ALPHA MAAMA (A.M.)

Tu’apulelulu Me 11, 2023

Low Idolatry in High Places   במה 

LOTU ‘AITOLI ‘I HE NGAAHI POTU MA‘OLUNGA

NUMBERS 33:51-52

[THE LORD SAID TO ISRAEL,] "WHEN YOU PASS OVER THE JORDAN INTO THE LAND OF CANAAN, THEN YOU SHALL DRIVE OUT ALL THE INHABITANTS OF THE LAND FROM BEFORE YOU AND DESTROY ALL THEIR FIGURED STONES AND DESTROY ALL THEIR METAL IMAGES AND DEMOLISH ALL THEIR HIGH PLACES."

NOMIPA 33:51-52

51 Lea ki ha‘a ‘Isileli, pea ke tala kiate kinautolu, Ka mou ka laka atu ‘i Soatani ki he fonua ko Kēnani, 52 pea te mou kapusi ‘a e kakai kotoa ‘o e fonua mei homou ‘ao, pea te mou faka‘auha ‘enau ngaahi maka tongitongi kotoa, pea faka‘auha ‘enau ngaahi ‘īmisi kuo haka, mo holoki ‘enau ngaahi sia.

Though translated "high place," the word hamah is a language knot that's hard to untie. It can refer to the back of something as well as a ridge (Deut. 33:29). Since a religious bamah could be located in a valley (Ezek. 6:3), the translation "high place" doesn't quite fit. One thing is clear: whatever they looked like, every Canaanite cultic bamah was subject to Israelite bulldozing. Just as we clean up an oil spill lest it pollute the soil, so Israel was to "clean up" the polluting influence of pagan worship on God's sacred turf.

A pagan bamah was no more to be tolerated than would be the statue of a Hindu deity in a church. Every idol is a demon's religious mask. Therefore, Paul warns, "Flee from idolatry" (1 Cor. 10:14), for what pagans sacrifice they offer to demons (v. 20). The only "high place" for true godly worship is where the cross is lifted high, on which reigns our God and Lord, Jesus the Messiah.

We do not lift our eyes to the hills, O Lord, but to you, from whence our help comes (Ps. 121:1-2).