1 Kings 3:2 - Wesley's Explanatory Notes

Only — This particle is used here, and 1 Kings 3:3, as an exception to Solomon's integrity and as a blemish to his government, That he himself both permitted and practised this which was expressly forbidden, Leviticus 17:3-4; Deuteronomy 12:13-14. High places — Which were groves, or other convenient places upon hills, in which the patriarchs used to offer up their sacrifices to God; and from them this custom was derived both to the Gentiles and the Jews: and in them the Gentiles sacrificed to idols, the Hebrews to the true God. Because, &c. — Which reason was not sufficient, for there was a tabernacle, to which they were as much confined as to the temple, Exodus 40:34-38, &c.