Howbeit the high places were not removed: the people sacrificed and burned incense still in the high places. He built the higher gate of the house of the LORD.
However, the high places were not torn down: the people still offered sacrifices and burned incense at these high places. He built the upper gate of the LORD's temple.
This verse shows that even though King Jotham did good things like building part of the temple, he failed to completely remove the places where people worshiped incorrectly.
📚 Historical Context
This verse refers to King Jotham of Judah (around 750-735 BC), who was generally a good king but allowed unauthorized worship sites called 'high places' to continue operating. These high places were hilltop shrines where people offered sacrifices to God outside of the official temple in Jerusalem, which violated God's commands about centralized worship. The 'higher gate' likely refers to an upper entrance to the temple complex that Jotham constructed as part of his building projects.
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