1 Kings 12:26

The Holy Bible, Berean Study Bible

Contextual Overview

²⁵Then Jeroboam built Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim and lived there. And from there he went out and built Penuel. ²⁶Jeroboam said in his heart, "Now the kingdom might revert to the house of David.²⁷If these people go up to offer sacrifices in the house of the LORD at Jerusalem, their hearts will return to their lord, Rehoboam king of Judah; then they will kill me and return to Rehoboam king of Judah." ²⁸After seeking advice, the king made two golden calves and said to the people, "Going to Jerusalem is too much for you. Here, O Israel, are your gods, which brought you up out of the land of Egypt." ²⁹One calf he set up in Bethel, and the other in Dan. ³⁰And this thing became a sin; the people walked as far as Dan to worship before one of the calves. ³¹Jeroboam also built shrines on the high places and appointed from every class of people priests who were not Levites. ³²And Jeroboam ordained a festival on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, like the festival that was in Judah, and he offered sacrifices on the altar; he made this offering in Bethel to sacrifice to the calves he had set up, and he installed priests in Bethel for the high places he had set up. ³³On the fifteenth day of the eighth month, a month of his own choosing, Jeroboam offered sacrifices on the altar he had set up in Bethel. So he ordained a festival for the Israelites, offered sacrifices on the altar, and burned incense.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

said in his heart: Psalms 14:1, Mark 2:6-8, Luke 7:39

Now shall: 1 Kings 11:38, 1 Samuel 27:1, 2 Chronicles 20:20, Isaiah 7:9, Jeremiah 38:18-21, John 11:47-50, John 12:10, John 12:11, John 12:19, Acts 4:16, Acts 4:17

Reciprocal: 1 Samuel 13:12 - said I 1 Samuel 16:6 - Surely 1 Kings 13:34 - to cut it off 1 Kings 16:26 - he walked 2 Kings 3:3 - he departed 2 Kings 13:2 - followed Psalms 53:1 - said Ezekiel 23:4 - Aholah Hosea 5:3 - thou Hosea 5:11 - he willingly Hosea 13:11 - General

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And Jeroboam said in his heart, c,] As he was musing about the state of his kingdom and the affairs of it:

now shall the kingdom return to the house of David such were his fears, unless some method could be taken to prevent it, particularly with respect to religion, which was what his thoughts were employed about.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Jeroboam’s fear was lest a reaction should set in, and a desire for reunion manifest itself. He was not a man content to remain quiet, trusting simply to the promise made him 1 Kings 11:38. Hence, he gave way to the temptation of helping forward the plans of Providence by the crooked devices of a merely human policy. His measures, like all measures which involve a dereliction of principle, brought certain evils in their train, and drew down divine judgment on himself. But they fully secured the object at which he aimed. They prevented all healing of the breach between the two kingdoms. They made the separation final. They produced the result that not only no reunion took place, but no symptoms of an inclination to reunite ever manifested themselves during the whole period of the double kingdom.