1 Samuel 9:12

12. Make haste now For if ye do not see him before he goes up to the high place to bless the sacrifice and eat, ye may not be able to hold any private interview with him at all. See on 1 Samuel 9:6.

Sacrifice… in the high place The law ordained, (Leviticus 17:3-9; Deuteronomy 12:5-14,) and it was remembered in the days of Joshua, (Joshua 22:29,) that all burnt offerings must be offered upon one common altar. But the tribes of Israel failed both to drive out their heathen foes from the land, and to ascertain that central seat of worship where it would please Jehovah to record his name. And hence the practice of sacrificing in other places sprang up almost of necessity. The acts of Gideon (Judges 6:25-26) and of Elijah (1 Kings 18:30-32) received the divine approval, for they were to serve special purposes in bringing judgments upon the worship of Baal. But in the days of Samuel, Shiloh was desolate, the ark of the covenant was in Kirjath-jearim, and as yet there was no single place where Jehovah had recorded his name, and which he had designated as the one sole place where he would be pleased with sacrifice. Accordingly Samuel and the people are not to be censured for sacrificing in the high place. See 1 Kings 3:2.