And the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there; for that was the great high place: a thousand burnt offerings did Solomon offer upon that altar.
The king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, х Gib`own (H1391), a hill-city, standing on a hill (el-Jib).] The prominent distinction of this place arose from the old tabernacle and the brasen altar which Moses had made in the wilderness (1 Chronicles 16:39; 1 Chronicles 21:29; 2 Chronicles 1:3-6) having been removed from Nob there, end established on the heights called Nob there, and established on the heights called Neby Samwil, Mizpeh (Stanley, 'Sinai and Palestine,' p. 212). That hill, which rises between 500 and 600 feet, is the highest point in all the adjoining country, and corresponds to the description х habaamaah (H1116) hagªdowlaah (H1419) 'the great high place.' The Septuagint has: hoti hautee hupseelotatee kai megalee, because it was the highest and great one.] But it is objected to Neby Samwil that its distance, about a mile from Gibeon, is unfavourable to the idea of its being 'the high place,' which is more likely to have been the hill overhanging the town (Reland, 'Palaestina,' p. 339).
Besides, it would seem that the sanctuary at Gibeon was designated "the great high place," principally, if not solely, from a comparison of it with other high places mentioned, 1 Kings 3:2-3; and as "high places" are said to have been in the valley of the son of Hinnom (Jer. 33:35), it is not absolutely necessary to assume that the tabernacle was upon a hill at Gibeon. The designation 'high place' was undoubtedly used at first in respect to elevation; but in course of time it became the name of a place devoted to religions rites, whether it was on a hill or on a plain. Josephus erroneously represents the king as going to Hebron, instead of Gibeon. ('Antiquities,' b. 8:, ch. 2:, sec. 1). The royal progress was of public importance. It was a season of national devotion. The king was accompanied by his principal nobility (2 Chronicles 1:2); and, as the occasion was most probably one of the great annual festivals which lasted seven days, the rank of the offerer and the succession of daily oblations may help in part to account for the immense magnitude of the sacrifices.