Taking No Chances

“In the twenty-seventh year of Jeroboam king of Israel, Azariah the son of Amaziah, king of Judah, began to reign. He was sixteen years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty-two years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jecoliah of Jerusalem. And he did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, according to all that his father Amaziah had done. Nevertheless, the high places were not taken away. The people still sacrificed and made offerings on the high places.” [1]

At one point in my progress toward pastoral service, I was hired to manage a Christian book store in California. The store was the only Bible bookstore serving a population of several million people. The owner wanted to make the store profitable, but he expressed his concern that the store must be biblically sound, operating as a ministry for the churches of that great region. Soon after assuming my position, I noted a number of books and pamphlets promoting teachings that were not merely aberrant, but which were unquestionably heretical.

I pointed out to the owner of the store that these materials were detrimental to the spiritual health of those who purchased them and read them. He assured me that he would take care of the matter. A week passed, and then two, and the materials were still available for sale in the book store. When I again spoke to the owner, he agreed that he was concerned that the store had those materials available, and he promised that he would dispose of them shortly.

More time passed, and some of the other counter help admitted that they had sold many of these materials at various times in the weeks that had passed. I spoke once more to the owner, and expressing genuine concern, he said that he really wanted to do something with those materials. When I came in the following Monday morning, I did something about the materials. I put them all in the dumpster just before trash pickup that morning.

When the owner discovered what I had done, he was extremely agitated. He informed me that they were worth a lot of money and that my actions would cost him dearly. I reminded him that these materials were clearly heretical and detrimental to the spiritual health of people who read them. He again agreed with me, but stated that it would cost him money. I had one of my final conversations with that store owner that morning, because he fired me later that morning. However, one of my final statements to Ralph was to remind him of Jesus’ warning, “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money” [MATTHEW 6:24].

In the text that serves as the focus of our study this day, you will note that Azariah when he came to the throne, Azariah acted honourably with one glaring exception—the high places were not taken away. The people were making sacrifices and offerings on the high places.

Did you ever wonder what these “high places” were? Throughout the history of Israel we witness the Word of God speaking of “high places.” Why does God take such pains to speak of the “high places?” Aren’t the people worshipping? They are clearly said to be making sacrifices and offerings at those “high places.” Shouldn’t God be pleased that the people were religious? And yet, it is obvious that the LORD was not pleased that these “high places” were found throughout the land, nor was He pleased that people attended these “high places.”

Here is some essential background meant to bring us all to level ground in our understanding. A high place was a localized or regional worship center dedicated to a god. Worship at these local shrines often included making sacrifices, burning incense and holding feasts or festivals. Some of these high places contained altars, images meant to represent the god or gods worshipped there, and shrines. The Canaanites, who worshiped Baal as their chief deity, were known to have used high places.

What is interesting is to note that until a temple to the Lord GOD was built, the Israelites primarily worshiped the LORD at a local center of worship, a practice that was not condemned. Samuel, God’s prophet, blessed sacrifices that were offered at high places, and Solomon sacrificed 1,000 burnt offerings on the altars in Gibeon. We read in 1 KINGS 3:2, “The people [of Israel] were sacrificing at the high places, however, because no house had yet been built for the name of the LORD.” Thus, these high places were permitted to serve Israel’s worshipping needs for a period of time, “because no house had yet been built for the name of the Lord.”