Ezekiel 20:27

"Therefore, son of man, speak unto the house of Israel, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: In this moreover have your fathers blasphemed me, in that they have committed a trespass against me. For when I had brought them into the land, which I sware to give unto them, then they saw every high hill, and every thick tree, and they offered there their sacrifices, and there they presented the provocation of their offerings; there also they made their sweet savor, and they poured out there their drink offerings. Then I said unto them, What meaneth the high place whereunto ye go? So the name thereof is called Bama unto this day."

WICKED ISRAEL'S PREFERENCE FOR PAGAN SHRINES

Despite the fact of God's having set up his holy altar at a specific location and having given the most solemn prohibitions against worshipping or sacrificing elsewhere, and in spite of God's having forbidden the Jews to honor or retain any of the pagan shrines and altars in Palestine, they nevertheless spared all the pagan shrines, and installed others.

Note the fourfold repetition of the word "there" in Ezekiel 20:28. It was especially an affront to the God of Israel that his people would patronize and even prefer to worship at such high places, rather than at God's true altar. Of course, it was the licentious worship of the pagans which they at once adopted and included along with God's worship that was the great attraction for Israel. Blasphemy against God? Of course; it was blasphemy of the worst kind, because it connected the holy name of the Lord Jehovah with all the immorality and debaucheries of paganism.

"Bama ..." (Ezekiel 20:29). "This is a Hebrew word meaning `High-Place.' The tops of high hills were used by the pagans for their idolatrous worship; and in response to that, Moses prohibited the use of them even for the worship of God."[15]