1 Kings 3:2
ESV
The people were sacrificing at the high places, however, because no house had yet been built for the name of the Lord.
NIV
The people, however, were still sacrificing at the high places, because a temple had not yet been built for the Name of the Lord.
NASB
The people were still sacrificing on the high places, because there was no house built for the name of the Lord until those days.
CSB
However, the people were sacrificing on the high places, because until that time a temple for the Lord’s name had not been built.
NLT
At that time the people of Israel sacrificed their offerings at local places of worship, for a temple honoring the name of the Lord had not yet been built.
KJV
Only the people sacrificed in high places, because there was no house built unto the name of the Lord, until those days.
NKJV
Meanwhile the people sacrificed at the high places, because there was no house built for the name of the Lord until those days.
What does 1 Kings 3:2 mean?
As the Israelites approached the Promised Land, God explained to them where they should worship. They were to tear down all the pagan worship sites "on the high mountains and on the hills…" (Deuteronomy 12:2). God would choose where they should set up the tabernacle (Deuteronomy 12:5). Initially, that place was Shiloh (Joshua 18:1)In the days of Samuel, the priest Eli's sons took the ark of the covenant into battle, and the Philistines stole it (1 Samuel 4:4, 11). The ark returned, but it never rejoined the tabernacle; at the time of this passage, it's in a tent in Jerusalem (2 Samuel 6:12–15). Meanwhile, it seems the Philistines chased the tabernacle out of Shiloh to Nob (1 Samuel 21:1–6). After Saul murdered the priests at Nob (1 Samuel 22:6–19), the tabernacle showed up in a high place in Gibeon (1 Chronicles 16:39–40). Both Adonijah and Joab fled to Gibeon to seek mercy for their crimes (1 Kings 1:50–51; 2:28).
The people worship at "high places." These are labeled as bamot in Hebrew, which may have been Canaanite open-air shrines. The tabernacle has been placed on one of these high places. But because it is the tabernacle of Moses and has the official altar, it's the proper place to give offerings and sacrifices to God (2 Chronicles 1:3, 5).
The text doesn't say if God ordered the tabernacle to be moved to Nob or Gibeon. Its separation from the ark marks a transition period in the proper worship of Yahweh (Exodus 3:15). When Solomon completes the temple, he will join the ark, representing the presence of God, the tabernacle with the altar, and the national capital. Until then, the Israelites worship The Lord as best they know how.
