1 Kings 12:29

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

Bethel: Genesis 12:8, Genesis 28:19, Genesis 35:1, Hosea 4:15

Dan: Genesis 14:14, Deuteronomy 34:1, Judges 18:29-31, Judges 20:1, 2 Kings 10:29, Jeremiah 8:16, Amos 8:14

Reciprocal: Joshua 18:22 - Bethel 1 Samuel 30:27 - Bethel 1 Kings 13:32 - the houses 1 Kings 15:20 - Dan 1 Kings 15:34 - walked 2 Kings 2:2 - Bethel 2 Kings 17:28 - in Bethel 2 Kings 23:4 - Bethel Jeremiah 48:13 - as the Ezekiel 48:1 - Dan Hosea 5:8 - Bethaven Amos 7:13 - for

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And he set the one in Bethel,.... In the southern part of the land, on the border of Ephraim and Benjamin; and the rather he chose this place, because its name signifies the house of God, and had been a sacred place, where Jacob more than once enjoyed the divine Presence:

and the other put he in Dan: in the northern part of the land, for the convenience of the inhabitants of those parts; and the rather, since it had been a place resorted to in former times, because of the teraphim of Micah there.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

In the first place, Jeroboam consulted the convenience of his subjects, who would thus in no case have very far to go in order to reach one or the other sanctuary. Further, he avoided the danger of reminding them continually that they had no ark - a danger which would have been imminent, had the two cherubs been placed together in one shrine.

He selected Bethel (in the south) for one of his seats of worship, on account of its pre-eminent sanctity. (See the marginal reference; Judges 20:26-28; 1 Samuel 7:16.)

The north of Palestine did not furnish a spot possessing an equally sacred character, but still Dan had to some extent the character of a “holy city” (marginal reference).

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 29. One in Beth-el, and the other - in Dan. — One at the southern and the other at the northern extremity of the land. Solomon's idolatry had prepared the people for Jeroboam's abominations!