And the priests and the Levites that were in all Israel resorted to him out of all their districts;
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
for the Levites left their suburbs and their possessions, and came to Judah and Jerusalem for Jeroboam and his sons had cast them off from exercising the priesthood to Jehovah;
When the kingdom split in two, Jeroboam set up a rival worship in the north. This verse records what God's own servants did: they left the towns and land He had given them and went south to Judah and Jerusalem.
They did not leave by choice. Jeroboam put his own priests in place of God's, and that left the Levites with no work to do.
Leslie M. GrantGod had appointed the family of Aaron as priests, and the Levites to serve them. But Jeroboam refused this claim and appointed priests of his own choosing for worship of idols in high places. So the priests and Levites moved to Judah, leaving the lands that had been given them among the ten tribes. What else could they do? Jeroboam's idolatry had left no room for priests of the Lord.
The "common lands and holdings" were not private wealth. They were the provision God made for a tribe that owned no share of the land.
Morrish Bible DictionaryThe Levites had no inheritance in the land. So that they might be free to serve the Lord, they received the tithes. They also received forty-eight cities to live in, with the surrounding lands for their cattle.
God had settled the Levites in those towns on purpose. Leaving them looked like plain disobedience.
The Bible TreasuryThe Levites showed their faithfulness by leaving their possessions and going to Jerusalem. But it proved just as clearly that the whole system set up under David, and established by the Lord, was broken and gone. They had their appointed possessions throughout all the territory of Israel. It was one of the outward marks of God's order in Israel. To leave them would be disobedience to God's command. But the nation's sin broke that order, and their possessions had now become defiled. So it was according to God's mind to leave them and gather at the place where the Lord's name was still recorded. In the same way now, when we find defilement and sin approved in something that claims the Lord's name, complete separation from evil, whatever it looks like, is the true path for every believer who honours Christ.
Jeroboam did not leave the office empty. He filled it with men he picked himself.
C KnappHe did not stop there. He viewed the lawful priests and the Levites with special suspicion, and he rejected their services. He "appointed his own priests for the high places and for the goat idols and for the calves that he had made." Abijah, in his speech before the battle with Jeroboam, says to him and his followers, "Have you not driven out the priests of the LORD, the sons of Aaron, and the Levites, and made priests for yourselves like the peoples of other lands?"
Jeroboam removed the Levites to protect his throne. The move backfired.
C KnappEven viewed as a piece of political strategy, this ejection of the Lord's priests and the Levites was a blunder. Almost all of them went over to Jeroboam's rival, and in doing so they "strengthened the kingdom of Judah." He was over-anxious to keep his power, and so he lost what was, no doubt, the choicest part of his kingdom. France did something similar when it banished the Huguenots — the most intelligent, enterprising and God-fearing part of its citizens. That country has never yet fully recovered from it.
The Levites were not the only ones who left.
W. W. FeredayHappily, large numbers hated these evils, because the Word of God had some authority over their hearts. They turned their backs on Jeroboam's evil inventions, in some cases giving up their homes and lands. They went south, where there was still some respect for the Lord's Word, and where at least they could worship in the house that carried His name. The influence of these godly newcomers was so good that for three years the two tribes "walked in the way of David and Solomon."
- Cast out. The Levites did not resign. Jeroboam threw them out and handed their work to priests he chose himself.
- Cost. Their "common lands and holdings" were their whole livelihood, because the tribe owned no share of the land. Leaving meant giving up everything they had.
- Conscience. God Himself had placed them in those towns. But the nation's sin defiled that order, and moving to the place where His name was still honoured became the obedient step.
- Consequence. Jeroboam expelled God-fearing men to guard his throne. He handed the best part of his kingdom to his rival, and for three years Judah walked in the way of David and Solomon.
- Continuing call. When sin is approved in something that claims the Lord's name, complete separation from evil is the true path for every believer who honours Christ.
and he ordained for himself priests for the high places, and for the he-goats and for the calves that he had made.
When the kingdom split after Solomon's death, Jeroboam took the ten northern tribes and built a religion to match his new border. This verse names the priests he installed for it, and raises the question the chapter turns on: what happens when a man arranges worship his own way?
The appointment described here was not an addition to God's order but a replacement of it. One writer sets Jeroboam's move beside God's own law for the priesthood, and beside a charge made against him later:
C. KnappThis was a direct violation of the law of God in reference to the priesthood. See Numbers 18:1-7. And he did not stop there. He plainly viewed the rightful priests and the Levites with special suspicion, and he rejected their services... Before the battle with Jeroboam, Abijah speaks to him and his followers. He says, "Have you not driven out the priests of the LORD, the sons of Aaron, and the Levites, and made priests for yourselves like the peoples of other lands? Whoever comes for ordination with a young bull or seven rams becomes a priest of what are no gods."
Older translations say Jeroboam "ordained" these priests. Today that word means something it never meant for God's servants:
Morrish Bible DictionaryIn the Old Testament there are eleven words translated this way, with a variety of meanings and applications. God ordained the moon and the stars (Psalm 8:3). Jeroboam ordained priests for the high places, and for the devils, and for the calves which he had made (2 Chronicles 11:15). None of God's priests or prophets were ordained in the sense now understood by that word. No man put them into a spiritual position and handed them power and authority.
The old English word "devils" hides what the middle object of this worship was. The term describes an animal:
Morrish Bible DictionaryThe word is sair, which means "hairy one," and so a "he-goat." It is translated "goat" and "kid" many times. In Leviticus 17:7 and 2 Chronicles 11:15 translators put "devils," but "demons" would have been better. The word points to the gods which the heathen worshipped without knowing it.
That unknowing worship is the serious part. The idol itself has no power. Something real stands behind it:
Morrish Bible DictionaryScripture also shows that idolatry was essentially demon-worship, the idol itself being nothing... Jeroboam had fallen so low as to have ordained priests for the demons (sair) and for the calves which he had made... The things worshipped may have been unseen objects. They may have had some mystical form. Or they may have been mere idols. But behind all of them were real beings: evil, unclean spirits. So it was morally impossible to have fellowship with the Lord Jesus and with these demons.
Jeroboam did not invent something unrecognisable. He copied Jerusalem, item by item, and changed the source of authority:
H. L. RossierHe copies the pattern of worship that the law of Moses laid down. "A house of high places" replaces the temple. In place of the Levitical priesthood he puts "priests from all classes of the people, who were not of the sons of Levi." Israel had its Feast of Tabernacles, so Jeroboam set up a feast of his own, a month later. He sets up an altar at Bethel to match the bronze altar. He places it before the idol and burns incense on it instead of burnt offerings. All this "he had devised of his own heart"!
The same writer draws a wider principle from this:
H. L. RossierThis is always the consequence of abandoning God who has revealed Himself in His Word. Man cannot live without religion. If he does not have the religion of the true God, he will invent a false one to satisfy his conscience and answer to his instincts... When man's own will becomes his god, Satan masters him and triumphs.
This verse also explains why the priests and Levites left their homes. They had no real choice:
Leslie M. GrantGod had appointed the family of Aaron as priests, and the Levites to serve them. But Jeroboam refused this claim. He appointed priests of his own choosing for the worship of idols in high places (v. 15). So the priests and Levites moved to Judah, leaving the lands that had been given to them among the ten tribes... What else could they do? Jeroboam's idolatry had left no room for priests of the Lord.
Their departure is not recorded as a loss but as a commendation:
W. W. FeredayThe spiritual energy that leads to separation from real evil is always precious in the sight of God.
- Made. Jeroboam made the calves, then made the priests. Every part of this religion started with a man's decision, not God's Word.
- Copied. It copied Jerusalem point for point: a substitute temple, priesthood, altar and feast. The likeness made it easy to accept, and no less false.
- Unauthorised. No priest or prophet of God was ordained in the modern sense, with men handing over authority. Jeroboam's priests are the counter-example.
- Demonic. The goat idols were nothing in themselves. But real unclean spirits stood behind them, so no one can hold to the Lord and to them at once.
- Costly. Faithful priests and Levites gave up their homes rather than stay. God prizes that kind of break with real evil, even when it costs everything.
-- And after them, those out of all the tribes of Israel that set their heart to seek Jehovah the God of Israel came to Jerusalem, to sacrifice to Jehovah the God of their fathers.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
And they strengthened the kingdom of Judah, and made Rehoboam the son of Solomon strong three years; for during three years they walked in the way of David and Solomon.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.