1 Kings 12:33

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

offered upon the altar: or, went up to the altar, etc. 1 Kings 12:32

in the month: Numbers 15:39, Psalms 106:39, Isaiah 29:13, Matthew 15:6, Mark 7:13

he offered: 1 Kings 13:1, 1 Samuel 13:12, 2 Chronicles 26:6

and burnt incense: Heb. to burn incense

Reciprocal: Exodus 32:5 - a feast 2 Kings 2:2 - Bethel 2 Chronicles 17:4 - not after 2 Chronicles 26:16 - to burn Ezekiel 4:5 - three Hosea 11:2 - burned

Gill's Notes on the Bible

So he offered upon the altar which he had made in Bethel the fifteenth day of the eighth month,.... As he had done in Dan:

even in the month which he had devised of his own heart; the feast of tabernacles was of God's appointing, but the time of keeping he had devised himself, changing it from the seventh month, or Tisri, which answers to our September and October, to the eighth month, or Marchesvan, which answers to part of October and part of November:

and ordained a feast unto the children of Israel; to be observed by them as the feast of tabernacles was by the priests of Judah and Benjamin:

and he offered upon the altar, and burnt incense; which none but the priests should do; perhaps the reason why the same resentment was not shown as to Uzziah was, because this was not at the altar of the Lord: whether he burnt incense after the manner of the Jewish priests, or as the priests of Egypt did to the sun, where he had been for some time, is not certain; the former burnt incense only twice a day, morning and evening, the latter three times; at sunrising they burnt rosin, about noon myrrh, and about sun setting "kuphi", which was a compound of sixteen sorts w.

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Barnes' Notes on the Bible

This verse belongs to 1 Kings 13:0 rather than to 1 Kings 12:0, being intended as an introduction to what follows.

Which he had devised of his own heart - The entire system of Jeroboam receives its condemnation in these words. His main fault was that he left a ritual and a worship where all was divinely authorized, for ceremonies and services which were wholly of his own devising. Not being a prophet, he had no authority to introduce religious innovations. Not having received any commission to establish new forms, he had no right to expect that any religious benefit would accrue from them. (See 1 Kings 12:26 note.)

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 1 Kings 12:33. He offered upon the altar — Jeroboam probably performed the functions of high priest himself, that he might in his own person condense the civil and ecclesiastical power.