2 Kings 15 35

2 Kings 15:35 kjv

Howbeit the high places were not removed: the people sacrificed and burned incense still in the high places. He built the higher gate of the house of the LORD.

2 Kings 15:35 nkjv

However the high places were not removed; the people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places. He built the Upper Gate of the house of the LORD.

2 Kings 15:35 niv

The high places, however, were not removed; the people continued to offer sacrifices and burn incense there. Jotham rebuilt the Upper Gate of the temple of the LORD.

2 Kings 15:35 esv

Nevertheless, the high places were not removed. The people still sacrificed and made offerings on the high places. He built the upper gate of the house of the LORD.

2 Kings 15:35 nlt

But he did not destroy the pagan shrines, and the people still offered sacrifices and burned incense there. He rebuilt the upper gate of the Temple of the LORD.

2 Kings 15 verses

2 Kings 15 35 Meaning

This verse states a significant shortcoming during the otherwise generally righteous reign of King Jotham of Judah. Despite his positive overall conduct in the Lord’s sight, he failed to remove the long-standing local worship sites, often located on elevated grounds, referred to as "high places." As a consequence, the common people continued their traditional practices of offering sacrifices and burning incense at these unsanctioned altars, maintaining a form of worship that deviated from the Lord's prescribed centralization of worship at the Temple in Jerusalem.

2 Kings 15 35 Context

Second Kings chapter 15 records the turbulent succession of kings in both Judah and Israel, many of whom were short-lived and wicked. Amidst this backdrop, King Jotham of Judah is introduced, and he is primarily portrayed positively (verse 34), "He did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, just as his father Uzziah had done." However, verse 35 immediately introduces a critical qualification: "Howbeit the high places were not removed." This verse is characteristic of the Deuteronomistic Historian's assessment of Judah's kings, frequently noting their failure to eliminate these local shrines, which, even when ostensibly used for YHWH worship, contravened God's command for centralized worship at the Jerusalem Temple. This persistent failure contributed to the spiritual decline that eventually led to the exile.

2 Kings 15 35 Word analysis

• Howbeit: This word serves as a transition, introducing a significant qualification or contrast to the preceding positive statement. It indicates a caveat to Jotham's otherwise righteous reign, highlighting a notable area of non-compliance.
• the high places: The Hebrew word is bamot (בָּמוֹת), the plural of bamah (בָּמָה). These were elevated cultic sites or altars used for religious practices. While some were originally associated with pagan worship and expressly forbidden (e.g., for Baal, Asherah), many bamot in Judah were dedicated to Yahweh. However, their continued existence contradicted the Mosaic law demanding exclusive worship at a single, central sanctuary designated by God (Deut 12). Their presence symbolized a blend of popular religious tradition with authorized worship, often leading to syncretism or unholy practices, thereby undermining true worship.
• were not removed: This phrase indicates a specific omission on Jotham's part. Despite being a generally righteous king, he did not initiate the comprehensive religious reform needed to abolish these entrenched local cult sites. This failure to act decisively contrasts sharply with later reformers like Hezekiah (2 Kgs 18:4) and Josiah (2 Kgs 23:8), who explicitly targeted the bamot. It suggests a degree of compromise or perhaps the deep-seated popular adherence to these traditions that even good kings found difficult to uproot entirely.
• the people: This highlights that the problem was not merely a governmental oversight but deeply embedded within the general populace's religious customs. It shows a persistent attachment among the common folk to localized worship, regardless of royal decree or prophetic word, suggesting the difficulty of transforming deeply ingrained cultural and religious habits.
• still sacrificed and burnt incense: These actions were the primary forms of ancient Israelite worship. "Sacrificed" (וּמְזַבְּחִים, u-m'zabh'ḥim) refers to animal offerings. "Burnt incense" (וּמְקַטְּרִים, u-m'qaṭṭ'rim) involves aromatic offerings. The use of "still" (עוֹד, ʿōd) emphasizes the continuity and persistence of these practices at the high places, underscoring the king's inaction in changing them. While sacrificing and burning incense were legitimate forms of worship prescribed by the Law, doing so at unauthorized locations (the high places) rendered the worship problematic, a defilement of divine standards. This wasn't necessarily overt idolatry in Jotham's time for Yahweh's worship, but a breach of cultic purity and centralization.

• "the high places were not removed: the people still sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places.": This sentence functions as a critical assessment, providing the negative counterbalance to Jotham's otherwise commendable rule. It reveals the limitations of even a well-intentioned king and underscores a recurring flaw among many "good" kings of Judah, consistently highlighted in the Book of Kings. It signifies incomplete obedience to divine commands, reflecting the challenge of rooting out syncretistic practices and the deep-seated preference for convenience over adherence to strict cultic centralization, a key Deuteronomic requirement for avoiding apostasy. The juxtaposition implicitly teaches that partial obedience, especially concerning core commands, still results in a diminished spiritual state.

2 Kings 15 35 Bonus section

The repeated emphasis on the "high places" in the Books of Kings underscores a crucial aspect of the Deuteronomistic history's theological perspective: God's steadfast demand for exclusive worship at His chosen sanctuary as a bulwark against syncretism and idolatry. While Hezekiah and Josiah later achieved success in removing these bamot, Jotham's omission places him within the longer tradition of well-intentioned kings whose reforms remained incomplete. This partial obedience demonstrates the chronic difficulty of dislodging entrenched religious practices and the enduring temptation to combine reverence for God with elements of human convenience or tradition, even if it deviates from explicit divine instruction. This continuity of spiritual compromise ultimately contributed to the conditions that led to the eventual Babylonian exile.

2 Kings 15 35 Commentary

This concise statement concerning Jotham's reign serves as a familiar refrain throughout the Book of Kings. It demonstrates that even a king who largely "did what was right" still carried forward an ancestral failure. The non-removal of "high places" points to a persistent struggle within Judah between the divine ideal of centralized, pure worship in Jerusalem and the popular, local, and often syncretistic worship at scattered sites. This practice, while sometimes involving offerings to Yahweh, was fundamentally disobedient to the Lord's clear commands given through Moses regarding the single chosen sanctuary. Jotham's failure highlights that true spiritual reform requires comprehensive adherence to God's directives, not merely general piety. The enduring presence of these unholy sites indicates the ingrained spiritual malaise that even seemingly devout leadership struggled to fully overcome, a recurring theme pointing to the depth of human sinfulness and the need for God's radical intervention.