places should be abolished, but the cultus itself remain as before
the main concern of religion, only limited to a single locality
was by no means their wish; but at the same time, in point of
fact, it came about as an incidental result of their teaching that
the high place in Jerusalem ultimately abolished all the other
Bamoth. External circumstances, it must be added, contributed most
essentially towards the result.

As long as the northern kingdom stood, it was there that the main
current of lsraelite life manifested itself; a glance into the
Books of Kings or into that of Amos is enough to make this clear.
In Jerusalem, indeed, the days of David and of Solomon remained
unforgotten; yearning memories went back to them, and great
pretensions were based upon them, but with these the actual state
of matters only faintly corresponded. When Samaria fell, Israel
shrivelled up to the narrow dimensions of Judah, which alone
survived as the people of Jehovah. Thereby the field was left
clear for Jerusalem. The royal city had always had a weighty
preponderance over the little kingdom, and within it, again, the
town had yielded in importance to the temple. From the few
narratives we have relating to Judah one almost gathers an
impression as if it had no other concern besides those of the
temple; the kings in particular appear to have regarded the
charge of their palace sanctuary as the chief of all their
cares./1/

******************************************
1. Nearly all the Judaean narratives in the Books of Kings relate
to the temple and the measures taken by the ruling princes with
reference to this their sanctuary.