2 Chronicles 14:3

3. Took away… the high places This statement, repeated in 2 Chronicles 14:5, seems to be contradicted in 2 Chronicles 15:17, where it is said “the high places were not taken away out of Israel.” This apparent discrepancy is explicable in several ways. Some think that the high places here referred to were those of the strange gods; a possible explanation, though scarcely satisfactory, since no mention of strange gods occurs in 2 Chronicles 14:5, or 2 Chronicles 15:17. We may suppose that Asa succeeded, at one period of his reign, in abolishing all the high places, but that they subsequently appeared again, and he died without seeing his kingdom entirely rid of them. But perhaps the best explanation is, that Asa made the greatest effort to remove the high places from his kingdom, and was largely successful, but, notwithstanding all his efforts, he failed of complete success. The writer does not say that he took away all the high places. Either of these explanations is more rational than to suppose that the writer contradicted himself in the space of a chapter.