“THEN THE LORD SPOKE
TO MOSES IN THE PLAINS OF MOAB BY THE JORDAN OPPOSITE JERICHO, SAYING, ‘SPEAK
TO THE SONS OF ISRAEL AND SAY TO THEM, ‘ WHEN YOU CROSS OVER THE JORDAN INTO
THE LAND OF CANAAN, THEN YOU SHALL DRIVE
OUT ALL THE INHABITANTS OF THE LAND FROM BEFORE YOU, AND DESTROY ALL THEIR
FIGURED STONES, AND DESTROY ALL THEIR MOLTEN IMAGES AND DEMOLISH ALL OF THEIR
HIGH PLACES; AND YOU SHALL TAKE POSSESSION OF THE LAND AND LIVE IN IT, FOR I
HAVE GIVEN THE LAND TO YOU TO POSSESS IT.”
NUMBERS 33:50-53
God’s instructions were explicit to the Israelites: “You shall have no other gods before Me” (Exodus 20:3) and “You shall not make for yourself an idol” (Exodus 20:4) are the first two of The Ten Commandments. When the Israelites crossed over the Jordan and possessed the land flowing with milk and honey, they were to be careful to destroy every idol, every image and every high place that was dedicated to a false god. Instead of worshiping on the high places, the nation of Israel was to “seek the Lord at the place which the Lord your God shall choose from all your tribes, to establish His name there for His dwelling, and there you shall come.” (Deuteronomy 12:5).
The place that He ultimately chooses
is the Temple built by King Solomon. When the temple was built and dedicated by Solomon,
“the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord.” (I Kings 8:11) It was to
be the central place for sacrifice, worship, forgiveness of sins, and where “all
the peoples of the earth may know that the Lord is God; there is no one else’.
(I Kings 8:60)
So were the high places torn down
once the temple was built? No. Matter of fact, sadly years later when Solomon
was old, his foreign wives turned his heart away from serving the Lord fully
and he built a high place for the detestable idol of Moab which was “evil in
the sight of the Lord.” (I Kings 11:6) Because of this, the Lord stated He
would tear the kingdom from his hands. And
so He did.
So what were the high places
anyway? The Hebrew word for high place
is “bamah” which translates: high place, ridge, height, mountain, battlefield,
place of worship, technical term for cultic platform. (#1116-Strong’s Concordance.) It is also the very same word used by Satan
when he declares: “I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make
myself like the Most High.” (Isaiah 14:14). It is equating something else or
someone else as equal to God, worthy of worship and sacrifice.
Then, for each king that ruled
after Solomon, there is a summation statement on what they each did with the high
places during their reign. These kings,
approximately 40 kings over a 500 year span, were divided into 3 categories:
· BUILT UP THE HIGH PLACES: The majority of
kings did evil in the sight of the Lord and sacrificed and burned incense on
the high places to other gods. “They
rejected His statues and His covenant which He made with their fathers and His
warnings with which He warned them. And
they followed vanity and became vain, and went after the nations which
surrounded them, concerning which the Lord had commanded them to do like them.”
(II Kings 17:15) THE APPLICATION FOR US TODAY: If you do not dedicate yourself
to the Lord and His ways, you will worship something else in His place.
·
DID NOT TEAR DOWN THE HIGH PLACES: A
small minority of the kings did right in the sight of the Lord “but the high
places were not taken away.” (I Kings 15:14, 22:43, II Kings 2:3, 14:4, 15:4,
15:35). THE APPLICATION FOR US TODAY: You can worship the Lord and do right in His
sight but still have something else competing in your life that robs you of not
trusting Him with all of your heart.
·
TORE DOWN THE HIGH PLACES: There are only
2 kings listed who did right in the sight of the Lord AND tore down the high
places: Josiah and Hezekiah. What did they have in common?
a.
Their personal walk with the Lord was
affected. Josiah’s heart was tender, he
humbled himself before the Lord, and he tore His clothes and wept before the
Lord. Hezekiah trusted in the Lord,
clung to Him, and did not depart from following Him.
b.
They both opened up the doors of the temple,
working on cleansing and repairing the temple.
c.
They carried away and destroyed the foreign
idols found in the temple.
d.
Hezekiah declared there was only one alter of
sacrifice and worship before the Lord, and that was in the temple. (II
Chronicles 32:12). Josiah discovered the
Word of the Lord there and read it to all the people. Hezekiah commanded that
the priests “devote themselves to the law of the Lord.” (II Chronicles 31: 4) They
both reinstituted sacrifice, worship and celebrating the Passover. The worship was so contagious and joyous
during Hezekiah’s reign that the people celebrated for an additional 7 days.
e.
As an outflow of true worship, the high places
were pulled down throughout the countryside, idols were destroyed and alters
smashed.
How about you? What are your high
places? Where do you replace God and rob
Him of His glory?
Here are some practical questions
that might help you to identify some high places in your heart:
·
Where do I run for comfort? (II Corinthians
1:3-4)
·
Where am I excessive with my finances, time, and/or
energy? (Hebrews 13:5)
·
In what ways do I try to set myself apart from
the “rest of the crowd”? (James 2:1-9)
·
Where in life am I highly praised or exalted? (James 4:10)
·
Where do I store up my treasures? (Matthew 6:
19-24)
·
Where do I find my worth? (I Peter 2:9)
·
When is what I have never enough, always seeking
more? (Philippians 4:11-12)
· What things do I think I must have for
fulfillment and happiness that God is not going to provide? (James 1:17)
·
When do I compromise my integrity in order to
accomplish something else? (I Peter 3:13-17)
·
What or whom do I love above all else? (Matthew 22:37)
As He reveals and convicts you of
the high places in your heart, then ask yourself: Can I give it up…Lay it
down…Walk away…Set it aside…Put God back on the throne of my heart and lay it all
at His feet? It says in Matthew 6:33, “But
seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things shall be
added to you.”
The last words of Moses before he
dies were this: “Blessed are you, O Israel; Who is like you, a people saved by
the Lord, who is the shield of your help and the sword of your majesty! So your enemies shall cringe before you, and
you shall tread upon their high places.” (Deut. 33:29) Let Him tread upon your
high places today.