1 Kings 3:2

Only the people sacrificed The first word here seems to force us to connect this verse with the last clause of the previous chapter. The kingdom was established and all was well in temporal matters, but there was still a part of the Divine appointment not duly observed. There were high places in considerable numbers on which the people offered sacrifices. It was ordained (Deuteronomy 12:13-14) that this should not be so. "Offer not thy burnt offerings in every place that thou seest, but in the place which the Lord shall choose in one of thy tribes." But as yet this one place had not been fixed. So the previous ordinance of Exodus (1 Kings 20:24) intended for an unsettled time was still adhered to. God had there said -In all places where I record my name I will come unto thee and I will bless thee." An altar of earth was to be erected, and burnt offerings and peace offerings brought thither. This early ordinance was doubtless meant to be superseded as soon as possible after the settlement in Canaan, but events happened which delayed the choice of one place for all offerings, and so we find that God accepts the sacrifice of Gideon at Ophrah (Judges 6:23), of Manoah at Zorah (Judges 13:19), while Samuel (1 Samuel 9:12) offers sacrifice at the high place in the land of Zuph, and many other instances of the worship in the high places are to be found in the books of Samuel, and there is no expression anywhere of God's disapproval. As soon as we enter on the books of the Kings we find that the writer has another standpoint, and counts it an evil that the high places still remain. Hence the language of this verse.

sacrificed It is not possible to express the exact force in good English of the participle used both here and in the next verse. It implies the continuance of this custom, both with king and people, of worshipping on the high places. The Hebrew requires both here and in the following verse -in the high places." They were well-known seats of worship.

unto the name of the Lord The phrase in the Pentateuch is that God -chooses to place His name" where He desires to be worshipped. Cf. Deuteronomy 12:11; Deuteronomy 14:23; Deuteronomy 16:2; Deuteronomy 16:6; Deuteronomy 16:11; &c. Hence -Name" came to be synonymous with -worship"; nomengained the sense of numen.