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this high place

Ezekiel 20:27-29 (JDV)

Ezekiel 20:27 “Therefore, son of Adam, speak to the house of Israel, and tell them, ‘This is what the Lord Yahveh says: In this way also your fathers blasphemed me by committing treachery against me:
Ezekiel 20:28 When I brought them into the land that I swore to give them and they saw any high hill or leafy tree, they offered their sacrifices and presented their offensive offerings there. They also sent up their pleasing aromas and poured out their drink offerings there.
Ezekiel 20:29 So I asked them, “What is this high place you are going to?” And it is still called Bamah today.’

this high place

Another tradition that the people in Hosea’s time had adopted is the worship of false gods at high places throughout the land. God confronts them with a question about that curious tradition. God wanted worship only directed toward him and performed at his temple.

Believers today are not restricted as to where we worship. Jesus told the Samaritan woman at the well that the place of worship no longer matters, but what matters is worshiping in spirit and truth.

So, why did it matter to God then? It mattered because the high place was a place to worship another god. That is always wrong.

You and I need to be careful about the traditions we adopt. Some of them can lead us away from God,\ rather than towards him.

LORD, give us the courage to scrap all traditions that challenge our exclusive devotion to you.