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Matthew Henry
From his Commentary on the Whole Bible. Henry comments on passages, not single verses — this entry covers 1 Kings 12:25–33. His four-level outline is real structure in the source text, so it is rendered as structure.
We have here the beginning of the reign of Jeroboam. He built Shechem first and then Penuel - beautified and fortified them, and probably had a palace in each of them for himself (Kg1 12:25), the former in Ephraim, the latter in Gad, on the other side Jordan. This might be proper; but he formed another project for the establishing of his kingdom which was fatal to the interests of religion in it.
I.That which he designed was by some effectual means to secure those to himself who had now chosen him for their king, and to prevent their return to the house of David, Kg1 12:26, Kg1 12:27. It seems,
1.He was jealous of the people, afraid that, some time or other, they would kill him and go again to Rehoboam. Many that have been advanced in one tumult have been hurled down in another. Jeroboam could not put any confidence in the affections of his people, though now they seemed extremely fond of him; for what is got by wrong and usurpation cannot be enjoyed nor kept with any security or satisfaction.
2.He was distrustful of the promise of God, could not take his word that, if he would keep close to his duty, God would build him a sure house (Kg1 11:38); but he would contrive ways and means, and sinful ones too, for his own safety. A practical disbelief of God's all-sufficiency is at the bottom of all our treacherous departures from him.
II.The way he took to do this was by keeping the people from going up to Jerusalem to worship.
That was the place God had chosen, to put his name there. Solomon's temple was there, which God had, in the sight of all Israel, and in the memory of many now living, taken solemn possession of in a cloud of glory. At the altar there the priest of the Lord attended, there all Israel were to keep the feasts, and thither they were to bring their sacrifices. Now,
1.Jeroboam apprehended that, if the people continued to do this, they would in time return to the house of David, allured by the magnificence both of the court and of the temple. If they cleave to their old religion, they will go back to their old king. We may suppose, if he had treated with Rehoboam for the safe conduct of himself and his people to and from Jerusalem at the times appointed for their solemn feasts, it would not have been denied him; therefore he fears not their being driven back by force, but their going back voluntarily to Rehoboam.
2.He therefore dissuaded them from going up to Jerusalem, pretending to consult their ease: "It is too much for you to go so far to worship God, Kg1 12:28. It is a heavy yoke, and it is time to shake it off; you have gone long enough to Jerusalem" (so some read it); "the temple, now that you are used to it, does not appear so glorious and sacred as it did at first" (sensible glories wither by degrees in men's estimation); "you have greed yourselves from other burdens, free yourselves from this: why should we now be tied to one place any more than in Samuel's time?"
3.He provided for the assistance of their devotion at home. Upon consultation with some of his politicians, he came to this resolve, to set up two golden calves, as tokens or signs of the divine presence, and persuade the people that they might as well stay at home and offer sacrifice to those as go to Jerusalem to worship before the ark: and some are so charitable as to think they were made to represent the mercy-seat and the cherubim over the ark; but more probably he adopted the idolatry of the Egyptians, in whose land he had sojourned for some time and who worshipped their god Apis under the similitude of a bull or calf.
(1.)He would not be at the charge of building a golden temple, as Solomon had done; two golden calves are the most that he can afford.
(2.)He intended, no doubt, by these to represent, or rather make present, not any false god, as Moloch or Chemosh, but the true God only, the God of Israel, the God that brought them up out of the land of Egypt, as he declares, Kg1 12:28. So that it was no violation of the first commandment, but the second. And he chose thus to engage the people's devotion because he knew there were many among them so in love with images that for the sake of the calves they would willingly quit God's temple, where all images were forbidden.
(3.)He set up two, by degrees to break people off from the belief of the unity of the godhead, which would pave the way to the polytheism of the Pagans. He set up these two at Dan and Beth-el (one the utmost border of his country northward), the other southward, as if they were the guardians and protectors of the kingdom. Beth-el lay close to Judah. He set up one there, to tempt those of Rehoboam's subjects over to him who were inclined to image-worship, in lieu of those of his subjects that would continue to go to Jerusalem. He set up the other at Dan, for the convenience of those that lay most remote, and because Micah's images had been set up there, and great veneration paid to them for many ages, Jdg 18:30, Jdg 18:31. Beth-el signifies the house of God, which gave some colour to the superstition; but the prophet called it Beth-aven, the house of vanity, or iniquity.
4.The people complied with him herein, and were fond enough of the novelty: They went to worship before the one, even unto Dan (Kg1 12:30), to that at Dan first because it was first set up, or even to that at Dan, though it lay such a great way off. Those that thought it much to go to Jerusalem, to worship God according to his institution, made no difficulty of going twice as far, to Dan, to worship him according to their own inventions. Or they are said to go to one of the calves at Dan because Abijah, king of Judah, within twenty years, recovered Beth-el (Ch2 13:19), and it is likely removed the golden calf, or forbade the use of it, and then they had only that at Dan to go to. This became a sin; and a great sin it was, against the express letter of the second commandment. God had sometimes dispensed with the law concerning worshipping in one place, but never allowed the worship of him by images. Hereby they justified their fathers in making the calf at Horeb, though God had so fully shown his displeasure against them for it and threatened to visit for it in the day of visitation (Exo 32:34), so that it was as great a contempt of God's wrath as it was of his law; and thus they added sin to sin. Bishop Patrick quotes a saying of the Jews, That till Jeroboam's time the Israelites sucked but one calf, but from that time they sucked two.
5.Having set up the gods, he fitted up accommodations for them; and wherein he varied from the divine appointment we are here told, which intimates that in other things he imitated what was done in Judah (Kg1 12:32) as well as he could. See how one error multiplied into many.
(1.)He made a house of high-places, or of altars, one temple at Dan, we may suppose, and another at Beth-el (Kg1 12:31), and in each many altars, probably complaining of it as an inconvenience that in the temple at Jerusalem there was but one. The multiplying of altars passed with some for a piece of devotion, but God, by the prophet, puts another construction upon it, Hos 8:11. Ephraim has made many altars to sin.
(2.)He made priests of the lowest of the people; and the lowest of the people were good enough to be priests to his calves, and too good. He made priests from the extremest parts of the people, that is, some out of every corner of the country, whom he ordered to reside among their neighbours, to instruct them in his appointments and reconcile them to them. Thus were they dispersed as the Levites, but were not of the sons of Levi. But the priests of the high-laces, or altars, he ordered to reside in Beth-el, as the priests at Jerusalem (Kg1 12:32), to attend the public service.
(3.)The feast of tabernacles, which God had appointed on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, he adjourned to the fifteenth day of the eighth month (Kg1 12:32), the month which he devised of his own heart, to show his power in ecclesiastical matters, Kg1 12:33. The passover and pentecost he observed in their proper season, or did not observe them at all, or with little solemnity in comparison with this.
(4.)He himself assuming a power to make priests, no marvel if he undertook to do the priests' work with his own hands: He offered upon the altar. This is twice mentioned (Kg1 12:32, Kg1 12:33), as also that he burnt incense. This was connived at in him because it was of a piece with the rest of his irregularities; but in king Uzziah it was immediately punished with the plague of leprosy. He did it himself, to make himself look great among the people and to get the reputation of a devout man, also to grace the solemnity of his new festival, with which, it is likely, at this time he joined the feast of the dedication of his altar. And thus,
[1.]Jeroboam sinned himself, yet perhaps excused himself to the world and his own conscience with this, that he did not do so ill as Solomon did, who worshipped other gods.
[2.]He made Israel to sin, drew them off from the worship of God and entailed idolatry upon their seed. And hereby they were punished for deserting the thrones of the house of David. The learned Mr. Whiston, in his chronology, for the adjusting of the annals of the two kingdoms of Judah and Israel, supposes that Jeroboam changed the calculation of the year and made it to contain but eleven months, and that by those years the reigns of the kings of Israel are measured till Jehu's revolution and no longer, so that during this interval eleven years of the annals of Judah answer to twelve in those of Israel.
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Summary
This pivotal verse reveals King Jeroboam I's profound political and personal insecurity following the division of the Israelite monarchy. He articulates a strategic fear that if the people of the newly formed Northern Kingdom continue their divinely mandated pilgrimages and sacrifices at the Temple in Jerusalem, their spiritual and national allegiance will inevitably revert to Rehoboam, the king of Judah. This anticipated shift in loyalty, Jeroboam believes, would not only jeopardize his reign but also lead to his assassination, thus prompting his subsequent, drastic religious innovations.
Context
Literary Context
This declaration by Jeroboam I is a foundational moment immediately following the dramatic and traumatic division of the united monarchy, detailed in 1 Kings 12. The narrative establishes the backdrop of Solomon's death, Rehoboam's oppressive policies, and the subsequent secession of the ten northern tribes, who then crowned Jeroboam as their king (1 Kings 12:1-19). Jeroboam's statement in 1 Kings 12:27 serves as the explicit motivation for his subsequent, catastrophic religious reforms described in 1 Kings 12:28-33. It sets the theological and narrative stage for the chronic idolatry and spiritual decline that would plague the Northern Kingdom throughout its history, ultimately leading to its downfall.
Historical & Cultural Context
The Temple in Jerusalem, built by King Solomon, was not merely a religious edifice but the central, divinely appointed symbol of Israelite national and spiritual identity, the singular place for legitimate worship and sacrifice for all twelve tribes (Deuteronomy 12:5-7). Pilgrimages to Jerusalem for the three annual pilgrim feasts (Passover, Weeks, Booths) were mandatory for all Israelite males. For Jeroboam, the continued practice of these pilgrimages by his northern subjects posed an existential threat to his fledgling kingdom. Jerusalem was the capital of the rival Southern Kingdom (Judah), and regular interaction with its culture and leadership, especially within the sacred space of the Temple, could easily rekindle loyalty to the Davidic dynasty and Rehoboam. Jeroboam's fear was rooted in the socio-political reality that shared worship often fosters shared allegiance, making the Temple a powerful, unifying force that transcended political boundaries.
Key Themes
This verse powerfully illustrates the profound tension between political expediency and spiritual truth. Jeroboam's decision to prioritize the security of his earthly reign over God's explicit command for centralized worship highlights how fear and insecurity can drive leaders to make disastrous choices that compromise divine revelation. His actions, rooted in this fear, set a precedent for the corruption of worship in the Northern Kingdom, leading it into widespread idolatry and apostasy. The verse also underscores the deep connection between religious devotion and political allegiance, as Jeroboam acutely understood that where people direct their worship, their "heart" and loyalty often follow. This fear of a divided "heart" ultimately led him to divide the people from God's prescribed path, initiating a pattern of sin that would define the Northern Kingdom's history, as seen in the subsequent accounts of its kings (1 Kings 13:34).
Exposition and Analysis
Key Word Analysis
This Hebrew verb literally means "to ascend" or "to go up," and it carries both a literal and spiritual significance in this context. Geographically, Jerusalem is situated on a hill, requiring an ascent for pilgrims. Spiritually, "going up" to the "house of the LORD" implies an elevation of one's spirit in worship and an intentional approach to God's presence. Jeroboam's concern is that this physical and spiritual ascent to Jerusalem would re-orient the people's loyalty away from him.
This phrase refers specifically to the Temple in Jerusalem, which was built by Solomon and consecrated to Yahweh. It was the singular, divinely ordained place for Israelite worship, sacrifice, and the dwelling of God's presence among His people. Jeroboam's concern is precisely with the spiritual authority and unifying power of this legitimate worship center, which stood in direct opposition to his political agenda and desire for a separate national identity for the northern tribes.
In ancient Hebrew thought, the "heart" is not merely the seat of emotions but the comprehensive center of one's will, intellect, moral character, and deepest intentions. It represents the core of a person's being, encompassing their loyalties, motivations, and allegiances. Jeroboam fears that the "heart of this people"—their deepest convictions, spiritual identity, and ultimate allegiance—would "turn again" (Hebrew, shûwb, to return or turn back) to Rehoboam, signifying a complete and decisive shift in their loyalty, both religiously and politically.
Verse Breakdown
"If this people go up to do sacrifice in the house of the LORD at Jerusalem,"
This clause establishes the critical condition that triggers Jeroboam's profound anxiety. It explicitly acknowledges the existing, divinely mandated practice of pilgrimage and sacrifice at the Jerusalem Temple. Jeroboam recognizes the magnetic spiritual pull of this central sanctuary and the powerful religious obligation his people feel towards it, understanding that their continued adherence to this practice poses a direct threat to his authority.
"then shall the heart of this people turn again unto their lord, [even] unto Rehoboam king of Judah,"
This is the immediate and feared consequence Jeroboam anticipates. He astutely understands that religious loyalty is inextricably intertwined with political allegiance. Regular worship in Jerusalem would inevitably foster a renewed sense of unity with the Southern Kingdom and its king, Rehoboam, potentially leading to a spiritual and political defection. The repetition of "this people" underscores his perceived loss of control over their core identity and loyalty.
"and they shall kill me, and go again to Rehoboam king of Judah."
This final clause starkly reveals the ultimate, self-preservation motive behind Jeroboam's fear. He foresees not merely a loss of power or a decline in influence, but a violent overthrow and assassination, with his people returning to the Davidic dynasty under Rehoboam. This extreme and personal outcome drives his desperate measures to prevent the pilgrimages, highlighting the depth of his insecurity and the perceived existential threat to his life and throne.
Literary Devices
The verse employs several potent literary devices that deepen its meaning and impact. Foreshadowing is prominently featured, as Jeroboam's articulated fear directly precedes and explains his subsequent actions of establishing alternative worship sites and golden calves, which become the defining sin of the Northern Kingdom and lead to its eventual downfall. There is a strong element of Irony in Jeroboam's attempt to secure his throne through religious deviation; his actions, intended to prevent a return to Rehoboam and ensure his own safety, ultimately lead to the downfall of his dynasty and the eventual destruction of the Northern Kingdom, fulfilling a different, more tragic kind of "turning away" from God. The phrase "they shall kill me" can be seen as Hyperbole, reflecting the intense paranoia and existential threat he feels, though such fears were common for usurpers in ancient Near Eastern monarchies. Finally, the entire statement functions as a powerful piece of Political Rhetoric, designed to justify his radical religious reforms to himself and perhaps his advisors, framing his self-serving actions as necessary for national stability and his personal survival.
Theological and Thematic Connections
This verse lays bare the profound tension between human political ambition and divine command, illustrating how fear and insecurity can lead to devastating spiritual compromise. Jeroboam's actions, driven by a desire to secure his earthly throne, directly contravened God's clear instruction for a centralized place of worship in Jerusalem, thereby initiating a pattern of idolatry and apostasy that would plague the Northern Kingdom for generations. His fear of losing control over his people's loyalty led him to corrupt the very heart of their spiritual identity, demonstrating that true worship is not a tool for political manipulation but an act of sincere, undivided devotion to God alone. This episode serves as a stark warning against prioritizing self-preservation or worldly power over obedience to God's revealed will, highlighting the destructive consequences of such choices for individuals and nations.
Reflection and Application
Jeroboam's fear-driven decision in 1 Kings 12:27 offers a timeless lesson on the dangers of allowing insecurity and self-interest to dictate our spiritual choices. When we prioritize our own comfort, security, or worldly gain over God's clear commands, we risk not only personal spiritual decay but also leading others astray through our example. This passage challenges us to examine the "altars" we build in our own lives—are they places of true worship and obedience to God, or are they convenient substitutes designed to protect our own perceived interests or alleviate our anxieties? True security and lasting peace are found not in human schemes, political maneuvering, or self-preservation, but in unwavering trust and allegiance to the Lord. Our hearts will always turn towards what we worship; therefore, it is paramount that our ultimate loyalty remains with God, regardless of the perceived cost or the temptations of worldly expediency.
Questions for Reflection
FAQ
Why was Jerusalem so important for worship, and why did Jeroboam see it as a threat?
Jerusalem was the divinely chosen and consecrated place for Israelite worship, specifically the site of the Temple built by King Solomon. According to the Law of Moses, particularly Deuteronomy 12:5-7, all Israelites were commanded to bring their sacrifices and offerings to "the place the LORD your God will choose." This centralized worship was crucial for maintaining the unity and purity of Israel's faith, preventing the spread of idolatry and syncretism. Jeroboam viewed Jerusalem as a direct threat to his political stability because it was the capital of the rival Southern Kingdom (Judah) and the seat of the Davidic dynasty. He feared that regular pilgrimages by his northern subjects to Jerusalem would rekindle their loyalty to Rehoboam and the house of David, leading to his own assassination and the reunification of the kingdom under Judah's rule.
What were the "golden calves" Jeroboam set up, and what was their significance?
To prevent his people from going to Jerusalem, Jeroboam established two alternative worship centers, one in Bethel (in the south of his territory) and one in Dan (in the far north), and placed golden calves in each, declaring, "Here are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!" (1 Kings 12:28). These calves were likely intended as pedestals or representations of Yahweh, similar to the cherubim on the Ark of the Covenant, rather than new gods entirely. However, this act was a direct violation of the second commandment against making graven images (Exodus 20:4) and a blatant attempt to manipulate worship for political ends. This became known as the "sin of Jeroboam" (1 Kings 13:34), setting a precedent for idolatry and apostasy that plagued the Northern Kingdom until its destruction.
Christ-Centered Fulfillment
Jeroboam's fear-driven compromise of true worship in 1 Kings 12:27 stands in stark contrast to the ultimate fulfillment found in Jesus Christ. While Jeroboam sought to control access to God's presence for political gain, establishing false centers of worship and corrupting divine commands, Christ Himself is the true "house of the LORD," the ultimate Temple where God dwells among His people (John 2:19-21). There is no longer a need to "go up" to a physical location in Jerusalem to offer sacrifices, for Jesus is the perfect and final sacrifice, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, offered once for all time (Hebrews 10:10). Unlike Jeroboam, who feared losing his earthly throne and life, Jesus, the true King, willingly laid down His life to secure an eternal kingdom not of this world (John 18:36). Our "heart" now turns to Him, the one who truly unites His people, not through political allegiance to an earthly king, but through spiritual allegiance to the King of kings and Lord of lords, in whom all true worship, security, and eternal life are found (Colossians 2:9-10).