RTW 2024

Proclaim this message from the Sovereign LORD against the mountains of Israel. This is what the Sovereign LORD says to the mountains and hills and to the ravines and valleys: I am about to bring war upon you, and I will smash your pagan shrines.

Ezekiel 6:3

“Son of man, take a sharp sword and use it as a razor to shave your head and beard. Use a scale to weigh the hair into three equal parts. Place a third of it at the center of your map of Jerusalem. After acting out the siege, burn it there. Scatter another third across your map and chop it with a sword. Scatter the last third to the wind, for I will scatter my people with the sword. Keep just a bit of the hair and tie it up in your robe. Then take some of these hairs out and throw them into the fire, burning them up. A fire will then spread from this remnant and destroy all of Israel.”
Ezekiel 5:1-4

• The Hebrew word for high place is bamah בָּמָה. It means height. It can refer to a high place, like a ridge, mountain, hill, or a place of worship.
• Sometimes it was referred to as a high place because of its location on a hill, but it could also refer to its construction. A typical high place consisted of a man-made platform or altar with associated buildings.
• Sometimes high places were located in areas that were originally sacred to the Canaanites. When Israel worshiped at these same locations, they were indiscriminately mixing pagan worship with worship to God.
• Worship at these high places continued even once worship had been centralized in Jerusalem, which “came to pose a threat to the purity of Israel's faith.”
• Elijah may have chosen Mount Carmel in his challenge to the prophets of Baal because the site may have been sacred to both Israelites and pagans.
• Gibeon was known as the most important high place, and even though the ark was eventually brought to Jerusalem by David, the Tabernacle and bronze altar remained at Gibeon.
• The Archaeological Study Bible, pg. 1318.

Take note of things we have assumed or believed that aren’t aligned with God’s love and truth. The things we do are just as important (perhaps even more) as what we don’t do.