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HIGH PLACE

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Originally appearing in Volume V13, Page 457 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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HIGH See also:

PLACE , in the See also:English version of the Old Testament, the literal See also:translation of the Heb. b¢mdh. This rendering is etymologically correct, as appears from the poetical use of the plural in such expressions as to ride, or stalk, or stand on the high places of the See also:earth, the See also:sea, the clouds, and from the corresponding usage in See also:Assyrian; but in See also:prose bamdh is always a place of See also:worship. It has been surmised that it was so called because the places of worship were originally upon See also:hill-tops, or that the b6.m¢h was an artificial See also:platform or See also:mound, perhaps imitating the natural See also:eminence which was the See also:oldest See also:holy place, but neither view is historically demonstrable. The development of the religious significance of the word took place probably not in See also:Israel but among the Canaanites, from whom the Israelites, in taking See also:possession of the holy places of the See also:land, adopted the name also. . In old Israel every See also:town and See also:village had its own place of See also:sacrifice, and the See also:common name for these places was b¢mfh, which is synonymous with nzikdash, holy place (See also:Amos vii. Isa. xvi. 12, &c.). From the Old Testament and from existing remains a See also:good See also:idea may be formed of the See also:appearance of such a place of worship. It was often on the hill above the town, as at Ramah (I Sam. ix. 12-14); there was a See also:stele (massebah), the seat of the deity, and a wooden See also:post or See also:pole (asherah), which marked the place as sacred and was itself an See also:object of worship; there was a See also:stone See also:altar, often of considerable See also:size and hewn out of the solid See also:rock' or built of unhewn stones (Ex. xx. 25; see ALTAR), on which offerings were burnt (mizbeh, lit. " slaughter place ") ; a cistern for See also:water, and perhaps See also:low stone tables for dressing the victims; sometimes also a See also:hall (lishkah) for the sacrificial feasts.

Around these places the See also:

religion of the See also:ancient Israelite centred; at festival seasons, or to make or fulfil a See also:vow, he might See also:journey to more famous sanctuaries at a distance from his See also:home, but ordinarily the offerings which linked every See also:side of his See also:life to religion were paid at the bamah of his own town. The See also:building of royal temples in See also:Jerusalem or in See also:Samaria made no See also:change in this respect; they simply took their place beside the older sanctuaries, such as See also:Bethel, See also:Dan, See also:Gilgal, See also:Beersheba, to which they were, indeed, inferior in repute. The religious reformers of the 8th See also:century assail the popular religion as corrupt and licentious, and as fostering the monstrous delusion that immoral men can buy the favour of See also:God by worship; but they make no difference in this respect between the high places of Israel and the See also:temple in Jerusalem (cf. Amos V. 21 sqq.; Hos. iv.; Isa. to sqq.) ; See also:Hosea stigmatizes the whole cultus as pure heathenism—Canaanite See also:baal-worship adopted by apostate Israel. The fundamental See also:law in Deut. xii. prohibits sacrifice at every place except the temple in Jerusalem; in accordance with this law See also:Josiah, in 621 B.C., destroyed and desecrated the altars (b¢See also:moth) throughout his See also:kingdom, where Yahweh had been worshipped from See also:time immemorial, and forcibly removed' their priests to Jerusalem, where they occupied an inferior See also:rank in the temple See also:ministry. In the prophets of the 7th and 6th centuries the word bdmoth connotes " seat of heathenish or idolatrous worship "; and the historians of the See also:period apply the See also:term in this opprobrious sense not only to places sacred to other gods but to the old holy places of Yahweh in the cities and villages of See also:Judah, which, in their view, had been illegitimate from the building of See also:Solomon's temple, and therefore not really seats of the worship of Yahweh; even the most pious See also:kings of ' Several altars of this type have been preserved. made by various See also:highway acts, viz. the Highway See also:Act 1835, and amending acts of 1862, 1864, 1878 and 1891. The leading principle of the Highway Act 1835 is to place the highways under the direction of See also:parish surveyors, and to provide for the necessary expenses by a See also:rate levied on the occupiers of land. It is the See also:duty of the surveyor to keep the highways in repair; and if a highway is out of repair, the surveyor may be summoned before justices and convicted in a See also:penalty not exceeding £5, and ordered to See also:complete the See also:repairs withir, a limited time. The surveyor is likewise specially charged with the removal of nuisances on the highway. A highway See also:nuisance may be See also:abated by any See also:person, and may be made the subject of See also:indictment at common law.

The amending acts, while not interfering with the operation of the See also:

principal act, authorize the creation of highway districts on a larger See also:scale. The justices of a See also:county may convert it or any portion of it into a highway See also:district to be governed by a highway See also:board, the See also:powers and responsibilities of which will be the same as those of the parish surveyor under the former act. The board consists of representatives of the various parishes, called " way wardens " together with the justices for the county residing within the district. Salaries and similar expenses incurred by the board are charged on a district fund to which the several parishes contribute; but each parish remains separately responsible for the expenses of maintaining its own highways. By the See also:Local See also:Government Act 1888 the entire See also:maintenance of See also:main roads was thrown upon county See also:councils. The Public See also:Health Act 1875 vested the powers and duties of surveyors of highways and vestries in See also:urban authorities, while the Local Government Act 1894 transferred to the district councils of every rural district all the powers of rural sanitary authorities and highway authorities (see See also:ENGLAND: Local Government). The Highway Act of 1835 specified as offences for which the See also:driver of a See also:carriage on the public highway might be punished by a See also:fine, in addition to any See also:civil See also:action that might be brought against him—See also:riding upon the See also:cart, or upon any See also:horse See also:drawing it, and not having some other person to See also:guide it, unless there be some person See also:driving it; See also:negligence causing damage to person or goods being conveyed on the highway; quitting his cart, or leaving See also:control of the horses, or leaving the cart so as to be an obstruction on the highway; not having the owner's name painted up; refusing to give the same; and not keeping on the See also:left or near side of the road, when See also:meeting any other carriage or horse. This See also:rule does not apply in the See also:case of a carriage meeting a See also:foot-passenger, but a driver is See also:bound to use due care to avoid driving against any person See also:crossing the highway on foot. At the same time a passenger crossing the highway is also bound to use due care in avoiding vehicles, and the See also:mere fact of a driver being on the wrong side of the road would not be See also:evidence of negligence in such a case. The " rule of the road " given above is See also:peculiar to the See also:United Kingdom. Cooley's See also:treatise on the See also:American Law of Torts states that " the See also:custom of the See also:country, in some states enacted into See also:statute law, requires that when teams approach and are about to pass on the highway, each shall keep to the right of the centre of the travelled portion of the road." This also appears to be the See also:general rule on the See also:continent of See also:Europe. By the See also:Lights on Vehicles Act 1907, all vehicles on highways in England and See also:Wales must display to the front a See also:white See also:light during the period between one See also:hour after sunset and one hour before sunrise.

Locomotives and motor cars, being dealt with by See also:

special acts, are excluded from the operation of the act, as`'are bicycles and tricycles (dealt with by the Local Government Act 1888), and vehicles See also:drawn or propelled by See also:hand, but every See also:machine or See also:implement drawn by animals comes within the act. There are two exceptions: (I) vehicles carrying inflammable goods in the neighbourhood of places where inflammable goods are stored, and (2) vehicles engaged in harvesting. The public have a right to pass along a highway freely, safely and conveniently, and any wrongful act or omission which prevents them doing so is a nuisance, for the prevention and See also:abatement of which the highways and other acts contain provisions. Generally, nuisance Judah are censured for tolerating their existence. The reaction which followed the See also:death of Josiah (6o8 B.C.) restored the old altars of Yahweh; they survived the destruction of the temple in 586, and it is probable that after its restoration (520–516 B.C.) they only slowly disappeared, in consequence partly of the natural predominance of Jerusalem in the little territory of See also:Judaea, partly of the See also:gradual See also:establishment of the supremacy of the written law over custom and tradition in the See also:Persian period. It may not be superfluous to See also:note that the deuteronomic See also:dogma that sacrifice can be offered to Yahweh only at the temple in Jerusalem was never fully established either in fact or in legal theory. The Jewish military colonists in Elephantine in the 5th century B.C. had their altar of Yahweh beside the high way; the See also:Jews in See also:Egypt in the Ptolemaic period had, besides many local sanctuaries, one greater temple at Leontopolis, with a priesthood whose claim to " valid orders " was much better than that of the High Priests in Jerusalem, and the See also:legitimacy of whose worship is admitted even by the Palestinian rabbis. See Baudissin, "Hohendienst," Protestantische Realencyklopadie3 (viii. 177-195) ; Hoonacker, Le Lieu du culte clans la legislation rituelle See also:des Hebreux (1894) ; V. See also:Gall, Altisraelitische Kultstadle (1898).

End of Article: HIGH PLACE

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