Psalm 31:1-3
My Shepherd met me in His green pastures this morning, where my wife was feeding: 2 Kings 23. The Mind of the Spirit arrested the spirit of my mind when she asked, “What is the mount of corruption?”:
2 Kings 23:13 And the high places that were before Jerusalem, which were on the right hand of the mount of corruption, which Solomon the king of Israel had builded for Ashtoreth the abomination of the Zidonians, and for Chemosh the abomination of the Moabites, and for Milcom the abomination of the children of Ammon, did the king defile.
The question is answered in the text, but what she meant was that she did not know the Holy Spirit designated this particular mountain as “the mount of corruption.”
Along the still waters, I pondered the significance that the Spirit referred to the place where Solomon built high places for the worship of Ashtoreth, Chemosh, and Milcom as the “mount of corruption,” and the Christians who came along later and called it the “Mount of Offense.” The word offense consistently refers to an act of transgression, either against civil or moral law or manners. It fails to include the corrosive power of these offenses and so fails to capture the meaning intended in 2 Kings 23:13. What Solomon did was, indeed, an offense. The point is, however, that this offense corrupted the people; it brought perversity into Israel that, disease-like, spread and infected the hearts of God’s people. The infection took so strong a hold on the northern tribes that God was moved to amputate: He separated Judah and Benjamin from the northern tribes to staunch the spread of Solomon’s disease.
I did some research to discern where was this “mount of corruption.” I’ve included a link to a document I prepared showing the elevations and distances between these significant mountains. The Mount of Olives ridge includes three summits: The northern summit, Scopus (2710 ft), the central summit, which is called by the name of the ridge: the Mount of Olives (proper) (2685 inclining about 15 feet to 2710 ft), and the southern summit, called “the mount of corruption” (2644, inclining16 feet to 2660 ft). The distance between Scopus and Olivet is about 1.2 miles, and from Olivet to the mount of corruption is only about half a mile.
Solomon’s abomination was built on the south side of Olivet, facing east toward the rising sun, and, looking westward, it provides an easy view of the Temple Mount, located less than half a mile away. The mount of corruption is at a higher elevation (Temple Mount – 2430 ft; Mount of Corruption – 2657 ft., or 227 feet higher). The sun’s light would illuminate the mount of corruption before it reached the Temple Mount.
More than three hundred and fifty years after Solomon created this filthy abomination in Israel, God referred to the location of these evil idols as the “mount of corruption.” My heart broke as I thought of the number of days the sun rose over Jerusalem, illuminating first the corruption Solomon built on the higher elevation, looking down on the Temple he built for the LORD.
David escaped being murdered by his son, Absalom, ascending Olivet, weeping (2 Samuel 15:30). Ezekiel traces the departure of the glory of the LORD from Solomon’s Temple: from the cherub to the threshold of the Temple (Ezekiel 10:4), He left the threshold of the house and stood over the cherubims (Ezekiel 10:18-19), then the LORD “went up from the midst of the city, and stood upon the mountain which is on the east side of the city” — that would be Olivet! (Ezekiel 11:23). Whether He paused at the mount of corruption or hesitated on the spot where His Son would return (Zechariah 14:4) is unknown, for the mountain ridge on the east of the city includes both sites. I think He set His eyes upon the site of Solomon’s corruption and sighed; He hesitated at the site of His Son’s return, and then the glory departed from Israel.
The promised “son of David” came to restore Israel’s glory, but she wickedly rejected Him. He descended the Mount of Olives, weeping as He went into the city where His enemy was gathered on another infamous peak, plotting to kill Him. It’s called the Mount of Evil Counsel, located only a quarter of a mile or so south of Zion, and less than half a mile from the Temple. Jesus would have been walking directly toward the palace of Caiaphas, where the plot was hatching.
Olivet is where Jesus will touch down on Earth when He returns, and the mountain ridge will be forever changed (Zechariah 14:4). The Temple is indicative of the place where God meets and speaks with men (Exodus 33:9). The mount of corruption is where the people place their idols, and the mount of evil counsel is where they deliberated how they might “breaks His bands assunder, and cast away His cords” (Psalm 2:1-4; Mark 14:1; Luke 22:2).
Today, our body is the Temple of the Holy Ghost, and the “glory of the LORD” dwells in our hearts, corresponding to the most Holy Place of the Temple (Exodus 36:24; 1 Corinthians 6:19; Ephesians 3:17). Olivet represents our blessed hope: “ Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works” (Titus 2:13-14). The mount of corruption represents our fesh, in which dwells “no good thing” (Romans 7:18—“For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.”). The mount of evil counsel represents our mind, where our spirit enters into the counsels of the raging heathen, entertaining thoughts that exalt against the LORD, and His anointed, to break His bands and cast away His cords—erecting idols on the mount of corruption, being “carnally minded.”
Are our thoughts toward Olivet? Are we “looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith” (Hebrews 12:1)? That is to be spiritually minded. Are we carnally minded? Does the spirit of our mind (Ephesians 4:27) sink into the flesh and stir up its works (Galatians 5:19-21)? Paul, by the Spirit, instructed us in this matter: “For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit” (Romans 8:5).
In the valley, the Spirit impressed my mind with deep conviction: “They that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts” (Galatians 5:24). I revisited Saturday’s devotion (“Dead and Alive”—01/24/26). I remembered the “reckoning.” I heard the Shepherd speak to this undershepherd (Ephesians 4:11—pastor (shepherd)/teacher (feeder); 1 Peter 5:2—feed the flock of God; see Acts 20:28). His voice, as the sound of many waters, was warm like the waves lapping the sands of Maui: “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me” (Luke 9:23).
At the table, I thought a while in communion with Him, how we might develop a ministry that is “daily in the temple, and in every house” (Acts 5:42).
I asked Him about the fact that the sunrise would strike upon the mount of corruption before it lit the courts of the Temple. He said ’tis true in this world that the corruptions of life will get first light of the sun. The wicked are always looking for something to justify their hatred of Me. However, He reminded me, when my face shines as the sun in its strength upon my churches, I prefer to begin with what pleases me. Of the seven letters, only one included no favor. I mentioned Sardis, and He replied, “Even in Sardis,” there were a few who had not defiled their garments (Revelation 3:4).
He anointed my head with His oil and filled my cup with today’s renewed mercies and compassions. My heart exclaimed: His compassions fail not: “They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness” (Lamentations 3:22-23). Under the anointing of His “fresh oil” (Psalm 92:10), and with my cup running over with my portion of His grace (Psalm 23:5; James 4:6), we went together into the harvest. Goodness and mercy followed.
Praying for revival! 🙏
Going live asap:
https://rumble.com/v74xksc-shepherds-pasture.html
SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL FOR THIS DEVO:
Notes on the mountains surrounding Jerusalem
Diagram of the proximity of the key elevations around Jerusalem:
https://baptistlighthouse.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/20260126.Mounts-of-Jerusalem.jpg
0 Comments