THE SIN OF JEROBOAM 1 Kings 12:2532

1
THE SIN OF JEROBOAM(1 Kings 1225-32)

• SEVERAL PARTS TO THIS SIN
• Worship of Golden Calves
• Creation of New Places of Worship
• Appointment of Non-Levitical Priests
• Creation of a New Festival

2
BACKGROUND

• NRS 1 Kings 1225 Then Jeroboam built Shechem in
  the hill country of Ephraim, and resided there
  he went out from there and built Penuel. 26 Then
  Jeroboam said to himself, "Now the kingdom may
  well revert to the house of David. 27 If this
  people continues to go up to offer sacrifices in
  the house of the LORD at Jerusalem, the heart of
  this people will turn again to their master, King
  Rehoboam of Judah they will kill me and return
  to King Rehoboam of Judah."

• Jeroboam
• Revolted against Solomon and escaped to King
  Shishak in Egypt (1 Kings 1140)
• Returned from Egypt after the death of Solomon
  when he learned of the rebellion of the northern
  tribes against Solomons son Rehoboam (1
  Kings 1219)
• The leaders of the northern tribes summoned him
  to an assembly and made him king over all Israel
  (the north) (1 Kings 1220)
• He did not want the people to accept the claim
  that the house of David was the rightful ruler
  over all of Israel and Judah

3
NORTHERN VIEWPOINT

• Alliance in the United Kingdom (Israel and Judah)
  was by contract
• All the people approved the Lords choice of Saul
  as king, and the charter defining the rights of
  the king was written in a book and placed in the
  presence of the Lord (1 Samuel 1024-25)
• David made an agreement with the elders of Israel
  in Hebron before the Lord, and they anointed him
  king of Israel
• (2 Samuel 53)
• Kings were to be charismatic leaders, and had no
  claim to the throne merely by family inheritance

4
SOUTHERN VIEWPOINT

• The Lord told the prophet Nathan (who then told
  David) that Davids throne would stand forever (2
  Samuel 716)
• and Israel went into rebellion against Davids
  house to this day (1 Kings 1219)

5
THE GOLDEN CALVES

• NRS 1 Kings 1228 So the king took counsel, and
  made two calves of gold. He said to the people,
  "You have gone up to Jerusalem long enough. Here
  are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out
  of the land of Egypt."

• (John Nichols will discuss the matter of the
  golden calves in detail)

6
NEW PLACES OF WORSHIP NON-LEVITICAL PRIESTS

• NRS 1 Kings 1229 He set one in Bethel, and the
  other he put in Dan. 30 And this thing became a
  sin, for the people went to worship before the
  one at Bethel and before the other as far as Dan.
  31 He also made houses on high places, and
  appointed priests from among all the people, who
  were not Levites.

• Bethel was an ancient site for worship of the
  Lord, associated with the patriarchs (and hence a
  holy site prior to Jerusalems conquest by David)
• Dan was in the far northern part of Israel, and
  was also an ancient site for worship of the Lord
• (Rodger Fleming will discuss some issues
  presented by this passage)

7
From Joan Comay, The Temple of Jerusalem (New
York Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1975), 61
8
CREATION OF A NEW FESTIVAL

• NRS 1 Kings 1232 Jeroboam appointed a festival
  on the fifteenth day of the eighth month like the
  festival that was in Judah, and he offered
  sacrifices on the altar so he did in Bethel,
  sacrificing to the calves that he had made. And
  he placed in Bethel the priests of the high
  places that he had made.

• Like the festival that was in Judah
• Feast of Booths (also known as Sukkoth or Feast
  of Tabernacles or Feast of Tents)
• Joyful harvest festival
• Pilgrim feast for seven days, beginning with
  the fifteenth day of the seventh month (Leviticus
  2333-43)
• For this feast every male was to appear before
  the Lord in the place which he chooses as the
  dwelling place of his name (Deuteronomy 162,16)

9
SIGNIFICANCE OF FESTIVAL

• Solomon had used the Feast of Booths to celebrate
  the foundation of the Temple (which he had built)
  and of the Davidic dynasty (the house of God and
  the house of David) (1 Kings 82,65)
• Much scholarly speculation exists over whether
  Jeroboam created a totally new festival or
  whether he returned to an ancient festival (or
  returned to a calendar that was used prior to the
  calendar that was used in Jerusalem)
• Whether or not Jeroboam created a new festival or
  revived an ancient festival, it makes sense that
  he would want to (or perhaps need to) create an
  alternative to Jerusalem as a place of pilgrimage
  for a fall harvest festival, especially given
  that there was open warfare from time to time
  between the north and the south (see 1
  Kings 1430), and free travel was probably
  restricted for significant periods of time

10
DEUTERONOMISTIC HISTORIAN

• Edited after conquest of Israel (north) by the
  Assyrians (722 BCE) and perhaps as late as the
  Babylonian Captivity of Judah (south) (586 BCE)
• Edited by a Judahite who was partial to the south
  (and quite critical of the north)
• Judged kings (north and south) by Law of the
  Central Sanctuary

11
LAW OF THE CENTRAL SANCTUARY

• 1. Destroy the high places (sites of worship
  often tainted by pagan, Canaanite rituals)
• 2. Forbid the people to offer sacrifices at any
  place other than the Temple in Jerusalem

12
VIOLATION BY A KING OF THE LAW OF THE CENTRAL
SANCTUARY

• 1. Such a king did evil in the sight of Yahweh
• 2. Such a king was responsible for disasters that
  fell upon the nation

13
RESULTS OF THE SIN OF JEROBOAM

• 1. His kingship was rejected and his family was
  condemned (1 Kings 149-11)
• 2. His sin was continued by his successors (e.g.,
  1 Kings 1526, 34)
• 3. His sin caused the fall of the northern
  kingdom and the exile of its people
  (2 Kings 1721-23)

14
AFTERMATH

• About 300 years later (after the fall of the
  north and the exile of its people), the king of
  Judah at that time (King Josiah) destroyed the
  altar of Bethel and reestablished Jerusalem as
  the central shrine (2 Kings
  2315-18)