Jehoash and The High Places: Compromise Leads to Apostasy

There is a phrase I keep coming across in my Old Testament reading that jumps out at me every time I read it. It says, “Nevertheless, the high places were not taken away.” Or, “The high places, however, were not removed.” What are these high places? What is the significance of them? To learn more about this, I want to look at the story of Jehoash, who was one of the kings of Israel.

To start with, do you remember how he became king? His is an interesting story. He was hidden away in the temple until he was seven years old by his aunt because his grandmother wanted to kill him. 2 Kings 11:1-3 (ESV) tells us what happened. It says, “Now when Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she arose and destroyed all the royal family. But Jehosheba, the daughter of King Joram, sister of Ahaziah, took Joash the son of Ahaziah and stole him away from among the king’s sons who were being put to death, and she put him and his nurse in a bedroom. Thus they hid him from Athaliah, so that he was not put to death. And he remained with her six years, hidden in the house of the Lord, while Athaliah reigned over the land.”

Athaliah, you might remember, was the daughter of King Ahab and Jezebel. Now that her son was dead, she wanted the throne for herself, so she tried to destroy the family line. Except she didn’t succeed. One heir remained. Jehosheba had saved Joash (or Jehoash as he’s also called). Jehosheba was not only his aunt, but she was married to the priest Jehoiada.

Finally, after six years go by, it was time to bring little Jehoash out of hiding and present him to the people as the rightful heir to the throne. Picking back up in verse 4, it says, “But in the seventh year Jehoiada sent and brought the captains of the Carites and of the guards, and had them come to him in the house of the Lord. And he made a covenant with them and put them under oath in the house of the Lord, and he showed them the king’s son.”

Then, as verses 10-12 tell us, “The priest gave to the captains the spears and shields that had been King David’s, which were in the house of the Lord. And the guards stood, every man with his weapons in his hand, from the south side of the house to the north side of the house, around the altar and the house on behalf of the king. Then he brought out the king’s son and put the crown on him and gave him the testimony. And they proclaimed him king and anointed him, and they clapped their hands and said, ‘Long live the king!’”

Of course, once Athaliah finds out about this, she is livid and starts shouting, “Treason! Treason!” Under Jehoiada’s direction, they take her out of the temple and kill her. Finishing this chapter, verses 17-22 say, “And Jehoiada made a covenant between the Lord and the king and people, that they should be the Lord’s people, and also between the king and the people. Then all the people of the land went to the house of Baal and tore it down; his altars and his images they broke in pieces, and they killed Mattan the priest of Baal before the altars. And the priest posted watchmen over the house of the Lord. And he took the captains, the Carites, the guards, and all the people of the land, and they brought the king down from the house of the Lord, marching through the gate of the guards to the king’s house. And he took his seat on the throne of the kings. So all the people of the land rejoiced, and the city was quiet after Athaliah had been put to death with the sword at the king’s house. Jehoash was seven years old when he began to reign.”

Turning to the next chapter, 2 Kings 12:1-3 says, “In the seventh year of Jehu, Jehoash began to reign, and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Zibiah of Beersheba. And Jehoash did what was right in the eyes of the Lord all his days, because Jehoiada the priest instructed him. Nevertheless, the high places were not taken away; the people continued to sacrifice and make offerings on the high places.”

There is that phrase, that important aside, that is included in this account of Jehoash’s life: the high places were not taken away. The priest, Jehoiada was the one instructing him. Why did they not follow God’s law? In Deuteronomy 12:1-6, we see that this direction was clearly given. It says, “These are the statutes and rules that you shall be careful to do in the land that the Lord, the God of your fathers, has given you to possess, all the days that you live on the earth. You shall surely destroy all the places where the nations whom you shall dispossess served their gods, on the high mountains and on the hills and under every green tree. You shall tear down their altars and dash in pieces their pillars and burn their Asherim with fire. You shall chop down the carved images of their gods and destroy their name out of that place. You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way. But you shall seek the place that the Lord your God will choose out of all your tribes to put his name and make his habitation there. There you shall go, and there you shall bring your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, your tithes and the contribution that you present, your vow offerings, your freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herd and of your flock.”

It was clear that the high places were not to be used to worship. For one thing, some of them were being used to worship false gods. Other high places had been used to worship the one true God, but God had instructed the people not to anymore, they were to worship Him at the temple. So why didn’t they tear them down? Why was this disobedience allowed to go on? Why did they compromise on God’s law? The text doesn’t tell us, yet the effects of this compromise are certainly seen, for it leads to compromise in other areas.

2 Chronicles 24:2 retells us Jehoash’s story, and what it says is key to understanding more. It tells us, “Joash did what was right in the eyes of the Lord all the days of Jehoiada the priest.” Notice the difference? The verse says that he did what was right “all the days of Jehoiada the priest.” Jehoash did right while Jehoiada was alive, minus removing the high places. They got rid of the altars to Baal, and eventually they repaired the temple, but even that work of restoring it was done half-heartedly it seems, for it took over twenty years to even get started. It had been damaged when Athaliah had been queen; she had destroyed all the things in the temple.

Then Jehoiada died at the age of 130 and we see Jehoash compromising further. 2 Kings 12:17-18 says, “At that time Hazael king of Syria went up and fought against Gath and took it. But when Hazael set his face to go up against Jerusalem, Jehoash king of Judah took all the sacred gifts that Jehoshaphat and Jehoram and Ahaziah his fathers, the kings of Judah, had dedicated, and his own sacred gifts, and all the gold that was found in the treasuries of the house of the Lord and of the king’s house, and sent these to Hazael king of Syria. Then Hazael went away from Jerusalem.”

Instead of seeking the Lord and finding out what He would have him do, Jehoash takes the gold from the temple and the king’s treasuries and pays off Hazael. What if, instead of doing that, he had sought the Lord’s help?

Also, 2 Chronicles 24:17-22 says, “Now after the death of Jehoiada the princes of Judah came and paid homage to the king. Then the king listened to them. And they abandoned the house of the Lord, the God of their fathers, and served the Asherim and the idols. And wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem for this guilt of theirs. Yet he sent prophets among them to bring them back to the Lord. These testified against them, but they would not pay attention. Then the Spirit of God clothed Zechariah the son of Jehoiada the priest, and he stood above the people, and said to them, ‘Thus says God, “Why do you break the commandments of the Lord, so that you cannot prosper? Because you have forsaken the Lord, he has forsaken you.”’ But they conspired against him, and by command of the king they stoned him with stones in the court of the house of the Lord. Thus Joash the king did not remember the kindness that Jehoiada, Zechariah’s father, had shown him, but killed his son. And when he was dying, he said, ‘May the Lord see and avenge!’”

How different things would have been for Joash/Jehoash if he had not listened to the princes of Judah? If only he had followed the Lord and not man. It was obviously his ties to the prophet Jehoiada that kept him somewhat on the right path, but once Jehoiada died, he strayed even further and he worshiped false gods and he killed Jehoiada’s son. I can’t help but think the reason is because he never fully worshiped the Lord in spirit and truth. He and Jehoiada allowed the high places of worship to remain. Jehoash had been listening to the priest Jehoiada his whole life, but this priest was not fully submitted to God’s laws either. This seemingly small compromise of allowing the high places spilled over into all areas of Jehoash’s life and eventually it leads him to a place where he forsakes the Lord and the Lord forsakes him.

God explicitly commanded the people to tear down, burn, chop down, and destroy all those high places of worship. They were to only bring offerings and sacrifices to the place that He established. But they allowed them to remain. We might think this doesn’t apply to us, but we are wrong to think that.  

While we may not have literal high places of worship that we need to avoid, the danger of compromise in allowing “high places” to remain is still very real. For while we do not have a set location to worship God at, we do have specific instructions on how to worship God.

When Jesus died on the cross, the temple veil was literally torn in two. That meant that the old system of sacrifice and worship had ended. Now followers of God were to worship God in a different way. What was that way? Jesus told us the way when He spoke to the Samaritan woman. John 4:19-26 says, “The woman said to him, ‘Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.’ The woman said to him, ‘I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things.’ Jesus said to her, ‘I who speak to you am he.’”

We are to worship God in spirit and truth. That means we are to worship God without pretense or hypocrisy. We don’t worship God through rote religious practices but authentically. That’s why we can’t claim to worship God in spirit and truth while also worshiping at other altars. The Benson Commentary says about this verse in John, “When God comes to inquire for worshippers, the question will not be, ‘Who worshipped at Jerusalem?’ but, who worshipped in spirit and truth? That will be the touchstone, or test, whereby men’s religion will be tried, and whereby they will stand or fall in the day of final accounts.”

In order to worship God in spirit and truth in our modern culture, we have to be intentional and determined if we want to avoid “worshiping at high places.” I think there are a lot of things in the world that a lot of Christians have allowed to remain in their lives in the same way that Jehoash and the other kings and priests allowed the high places to remain. Of course, we do not have the authority to tear down the modern high places that exist in the world, but we can tear down any high places in our lives and we can refuse to visit the high places that are in the world. Not only should we refuse to worship at these high places, but we should warn our fellow Christians to avoid these high places, as well.

However, many Christians and Christian leaders not only attend and worship at these high places, but also criticize and label those who don’t as judgmental or legalistic.

There are so many things that Christians compromise on and I don’t think it’s any different today than it was then. As a whole, Christianity has allowed high places to remain within Christianity. As I said, of course, we do not have the authority to tear down high places that the world has erected. We cannot ban the manufacturing of all the garbage that is produced today. But we can refuse to partake of it. We can refuse to visit it.

To do this is not easy. It’s going against the popular thoughts of the day, and sometimes it’s hard to identify high places in our lives. It’s easy to find the fault in other people. For example, I can quickly look at the Christians who worship at the altar of Taylor Swift and see that they are worshiping at a high place when they idolize her and sing along to her anti-Christian songs. It’s much more difficult to look at myself and spot the high places that I’m still visiting. This is where we need a community of like-minded believers to help us and hold us accountable. This is why we must be in the Word of God each day so we can have clear minds and a right perspective. This is why it’s vital we listen to the Holy Spirit, who speaks to our hearts and brings conviction of sin.

But if we think we can just listen to our own hearts and judge rightly, we are gravely mistaken. Look at what Jeremiah 17:9-10 says: “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? ‘I the Lord search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.’”

Our hearts alone will lead us astray. Just like Jehoiada the priest was apparently not convicted to remove the high places, so too will our own hearts allow high places to remain in our lives. Again, this is why we must be in the Word of God. We must daily read the Bible so the Holy Spirit can work into our hearts and minds the truth of God and show us the error of our ways. Unless we know what God’s standard is, we won’t know what is right or wrong. This is what happened to another of the kings of Judah, by the way. Do you remember the story of Josiah?

Josiah, too, became king at a very young age. Then he heard the word of the Lord and he was convicted. He wept and repented. He tore down all the high places. The Word of God showed him the way to walk. Once he heard it, he repented and made the necessary changes. This is why we need to be in God’s word: it’s the only way we will know how to rightly follow God. If we are following other people’s ideas of how to follow God, we will compromise and not follow Him correctly. It’s through God’s word that we will see the “high places” that need to be torn down in our lives.

We see all throughout the New Testament this idea of tearing down high places. I don’t think anybody uses that exact term, but the concept is the same. These figurative high places are any and all idols that displace the Lordship of Jesus in our life. The kings of Israel had full authority to topple these high places, and yet the majority of them did not do so. We have full authority in our own lives to topple any idols, yet I’m afraid the majority of us are still allowing these “high places” to remain. For anything that has a higher priority in our life than Jesus is an idol. We cannot allow small compromises, for small compromises always lead to more compromise.

The New Testament writers knew how important this issue is. That is why at the end of 1 John, the apostle John says, “Little children, keep yourselves from idols” (1 John 5:21). The New Living Translation says, “Keep away from anything that might take God’s place in your hearts.”

Throughout John’s whole letter, he doesn’t expressly mention idol worship, yet he concludes with that statement. He knew that believers must guard themselves from worshiping false idols. He wanted to warn everyone that we are in danger of worshiping false gods. His warning to guard ourselves from idols is a warning to make sure that we are following the only true God. We must be on guard so that we don’t let the false arguments and ideas of the world infiltrate our minds. While I don’t think many of us believers are in danger of setting up an actual wood or metal object as an idol that we will worship, I do think we are in danger of adopting other idols. Think of all the false gods that our world presents as substitutes for the one true God. Many people claim to believe in God, but the god they are believing in is not the God of the Bible. We have to be on guard that we are following the only true God, and this is the test. Do you believe in the God who sent His only Son to earth to be born of a woman, lived a perfect life, died on the cross for all of mankind’s sin and rose victoriously from the grave? This is the only God. All other ideas and beliefs about gods are idols.

Not only that, but we are in danger of worshiping at high places whenever we place something or someone above Jesus. Again, an idol is anything or any person who we praise, fixate on, or look to for help instead of to God. That person could be our spouse, our children, or our pets. It could be the government, or our job, or a celebrity. Anything or anyone who has a higher priority in our hearts and lives over Jesus is a false idol. That includes our own self, by the way. Listen to what Jesus says in Luke 9:23-24, “And he said to all, ‘If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.’” We should prioritize Jesus above all, including our own lives.

In Jehoash’s life, he must not have prioritized following God’s law. The proof of that is once Jehoiada died, Jehoash’s faith completely fell away. Do you ever wonder why so many Christians’ children do not follow the Lord? I know that people have free will and no parent can force a child to follow the Lord, yet we should be alarmed at how many Christian parents’ children do not stay with Christianity. The attrition rate is not good. Do you think it’s because the parents are not fully committed to the Lord? I know, too, that none of us are perfect and so none of us follow God perfectly, but if we can’t model walking with Jesus in such a way that our children want to follow, then something is wrong that needs to be addressed. I think if we took an honest look into the lives of the people whose children turn away from the faith, we’d see there are areas of compromise and sin in those families’ lives. With Jehoash and Jehoiada, they did so many things right, and yet, “Nevertheless, the high places were not taken away; the people continued to sacrifice and make offerings on the high places.” In the end, that compromise changed from partial obedience into complete rebellion against God. Jehoash no longer worshiped the true God. His compromise destroyed his faith and his life. I think that is because Jehoash did not worship God in spirit and truth.

We must be careful to tear down all the high places in our lives. We cannot afford to compromise. If we ask God to help us, He will show us the areas in our lives where we are compromising and He will help us change. Let us pray that the Lord will give us grace to recognize and destroy all high places in our hearts and lives. Let us turn to Christ alone and exalt Him and worship Him in spirit and truth. He will be faithful to help us remove the remaining high places.  

Pray: Heavenly Father, we confess our sins to You and ask that You would please forgive us for allowing “high places” to remain in our lives. Help us to identify and root out areas in our hearts and minds that need to be torn down. We want You to reign supreme in our lives. We don’t want to compromise and sin. Please help us by Your Holy Spirit to live submitted to You in all areas of our lives. Thank You for Jesus’ work on the cross which gave us a new way to worship You. Help us to worship You in spirit and truth. Give us a desire to read Your Word and to act upon it. Thank You for forgiving us when we fail to do this. We pray this in the name of Jesus, amen.