1 Kings 12:25-33--Jeroboam's Golden Calves

1 Kings 12:25-33
English Standard Version

Jeroboam's Golden Calves
25 Then Jeroboam built Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim and lived there. And he went out from there and built Penuel. 26 And Jeroboam said in his heart, “Now the kingdom will turn back to the house of David. 27 If this people go up to offer sacrifices in the temple of the LORD at Jerusalem, then the heart of this people will turn again to their lord, to Rehoboam king of Judah, and they will kill me and return to Rehoboam king of Judah.” 28 So the king took counsel and made two calves of gold. And he said to the people, “You have gone up to Jerusalem long enough. Behold your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.” 29 And he set one in Bethel, and the other he put in Dan. 30 Then this thing became a sin, for the people went as far as Dan to be before one. 31 He also made temples on high places and appointed priests from among all the people, who were not of the Levites. 32 And Jeroboam appointed a feast on the fifteenth day of the eighth month like the feast that was in Judah, and he offered sacrifices on the altar. So he did in Bethel, sacrificing to the calves that he made. And he placed in Bethel the priests of the high places that he had made. 33 He went up to the altar that he had made in Bethel on the fifteenth day in the eighth month, in the month that he had devised from his own heart. And he instituted a feast for the people of Israel and went up to the altar to make offerings.

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It is not going to take long for Jeroboam to refuse the offer that the LORD made to him when the LORD promised him the blessings that were promised to David if Jeroboam would obey the LORD's covenant and lead Israel in the way they could go in keeping the LORD's covenant.  Instead, Jeroboam makes a "power play" to try to make sure that the Northern Kingdom of Israel never has need or reason to visit the Southern Kingdom of Judah, even to go and visit the Temple in Jerusalem.

He built two golden calves like the ones that the Israelites made at Mount Sinai when they kindled the LORD's anger and He nearly destroyed them for immediately rebelling against the first and second commandments He had given them.  He set them up as gods for the people to worship at Bethel and Dan.  Dan was already a hotbed of rebellion as the tribe of Dan had left their ancestral land to make a place of their own choosing for their possession and inheritance.  Now they will be at the front lines of leading the northern ten tribes into idolatry and all kinds sin and rebellion that goes along with it.

Jeroboam assigned to these idols the works done by the LORD and even told the people to call the golden calves by the name of the LORD.  He made temples on high places and ordained his own priests to serve in these temples so that he made a counterfeit of everything that the LORD had created in order to show and tell the gospel to the world--his version only showed their sin and rebellion to the world as they made a system of worship that not only would condone their rebellion but applauded and encourage it.  Their priesthood would call evil good and would call good evil.  So it would be that every king to reign in Israel would be ban and most would be more and more wicked than the previous ones, but it all starts here with Jeroboam trying to make a religion to control the people (dictators today are not that different).

He even made up his own feasts for them to celebrate that had nothing to do with the feasts the LORD had ordered them to remember (which looked forward to the gospel of Jesus Christ), and he sacrificed offerings on the altar he had made to these false gods.  We have to assume that if the blessings of obeying the Law came for Jeroboam as a result of obedience, that the curses of the Law must follow if he rebelled and led the people to do the same.  We then start to cry out in our hearts, "How long, O LORD?" as in "How long will you allow the wickedness of your people to go unpunished?"  Surely, they need the hand of discipline to lead them back to repentance.  The LORD's timing is perfect though and he will allow them to become so wicked that even the pagan nations will not question His judgment on them when it comes--just like he did with Canaan.  I think it is fair to say that the wickedness of the Israelites will exceed the wickedness of the Canaanites and the LORD will even ask the question through His prophets if He won't owe Sodom and Gomorrah and apology on the Day of Judgment if He does not also punish the Israelites for their sin (though He will have mercy on them and will not destroy them all as He did with Sodom and Gomorrah, though that is what they would deserve).  The rest of the Old Testament is going to be a story of the LORD using whatever means necessary to correct and preserve His people until the one that can save them from sin and from themselves would appear--the only one who would truly be able to reunite the Kingdom and was worthy to sit on David's throne to be ruler not only over the Twelve Tribes, but of all the Gentiles that would choose willingly to become citizens of His Kingdom.  He will be the Righteous One that will lead His people to once again worship the LORD their God and to serve Him only.