become a place for legitimate worship, especially in a country where they had already been defiled with the sins of polytheism, the utmost danger would have re- sulted to the pure worship of the one true God (lliivcr- nick, Einl. i, 592). It would infallibly have Ictl to the adoption of nature-goddesses and " gods of the hills ' (1 Kings XX, 23). It was therefore implicitly forbidden by the law of Moses (Deut. xii, 11-14), which also gave the strictest injunction to destroy these monuments of Canaanitish idolatry (Lev. xxvi, 30 ; Numb, xxxiii, 52 ; Deut. xxxiii, 29; where Sept. rpax'/Awr), without stat- ing any general reason for this command beyond tlie fact that they had been connected with such associations. It seems, however, to be assumed that everj' Israelite woidd jjerfectly understand why groves and high places were prohibited, and therefore they are only condemned by virtue of tlie injunction to use but one altar for the puqiose of sacrifice (Lev. xvii, 3, 4; Deut. ^\, passim; xvi, 21 ; John iv, 20). Tliis practice, indeed, was prob- ably of great antiquity in Palestine. Upon the summit of lofty riermon are the remains of a small and verj' ancient temple, towards which faced a circle of temples surrounding the mountain. See IIermon. That a tem- ple should have been built on a summit of bare rock perpetually covered with snow shows a strong religious motive, and the position of the temples around the mountain indicates a belief in the sanctity of IIermon itself. This inference is supported by a passage in the treaty of Rameses II with the Ilittites of Syria, in wliicli, besides gods and goddesses, the mountains and the rivers, both of the land of the Hittites and of Egypt, and the winds, are mentioned, in a list of Hittite and Egyptian divinities. The Egyptian divinities are spo- ken of from a Hittite point of view, for the expression " the mountains and the rivers of the land of Egypt" is only half applicable to the Egyptian nature-worship, which had, in Egypt at least, but one sacred river (Lep- sius, De7ikmaler, iii, 146 ; Brugsch, Geographische In- ' schriften, ii, 29; De Rouge, in Rev. Arch. nouv. sen iv, 372). See Hitttte. That Hermon was worshipped in connection with Baal is probable from the name IMount Baal-Hermon (Judg. iii, 3), Baal-Hermon (I Chron. v, 23) being apparently given to it, Baal being, as the Egyptian monuments indicate, the chief god of the Hit- tites. That there was such a belief in the sanctity of mountains and hills seems evident from the great num- ber of high places of the old inhabitants, which is clear- ly indicated in the prohibition of their worship as com- pared with the statement of the disobedience of the Israelites. See Hill.
The injunctions, however, respecting the high places and groves were very imperfectly obeyed by the Israel- ites; and their inveterate attachment to this mode of worship was such that even pious kuigs, who opposed idolatry by all the means in their power, dared not abol- ish the high places at which the Lord was worshipped. It appears likely that this toleration of an acknowledged irregularity arose from the indisposition of the people living at a distance from the Temple to be confined to the altar which existed there ; to their determination to have jilaces nearer home for the chief acts of their religion— sacrifice and offering ; and to the apprehension of the kings that if they were prevented from having places for offerings to the Lord in their own neighbor- hood they woidd make the offerings to idols. jMore- over, the Mosaic command was a prospective one, and was not to come into force until such times as the tribes were settled in the Promised Land, and "had rest from all their enemies romid about." Thus we find that both Gideon and IManoah built altars on high places by di- vine command (Judg. vi, 25, 26; xiii. 16-23), and it is quite clear from the tone of the book of Judges that the law on the subject was either totally forgotten or prac- tically obsolete. Nor could the misettled state of the countV have been pleaded as an excuse, since it seems to have been most fully understood, even during the life of Joshua, that burnt-offerings could be legally of-
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