Jeroboam, the first king of the northern kingdom of Israel after its split from Judah, committed a grave sin by establishing a counterfeit religious system centered around two golden calves. His actions were motivated by political fear and a desire to control the people’s worship.
1 Kings 12:26–28 reveals Jeroboam’s reasoning:
“Jeroboam said in his heart, ‘Now the kingdom may return to the house of David…’ Therefore the king asked advice, made two calves of gold, and said to the people, ‘It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Here are your gods, O Israel, which brought you up from the land of Egypt!’”
He placed one calf in Bethel and the other in Dan, creating rival centers of worship to prevent the people from going to Jerusalem, where the temple remained under Rehoboam’s rule. This mirrored the sin of the golden calf in Exodus and directly violated God’s commands.
Verse 30 emphasizes the spiritual impact:
“Now this thing became a sin, for the people went to worship before the one as far as Dan.”
Jeroboam also appointed non-Levitical priests and created his own feast days to mimic the worship in Jerusalem (1 Kings 12:31–33). His innovations were not improvements, but rebellion against the prescribed worship of the Lord.
God sent a prophet to rebuke Jeroboam and prophesy judgment against his altar (1 Kings 13). Eventually, God declared that Jeroboam’s dynasty would be wiped out because of his sin. 1 Kings 14:9–10 says:
“You have done more evil than all who were before you… Therefore behold! I will bring disaster on the house of Jeroboam…”
Jeroboam’s golden calves set a pattern of idolatry that plagued the northern kingdom for generations. Every king of Israel after him “walked in the way of Jeroboam,” and the kingdom never returned to true worship.
This account is a sobering warning against man-made religion, political manipulation of worship, and deviation from God’s commands.
