This was directly opposed to the customs of the heathen idolaters, in offering their sacrifices on the tops of hills and mountains.
Deuteronomy 12:6 And thither ye shall bring
your burnt offerings, and your sacrifices, and your
tithes, and heave offerings of your hand, and your vows, and your freewill offerings, and the firstlings of your herds and of your flocks:
Leviticus 17:2-
5 Speak unto Aaron, and unto his sons, and unto all the children of Israel, and say unto them; This [
is] the thing which the LORD hath commanded, saying, ... To the end that the children of Israel may bring their sacrifices, which they offer
in the open field, even that they may bring them unto the LORD, unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, unto the priest,
and offer them [
for] peace offerings unto the LORD.
1 Kings 12:28-
32 Whereupon the king
took counsel, and made
two calves [of] gold, and said unto them,
It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem:
behold thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. ... And Jeroboam ordained a feast in the eighth month, on the fifteenth day of the month,
like unto the feast that [
is] in Judah, and he
offered upon the altar. So did he in Bethel, sacrificing unto the calves that he had made: and he placed in Bethel the priests of the high places which he had made.
1 Kings 15:34 And
he did evil in the sight of the LORD, and
walked in the way of Jeroboam, and in his sin wherewith he made Israel to sin.
2 Chronicles 15:17 But
the high places were not taken away out of Israel: nevertheless
the heart of Asa was perfect all his days.
