Abram traveled through the land as far as the oak tree ¹  of Moreh ²  at Shechem. ³  (At that time the Canaanites were in the land.) ⁴ 

(Now Ephron was sitting among the sons of Heth.) Ephron the Hethite ¹  replied to Abraham in the hearing ²  of the sons of Heth – before all who entered the gate ³  of his city –

so that I may make you solemnly promise ¹  by the Lord, the God of heaven and the God of the earth: You must not acquire ²  a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I am living.

My master made me swear an oath. He said, ‘You must not acquire a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I am living,

the herdsmen of Gerar quarreled ¹  with Isaac’s herdsmen, saying, “The water belongs to us!” So Isaac ²  named the well ³  Esek ⁴  because they argued with him about it. ⁵ 

When Shechem son of Hamor the Hivite, who ruled that area, saw her, he grabbed her, forced himself on her, ¹  and sexually assaulted her. ² 

So he returned to Judah and said, “I couldn’t find her. Moreover, the men of the place said, ‘There has been no cult prostitute here.’”

The men of Israel said to the Hivites, “Perhaps you live near us. ¹  So how can we make a treaty with you?”

Three days after they made the treaty with them, the Israelites found out they were from the local area and lived nearby. ¹ 

They went out to the field, harvested their grapes, ¹  squeezed out the juice, ²  and celebrated. They came to the temple ³  of their god and ate, drank, and cursed Abimelech.

But then an old man passed by, returning at the end of the day from his work in the field. ¹  The man was from the Ephraimite hill country; he was living temporarily in Gibeah. (The residents of the town were Benjaminites.) ² 

The king went to Gibeon to offer sacrifices, for it had the most prominent of the high places. ¹  Solomon would offer up ²  a thousand burnt sacrifices on the altar there.

The high places were not eliminated, yet Asa was wholeheartedly devoted to the Lord throughout his lifetime. ¹ 

Elijah ¹  replied, “I have not brought disaster ²  on Israel. But you and your father’s dynasty have, by abandoning the Lord’s commandments and following the Baals.

The men of the city said to Elisha, “Look, the city has a good location, as our ¹  master can see. But the water is bad and the land doesn’t produce crops.” ² 

The Israelites said things about the Lord their God that were not right. ¹  They built high places in all their cities, from the watchtower to the fortress. ² 

At the same time they worshiped ¹  the Lord. They appointed some of their own people to serve as priests in the shrines on the high places. ² 

These nations are worshiping the Lord and at the same time serving their idols; their sons and grandsons do just as their fathers have done, to this very day.

The high places were not eliminated from Israel, yet Asa was wholeheartedly devoted to the Lord throughout his lifetime. ¹ 

He was committed to following the Lord; ¹  he even removed the high places and Asherah poles from Judah.