Ezekiel 20:29

29. Bamah Hebrews, “high place.” That there is intended here some contemptuous turn upon the word cannot be doubted. “What ( mah) is the high place ( bamah) whereunto ye go ( ba)?” Such puns upon names often given as serious explanations of their origin are not uncommon in the contemporaneous literature of Babylonia and Egypt. (See, e.g., p. 9, author’s Egypt According to the Monuments.) If we had a better knowledge of the Canaanitish dictionary we would probably see a sharp point here which is now hidden from our dull eyes. The name Bamah must, as Adam Clarke saw, be a veiled name of infamy. So the Church of Rome made fun of Calvin, who was bald, by calling him “Calvinus Calcus,” meaning either Calvin the bald or Calvin the schismatic. Ewald and Smend see in the word “go,” or “go into,” a reference to the literal as well as the spiritual prostitution indulged in by the Baal worshipers (as used also in Genesis 16:2; Genesis 19:31, etc.).