King Jeroboam's Idolatrous Worship System at Bethel

King Jeroboam I established an idolatrous worship system at Bethel and Dan following the division of the Israelite kingdom ^{[6, 11]}. This action was motivated by his fear that if the people continued to go to Jerusalem to offer sacrifices, they would return their allegiance to Rehoboam, the king of Judah ^[8]. To prevent this, Jeroboam made two golden calves and declared them to be the gods who brought Israel out of Egypt, setting one in Bethel and the other in Dan ^[6].

Jeroboam's system involved several deviations from the worship prescribed by God. He built "high places" and appointed priests from among all the people, rather than exclusively from the Levites ^{[4, 10]}. He also instituted a feast in the eighth month, on the fifteenth day, mirroring the feast in Judah, and offered sacrifices on the altar he had made in Bethel ^[2]. This act of worship, though possibly intended to honor Yahweh, was considered idolatry because it involved visible images and was an apostasy from God's prescribed worship ^{[5, 6]}. The worship of the true God through images was considered idolatry by the Hebrews ^[5].

The prophet Amos later condemned the pagan altars at Bethel, indicating that the shrine merged the worship of Yahweh with the pagan symbol of a bull ^[11]. The altars at Bethel were a significant site of transgression, and God promised to visit them in judgment ^[12]. A man of God from Judah came to Bethel by the word of the Lord while Jeroboam was at the altar burning offerings, prophesying against the altar and foretelling its destruction ^{[1, 3, 9]}. Despite this divine warning and the accompanying miraculous signs, Jeroboam remained hardened in his idolatry ^[10]. His actions established a pattern of sin that continued through subsequent kings of Israel ^[7].

Sources

I Kings “I Kings 13:1 (BBE) — Then a man of God came from Judah by the order of the Lord to Beth-el, where Jeroboam was by the altar, burning offerings.”
I Kings “I Kings 12:32 (LEB) — Jeroboam also inaugurated a religious feast in the eighth month on the fifteenth day of the month, like the religious feast which was in Judah, and he offered sacrifices on the altar. Thus he did in Bethel, by sacrificing to the calves that he had made; and he placed in Bethel the priests of the high places which he had made.”
1 Kings “1 Kings 13:1 (NASB) — Now behold, there came a man of God from Judah to Bethel by the word of the LORD, while Jeroboam was standing by the altar to burn incense.”
Torrey's Topical Textbook “Torrey's Topical Textbook: High Places — Used for idolatrous worship -- 1Ki 11:7,8. God sometimes worshipped on -- 1Sa 9:12; 1Ki 3:2,4; 2Ch 33:17. Mentioned in scripture Gibeon. -- 1Ki 3:4. Arnon. -- Nu 21:28. Baal. -- Nu 22:41. Tophet. -- Jer 7:31. Bamah. -- Eze 20:29. Aven. -- Ho 10:8. Adorned with tapestry -- Eze 16:16. Surrounded with groves -- 1Ki 14:23. Built by Solomon. -- 1Ki 11:7. Jeroboam. -- 1Ki 12:31. Jehoram. -- 2Ch 21:11. Ahaz. -- 2Ch 28:25. Manasseh. -- 2Ki 21:3; 2Ch 33:3. People of Judah. -- 1Ki 14:23. People of Israel. -- 2Ki 17:9. Priests ordained for -- 1Ki 12:32; 13:33. Sac”
CCEL (Reformed (Old Princeton)) “Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology, Vol. 3, section 44: the time of Moses until now. The worship of the true God by images, in the eyes of the Hebrews, has ever been considered as much an act of idolatry as the worship of false gods. 3. A third argument on this subject is, that the worship of 293 Jehovah by the use of images is denounced and punished as an act of apostasy from God. When the Hebrews in the wilderness said to Aaron, “Make us gods which shall go before us,” neither they nor Aaron intended to renounce Jehovah as their God; but they desired a visible symbol of God, as the heathen h”
1 Kings (Baptist/Reformed) “John Gill on 1 Kings 12:28: And this thing became a sin,.... The cause and occasion of the sin of idolatry; it led them by degrees to leave off the worship of God, and to worship these calves as gods: for the people went to worship before the one, even unto Dan; which was the furthest off, such was their great zeal for idolatrous worship; or they went thither before that at Bethel was set up; and even they at Bethel would go as far as Dan to worship, such was their veneration for both the calves. Abarbinel is of opinion that these calves were not made by Jeroboam for idolatrous uses, only th”
CCEL (Reformed) “John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, section 84: change in the external form of religion. For although they had adopted many perverse ceremonies under Rehoboam, yet, as the doctrine of the law and the priesthood, and the rites which God had instituted, continued at Jerusalem, the pious still had the Church in a tolerable state. In regard to the Israelites, matters which, up to the time of Ahab, had certainly not been reformed, then became worse. Those who succeeded him, until the overthrow of the kingdom, were partly like him, and partly (when they wished to be somewhat better) f”
Schaff ANF/NPNF (Patristic) “NPNF1 Vol 2: Augustine — City of God, Christian Doctrine — CHAP. 22.--OF JEROBOAM, WHO PROFANED THE PEOPLE PUT UNDER HIM BY THE IMPIETY OF IDOLATRY, AMID WHICH, HOWEVER, GOD DID NOT CEASE TO INSPIRE THE PROPHETS, AND TO GUARD MANY FROM THE CRIME OF IDOLATRY.: But Jeroboam king of Israel, with perverse mind, not believing in God, whom he had proved true in promising and giving him the kingdom, was afraid lest, by coming to the temple of God which was in Jerusalem, where, according to the divine law, that whole nation was to come in order to sacrifice, the people should be seduced from him, and ”
1 Kings (Lutheran) “Keil & Delitzsch on 1 Kings 13:1: A prophet out of Judah announces to Jeroboam the eventual overthrow of the idolatrous worship, and attests his divine mission by miraculous signs upon the altar at Bethel and the hardened king (Kg1 13:1-10); but on the way back he allows himself to be enticed by an old prophet out of Bethel to go into his house, contrary to the express command of the Lord, and while sitting at table with him has to hear from his mouth the divine threat, that on account of his transgression of the command of God he will not come into the sepulchre of his fathers. This threat wa”
1 Kings (Methodist/Wesleyan) “Adam Clarke on 1 Kings 13:33: Jeroboam returned not from his evil way - There is something exceedingly obstinate and perverse, as well as blinding and infatuating, in idolatry. The prediction lately delivered at Beth-el, and the miracles wrought in confirmation of it, were surely sufficient to have affected and alarmed any heart, not wholly and incorrigibly hardened; and yet they had no effect on Jeroboam! Made - the lowest of the people priests - So hardy was this bad man in his idolatry that he did not even attempt to form any thing according to the model of God's true worship: he would have”
Amos (Protestant academic) “Tyndale House on Amos 3:14: 3:14 pagan altars at Bethel: The shrine at Bethel, built by Jeroboam I shortly after his inauguration (1 Kgs 12:26-33), continued through the dynasty of Jehu (2 Kgs 10:29), from whom Jeroboam II descended. This shrine merged worship of Yahweh (the Lord) with the pagan symbol of a bull. When the altars were destroyed, the Bethel shrine, the king’s official sanctuary (Amos 7:13), and the northern kingdom would also be ruined.”
Amos (Baptist/Reformed) “John Gill on Amos 3:13: That in the day that I shall visit the transgressions of Israel upon him,.... The three or four mentioned in the preceding chapter, the great multitude of them, their profaneness, uncleanness, and luxury, their injustice and oppression of the poor; when he should visit and punish for these sins, as he would by the hand of the Assyrian, he would not forget their idolatry; though no notice is taken of this before, in the appeal to the Heathen princes, who were likewise guilty of it: I will also visit the altars of Bethel; where one of the calves Jeroboam made was set up”

Ask Your Own Question