1 Kings 14:23

23 They also built shrines, standing stones, and sacred poles on top of every high hill and under every green tree.

1 Kings 14:23 Meaning and Commentary

1 Kings 14:23

For they also built them high places
Which, though allowed of, or at least connived at, before the temple was built, and when the tabernacle was unfixed, yet afterwards unlawful; and the tribe of Judah could have no excuse for them, who had the temple in their tribe:

and images;
contrary to the express command of God, ( Exodus 20:4 ) ,

and groves on every high hill, and under every green tree;
that is, set up idols, and temples for idols, amidst groves of trees, and under all green trees; as was the custom of the Heathens, who sacrificed on the heights of hills and tops of mountains, as was particularly the custom of the Persians, as both Herodotus ^F13 and Xenophon ^F14 relate; and with the Getae, a people in Thrace, was a mountain they reckoned sacred {o}.

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FOOTNOTES:

F13 Clio, sive, l. 1. c. 131.
F14 Cyropaedia, l. 8. c. 45.
F15 Strabo Geograph. l. 7. p. 206.

1 Kings 14:23 In-Context

21 Rehoboam, Solomon's son, ruled over Judah. Rehoboam was 41 years old when he became king. He ruled for seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city the LORD chose from among all the tribes of Israel to set his name. Rehoboam's mother's name was Naamah from Ammon.

22 Judah did evil in the LORD's eyes. The sins they committed made the LORD angrier than anything their ancestors had done.

23 They also built shrines, standing stones, and sacred poles on top of every high hill and under every green tree.

24 Moreover, the consecrated workers in the land did detestable things, just like those nations that the LORD had removed among the Israelites.

25 During King Rehoboam's fifth year, King Shishak of Egypt attacked Jerusalem.

Footnotes

• [a]. Heb asherim, perhaps objects devoted to the goddess Asherah