THE RELIGIOUS HEIGHTS IN ISRAËL

At the time when the people of Israël were not yet raised up as a Kingdom of God in the desert of Sinai, and therefore did not have a tabernacle in which the Lord dwelled, there were then already places of divine worship, however. We read in our Bible that the children of Adam and Eve, namely Cain and Abel, offered unto the Lord; and that in later time Noah, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob have likewise done so, not to mention many others.

Those who wanted to worship and thank God for the good received would do so by bringing an offer which was consumed by fire, and this symbolized that man renounced his possession to give it back to God out of gratitude. And because they knew and believed that God dwells in heaven, they tried to attain the greatest height possible by bringing the offer upon a hill, because a mountain or hill was naturally nearer to heaven than the plain or the valley. However, if they lived in a region having no hills in its surroundings they would then make a high place some where. By piling up sand or clay, or pieces of rock and stones they made an elevation. This was naturally not as high as a hill, and much less than a mountain; but therein, however, they expressed their desire to elevate themselves as much above the earth as was possible and come near unto heaven.

And this was also not satisfactory. Besides this, they would build an altar, a certain kind of table of stone upon which they made the offer burn. They never brought an offer on the level ground, as this was too base and unworthy a place to offer unto the Lord.

Considering this all, we will understand that we read again and again in the Scripture that believing men “built an altar to the Lord,” to offer thereupon and praise thereby the Name of the Lord with prayer, and singing, and conversation.

It is very remarkable that even after the erection of the tabernacle, yea, even during the time that the temple had been built in Jerusalem, we repeatedly read of heights and the offering upon the heights.

If we read thereof, it is necessary to make a distinction betwen the one and the other. Many a time we read that the Lord despised the heights, and also that the God-fearing kings gave orders to cast down the heights.

When we read of these, we must at all times remember that these were the heights which were used to serve the idols, especially Baal and Ashtaroth, the Sidonian idols, the objects of great attraction for Israël. All such heights, which did not serve to glorify the Lord, but to worship the idols, and excited the lust of the flesh, were forbidden by God and had to be destroyed together with the groves that belonged to them.

It was different with the heights which were to the honor of Jehovah. It is true that the Lord had ordered that there only should be one place where He had recorded His name, and where the offer should be brought, namely in the temple at Jerusalem; but notwithstanding, not all heights upon which to offer were forbidden.

We must make a distinction between the shadowing offers which illustrated Christ and His atoning work, and which the priests only were allowed to bring at the appointed place in the Court of the temple, and the thank-offerings which every Israelite might bring at all times and at all places.

We could present a long series of places in which such offerings are mentioned. Only consider the altar upon Mount Carmel (far from Jerusalem) where Elijah (who was not a priest) yet received the approval of God upon his offering. David also built an altar on the threshing floor of Araunah, after which the destroying angel spared Jerusalem.

In connection with this also, we may observe that the sin of Saul, who did not wait with offering until Samuel had arrived, did not consist in his having no right to offer (he certainly was allowed to do so,) but that he did not wait in faith for the coming of Samuel. If Saul would not have been allowed to offer, Samuel would have no right to do so either because he was truly a prophet and a judge, but not a priest; he was out of the tribe of Ephraim.

From all that has been said we may conclude that the heights in themselves were not sinful; they could often be called holy places, provided that they were consecrated to the service of the Lord, and that no offerings of atonement were brought there, whereunto the priests only were authorized.

As places of worshipping and thanks they always continued. The legal offers, however, had to be brought to the priests in the temple. The offering of Uzziah was, therefore, a great sin and punished by God.

A translation from a

Holland periodical.

Deze tekst is geautomatiseerd gemaakt en kan nog fouten bevatten. Digibron werkt voortdurend aan correctie. Klik voor het origineel door naar de pdf. Voor opmerkingen, vragen, informatie: contact.

Op Digibron -en alle daarin opgenomen content- is het databankrecht van toepassing. Gebruiksvoorwaarden. Data protection law applies to Digibron and the content of this database. Terms of use.

Printen