Then this thing became a sin, for the people went as far as Dan to be before one.
Jeroboam's two golden calves are now in place — one at Bethel, one at Dan — and the people come and worship. This verse records the outcome the king wanted and the verdict God gave on it: sin.
Images as an aid to worship
People still defend images in worship with the same reasoning. One writer answers it from this verse:
AnonymousSome have argued that Jeroboam was really worshipping the LORD, but with the help of visible images. People use that argument today to excuse open idolatry. The Bible does not support it. It says plainly: "This thing became a sin." God does not need an image to enable people to worship Him. In fact, Scripture condemns the very idea throughout.
The sin was not new. The same writer traces it back to the golden calf Israel made at Mount Sinai:
AnonymousIt is remarkable that Jeroboam repeated the sin of Aaron and the people of Israel at the foot of Mount Sinai. There God had already spoken the solemn words: "You shall have no other gods before me." He even repeated the words of Aaron: "Behold your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt."
The people followed
The verse moves from what the king made to what the nation did — the people went. A leader's device became a people's religion:
Hamilton SmithThe solemn result was that the people became worshippers of these false gods, "sacrificing to the calves," and were in this way led into apostasy. At Bethel Jacob had set up a pillar. It was a witness to God's unconditional promise of blessing to Jacob's descendants, and to God's unchanging faithfulness to His own word. Now Bethel becomes the witness instead to man's sin and apostasy. Through their leaders the enemy had undermined the people's confidence in God, and so had separated them from Him.
Why Dan is singled out
Jeroboam set up two calves, yet the verse follows the people to only one of them — as far as Dan. One writer explains why:
William KellyThe reason Dan was the one chiefly used was this: it was at the greatest distance from Jerusalem. Bethel was rather too near. As he would have thought, a dozen miles or so might have exposed them to the pull of Jerusalem. So Dan was the one. Although there were two, Dan was the one chiefly favoured.
Policy instead of trust
The new worship looked like the real thing. That resemblance was the danger:
H. L. RossierDespite its misleading outward forms, this religion was a complete forsaking of the worship of the LORD. It was an instrument of policy in the hands of the government. False appearances lulled souls and kept them far from the true God, and the king of David's line became a stranger to them.
Behind it lay a refusal to trust the word Jeroboam already had:
Hamilton SmithJeroboam had received a definite word from God through the prophet Ahijah. If he would listen to God's commands, walk in God's ways, and keep the statutes and commandments of the LORD, God would be with him and establish his house. Yet when Jeroboam came to the throne, instead of depending on God and His word, he sought to establish his kingdom by his own devices.
What the sin became
A single decision hardened into a national habit, and then into a name attached to a man for ever:
J. N. DarbyJudging by human wisdom and forgetting the fear of the LORD, he made two golden calves. His aim was to break the strong bonds of a shared worship, so that they would no longer tie his subjects to Judah and Jerusalem. He had to set up a new priesthood. He devised everything to do with worship out of his own heart. Israel's sin was an established rule. The phrase "Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin," became the sad description of their first king.
The story ends centuries later, when Assyria carried Israel away:
An Outline of Sound WordsThe idolatry of Jeroboam stayed with Israel until they were led into captivity, and it was a leading cause of that captivity. As it is written: "Jeroboam drove Israel from following the LORD and made them commit great sin… They did not depart from them, until the LORD removed Israel out of His sight, as He had spoken by all His servants the prophets. So Israel was exiled from their own land to Assyria until this day" (2 Kings 17:21–23).
Summary
- Forgetting starts it. Jeroboam forgot the fear of the LORD and judged by human wisdom. He devised a worship out of his own heart to keep his subjects from Jerusalem.
- Distance spreads it. Jeroboam favoured Dan because it sat farthest from Jerusalem; the nearer the true centre, the weaker a substitute's hold.
- People adopt it. The verse turns from the king's act to the nation's practice. Through their leaders the enemy undermined the people's confidence in God, and they became worshippers of calves.
- Appearance hides it. A new priesthood and religious forms made the system look genuine, but those forms only kept souls far from the true God and from David's king.
- Captivity ends it. What began as one man's policy stayed until the LORD removed Israel out of His sight. It left Jeroboam known as the man who made Israel sin.