(43) The high places were not taken away.--This agrees with 2 Chronicles 20:33, and stands in apparent contradiction with 2 Chronicles 17:6 : "He took away the high places and groves out of Judah." Probably the key to the apparent discrepancy lies in the words "and groves" (Asherah). The high places taken away were those connected with the base Asherah worship; those which were simply unauthorised sanctuaries remained, at any rate in part.
Verse 43. - And he walked in an the ways of Asa his father [Apart from his alliance with the house of Ahab, and the troubles in which it involved him, his reign was alike pious and prosperous. Like Asa's, it was distinguished by internal reforms, and By signal deliverances from foreign enemies]; he turned not aside from it [as Asa was tempted to do in his old age], doing [Heb. to do] that which was right in the eyes of the Lord: nevertheless the high places were not taken away [Heb. departed not, as in1 Kings 15:14; 2 Chronicles 15:17; 2 Kings 12:4, Hebrew; 2 Kings 14:4, Hebrew But see 2 Chronicles 18:6. The discrepancy is the exact parallel of that between 1 Kings 15:14 and 2 Chronicles 14:3; or between this latter passage and 2 Chronicles 15:17. And the explanation is the same, viz., that an effort was made to remove the high places, which was partially, and only partially, successful]; for the people offered and burnt incense yet in the high places [cf. 1 Kings 3:2].
And he walked in all the ways of Asa his father,.... Who was a good prince:
he turned not aside from doing that which was right in the eyes of the Lord; in his moral conversation, religious worship, and civil government:
nevertheless, the high places were not taken away, for the people offered and burnt incense yet in the high places; he took away the high places and groves for idolatrous worship, 2 Chronicles 17:6, but not the high places in which sacrifices were offered to the Lord, which ought to have been, especially since the temple was built; and those in the tribes of Judah and Benjamin were altogether inexcusable, being near to the temple, and under no restraint, as those of the ten tribes were; but the people were fond of them, because of their antiquity, and it was difficult for religious princes to remove them, if inclined.
he turned not aside from doing that which was right in the eyes of the Lord; in his moral conversation, religious worship, and civil government:
nevertheless, the high places were not taken away, for the people offered and burnt incense yet in the high places; he took away the high places and groves for idolatrous worship, 2 Chronicles 17:6, but not the high places in which sacrifices were offered to the Lord, which ought to have been, especially since the temple was built; and those in the tribes of Judah and Benjamin were altogether inexcusable, being near to the temple, and under no restraint, as those of the ten tribes were; but the people were fond of them, because of their antiquity, and it was difficult for religious princes to remove them, if inclined.