So they feared the LORD, and made unto themselves of the lowest of them priests of the high places, which sacrificed for them in the houses of the high places.
So they worshiped the LORD, but they also chose some of their own people from the lowest social classes to serve as priests at the shrines on hilltops, where these priests would offer sacrifices for them at these local worship sites.
The people claimed to worship God, but they mixed true worship with their own made-up religious practices using unqualified priests.
📚 Historical Context
This describes the Samaritans after the Assyrian conquest of the northern kingdom of Israel in 722 BC. When foreign peoples were resettled in the land, they experienced problems they attributed to not knowing how to worship the local God, so they adopted a mixed form of religion that combined worship of the LORD with their pagan practices.
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