On 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 feast for the Israelites, offered sacrifices on the altar, and burned incense. On the fifteenth day of the eighth month,Jeroboam deliberately imitated the timing of the Feast of Tabernacles while moving it one month later than the festival God appointed for the fifteenth day of the seventh month (Leviticus 23:34). His calendar placed royal preference above divine command. Lev 23:34 Speak to the Israelites and say, ‘On the fifteenth day…
Num 29:12 On the fifteenth day of the seventh month,…
Neh 8:14-17 And they found written in the Law, which the LORD had…
a month of his own choosing, Jeroboam established worship according to his own will rather than the Law of God. By creating an alternative religious order, he sought to bind the northern tribes to his throne and sever their continuing connection to Jerusalem and the house of David. Deu 12:32 See that you do everything I command you;…
Jer 7:31 They have built the high places of Topheth…
Lev 10:1-2 Now Aaron’s sons Nadab and Abihu took their censers,…
Jeroboam offered sacrifices on the altar he had set up in Bethel. Bethel, meaning “house of God,” had been associated with Jacob’s encounter with God, yet Jeroboam turned that historic place into a center of counterfeit worship. The altar, golden calf, unauthorized priests, and royal sacrifices violated God’s command that Israel worship at the place He had chosen (Deuteronomy 12:5–14). 1Ki 13:1-2 Suddenly, as Jeroboam was standing beside the altar…
2Ki 23:15-16 He even pulled down the altar at Bethel,…
Amo 7:13 But never prophesy at Bethel again, because it is…
So he ordained a feast for the Israelites, Jeroboam’s festival gave Israel an outward form of worship while replacing God’s revealed pattern with political religion. His reforms made the northern kingdom distinct from Judah, but they also led the people away from covenant faithfulness. Exo 32:5-6 When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before the calf…
Lev 23:2 “Speak to the Israelites and say to them,…
Deu 16:16 Three times a year all your men appear before the LORD…
offered sacrifices on the altar, Sacrifices belonged within the worship God had prescribed and were to be administered by the priests He had appointed. Jeroboam assumed authority that God had not given him, treating holy worship as a tool for preserving his kingdom. Hos 10:1-2 Israel was a luxuriant vine, yielding fruit for himself.…
2Ki 17:16-17 They abandoned all the commandments of the LORD their God…
Amo 5:21-22 “I hate, I despise your feasts! I cannot stand the stench”…
and burned incense. Incense was associated with priestly ministry before the Lord and symbolized worship rising to Him. Jeroboam’s actions displayed religious imitation without obedience, setting a pattern of sin that marked the kings of Israel after him. 2Ch 26:16-19 But when Uzziah became powerful, his arrogance…
Num 16:35 And fire came forth from the LORD and consumed the 250 men…
Exo 30:7-8 And Aaron is to burn fragrant incense on it…
Persons / Places / Events 1. JeroboamThe first king of the northern kingdom of Israel after the division of the united monarchy. He led Israel into idolatry by setting up golden calves in Bethel and Dan. 2. BethelA significant city in the northern kingdom where Jeroboam set up one of the golden calves, turning it into a center of idolatrous worship. 3. The Eighth MonthJeroboam chose this month for the festival, deviating from the God-ordained calendar, which highlights his rebellion against God's commands. 4. AltarThe altar Jeroboam built in Bethel was a direct challenge to the altar in Jerusalem, where God had commanded sacrifices to be made. 5. FestivalA man-made festival instituted by Jeroboam to rival the God-ordained festivals, leading the people away from true worship. Teaching Points The Danger of IdolatryJeroboam's actions serve as a warning against creating idols in our lives, whether physical or metaphorical, that take the place of God. Obedience to God's CommandsThe deviation from God's prescribed worship highlights the importance of adhering to His commands rather than following human inventions. Leadership ResponsibilityJeroboam's influence led an entire nation into sin, reminding us of the weight of responsibility leaders carry in guiding others toward or away from God. The Consequences of RebellionJeroboam's choices had long-lasting negative effects on Israel, illustrating the far-reaching consequences of rebelling against God. The Importance of True WorshipThis passage challenges us to examine our worship practices and ensure they align with biblical principles rather than personal preferences. Bible Study Questions 1. How does Jeroboam's establishment of a new festival reflect his heart attitude towards God's commands, and what can we learn from this about our own obedience to God? 2. In what ways do we see modern parallels to Jeroboam's idolatry in today's society, and how can we guard against them? 3. How does the account of Jeroboam challenge us to consider the influence of our leadership, whether in our families, workplaces, or communities? 4. Reflect on a time when you were tempted to follow a "month of your own choosing" rather than God's timing or plan. What was the outcome, and what did you learn? 5. How can we ensure that our worship remains true to God's Word and not influenced by cultural or personal preferences? What steps can we take to evaluate and align our worship practices with Scripture? Connections to Other Scriptures Exodus 32The incident of the golden calf at Mount Sinai parallels Jeroboam's actions, showing a repeated pattern of idolatry and rebellion against God. 2 Chronicles 11:15This passage describes Jeroboam appointing his own priests for the high places, further illustrating his departure from God's established order. Deuteronomy 12:5-14God's instructions for worship at the place He chooses, contrasting with Jeroboam's self-appointed places of worship. People Adoniram, Adoram, Ahijah, Benjamin, Dan, David, Israelites, Jeroboam, Jesse, Levi, Levites, Nebat, Penuel, Rehoboam, Shemaiah, SolomonPlaces Bethel, Dan, Egypt, Jerusalem, Penuel, ShechemTopics Altar, Bethel, Beth-el, Built, Burn, Burning, Burnt, Choosing, Devised, Eighth, Feast, Festival, Fifteenth, Fixed, Heart, Incense, Instituted, Israelites, Maketh, Month, Offer, Offered, Offereth, Offerings, Ordained, Orders, Perfume, Pleasure, Sacrifices, Smoke, SonsDictionary of Bible Themes 1 Kings 12:26-33 5811 compromise
7233 Israel, northern kingdom 1 Kings 12:32-33 1654 numbers, 11-99 Library How to Split a Kingdom
And Rehoboam went to Shechem: for all Israel were come to Shechem to make him king. 2. And it came to pass, when Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who was yet in Egypt, heard of it (for he was fled from the presence of king Solomon, and Jeroboam dwelt in Egypt); 3. That they sent and called him. And Jeroboam and all the congregation of Israel came, and spake unto Rehoboam, saying, 4. Thy father made our yoke grievous: now therefore make thou the grievous service of thy father, and his heavy yoke which he …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy ScripturePolitical Religion
'Then Jeroboam built Shechera in mount Ephraim, and dwelt therein; and went out from thence, and built Penuel. 26. And Jeroboam said in his heart, Now shall the kingdom return to the house of David: 27. If this people go up to do sacrifice in the house of the Lord at Jerusalem, then shall the heart of this people turn again unto their lord, even unto Rehoboam king of Judah, and they shall kill me, and go again to Rehoboam king of Judah. 28. Whereupon the king took counsel, and made two calves of …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture "This Thing is from Me"
"Thus saith the Lord, Ye shall not go up, nor fight against your brethren the children of Israel: return every man to his house; for this thing is from me."--1 Kings 12:24. IT IS VERY DELIGHTFUL to read a history in which God is made prominent. How sadly deficient we are of such histories of our own English nation! Yet surely there is no story that is more full of God than the record of the doings of our British race. Cowper, in one of his poems, shows the parallel between us and the house of Israel, …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 42: 1896 The Hebrews and the Philistines --Damascus
THE ISRAELITES IN THE LAND OF CANAAN: THE JUDGES--THE PHILISTINES AND THE HEBREW KINGDOM--SAUL, DAVID, SOLOMON, THE DEFECTION OF THE TEN TRIBES--THE XXIst EGYPTIAN DYNASTY--SHESHONQ OR SHISHAK DAMASCUS. The Hebrews in the desert: their families, clans, and tribes--The Amorites and the Hebrews on the left bank of the Jordan--The conquest of Canaan and the native reaction against the Hebrews--The judges, Ehud, Deborah, Jerubbaal or Gideon and the Manassite supremacy; Abimelech, Jephihdh. The Philistines, …
G. Maspero—History Of Egypt, Chaldaea, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria, V 6 How God Works in the Hearts of Men.
1. Connection of this chapter with the preceding. Augustine's similitude of a good and bad rider. Question answered in respect to the devil. 2. Question answered in respect to God and man. Example from the history of Job. The works of God distinguished from the works of Satan and wicked men. 1. By the design or end of acting. How Satan acts in the reprobate. 2. How God acts in them. 3. Old Objection, that the agency of God in such cases is referable to prescience or permission, not actual operation. …
John Calvin—The Institutes of the Christian Religion Use to be Made of the Doctrine of Providence.
Sections. 1. Summary of the doctrine of Divine Providence. 1. It embraces the future and the past. 2. It works by means, without means, and against means. 3. Mankind, and particularly the Church, the object of special care. 4. The mode of administration usually secret, but always just. This last point more fully considered. 2. The profane denial that the world is governed by the secret counsel of God, refuted by passages of Scripture. Salutary counsel. 3. This doctrine, as to the secret counsel of …
John Calvin—The Institutes of the Christian Religion The Upbringing of Jewish Children
The tenderness of the bond which united Jewish parents to their children appears even in the multiplicity and pictorialness of the expressions by which the various stages of child-life are designated in the Hebrew. Besides such general words as "ben" and "bath"--"son" and "daughter"--we find no fewer than nine different terms, each depicting a fresh stage of life. The first of these simply designates the babe as the newly--"born"--the "jeled," or, in the feminine, "jaldah"--as in Exodus 2:3, 6, 8. …
Alfred Edersheim—Sketches of Jewish Social Life The Instrumentality of the Wicked Employed by God, While He Continues Free from Every Taint.
1. The carnal mind the source of the objections which are raised against the Providence of God. A primary objection, making a distinction between the permission and the will of God, refuted. Angels and men, good and bad, do nought but what has been decreed by God. This proved by examples. 2. All hidden movements directed to their end by the unseen but righteous instigation of God. Examples, with answers to objections. 3. These objections originate in a spirit of pride and blasphemy. Objection, that …
John Calvin—The Institutes of the Christian Religion The Twelve Minor Prophets.
1. By the Jewish arrangement, which places together the twelve minor prophets in a single volume, the chronological order of the prophets as a whole is broken up. The three greater prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, stand in the true order of time. Daniel began to prophesy before Ezekiel, but continued, many years after him. The Jewish arrangement of the twelve minor prophets is in a sense chronological; that is, they put the earlier prophets at the beginning, and the later at the end of the …
E. P. Barrows—Companion to the Bible Of Civil Government.
OF CIVIL GOVERNMENT. This chapter consists of two principal heads,--I. General discourse on the necessity, dignity, and use of Civil Government, in opposition to the frantic proceedings of the Anabaptists, sec. 1-3. II. A special exposition of the three leading parts of which Civil Government consists, sec. 4-32. The first part treats of the function of Magistrates, whose authority and calling is proved, sec. 4-7. Next, the three Forms of civil government are added, sec. 8. Thirdly, Consideration …
John Calvin—The Institutes of the Christian Religion Travelling in Palestine --Roads, Inns, Hospitality, Custom-House Officers, Taxation, Publicans
It was the very busiest road in Palestine, on which the publican Levi Matthew sat at the receipt of "custom," when our Lord called him to the fellowship of the Gospel, and he then made that great feast to which he invited his fellow-publicans, that they also might see and hear Him in Whom he had found life and peace (Luke 5:29). For, it was the only truly international road of all those which passed through Palestine; indeed, it formed one of the great highways of the world's commerce. At the time …
Alfred Edersheim—Sketches of Jewish Social Life The Figurative Language of Scripture.
1. When the psalmist says: "The Lord God is a sun and shield" (Psa. 84:11), he means that God is to all his creatures the source of life and blessedness, and their almighty protector; but this meaning he conveys under the figure of a sun and a shield. When, again, the apostle James says that Moses is read in the synagogues every Sabbath-day (Acts 15:21), he signifies the writings of Moses under the figure of his name. In these examples the figure lies in particular words. But it may be embodied …
E. P. Barrows—Companion to the Bible Kings
The book[1] of Kings is strikingly unlike any modern historical narrative. Its comparative brevity, its curious perspective, and-with some brilliant exceptions--its relative monotony, are obvious to the most cursory perusal, and to understand these things is, in large measure, to understand the book. It covers a period of no less than four centuries. Beginning with the death of David and the accession of Solomon (1 Kings i., ii.) it traverses his reign with considerable fulness (1 Kings iii.-xi.), …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament Links 1 Kings 12:33 NIV1 Kings 12:33 NLT1 Kings 12:33 ESV1 Kings 12:33 NASB1 Kings 12:33 KJV
1 Kings 12:33 Commentaries
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