Ezekiel 20:29

The word bamah, "high-place," has no certain etymology, though often used and at an early period, e.g. in David's elegy on Saul (2 Samuel 1:19), and in Moabite (Mesha's inscrip.). The prophet here introduces a punning and contemptuous derivation of the word. Jehovah asks "what (mah) is the high place whereunto ye go (ba)," and the prophet seems to consider the word composed of these two syllables. Some have supposed that "go" has the sense of "go in," and that the allusion is to the immoralities practised on the high places (Amos 2:7; Hosea 4:13-14). This idea does not seem expressed in the words; neither is there much probability in the conjecture that the words are borrowed by Ezek. from some older prophet (Ew.).

The prophet's view of the generation of the exodus differs from that of earlier prophets, e.g. Hosea 9:10; Jeremiah 2:2. The generation in the wilderness was probably not a homogeneous one, and the narratives which we possess represent its conduct as various at different times. Two views might be taken of it, and Ezek. as his manner is takes the severer view.