1 Reis 14:23

High places, and images, and groves. — On the “high places,” see 1 Reis 3:2, and Note there. The “images” of this passage seem undoubtedly to have been stone pillars, as the “groves” (i.e., the asherahs) were wooden stumps of trees (possibly in both cases surmounted by some rude representation of the deity worshipped). The first mention of such a pillar is in Gênesis 28:18; Gênesis 31:13; Gênesis 35:14, there applied to the stone which Jacob raises and anoints, in order to mark the scene of the vision at Bethel; next, we find repeated commands to destroy them (with the asherahs also) as erected by the Canaanites (Êxodo 23:24; Êxodo 34:13; Levítico 26:1; Deuteronômio 7:5; Deuteronômio 12:3), and to suffer neither near the altar of the Lord (Deuteronômio 16:21). Like the high places, it seems plain that both might be either unauthorised emblems of God’s presence or images of false gods; and, indeed, the stone pillar appears in some cases to be associated with the worship of Baal, as the Asherah with that of Ashtoreth. In this passage, from the strength of the language used, and from the notice in 1 Reis 14:24, it seems that the grosser idolatry is referred to. It was practised “on every high hill, and every shady tree” — such trees as were notable for size and shade in the bareness of the hills of Palestine.