RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
High. Places High. Priest
troduction of foreign cults — as when Solomon built high places for Chemosh and Molech (I Kings xi. 7) and for Ashtoreth (II Kings xxi. 3), or as when Ahab built altars for Baal (I Kings xvi. 31-32) — with practises and suggestions alien to the pure worship of Yahweh and tending to confuse him in person and in conception with other gods or to substitute these for him. The antagonism to these grew up after the period when the two Hebrew kingdoms were on terms of amity, and the syncretism in which the northern kingdom led had been diffused toward the south; and this antagonism was embodied in the Deuteronomic Code — which bore not a priestly, but a prophetic stamp. On the other hand, tending to protect the cult of these places was the strong religious conservatism, ever a powerful factor in religious evolution, both of the masses of the people and of the priests who served at these shrines, and these would deem themselves deprived of their privileges by prohibition to use their long hallowed sacred places. The zeal of the clear-minded prophets who realized the increasing alienation from Yahweh and obscuration of the people's conception of him, the prestige carried by the name of Moses under the protection of whose name the Deuteronomic Code was promulgated, the evident awe and fear produced in the mind of Josiah at the complete disharmony between the Deuteronomic requirements and daily practise — all these explain the fact that the high places so completely disappeared that the postexilic code had not to deal with them at all, but could legislate for the central sanctuary alone. Ezekiel, indeed, shows that there were still sporadic cases of worship at the old shrines, but it is clear that this was only the dernier resort of the skeptical who saw all hopes wrecked and faith in Yahweh made baseless by the fall of the holy city, who turned therefore in sheer despair to the gods of the conquering peoples, to the sun and moon and stars, even to the animal deities of a bald, recrudescent totemism (cf. Jer. xliv.). But how completely for Israel the high places had been discredited is most conclusively proved by the attitude of the Chronicler who revises the history of the Books of Samuel so as to make it accord with the course events should have taken had the postexilic ideas governed in the times of which he speaks.
Geo. W Gilmoke.
Bibliography: On §§1-3: H. Ewald, Die Alterthumer des Volkes Israel, pp. 156-174, 420 sqq., Gottingen, 1886, Eng. transl., pp. 117 sqq., 366 sqq., Boston, 1876; K. F. Keil, Handbuch der biblischen Archaologie, pp. 451-454, Frankfort, 1875; W. von Baudissin, Studien zur semilischen ReligionsgescJdchte, ii. 143 sqq., 231 sqq., Leipsic, 1878; B. Stade, Geschichte des Volkes Israel, i. 446-467, Berlin, 1887; F. F. von Andrian, Hohencultus asiatischer und europaischer V biker, Vienna, 1891; R. Beer, Heilige Hbhen der Griechen und Rbmer, ib. 1891; M. Ohnefalsch- Richter, Kypros, die Bibel und Homer, pp. 234-238, Berlin, 1893; H. Schultz, Alttestamentliche Theologie, Gottingen, 1896, Eng. transl., London, 1892; H. B. Greene, in The Biblical World, ix (1897), 329-340; R. Sruend, Lehrbuch der alttestamentlichen Religionsgeschichte, Freiburg, 1899; E. B. Tylor, Primitive Culture, London, 1903; S. I. Curtiss, Primitive Semitic Religion To-day, pp. 133- 143, Chicago, 1902; G. Dalman, Petra und seine Felsheiligthumer, Leipsic, 1908; Benzinger, Archaologie, pp. 364- 383, ed. of 1894; Nowack, Archaologie, ii. 1-25.
On § § 4-10: B. TJgolino, Thesaurus antiquitatum sacrarum, X. 559 sqq., 34 vols., Venice, 1744-1769 (.collects the rabbinical remarks on the subject); M. L. de Wette, Einleitung in das Alte Testament, i. 223-261, 285-299, Halle, 1806; G. L. Bauer, Beschreibung der gottesdienstlichen Verfassung der alten Hebraer, ii. 1-143, Leipsic, 1806; C. P. W. Gramberg, Kritische Geschichte der Religionsideen des Alten Testaments, i. 5-94, Berlin, 1829; F. C. Movers, Kritische Untersuchungen uber die biblische Chronik, Bonn, 1834; J. F. L. George, Die alteren jiidischen Feste, pp. 38-45, Berlin, 1835; J. L. Saalschutz, Das mosaische Recht, pp. 297-306, Berlin, 1853; idem, Archaologie der Hebraer, i. 233-236, ib. 1855; E. Riehm, Die Gesetzgebung Mosis im Lande Moab, pp. 24-31, 89-93, Gotha, 1854; F. Bleek, Einleitung in das alte Testament, PP. 188-190, 295-299, Berlin, 1860; M. L. de Wette, Lehrbuch der hebrdisch-jiXdischen Archaologie, ed. Rabiger, pp. 274-275, 327-329, Leipsic, 1864; K. H. Graf, Die geschichllichen Biicher des Alten Testaments, pp. 51-66, 125— 138, ib. 1866; H. Pierson, De Tempel te Silo, in ThT, i (1867), 425-457; T. Noldeke, Kritik des Alten Testaments, pp. 127-128, Kiel, 1869; D. B. von Haneberg, Die religibsen Alterthumer der Bibel, pp. 161-168, 208-225, Munich, 1869; A. Kayser, Das vorexilische Buch der Urgeschichte Israels, pp. 153-154, Strasburg, 1874; A. Kuenen, The Religion of Israel, i. 80-82, ii. 25-26, 166-168, London, 1874; B. Duhm, Die Theologie der Propheten, pp. 47-54, Bonn, 1875; J. Smend, Moses apud prophetas, pp. 49-63, Halle, 1875; L. Seinecke, Geschichte des Volkes Israel, pp. 159-167, Gottingen, 1876; A. Kohler, Lehrbuch der biblischen Geschichte des Alten Testaments, ii. 10- 14, Erlangen, 1877; J. Wellhausen, Geschichte Israels, i. 17-53, Berlin, 1878; idem, Prolegomena, pp. 17-51 of Eng. transl.; C. R. Conder, Tent Work in Palestine, pp. 304-310, London, 1880; C. Clermont-Ganneau, in Survey of Western Palestine, p. 325, London, 1881; G. F. Oehler, Theologie des Alten Testaments, vol. i., Stuttgart, 1891, Eng. transl., New York, 1883; A. Schlatter, Zur Topographie und Geschichte Palastinas, pp. 62-85, Stuttgart, 1893; A. van Hoonacker, Le Lieu du culte dans la legislation rituelle des Hebreux, Ghent, 1894; H. A. Poels, Le Sanctuaire de Kirjath-Jearim, Louvain, 1894; Smith, OTJC, pp. 236 sqq., 275, 360; idem, Rel. of Sem., pp. 470 sqq.; A. von Gall, Altisraelitische Kultsldtten, Giessen, 1898; DB, ii. 381-383; EB, ii. 2064-70; JE, vi. 387-389. Besides the foregoing, the reader should consult the commentaries on the Biblical books involved in the discussion, particularly: those on the Pentateuch by Dillmann, Leipsic, 1875 sqq.; on Deuteronomy by P. Kleinert, Bielefeld, 1872, and by Driver, New York, 1895; on Judges, by Bertheau, Leipsic, 1883, by Moore, New York, 1895, and by Budde, Gottingen, 1897; on Samuel by Klostermann, Munich, 1887, by Thenius, ed. Lohr, Leipsic, 1898, and by H. P. Smith, New York, 1899; on the text of Samuel, by Wellhausen, Gottingen, 1S71; by Driver, London, 1890, and by Budde, in SBOT, 1894; on Kings, by Klostermann, Munich, 1887, by Benzinger, Gottingen, 1899, and by Kittel, ib. 1899; and on Chronicles, by Bertheau, Leipsic, 1873. Inasmuch as the subject of the high places furnishes a part of the material which is a point of attack and defense in the Pentateuchal discussion, the literature under Hexatetjch will furnish additional matter concerning the subject.