Political measures of Jeroboam -- the golden calves -- the new priesthood and the new festival -- the man

of Elohim from Judah -- his message and sign -- Jeroboam struck by Jehovah and miraculously restored --

invitation to the man of Elohim -- heathen view of miracles -- the old prophet -- return of the man of

Elohim to Bethel -- JUDGMENT on his disobedience -- character of the old prophet and of the man of

Elohim -- sickness of the pious child of Jeroboam -- mission of his mother to Ahijah -- predicted judgment

-- death of the child -- remaining notices of Jeroboam.

1 KINGS 12:25-14:20

FROM the history of Judah under Rehoboam, we turn to that of the newly -established kingdom of Israel, the

record of which is only found in the Book of Kings (1 Kings 12:25 - 14:20). The first object of Jeroboam ("He

shall increase the people") was to strengthen the defenses of his throne. For this purpose he fortified

Shechem, the modern Nabiris - which he made his residence until he exchanged it for Tirzah (1 Kings 14:17) -

and also the ancient Penuel (Genesis 32:30, 31; Judges 8:8), on the other side Jordan. As the latter place

commanded the great caravan-route to Damascus and Palmyra, its fortification would serve the double

purpose of establishing the rule of Jeroboam in the territory east of the Jordan, and of protecting the

country against incursions from the east and northeast. His next measure, though, as he deemed it, also of a

protective character, not only involved the most daring religious innovation ever attempted in Israel, but

was fraught with the most fatal consequences to Jeroboam and to Israel. How deeply Israel had sunk

appears alike from the fact that the king acted with the approbation of his advisers  199 - no doubt the

representatives of the ten tribes - and that the people, with the exception of the Levites and a minority

among the laity, readily acquiesced in the measure. It implied no less than a complete transformation of the

religion of Jehovah, and that for a purely political object.

The danger that, if the people regularly resorted to the great festivals at Jerusalem, their allegiance might be

won back to their rightful king, who held rule in the God-chosen capital, was too obvious not to have

occurred to a mind even less suspicious than that of an Oriental despot, who had gained his throne by

rebellion. To cut off this source of dynastic and even personal peril, Jeroboam, with the advice of his

council, introduced a complete change in the worship of Israel, In so doing, his contention would probably

be, that he had not abolished the ancient religion of the people, only given it a form better suited to present

circumstances - one, moreover, derived from primitive national use, and sanctioned by no less an authority

than that of Aaron, the first High-priest.200 It was burdensome and almost impossible to go up to the central

Sanctuary at Jerusalem. But there was the ancient symbol of the "golden calf,"  201 made by Aaron h imself,

under which the people had worshipped Jehovah in the wilderness.

Appealing, perhaps at the formal consecration of these symbols, to the very words which Aaron had used

(Exodus 32:4), Jeroboam made two golden calves, and located them at the southern and the northern

extremities of the territory of the ten tribes. This was the more easy, since there were both in the south and

north "sacred" localities, associated in popular opinion with previous worship. Such in the extreme south

was Beth-el - "the house of God and the gate of heaven" - consecrated by the twofold appearance of God to

Jacob; set apart by the patriarch himself (Genesis 28:11-19; 35:1, 7, 9-15); and where of old Samuel had held

solemn assemblies (1 Samuel 7:16). Similarly, in the extreme north Dan was a "consecrated" place, where

"strange worship" may have lingered from the days of Micah (Judges 18:30, 31).

The setting up of the golden calves as the symbol of Jehovah brought with it other changes. An "house of

Bamoth," or Temple for the high-place altars, probably with priests' dwellings attached, was reared. The

Levitical priesthood was extruded, either as inseparably connected with the old worship, or because it would

not conform to the new order of things, and a new priesthood appointed, not confined to any tribe or family,

but indiscriminately taken from all classes of the people,202 the king himself apparently acting, in true

heathen fashion, as Chief Pontiff (1 Kings 12:32, 33).203