2 Kings 12:3

3 Nevertheless, ¹the high places were not taken away; the people continued to sacrifice and make offerings on the high places.

2 Kings 12:3 Meaning and Commentary

2 Kings 12:3

But the high places were not taken away
Used before the temple was built, or set up in Rehoboam's time, ( 1 Kings 14:23 ) contrary to the law of God, which required that sacrifices should only be offered in the place the Lord chose to dwell in, ( Deuteronomy 12:4 Deuteronomy 12:6 ) the people still sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places; as they had done in the times of Athaliah, and though the pure worship of God was restored at Jerusalem; and indeed this they did in all preceding reigns; nor was it in the power of the best of kings, at least they did not think it safe to attempt to remove them till Hezekiah's time; so fond were the people of them because of their antiquity and supposed sanctity, and for the sake of ease.

2 Kings 12:3 In-Context

1 In the seventh year of Jehu, Jehoash began to reign, and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Zibiah of Beersheba.

2 And Jehoash did what was right in the eyes of the Lord all his days, because Jehoiada the priest instructed him.

3 Nevertheless, the high places were not taken away; the people continued to sacrifice and make offerings on the high places.

4 Jehoash said to the priests, “All the money of the holy things that is brought into the house of the Lord, the money for which each man is assessed—the money from the assessment of persons—and the money that a man’s heart prompts him to bring into the house of the Lord,

5 let the priests take, each from his donor, and let them repair the house wherever any need of repairs is discovered. ”

Cross References

• 1. 12:3 ch. 14:4; 15:35; 1 Kgs. 15:14; 22:43