In Deuteronomy 12 Moses charged the children of Israel to "utterly destroy all the places, wherein the nations which ye shall dispossess serve their gods, upon the high mountains, and upon the hills, and under every green tree" (v. 2, Heb.). He also charged them to overthrow the altars, break their dedicated pillars, burn their wooden symbols with fire, hew down the graven images of their gods, and destroy the names of them out of that place (v. 3, Heb.). Having destroyed all these things, they were to come to the unique place of God's choice. According to 1 Kings, the temple was built in Jerusalem, the place God had chosen. It was the desire of God's heart for there to be a unique place for His presence. This one place protected God's people from division. Therefore, it was God's wisdom to require that all the places in which the nations served their gods be destroyed and that His people come to the unique place of His choice.
Although the children of Israel destroyed the places wherein the nations served their gods upon the mountains and hills and under the green trees, and although the temple was built in Jerusalem, eventually the very things that had been destroyed came back. The high places, the green trees, the dedicated pillars, the wooden symbols, and the idolatrous names were restored. In fact, Solomon, the very one who built the temple according to God's desire on the ground of oneness, took the lead to build up the high places once again (1 Kings 11:6-8). He built up again the very high places Moses had charged the people to destroy. These high places were related to fornication and idolatry. Solomon's setting up of the high places was especially connected with the indulgence of lust. It was for the sake of "all his strange wives" that he built up the high places.
To set up a high place is to have a division. Hence, the significance of high places is division. God's intention with the children of Israel in the Old Testament was that His people be kept in oneness in order to worship Him in a proper way. To preserve the oneness of His people, God required that they come to the unique place of His choice. The high places, however, were a substitute and an alternative for this unique place. This indicates that division is a replacement for oneness. The unique place, Jerusalem, signifies oneness, whereas the high places signify division. Just as all manner of evil and abominable things were related to the setting up of the high places, so, in New Testament terms, all manner of evil is related to division.