BEHIND in your BIND Reading? DON'T GIVE UP!

We are delighted to hear how many people are finding a way to stay with the reading. If you are one of these, we say, “Well done and keep up the good work! - - and please ignore the following passage in italics.”

There are also a number of you who are finding it a challenge to keep up. We know that it is VERY EASY to fall a few days behind, and then it can become daunting to think about trying to catch up. But this marvelous adventure continues for EIGHT MORE WEEKS and we’d like you to be a part of that. So, please don’t get discouraged. FIND A WAY to get back into the adventure – even if it means skimming or skipping some sections –

(shh-h-h-h!!! – don’t tell anyone I am saying this!) Stay with us. Better to read most of the Bible than to give up on most of it, right? You can always go back and fill in the gaps if you want to! GF

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Week 4 - "HIGH PLACES"

In the books of Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles (and later in the prophets), we read over and over about the “high places,” built and frequented by the “bad” kings and destroyed by the “good” kings.  The high places were pagan, cultic religious sites, often erected on a higher spot or at least on a manmade mound. False gods were worshiped in fertility rites that included the kinds of sacrifices we see in the Jewish Law, but also ritual prostitution and child sacrifice. (It is this kind of evil that God was eradicating and judging when the Israelites swept through the Promised Land.) Often there was a (phallic) stone pillar representing the false God Baal and a tall, totem-pole-like pillar for the goddess Asherah (“asherah poles”). The Jewish Law was clear in its condemnation of these sites:

13 Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones and cut down their Asherah poles. 14 Do not worship any other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God. (Exodus 34:13-14)

For those who want more on this topic, there is an extensive article in our church library. Find the International Standard Bible Dictionary, vol. 2, and look up “High Place” (p.708) in the reference section of the library.