The High Places

I mentioned before about the Sunday night Bible study I’ve been involved with for several months. I want to say for the last 6 weeks or so we have been doing a survey of the Old Testament. To be honest I never knew there were so many quirky details and stories in the Old Testament. I hope I remember to return to the Old Testament more frequently in my studies. Combine the Old Testament studies with several of the sermons I have been listening to from Mars Hill Church, and I pondering the high places and how they are relevant to us.

With my limited resources I found the High Places were altar-like places scattered throughout the lands in the Old Testament. It was common among indigenous cultures to find hilltops and other high elevation locations and setup obelisks, altars, and other small structures to worship their gods. The gods to which the high places were dedicated varied; amongst the unnamed gods are Baal, Asheroth, Asherah, and Molech. To the best of my understanding Baal was the god of economic success. It was everything from blessings harvests and business, Baal worship was a means to bless earthly success and wealth. In Leviticus 20, Molech was known for child sacrifice, through other historical references altars to Molech were statues with arms perpendicular so as to place an object on the arms. For worship the arms were heated to color changing temperatures and children were placed on the arms to be burned to death.

The first mention I have found of the high places was in the settling of the Promised Land. Continuing through the Old Testament I counted high places mentioned in the connotation of foreign god worship site appears 68 times. It was most apparent to me going through 1 & 2 Kings in which many leaders of Judah and Israel were given several paragraphs summarizing their rule and frequently mentioned was “the high places were not taken away” or worse yet “made offerings at the high places”. Saul was found hanging out at the high places where Samuel found him. Solomon built high places for his foreign wives and eventually made sacrifices to them. Hezekiah, who has been called by many the most righteous King in Jewish history destroyed the high places, only to have his son Manasseh rebuild them.

Yes, this was one of the more research intensive blogs, but here is the relevance. What are our high places? The Jews set the example of false idols and gods, upon hearing I often questioned the application. In California I never came across an idol or temple devoted to Baal. Wandering the streets of London I observed countless memorials and statues to honor their history, yet I never saw an altar to Molech for people to offer their babies. For far too long I held the teachings of false gods to be rather outdated and irrelevant because I had never experienced or even heard of such behavior. What if the worship still continues, we just changed high places and how we offer our worship? Mark Driscoll keenly points out that abortion is modern child sacrifice for sex. People desiring to worship sex more than life sacrifice their babies to continue their worship. What of the worship of money and success? Take your pick, be it magazines like “The Best Life”, TV shows such as “Cribs”, or America’s infatuation with celebrities concerning any and everything they wear and say, because they are rich. Ensuring I point the finger to myself I have to consider where I spend my time and for what purpose. Earlier today, I was busy playing Hitman while listening to a Mars Hill sermon in which Mark pointed out that the average single man plays two hours and forty six minutes of video games, ugh.

I do not intend this to be a legalist calling in which we must monitor our time consumption of activities, cease watching TV, and take no interest in popular culture; far from it. I just wanted to share with you all (I will not say y’all) I have been made more aware of the idols present throughout our society and more importantly the greater application of the Old Testament. Remember, for effective evangelism we must meet them where they are. If I know nothing of the culture I am attempting to reach common sense tells me I will not be effective.