GOLDEN CALVES
Opening Prayer
Lord God, thank you for the gift of your Word. Please use it to continue teaching me who I am in Christ and how to walk more closely with him.
Read 1 KINGS 12:25 – 13:10
For additional translations of the passage, use this link to Bible Gateway.
Golden Calves at Bethel and Dan
25 Then Jeroboam fortified Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim and lived there. From there he went out and built up Peniel.[a]
26 Jeroboam thought to himself, “The kingdom will now likely revert to the house of David. 27 If these people go up to offer sacrifices at the temple of the Lord in Jerusalem, they will again give their allegiance to their lord, Rehoboam king of Judah. They will kill me and return to King Rehoboam.”
28 After seeking advice, the king made two golden calves. He said to the people, “It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Here are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.” 29 One he set up in Bethel, and the other in Dan. 30 And this thing became a sin; the people came to worship the one at Bethel and went as far as Dan to worship the other.[b]
31 Jeroboam built shrines on high places and appointed priests from all sorts of people, even though they were not Levites. 32 He instituted a festival on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, like the festival held in Judah, and offered sacrifices on the altar. This he did in Bethel, sacrificing to the calves he had made. And at Bethel he also installed priests at the high places he had made. 33 On the fifteenth day of the eighth month, a month of his own choosing, he offered sacrifices on the altar he had built at Bethel. So he instituted the festival for the Israelites and went up to the altar to make offerings.
The Man of God From Judah
13 By the word of the Lord a man of God came from Judah to Bethel, as Jeroboam was standing by the altar to make an offering. 2 By the word of the Lord he cried out against the altar: “Altar, altar! This is what the Lord says: ‘A son named Josiah will be born to the house of David. On you he will sacrifice the priests of the high places who make offerings here, and human bones will be burned on you.’” 3 That same day the man of God gave a sign: “This is the sign the Lord has declared: The altar will be split apart and the ashes on it will be poured out.”
4 When King Jeroboam heard what the man of God cried out against the altar at Bethel, he stretched out his hand from the altar and said, “Seize him!” But the hand he stretched out toward the man shriveled up, so that he could not pull it back. 5 Also, the altar was split apart and its ashes poured out according to the sign given by the man of God by the word of the Lord.
6 Then the king said to the man of God, “Intercede with the Lord your God and pray for me that my hand may be restored.” So the man of God interceded with the Lord, and the king’s hand was restored and became as it was before.
7 The king said to the man of God, “Come home with me for a meal, and I will give you a gift.”
8 But the man of God answered the king, “Even if you were to give me half your possessions, I would not go with you, nor would I eat bread or drink water here. 9 For I was commanded by the word of the Lord: ‘You must not eat bread or drink water or return by the way you came.’” 10 So he took another road and did not return by the way he had come to Bethel.
Footnotes
- 1 Kings 12:25 Hebrew Penuel, a variant of Peniel
- 1 Kings 12:30 Probable reading of the original Hebrew text; Masoretic Text people went to the one as far as Dan
New International Version (NIV)Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Meditate
‘You shall have no other gods before me.’1 Examine your life before God.
Think Further
Worship of ‘golden calves’ (v. 28) might remind you of another time in the Israelites’ history.2 Here, in a different context, another leader was trying to avoid trouble – Jeroboam was motivated by political scheming to secure his reign. The issues of idolatry and a new festival (vv. 32, 33) weren’t about God for Jeroboam. They were artifices to keep the people away from the holy city which might deflect their loyalty. Jeroboam seems to have forgotten Ahijah’s prophecy of God’s faithfulness to him if he stayed true to God.3
The promises (‘all that your heart desires’4) were negated in these days when King Jeroboam’s lust for personal power was demonstrated in his blasphemous actions. The rituals at Bethel and the mock priesthood (v. 32) were about ‘his own choosing’ (v. 33). So, ‘a man of God’ (13:1) speaks judgment (v. 2). Jeroboam thinks he can defy God’s Word by ordering the man’s arrest (v. 4), but God will not be silenced – and Jeroboam’s attention is caught for a moment in recognition of his shriveled hand (v. 6). His healing prompts an offer of hospitality – but the prophet’s response (v. 8) suggests that this was not rooted in true repentance or gratitude. Rather, it seems that Jeroboam was still scheming to avoid a possible threat to his image and power. At this point, ‘the man of God’ is resolute – he obeys God, not man (vv. 8–10).
It doesn’t seem that Jeroboam was personally feeling an affinity toward other gods. Rather, he was guilty of a kind of idolatry of himself: my kingdom, my power (12:26,27). We might see such destructive characteristics demonstrated in our own world today – but the Word of God here isn’t just for powerful rulers; it speaks to the hidden pride of our own hearts.
Apply
What are the ‘golden calves’ in your life? What excuses do you make to yourself and others for their presence? Re-root yourself in God.
Closing prayer
Holy Spirit, help me to search my heart and to recognize and turn away from anything that damages the relationship I have been given with my heavenly Father.
1 Exod 20:3 2 Exod 32:1–4 3 1 Kings 11:37, 38 4 1 Kings 11:37
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