, Saul was met by a band of prophets coming down from the high place of Gibeath-elohim (1 Sam 10:5, 10); Saul prophesied with them and also went to the high place (v. 13). The chronicler remarked that the tabernacle of the Lord was situated at the high place of Gibeon during the reign of David (1 Chron 16:39; 21:29; 2 Chron 1:3, 4). In the time of Solomon, mention is made of sacrificing at the high places, because a temple had not yet been built (1 Kings 3:2) and Solomon sacrificed and burned incense at the high places (v. 3). At the great high place of Gibeon, Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings (v. 4; cf. 2 Chron 1:3-6, 13). In his later years Solomon fell into apostasy and built high places for the Moabite Chemosh and the Ammonite Molech on the mountain E of Jerusalem (1 Kings 11:7, 8; cf. 2 Kings 23:13). At the division of the kingdom, Jeroboam tried to prevent the Israelites from going to Jerusalem for the religious festivals: he set up calves of gold at Bethel and Dan, built houses on high places, and appointed non-Levitical priests to serve at the high places (1 Kings 12:26ff., esp. vv. 31, 32; cf. 1 Kings 13:33; 2 Chron 11:15). A prophet of God predicted that the priests of the high place of Bethel would be sacrificed upon that altar and that the altar would be torn down (1 Kings 13:2, 3). Meanwhile, in the southern kingdom there was also apostasy; during the reign of Rehoboam, “they also built for themselves high places, and pillars, and Asherim on every high hill and under every green tree; and there were also male cult prostitutes in the land” (14:23, 24). When Asa became king of Judah he initiated many religious reforms, “but the high places were not taken away” (15:12-14). The Chronicler provides more details: “he took away the foreign altars and the high places, and broke down the pillars and hewed down the Asherim” (2 Chron 14:3) and “also took out of the cities of Judah the high places and the incense altars” (v. 5), but “the high places were not taken out of Israel” (15:17). In similar fashion, Jehoshaphat did “what was right in the sight of the Lord; yet the high places were not taken away, and the people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places” (1 Kings 22:43). Some reforms of Jehoshaphat are indicated: “he took the high places and the Asherim out of Judah” (2 Chron 17:6; cf. 20:33). His son, the murderous Jehoram, did what was evil and “made high places in the hill country of Judah” (21:11). Joash again did what was right, but the high places remained and the people continued to use them (2 Kings 12:3). His son, Amaziah, followed his father’s policy, with the same results (14:3, 4), as did Uzziah (Azariah), the son of Amaziah (15:3, 4), and Jotham, the son of Uzziah (15:34, 35). Ahaz, the son of Jotham, departed from his father’s ways and followed the kings of Israel; he even burned his son as an offering, and sacrificed and burned incense on the high places which he made in every city in Judah (16:3, 4). The fall of Samaria was the result of sin and was related to the worship conducted at the high places (17:7-18). The Israelites built high places in all of their towns, “from watchtower to fortified city” (v. 9); “they set up...Asherim on every high hill and under every green tree” (v. 10); “they burned incense on all the high places” (v. 11); “and they served idols” (v. 12). This apostasy involved the making of an Asherah, the worship of the host of heaven, the service of Baal, the offering of sons and daughters, and the use of divination and sorcery (vv. 16, 17). The people who replaced the deported Israelites made their own gods and “put them in the shrines of the high places which the Samaritans had made” (17:29), but they also feared the Lord and appointed priests to sacrifice for them in the shrines of the high places (v. 32). In Judah, Hezekiah introduced some far-sweeping reforms; he removed the high places, breaking the pillars, cutting down the Asherah, and even smashing the bronze serpent of the wilderness wanderings (18:3, 4; 2 Chron 31:1; Isa 36:7). Manasseh, the son of Hezekiah, went contrary to his father’s example; he rebuilt the high places which his father had torn down and brought many elements of heathen religion into Judah and Jerusalem (2 Kings 21:2-9; esp. v. 3; 2 Chron 33:3-9, 17, 19). In the revival during the reign of Josiah, extensive reforms were again carried out (2 Kings 23:4-25; 2 Chron 34:3-7); Josiah deposed the idolatrous priests who served at the high places (2 Kings 23:5); he defiled the high places, from Geba to Beersheba, and broke down the high places of the gates (v. 8). He defiled the high places E of Jerusalem, which Solomon had built for Ashtoreth, Chemosh, and Milcom (v. 13; cf. 1 Kings 11:7). He utterly destroyed the high place at Bethel and burned human bones upon it (2 Kings 23:15, 16; cf. 1 Kings 13:2). The prophets spoke boldly against the high places, whether of Israel or the surrounding nations. Isaiah (15:2; 16:12) and Jeremiah (48:35) mention the high places of Moab. Jeremiah refers to the high place of Topheth, which was built in the Hinnom Valley (Jer 7:31), where people burned their children as offerings to Baal (19:5). Ezekiel and others also prophesied that the high places of Israel would be destroyed (Ezek 6:3; Hos 10:8; Amos 7:9). The prophet described the worship of the high places and made a word play on the name Bamah (Ezek 20:27-31). The Babylonian captivity served as a severe lesson to Israel concerning idolatry and no more is said in the Bible concerning high places.
Bibliography R. A. S. Macalister, The Excavation of Gezer, II (1912), 281-411; G. L. Robinson, The Sarcophagus of an Ancient Civilization (1930), 107-171; R. Brinker, The Influence of Sanctuaries in Early Israel (1946); C. C. McCown, “Hebrew High Places and Cult Remains,” JBL, LXIX (1950), 205-219; W. F. Albright, Archaeology and the Religion of Israel, 3rd ed. (1953), 103-107; W. Albright, “The High Place in Ancient Palestine,” Supplement to VT, IV (1957); S. Iwry, “Massebah and Bamah in IQ IsaiahA 6:13,” JBL, LXXVI (1957), 225-232.