20:27-28 The Lord instructed Ezekiel to continue speaking for Him. The Israelites' forefathers had blasphemed (slandered) the Lord with further covenant unfaithfulness (cf. Num. 15:30-31). After He had brought them into the Promised Land, they used that good land to practice idolatry.
20:29 The Lord had confronted His people with their use of the high places or hilltops for idolatry. The name of the high places, Bamah, had a double significance. It meant "high place,"but it also meant literally "go where"or "go what"(Heb. ba mah). Thus Bamah became a contemptuous pun. When the people went to the high places to worship idols, where were they going? They were going nowhere of any significance to do nothing of any importance since these idols were nonentities and could not help them. The name Bamah said more about these places than just identifying them as high places of worship, and the Lord had perpetuated the name Bamah for this reason.
"In the world of the Old Testament, everyone worshiped [sic] by using idols. It was unthinkable not to. Idols were thought to be absolutely necessary for proper worship in the same way that wings are thought necessary for an airplane today. The practice of idolatry was based on what is sometimes called sympathetic magic,' that is, the ability to influence reality by manipulating an image of that reality."285
