2 Chronicles 20:33

2Ch 20:33 Howbeit the high places were not taken away: for as yet the people had not prepared their hearts unto the God of their fathers.

Ver. 33. For as yet the people had not prepared their hearts.] They could not find in their hearts, though Jehoshaphat had been at much pains with them, {2Ch 19:4} to part with their accustomed sacrificing in those high places; nor could the king yet bring them to it. That tyrant of three letters, Mos , or custom, is very prevalent everywhere. The people called Hircani had an absurd custom of casting their dead to be devoured by dogs, which were kept for the purpose at the public charge, and called grave dogs. {a} And whenas king Nicanor would have broke them of that barbarous custom, he hardly escaped the loss of his kingdom and life together. {b}

{a} Cicero.

{b} Nicronym.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2Ch 20:33. Howbeit, the high places were not taken away — Not universally; the fault was not in Jehoshaphat, but in the people, who, though they did worship the true God, yet would not be confined to the temple; but, for their own convenience, or from their affection to their ancient customs, chose to worship him in the high places.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

If the great care and diligence of this good king was not able utterly to abolish all superstition of this people, but that they would still retain theirs, how much less are they able to reform evil, which either have little zeal, or not such as he had: though here he was not to be excused?

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

the high places were not taken away--Those on which idolatry was practised were entirely destroyed (Ch2 17:6); but those where the people, notwithstanding the erection of the temple, continued to worship the true God, prudence required to be slowly and gradually abolished, in deference to popular prejudice.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 33. The high places were not taken away] The idolatry, as we have seen, was universally suppressed; but some of the places where that worship had been performed were not destroyed. Some of them still remained; and these, to such a fickle people, became the means of idolatry in reigns less propitious to truth and religion.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(33) For . . . hearts.—And the people had not yet directed their heart. This language is the chronicler’s own (see 2Ch_12:14; 2Ch_19:3), and is substituted for the statement, “The people were still wont to sacrifice and burn incense on the high places” (Kings). They had not yet accepted the principle of the one Temple.

(33) Howbeit the high places were not taken away.—This is no contradiction of 2Ch_17:6, “And further (or again), he took away the high places.” There the holy places of heathenism, here those of the illegal worship of Jehovah, appear to be meant.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

33. the high places] Cp. 2Ch_15:17, note.

for as yet the people had not prepared their hearts] R.V. neither as yet had the people set their hearts; cp. 2Ch_12:14. In Kings it is said particularly that the people sacrificed and burnt incense at the high places.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Now the rest of the acts of Jehoshaphat, first and last,.... Those that were done at the beginning, and those that were done at the latter end of his reign:

behold, they are written in the book of Jehu, the son of Hanani, who is mentioned in the book of the kings of Israel; see Kg1 16:1, the same that reproved Jehoshaphat, Ch2 19:2. He wrote a book of his own times, and which was so much esteemed, according to Kimchi, that it was written with, or put along with, the book of the kings of Israel, for so he interprets the phrase; but the Targum understands it of Jehu being the king's historiographer, who had the care and oversight of the diary, journal, or annals of the kings of Israel.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

The latter clause of this verse helps to reconcile the first clause with the statement that Jehoshaphat “took away the high places” (see 2Ch 15:17 note).

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Places, erected in honour of God, but displeasing to him, C. xvii. 6. H. --- The good king perhaps attempted to take these also away, but was obliged to desist by the rebellious people. M. --- Hence we find that they are here blamed. H. --- They would not conform exactly to the law, (Lev. xvii. 3.; T.) and the king was not able to bring all to perfection. W. --- "It is better to pass over....vices, than to shew which we cannot subdue." Tacitus, An. iii.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

The high places where not taken away; not fully nor universally; of which See Poole "2Ch 17:6". The fault was not in Jehoshaphat, but in the people, who, though they did worship the true God, yet would not be confined to the temple, but for their own conveniency, or from their affection to their ancient custom, chose to worship him in the high places; which Jehoshaphat was forced to connive at, lest those people, being debarred from that dearly-beloved practice, should fall into a neglect of God and his worship.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Howbeit the high places the people had not prepared. The statements so precisely made in this verse evidently serve the purpose of distinguishing between the wishes and orders of the king and the unequal conduct of his people.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Not taken - Not universally; the fault was not in Jehoshaphat, but in the people, who, though they did worship the true God, yet would not be confined to the temple, but for their own conveniency, or from their affection to their ancient custom chose to worship him in the high-places.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

high places

(See Scofield "1Ki 3:2").

The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.