An elevated location used for religious rites. In the OT, worship at such sites is characteristic of the Canaanite fertility religion and the worship of Baal (Jer 19:5; Jer 32:35), so it is generally strongly condemned, especially in Kings, Chronicles, and the Prophets. The rites practiced at the high places and the cultic objects found there are typically Canaanite: ritual prostitution (1Kgs 14:23-24; Ezek 16:16), child sacrifice (Jer 7:31; Jer 19:5; Jer 32:35; Ezek 16:20), sacrifices and the burning of incense (1Kgs 22:43; 2Kgs 12:3), the stone pillar symbolizing Baal, and the wooden pole symbolizing the goddess Asherah (1Kgs 14:23; 2Kgs 17:10). Certain OT passages reveal, however, that, before the centralization of worship at a single sanctuary, the high places were considered a legitimate feature of the worship of Yahweh. In (1Sam 9:12-24), we find Samuel sacrificing and presiding at the attendant meal at the high place of Ramah, and in (1Sam 10:5) a band of prophets has clearly been worshiping at the high place of Gibeath-elohim. It was the great prestige of Jerusalem that enabled the eventual implementation of Deuteronomy’s program by Josiah, who destroyed all the numerous high places in both the south and north (2Kgs 23:4-20) and left the Temple at Jerusalem as the sole place where Yahweh could be worshiped.
