“For they also built them high places, and images, and groves, on every high hill, and under every green tree.”
My Notes
What Does 1 Kings 14:23 Mean?
Judah — the southern kingdom, the one that was supposed to be better — also builds high places, sets up images, and plants groves (Asherah poles) on every hill and under every green tree. The nation that has the temple, the Levitical priesthood, and David's throne adopts the same idolatry as the pagans around them.
The phrase "every high hill, and under every green tree" is formulaic — it appears repeatedly in the prophets as a description of comprehensive idolatry. The worship wasn't confined to one location. It was everywhere. Every hill. Every tree. The landscape was saturated with false worship.
The specificity — high places (bamot), images (matstsevot — standing stones), groves (asherim — Asherah poles representing the goddess) — represents the full Canaanite worship package. Judah didn't partially adopt paganism. They adopted the complete system. The same practices God drove the Canaanites out for, Judah now performs.
Reflection Questions
- 1.Where is the 'temple and the high place' coexisting in your life — true worship alongside idolatrous practices?
- 2.Does Judah's comprehensive idolatry (despite having the temple) challenge the assumption that having the truth protects you from the lie?
- 3.How do you recognize 'supplemental' worship — the additions to God that compete with God?
- 4.What does it mean that Judah became what Canaan was — and is your community at risk of the same transformation?
Devotional
Every high hill. Under every green tree. High places. Images. Asherah poles. And this is Judah — the kingdom with the temple.
The southern kingdom — the one with Jerusalem, the one with David's throne, the one with the ark of the covenant in the actual temple — adopted the full Canaanite worship system. Not partially. Not occasionally. Every high hill. Under every green tree. The landscape was carpeted with idolatry.
The temple was still standing. The priests were still serving. The festivals were still observed. And on every hill outside Jerusalem, Asherah poles were planted and sacrifices were offered to gods who weren't God. The official worship and the unofficial worship coexisted — the temple down in the valley, the high places up on the hills.
This is what comprehensive spiritual corruption looks like: you don't abandon the true worship. You supplement it. The temple stays open. But so do the high places. You go to Jerusalem for the feasts. And you go to the hilltop for the rest. The presence of the true doesn't prevent the practice of the false.
The same practices God judged the Canaanites for — the very abominations that justified their dispossession — are now being performed by the people who replaced them. Judah has become what Canaan was. The new tenants are doing what the old tenants were evicted for.
Every green tree. Every high hill. The idolatry wasn't discreet. It was visible. Public. Comprehensive. And the kingdom that should have known better — that had the temple, the law, the prophets, and the throne — adopted it completely.
Having the truth doesn't prevent practicing the lie. Proximity to God's presence doesn't guarantee exclusivity of worship.
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
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Judah's story and Israel's are intermixed in this book. Jeroboam out-lived Rehoboam, four or five years, yet his history…
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Cross References
Related passages throughout Scripture