For the saying which he cried by the word of the Lord against
the altar in Bethel
That the priests should be offered on it, and men's bones be burnt upon it; for as for its being rent, and the ashes of it poured out, that had been done already:
and against all the houses of the high places which are in Samaria,
shall surely come to pass:
by which it appears that there were temples, and high places, and altars built in other parts of the kingdom besides Dan and Bethel, of the destruction of which the man of God prophesied, though not before mentioned; all which the old prophet gave credit to, and firmly believed would be accomplished. The kingdom of Israel, in later times, had the name of Samaria, from the chief city of it, ( Isaiah 7:9 ) , here spoken of by anticipation, for as yet it was not in being, see ( 1 Kings 16:24 ) and either it has its name here by way of prophecy, or else given by the writer of this book, as what it went by in his time.