1 Kings 3:2

2 Unfortunately, the people were sacrificing at the shrines because a temple hadn't yet been built for the LORD's name in those days.

1 Kings 3:2 Meaning and Commentary

1 Kings 3:2

Only the people sacrificed in high places
On the tops of their houses, on hills and mountains, and particularly at the high place in Gibeon, where the tabernacle was:

because there was no house built unto the name of the Lord until those
days;
to which they were obliged to repair as afterwards, and there offer their sacrifices, as the Lord had commanded, ( Deuteronomy 12:5 Deuteronomy 12:6 ) .

1 Kings 3:2 In-Context

1 Solomon became the son-in-law of Pharaoh, Egypt's king, when he married Pharaoh's daughter. He brought her to David's City until he finished building his royal palace, the LORD's temple, and the wall around Jerusalem.

2 Unfortunately, the people were sacrificing at the shrines because a temple hadn't yet been built for the LORD's name in those days.

3 Now Solomon loved the LORD by walking in the laws of his father David, with the exception that he also sacrificed and burned incense at the shrines.

4 The king went to the great shrine at Gibeon in order to sacrifice there. He used to offer a thousand entirely burned offerings on that altar.

5 The LORD appeared to Solomon at Gibeon in a dream at night. God said, "Ask whatever you wish, and I'll give it to you."