And they set them up images and groves in every high hill, and under every green tree:
Israel set up images and sacred groves on every high hill and under every green tree as idolatrous worship in defiance and rebellion against the Lord. This idolatry belonged to an apostasy in which Israel turned from God's ways to heathen practices, replacing the worship God had instituted with other worship that included human sacrifice and licentious rites. That rejection of God's ways began Israel's downfall and contributed to it, continuing until the people became subject to the nations whose practices they had chosen, ending in judgment and captivity.
The verse belongs to the history of Samaria's capture and the scattering of the shattered remnant of the ten tribes among the nations by the Assyrians in the earlier part of Hezekiah's reign. Assyria's success led many to question the power of the Hebrews' God and emboldened the Ninevites, who had set aside Jonah's message, in defiance against Heaven. A few years after Samaria's fall the same victorious armies returned against Judah's fortified cities with some success before withdrawing for a time because of troubles elsewhere, so the question whether the heathen gods would prevail was settled before the nations only years later toward the close of Hezekiah's reign.
Israel set up images and sacred groves on every high hill and under every green tree as idolatrous worship in defiance and rebellion against the Lord. This idolatry belonged to an apostasy in which Israel turned from God's ways to heathen practices, replacing the worship God had instituted with other worship that included human sacrifice and licentious rites. That rejection of God's ways began Israel's downfall and contributed to it, continuing until the people became subject to the nations whose practices they had chosen, ending in judgment and captivity.
The verse belongs to the history of Samaria's capture and the scattering of the shattered remnant of the ten tribes among the nations by the Assyrians in the earlier part of Hezekiah's reign. Assyria's success led many to question the power of the Hebrews' God and emboldened the Ninevites, who had set aside Jonah's message, in defiance against Heaven. A few years after Samaria's fall the same victorious armies returned against Judah's fortified cities with some success before withdrawing for a time because of troubles elsewhere, so the question whether the heathen gods would prevail was settled before the nations only years later toward the close of Hezekiah's reign.