Difference between revisions of "High place" - New World Encyclopedia
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[[Image:Altar-of-witness.jpg|thumb|200px|The "altar of witness" built by the tribes of Reuben and Gad, who settled among the Moabites.]] | [[Image:Altar-of-witness.jpg|thumb|200px|The "altar of witness" built by the tribes of Reuben and Gad, who settled among the Moabites.]] | ||
| − | A '''High Place''', ([[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] ''bamot'' or ''bemah'') was a hilltop shrine in ancient Israelite and | + | A '''High Place''', ([[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] ''bamot'' or ''bemah'') was a hilltop shrine in ancient [[Israelite]] and [[Canaan]]ite times from the twelth century or earlier through at least the sixth century B.C.E. and beyond. They consisted of a stone or earthen altar, often accompanied by a stone or wooden pillar sybolizing the presence of a deity, and sometimes a sacred tree. |
| − | + | According to the [[Hebrew Bible]], ancient Israelite [[patriarch]]s and [[prophet]]s established high places from the time of [[Abraham]] until at least the period of the ministry of the prophets [[Elijah]] and [[Elisha]]. A movement against the use of high places developed as the [[Temple of Jerusalem]] emerged as a central sancturary and exclusive place of sacrifice to the Hebrew God. Scriptures such as the [[Book of Deuteronomy]] banned high places and associated these local altars with [[idolatry]]. Some high places apparently combined the worship of the Hebrew God with Canaanite fertility rites, leading to increasingly harsh condemnations by prophetic and priestly writers. In the late sixth century B.C.E., King [[Josiah]] of Judah initiated a religious reform that destroyed some of the high places and attempted to bring local [[Levite]] priests who served at these sites to Jerusalem. Henceforth, the Jerusalem Temple, itself a highly insitutionalized high place, would be the only authorized place of sacrifice in the Jewish tradition. | |
| + | ==History== | ||
| + | [[Image:Jacob's-ladder.jpg|thumb|200px|Jacob's dream at Bethel]] | ||
| + | ===Patriarchal times=== | ||
| + | From mankind's earliest times, mountain and hilltops were sacred places where humans stood suspended between the heavens and the earth. The earliest biblical descriptions of the sites that were later called "high places" are found in the [[Book of Genesis]]. Abraham first built an altar under the "great tree of Moreh" at [[Shechem]] and then moved on to [[Bethel]], where he constructed a hilltop altar (Gen 12:6-8). It would be here that [[Jacob]], later called "Israel," had his famous dream of "Jacob's ladder" (Gen. 28:18). Jacob himself also reportedly established both an atlar and a sacred pillar at Bethel, which would later become a national shrine when the northern [[Kingdom of Israel]] seceded from the united kingdom established by [[David]] and [[Solomon]]. | ||
| + | |||
| + | Abraham established another altar under "the great trees of Mamre at Hebron." (Gen 13:18) Later, he would climb a mountain in the region of Moriah, where he built an altar upon which to sacrifice his son [[Isaac]] as a burnt offering to [[Yahweh]]. Traditionally, this site is thought to be the same high place where the [[Temple of Jerusalem]] was eventually built (2 Chronicles 3:1). | ||
| + | |||
| + | Prior to the coming of the patriarchs, high places may already have been used by the [[Canaan]]ites, who, like the Hebrews, viewed mountaintops as having spiritual significance becuase of their presumed physical proximity to the home of the gods. | ||
| − | == | + | ===The high places of Israel=== |
| − | [[ | + | |
| − | + | High places would continue to play a major role in Israelite worship for centuries. [[Moses]] would meet God at the top of [[Mount Sinai]] (also called Horeb), and the prophet [[Elijah]], several hundred years later, would travel to the same mountain for his own encounter with the Almighty. At [[Gilgal]], Joshua set up 12 stone pillars when the Israelites crossed the Jordan into [[Canaan]]. It was here that Joshua re-confirmed the covenant of circumcision for [[Israelite]] men, and the site would later become one of the high places visited regularly by the prophet [[Samuel]] (1 Samuel 7:16), as well as a place of idolatrous Canaanite worship (Judges 3:19). | |
| + | |||
| + | The [[Book of Joshua]] describes a major high place altar that was established by the Israelite tribes who settled among the [[Ammonite]]s and [[Moab]]ites (see illustration, top of page). Believing this shrine to be a threat to the centrality of the [[Tabernacle]] which housed the [[Ark of the Covenant]], the other tribes nearly went to war with their brothers over this, until the transjordan Israelites promised not to offer sacrifices there but only to use it only as a "witness." (Joshua 22) | ||
| + | |||
| + | Bands of Israelite prophets attended various high places from the time of Samuel through period of the prophets Elijah and Elisha. [[Elijah]] even battled the prophets of [[Baal]] for control of the high place at [[Mount Carmel]] and to demonstrate Yahweh's superior power as a rain god. | ||
| − | + | ===Canaanite high places=== | |
| − | |||
[[Image:Balaam-blesses-israel.jpg|thumb|250px|The prophet Balaam offers sacrifice at a high place east of the Jordan River.]] | [[Image:Balaam-blesses-israel.jpg|thumb|250px|The prophet Balaam offers sacrifice at a high place east of the Jordan River.]] | ||
| − | High places were equally important in Canaanite and neighboring religions. When the prophet Balaam was hired by the | + | High places were equally important in Canaanite and neighboring religions. When the prophet [[Balaam]] was hired by the [[Moab]]ite king Balak to curse the Israelites who threatened his terriority, Balak took Balaam to a succession of high places, where the prophet famously blessed Balak's enemies instead of cursing them. King [[Solomon]] later established idolatrous high places for his Moabite and [[Ammon]]ite wives outside of [[Jersualem]], earning him, according to the author of the [[Books of Kings]], Yahweh's rejection. The Moabite king Mesha apparently boasted in the so-called [[Moabite stone]] monument of seizing an Israelite high place at Nebo (the legendary mountain where Moses died) and dedicating it to his own god, Chemosh/Kemosh. |
| − | + | <blockquote>And Kemosh said to me, "Go, take Nebo from Israel." And I went in the night and fought against it from the daybreak until midday, and I took it and I killed the whole population: seven thousand male subjects and aliens, and female subjects, aliens, and servant girls... And from there I took the vessels of Yahweh, and I presented them before the face of Kemosh.</blockquote> | |
| − | Although other high places survived, Jerusalem would henceforth be the only high place of the Jewish tradition. With Bethel out of the picture, the high place at Mount Gerizim would emerge as the central shrine of the northern worshipers of Yahweh, who became known as Samaritans. | + | ===High places become banned=== |
| + | |||
| + | The [[Levite]] priesthood gradually replaced the prophetic bands as officiators at the high places scattered throughout Israel and Judah. These local priests competed with the central sanctuary at Jerusalem for the benefits associated with their sacrificial office. The [[Book of Deuteronomy]], however, stipulates that God would name only one place where sacfrice was authorized, implying that this would be the [[Temple of Jerusalem]] itself. Under King [[Josiah]] (late seventh century B.C.E.), Levites were encouraged to move to Jerusalem, where they would be accepted into a second-tier priesthood under the priests descended from [[Aaron]]. Josiah destroyed many of the high places and slaughtered those priests who sacrificed to gods other than Yahweh. The Book of Kings mentions specifically that Josiah even dared to destroy the ancient altar at [[Bethel]], just a few miles north or Jerusalem, to which northern pilgrims were likely to go. | ||
| + | |||
| + | Although other high places survived, Jerusalem would henceforth be the only high place of the Jewish tradition. With Bethel out of the picture, the high place at [[Mount Gerizim]], near [[Shechem]], would emerge as the central shrine of the northern worshipers of Yahweh, who became known as [[Samaritans]]. Gerizim was the site of a major temple for several centuries and is still a sacred place among the small Samaritan community in Israel and Palestine today. Meanwhile, Moabite, Ammonite, and Edomite high places continued as places of worship well into the Christian era. | ||
==Character== | ==Character== | ||
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Around these places the religion of the ancient Israelites and Canaanites centred. At festival seasons or to fulfil a vow, a person or family might journey to more famous sanctuaries, but ordinar offerings which linked everyday life to religion were made at the local high place. The building of royal temples in [[Jerusalem]] or [[Samaria]] initially made no change in this respect; they simply took their place beside the older sanctuaries, such as [[Bethel]], [[Shiloh]], Dan, [[Gilgal]], [[Beersheba]], etc. | Around these places the religion of the ancient Israelites and Canaanites centred. At festival seasons or to fulfil a vow, a person or family might journey to more famous sanctuaries, but ordinar offerings which linked everyday life to religion were made at the local high place. The building of royal temples in [[Jerusalem]] or [[Samaria]] initially made no change in this respect; they simply took their place beside the older sanctuaries, such as [[Bethel]], [[Shiloh]], Dan, [[Gilgal]], [[Beersheba]], etc. | ||
| − | Howoever, this began to change when the religious reformers of the eighth and seventh centuries assailed the popular religion as corrupt and licentious. The | + | [[Image:Josiah.jpg|thumb|Josiah supervises the demolition of Bethel.]] |
| + | |||
| + | Howoever, this began to change when the religious reformers of the eighth and seventh centuries assailed the popular religion as corrupt and licentious. The prophet Jeremiah, for example, declared: | ||
| − | [[ | + | ::Long ago you broke off your yoke and tore off your bonds; |
| + | ::You said, 'I will not serve you!' | ||
| + | ::Indeed, on every high hill and under every spreading tree | ||
| + | ::You lay down as a prostitute. | ||
| + | |||
| + | The fundamental law expressed in [[Deuteronomy]] 12:1-32 prohibits [[sacrifice]] at every place except the [[Temple of Jerusalem]]. It was in accordance with this law that [[Josiah]], around 620 B.C.E., destroyed and desecrated the high places throughout his kingdom (2 Kings 22-23), where [[Yahweh]] had been worshiped from time immemorial. | ||
While the earlier prophets as late as Elijah and Elisha had themsevlves sacrificed at high places even after the establishment of the Temple of Jerusalem, for the later prophets, the word ''bamot'' (high place) connotes a place of idolatrous worship. Even the most pious kings of Judah are censured for tolerating their existence. The reaction which followed the death of Josiah (c. 608 B.C.E.) restored the old altars of Yahweh; they survived the destruction of the temple in 586, and it is probable that after its restoration (520-516) they only slowly disappeared. | While the earlier prophets as late as Elijah and Elisha had themsevlves sacrificed at high places even after the establishment of the Temple of Jerusalem, for the later prophets, the word ''bamot'' (high place) connotes a place of idolatrous worship. Even the most pious kings of Judah are censured for tolerating their existence. The reaction which followed the death of Josiah (c. 608 B.C.E.) restored the old altars of Yahweh; they survived the destruction of the temple in 586, and it is probable that after its restoration (520-516) they only slowly disappeared. | ||
Revision as of 20:43, 1 July 2007
A High Place, (Hebrew bamot or bemah) was a hilltop shrine in ancient Israelite and Canaanite times from the twelth century or earlier through at least the sixth century B.C.E. and beyond. They consisted of a stone or earthen altar, often accompanied by a stone or wooden pillar sybolizing the presence of a deity, and sometimes a sacred tree.
According to the Hebrew Bible, ancient Israelite patriarchs and prophets established high places from the time of Abraham until at least the period of the ministry of the prophets Elijah and Elisha. A movement against the use of high places developed as the Temple of Jerusalem emerged as a central sancturary and exclusive place of sacrifice to the Hebrew God. Scriptures such as the Book of Deuteronomy banned high places and associated these local altars with idolatry. Some high places apparently combined the worship of the Hebrew God with Canaanite fertility rites, leading to increasingly harsh condemnations by prophetic and priestly writers. In the late sixth century B.C.E., King Josiah of Judah initiated a religious reform that destroyed some of the high places and attempted to bring local Levite priests who served at these sites to Jerusalem. Henceforth, the Jerusalem Temple, itself a highly insitutionalized high place, would be the only authorized place of sacrifice in the Jewish tradition.
History
Patriarchal times
From mankind's earliest times, mountain and hilltops were sacred places where humans stood suspended between the heavens and the earth. The earliest biblical descriptions of the sites that were later called "high places" are found in the Book of Genesis. Abraham first built an altar under the "great tree of Moreh" at Shechem and then moved on to Bethel, where he constructed a hilltop altar (Gen 12:6-8). It would be here that Jacob, later called "Israel," had his famous dream of "Jacob's ladder" (Gen. 28:18). Jacob himself also reportedly established both an atlar and a sacred pillar at Bethel, which would later become a national shrine when the northern Kingdom of Israel seceded from the united kingdom established by David and Solomon.
Abraham established another altar under "the great trees of Mamre at Hebron." (Gen 13:18) Later, he would climb a mountain in the region of Moriah, where he built an altar upon which to sacrifice his son Isaac as a burnt offering to Yahweh. Traditionally, this site is thought to be the same high place where the Temple of Jerusalem was eventually built (2 Chronicles 3:1).
Prior to the coming of the patriarchs, high places may already have been used by the Canaanites, who, like the Hebrews, viewed mountaintops as having spiritual significance becuase of their presumed physical proximity to the home of the gods.
The high places of Israel
High places would continue to play a major role in Israelite worship for centuries. Moses would meet God at the top of Mount Sinai (also called Horeb), and the prophet Elijah, several hundred years later, would travel to the same mountain for his own encounter with the Almighty. At Gilgal, Joshua set up 12 stone pillars when the Israelites crossed the Jordan into Canaan. It was here that Joshua re-confirmed the covenant of circumcision for Israelite men, and the site would later become one of the high places visited regularly by the prophet Samuel (1 Samuel 7:16), as well as a place of idolatrous Canaanite worship (Judges 3:19).
The Book of Joshua describes a major high place altar that was established by the Israelite tribes who settled among the Ammonites and Moabites (see illustration, top of page). Believing this shrine to be a threat to the centrality of the Tabernacle which housed the Ark of the Covenant, the other tribes nearly went to war with their brothers over this, until the transjordan Israelites promised not to offer sacrifices there but only to use it only as a "witness." (Joshua 22)
Bands of Israelite prophets attended various high places from the time of Samuel through period of the prophets Elijah and Elisha. Elijah even battled the prophets of Baal for control of the high place at Mount Carmel and to demonstrate Yahweh's superior power as a rain god.
Canaanite high places
High places were equally important in Canaanite and neighboring religions. When the prophet Balaam was hired by the Moabite king Balak to curse the Israelites who threatened his terriority, Balak took Balaam to a succession of high places, where the prophet famously blessed Balak's enemies instead of cursing them. King Solomon later established idolatrous high places for his Moabite and Ammonite wives outside of Jersualem, earning him, according to the author of the Books of Kings, Yahweh's rejection. The Moabite king Mesha apparently boasted in the so-called Moabite stone monument of seizing an Israelite high place at Nebo (the legendary mountain where Moses died) and dedicating it to his own god, Chemosh/Kemosh.
And Kemosh said to me, "Go, take Nebo from Israel." And I went in the night and fought against it from the daybreak until midday, and I took it and I killed the whole population: seven thousand male subjects and aliens, and female subjects, aliens, and servant girls... And from there I took the vessels of Yahweh, and I presented them before the face of Kemosh.
High places become banned
The Levite priesthood gradually replaced the prophetic bands as officiators at the high places scattered throughout Israel and Judah. These local priests competed with the central sanctuary at Jerusalem for the benefits associated with their sacrificial office. The Book of Deuteronomy, however, stipulates that God would name only one place where sacfrice was authorized, implying that this would be the Temple of Jerusalem itself. Under King Josiah (late seventh century B.C.E.), Levites were encouraged to move to Jerusalem, where they would be accepted into a second-tier priesthood under the priests descended from Aaron. Josiah destroyed many of the high places and slaughtered those priests who sacrificed to gods other than Yahweh. The Book of Kings mentions specifically that Josiah even dared to destroy the ancient altar at Bethel, just a few miles north or Jerusalem, to which northern pilgrims were likely to go.
Although other high places survived, Jerusalem would henceforth be the only high place of the Jewish tradition. With Bethel out of the picture, the high place at Mount Gerizim, near Shechem, would emerge as the central shrine of the northern worshipers of Yahweh, who became known as Samaritans. Gerizim was the site of a major temple for several centuries and is still a sacred place among the small Samaritan community in Israel and Palestine today. Meanwhile, Moabite, Ammonite, and Edomite high places continued as places of worship well into the Christian era.
Character
From the Old Testament and from achaeological remains, a good idea may be formed of the appearance of such a place of worship. It was typically on the hill above the town, as at Ramah (1 Samuel 9:12-14). There was often a sacred pillar or stele (matzevah), the seat of the deity, or a wooden post pole (asherim, possibly named after the goddess Asherah), which marked the place as sacred and might itself be an object of worship. Of particular importance was the altar, either of stone or earthen bricks, on which offerings were burnt. A cistern for water might also be in evidence, as well as low stone tables for dressing the victims. Large sites included a hall for the sacrificial feasts.
Around these places the religion of the ancient Israelites and Canaanites centred. At festival seasons or to fulfil a vow, a person or family might journey to more famous sanctuaries, but ordinar offerings which linked everyday life to religion were made at the local high place. The building of royal temples in Jerusalem or Samaria initially made no change in this respect; they simply took their place beside the older sanctuaries, such as Bethel, Shiloh, Dan, Gilgal, Beersheba, etc.
Howoever, this began to change when the religious reformers of the eighth and seventh centuries assailed the popular religion as corrupt and licentious. The prophet Jeremiah, for example, declared:
- Long ago you broke off your yoke and tore off your bonds;
- You said, 'I will not serve you!'
- Indeed, on every high hill and under every spreading tree
- You lay down as a prostitute.
The fundamental law expressed in Deuteronomy 12:1-32 prohibits sacrifice at every place except the Temple of Jerusalem. It was in accordance with this law that Josiah, around 620 B.C.E., destroyed and desecrated the high places throughout his kingdom (2 Kings 22-23), where Yahweh had been worshiped from time immemorial.
While the earlier prophets as late as Elijah and Elisha had themsevlves sacrificed at high places even after the establishment of the Temple of Jerusalem, for the later prophets, the word bamot (high place) connotes a place of idolatrous worship. Even the most pious kings of Judah are censured for tolerating their existence. The reaction which followed the death of Josiah (c. 608 B.C.E.) restored the old altars of Yahweh; they survived the destruction of the temple in 586, and it is probable that after its restoration (520-516) they only slowly disappeared.
In fact, the Deuteronomic dogma that sacrifice can be offered to Yahweh only at the Temple in Jerusalem was never fully established either in fact or in legal theory. The Jewish military colonists in Elephantine in the fifth century B.C.E. had their altar of Yahweh beside the highway; the Jews in Egypt in the Ptolemaic period had, besides many local sanctuaries, one greater temple at Leontopolis, with an official sacrificial priesthood, the legitimacy of whose worship is admitted even by the Palestinian rabbis of the early Talmudic period.
In Chrisitan tradition
In the Eastern Orthodox Church the High Place is also the name for the location of the episcopal throne, set in the center of the back of the apse of a temple's sanctuary. In larger temples there may be a literal elevation. It is surrounded on both sides by the synthronos, a set of other seats or benches for the use of the priests. Every Orthodox temple has such a High Place even if it is not a cathedral.
The tradition of establishing crosses on mountaintops may also be seen as harkening back to the ancient tradition of the high place.
ReferencesISBN links support NWE through referral fees
- Baudissin, "Hohendienst," Protestantische Realencyklopadie (viii. 177-195)
- Hoonacker, Le Lieu du culte dans la legislation rituelle des Hebreux (1894)
- V Gall, Altisraelitische Kultstadle (1898).
External links
- Orthodox bishop seated at the High Place
- Synthronon ancient church in Paros
This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
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