seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
1 Kings 12: 25 Then Jeroboam fortified Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim and lived there. From there he went out and built up Peniel.
26 Jeroboam thought to himself, “The kingdom will now likely revert to the house of David. 27 If these people go up to offer sacrifices at the temple of the Lord in Jerusalem, they will again give their allegiance to their lord, Rehoboam king of Judah. They will kill me and return to King Rehoboam.”
28 After seeking advice, the king made two golden calves. He said to the people, “It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Here are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.” 29 One he set up in Bethel, and the other in Dan. 30 And this thing became a sin; the people came to worship the one at Bethel and went as far as Dan to worship the other.
31 Jeroboam built shrines on high places and appointed priests from all sorts of people, even though they were not Levites. 32 He instituted a festival on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, like the festival held in Judah, and offered sacrifices on the altar. This he did in Bethel, sacrificing to the calves he had made. And at Bethel he also installed priests at the high places he had made. 33 On the fifteenth day of the eighth month, a month of his own choosing, he offered sacrifices on the altar he had built at Bethel. So he instituted the festival for the Israelites and went up to the altar to make offerings.
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Here is the link to the commentary I read.
It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Here are your gods, O Israel, which brought you up from the land of Egypt: Jeroboam appealed to their natural desire for convenience. Men will usually take the easy way out when they can; therefore, it was thought to be good if an idol in Bethel or Dan could replace the trip all the way to Jerusalem.
Jeroboam became an example of a political leader who shapes religion for his own purpose. The issue of true religion was unimportant to Jeroboam; he was interested in useful religion.
Now this thing became a sin: It was a sin when Jeroboam suggested it, but it was more of a sin when the people followed it. The people were so attracted to the religion of Jeroboam that they went as far as Dan (at the far north of Israel) to worship at the shrine of the golden calf there.
He made shrines on the high places: Jeroboam made more places of worship than the main centers at Bethel and Dan. These high places were even more convenient for the people.
Made priests from every class of people, who were not of the sons of Levi: Jeroboam rejected the commandments of God regarding the priesthood of Israel, and established a priesthood of his own liking.
In the month which he had devised in his own heart: This is a good summary of Jeroboam’s religion — it was devised in his own heart. Jeroboam is an example of those who create their own religion according to their own taste.
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First of all, they're in Shechem. Back in Genesis, Jacob and Leah's daughter, Dinah, was raped by an Hivite. The rapist claimed to love her. So, Jacob's sons came up with a perfect retaliation. First, they made all the men in Shechem get circumcised, in order for the Hivite to marry [purchase and marry] Dinah. Then, while all the men were healing, Jacob's boys came in and ran them all through with swords. All the men of Shechem could do was hold their thingies.
Can anything good come from Shechem?
Jeroboam had been the overseer on Solomon's building projects. Jeroboam was now the king of the Northern Provinces of Israel. He was in the process of building his capital city in Shechem, but the Israelites kept having to go back to Jerusalem to worship God on those special days.
It would take his work force days to travel to Jerusalem [on foot no less] then days to worship, then days to travel back, and then a day or so to get back into the swing of the work again. That would cost Jeroboam a bundle with all the lost production time.
Like Pharaoh, before him, back in Egypt, Jeroboam couldn't just let his workforce take off. He needed a convenient fix.
So, Jeroboam decided to make the people happy as Aaron did back when Moses spent so much time on the mountain. The people were bugging Aaron so much, Aaron fashioned a "golden calf" for them to worship until Moses could get back. Jeroboam, following Aarons' example, fashioned two "golden calves". He built a couple of temples and installed the "golden calves" in the temple. Then he convinced the Israelites to worship in the fake temples with the "golden calves" so they could go worship without the long trek.
The Israelites are bowing to golden calves again!!!!!
Can anything good come from Shechem?
On top of that, Jeroboam picked the priests for these fake temples. God insisted that the priests be Levites. Jeroboam chose priests who could lie and smile and everyone would believe. Jeroboam wanted the people to be happy to go to these two fake temples, so he chose pretty boys with smooth tongues to persuade the Israelites to worship idols in towns convenient to their jobs.
And, when Jeroboam saw that it worked in Shechem and Dan, he started building temples everywhere, for the convenience of the workforce.
Northern Israel became the home of the pretty boy priests who schmoozed the Israelites into idol worship to save the economy.
Jeroboam created Fake church!!!!!
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