1 Kings 12:31

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

an house: 1 Kings 13:24, 1 Kings 13:32, Deuteronomy 24:15, Ezekiel 16:25, Hosea 12:11

priests: 1 Kings 13:33, Numbers 3:10, 2 Kings 17:32, 2 Chronicles 11:14, 2 Chronicles 11:15, 2 Chronicles 13:9, Ezekiel 44:6-8

Reciprocal: Judges 17:5 - consecrated Judges 17:12 - his priest 2 Kings 17:27 - one of the priests 2 Kings 23:19 - the houses Psalms 78:58 - with Hosea 8:14 - and buildeth Amos 7:10 - the priest

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And he made an house of high places,.... Or "altars" s, built a temple at Dan, and set up several altars in it for sacrifice, both for burnt offerings, and for incense, as at Jerusalem:

and made priests of the lowest of the people; this clause seems not so well rendered; for this would have been very unpopular, and brought his new form of worship into contempt, to make the dregs of the people priests, which was not only a very sacred office, but of great honour; it was usual in some nations for kings to be priests also t, and Jeroboam himself exercised this office, 1 Kings 12:33 and therefore would never put the meanest of the people into it, but rather those of higher rank: the words may be literally rendered, "from the extremities" or "ends of the people" u; meaning not merely from the extremist parts of his country, but rather out of the whole of the people; out of all sorts of them, out of any of them, without any distinction of tribe: for so it follows,

which were not of the sons of Levi; and as by this means he enriched himself, by taking the cities that belonged to the priests and Levites, which they were obliged to leave, and from whence he drove them, 2 Chronicles 11:14 so he pleased the people by laying open the priesthood common to them, and freeing them from the payment of tithes, and the like.

s במות "altarium", Vatablus. t Rex Anius, &c. Virgil. l. 3. Vid. Servium in ib. u מקצות העם "de extremitatibus populi", Vatablus, Piscator.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

He made an house of high places - i. e., “He built a temple, or sanctuary, at each of the two cities where the calves were set up.” The writer uses the expression “house of high places” in contempt, meaning that the buildings were not real temples, or houses of God, like that at Jerusalem, but only on a par with the temples upon high places which had long existed in various parts of the land.

Made priests of the lowest of the people - More correctly, “from all ranks of the people.” That the Levites did not accept Jeroboam’s innovations, and transfer their services to his two sanctuaries, must have been the consequence of their faithful attachment to the true worship of Yahweh. In all probability Jeroboam confiscated the Levitical lands within his dominions for the benefit of the new priestly order 2 Chronicles 11:13-14.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 1 Kings 12:31. A house of high places — A temple of temples; he had many high places in the land, and to imitate the temple at Jerusalem, he made one chief over all the rest, where he established a priesthood of his own ordination. Probably a place of separate appointment, where different idols were set up and worshipped; so it was a sort of pantheon.

Made priests of the lowest of the people — He took the people indifferently as they came, and made them priests, till he had enough, without troubling himself whether they were of the family of Aaron or the house of Levi, or not. Any priests would do well enough for such gods. But those whom he took seem to have been worthless, good-for-nothing fellows, who had neither piety nor good sense. Probably the sons of Levi had grace enough to refuse to sanction this new priesthood and idolatrous worship.