1 Kings 12:31

And he made an house of high places, and made priests of the lowest of the people, which were not of the sons of Levi.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(31, 32) Of the lowest of the people.—This is universally recognised as a mistranslation, though a natural one, of the original, “the ends of the people.” The sense is “from the whole mass of the people,” without care for Levitical descent—the Levites having (see 2Chronicles 11:13-14) generally returned into the kingdom of Judah on the establishment of this idolatry. It is hardly likely that the king would have lacked because at Dan an unauthorised Levitical priesthood was (as has been said) forthcoming.

Benson Commentary

1 Kings 12:31. And he made a house of high places — That is, saith Abarbinel, he made a house or temple at Dan, wherein there was not one altar only, as there was at Jerusalem, but a great many altars or high places, probably complaining of it as an inconvenience, that in the temple at Jerusalem there was but one. The multiplying of altars passed with some as a piece of devotion; but God, by the prophet, puts another construction upon it, Hosea 8:11, Ephraim has made many altars to sin. And made priests of the lowest of the people — “And the lowest of the people,” says Henry, “were good enough, and too good, to be priests to his calves.” They who understand the words in this sense suppose he did this, either, 1st, Because the better sort refused the office as below their quality; or, 2d, Because such would be satisfied with mean allowances or small wages; and so he could put into his own purse a great part of the revenues of the Levites, which doubtless he seized upon when they forsook him and went to Jerusalem, (2 Chronicles 11:13;) or, 3d, Because mean persons would depend upon his favour, and therefore be pliable to his humour and firm to his interest. But it must be observed here, that the words מקצות העם, meketsoth hagnam, properly signify, from the ends of the people, and may be rendered, out of all the people, that is, promiscuously out of every tribe: an exposition which Bochart hath justified by a great many examples, showing that the same words are used in this sense in divers other places. Indeed, this exposition seems to be confirmed by the following clause, added to explain these words, which were not of the sons of Levi —

Though they were not of the tribe of Levi, to whom the office of the priesthood was confined by God’s express command. So that Jeroboam’s sin, as to this particular, was not that he chose mean persons, for many of the Levites were such; and his sin would not have been the less if he had chosen the noblest and greatest persons; as we see in the example of Uzziah: but in that he chose men of other tribes, contrary to God’s appointment, which restrained that office to that tribe. Thus, as he transferred the kingdom from the house of David, so he transferred the priesthood from the family of Aaron; and left it open, that any body might be admitted to that honourable employment; which was a very popular thing, and ingratiated him, no doubt, with the people.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

12:25-33 Jeroboam distrusted the providence of God; he would contrive ways and means, and sinful ones too, for his own safety. A practical disbelief of God's all-sufficiency is at the bottom of all our departures from him. Though it is probable he meant his worship for Jehovah the God of Israel, it was contrary to the Divine law, and dishonourable to the Divine majesty to be thus represented. The people might be less shocked at worshipping the God of Israel under an image, than if they had at once been asked to worship Baal; but it made way for that idolatry. Blessed Lord, give us grace to reverence thy temple, thine ordinances, thine house of prayer, thy sabbaths, and never more, like Jeroboam, to set up in our hearts any idol of abomination. Be thou to us every thing precious; do thou reign and rule in our hearts, the hope of glory.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

He made an house of high places - i. e., "He built a temple, or sanctuary, at each of the two cities where the calves were set up." The writer uses the expression "house of high places" in contempt, meaning that the buildings were not real temples, or houses of God, like that at Jerusalem, but only on a par with the temples upon high places which had long existed in various parts of the land.

Made priests of the lowest of the people - More correctly, "from all ranks of the people." That the Levites did not accept Jeroboam's innovations, and transfer their services to his two sanctuaries, must have been the consequence of their faithful attachment to the true worship of Yahweh. In all probability Jeroboam confiscated the Levitical lands within his dominions for the benefit of the new priestly order 2 Chronicles 11:13-14.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

31. made priests of the lowest of the people—literally, "out of all the people," the Levites refusing to act. He himself assumed to himself the functions of the high priest, at least, at the great festival, probably from seeing the king of Egypt conjoin the royal and sacred offices, and deeming the office of the high priest too great to be vested in a subject.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

An house of high places, or, an house (i.e. houses, or chapels) in the high places. Besides the famous houses, or temples, which he built at Dan and Beth-el, he built also, for his people’s better accommodation, lesser temples upon divers high places, which were esteemed sacred and venerable, because their pious ancestors had served God in them; and thereby Jeroboam might not seem to bring in a new religion, but only to revive the old.

Made priests of the lowest of the people; which he might do, either,

1. Because the better sort refused it, as an office below their quality. Or,

2. Because such would be satisfied with mean allowances; and so he could put into his own purse a great part of the rich possessions and revenues of the Levites, which doubtless he seized upon when they forsook him, and went to Jerusalem, 2 Chronicles 11:13,14, which also was very necessary for his present and pressing occasions; the rather, because he durst not yet lay grievous taxes upon that people, who had newly cast off Rehoboam for that very reason. Or,

3. Because mean persons would depend upon his favour, and therefore be very pliable to his humour, and firm to his interest, and zealous to promote the worship of the calves. But the words in the Hebrew properly signify from the ends of the people; which is and may be translated thus, out of all the people; promiscuously out of every tribe; which exposition seems to be confirmed by the following words, which are added to explain these,

which were not of the sons of Levi; though they were not of the tribe of Levi. And that indeed was Jeroboam’s sin; not that he chose mean persons, for some of the Levites were such; and his sin had not been less, if he had chosen the noblest and greatest persons, as we see in the example of Uzziah, 2 Chronicles 26:18,19; but that he chose men of other tribes, contrary to God’s appointment, which restrained that office to that tribe.

Not of the sons of Levi; to whom that office was confined by God’s express command; but he gave the priesthood promiscuously to any person of any other tribe.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And he made an house of high places,.... Or "altars" (s), built a temple at Dan, and set up several altars in it for sacrifice, both for burnt offerings, and for incense, as at Jerusalem:

and made priests of the lowest of the people; this clause seems not so well rendered; for this would have been very unpopular, and brought his new form of worship into contempt, to make the dregs of the people priests, which was not only a very sacred office, but of great honour; it was usual in some nations for kings to be priests also (t), and Jeroboam himself exercised this office, 1 Kings 12:33 and therefore would never put the meanest of the people into it, but rather those of higher rank: the words may be literally rendered, "from the extremities" or "ends of the people" (u); meaning not merely from the extremist parts of his country, but rather out of the whole of the people; out of all sorts of them, out of any of them, without any distinction of tribe: for so it follows,

which were not of the sons of Levi; and as by this means he enriched himself, by taking the cities that belonged to the priests and Levites, which they were obliged to leave, and from whence he drove them, 2 Chronicles 11:14 so he pleased the people by laying open the priesthood common to them, and freeing them from the payment of tithes, and the like.

(s) "altarium", Vatablus. (t) Rex Anius, &c. Virgil. l. 3. Vid. Servium in ib. (u) "de extremitatibus populi", Vatablus, Piscator.

Geneva Study Bible

And he made an {n} house of high places, and made priests of the lowest of the people, which were not of the sons of Levi.

(n) That is, a temple, where altars were built for idolatry.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

31. An house of high places] The graven image must have its temple. So in Bethel and in Dan buildings were raised, and an eminence chosen for the site of each. Hence it is better to render the plural notion, as R.V., houses of high places.

and made priests of the lowest of the people] Better, as R.V. ‘and made priests from among all the people’. The noun properly means ‘an end’, ‘an extremity.’ Then in the plural, as it is here, ‘the extremities,’ which between them comprise the whole space of anything. Thus the word is rendered in Jdg 18:2 (R.V.) ‘five men from their whole number.’ Here the idea is that Jeroboam’s priests were taken from anywhere, and so the selection differed much from that of the southern kingdom, where one tribe alone held the priest’s office. The Levites who before the division of the kingdom had been scattered among all the tribes, now, in the main, withdrew to the southern tribes (2 Chronicles 11:13-14).

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 31. - And he made an house of high places [See on 1 Kings 3:2, and cf. 2 Kings 17:29. It is often assumed (Keil, Rawlinson, al. after Josephus) that Jeroboam built two temples for his cherubim, and the statement of the text, that he built one, is explained on the ground that the historian contrasts the "house of high places" with the "house of the Lord." Ewald, too, after 2 Kings 17:29, 32, understands the words as plural. But is it not more probable that a chapel or sanctuary already existed at Dan, where an irregular priesthood had ministered for more than four hundred years? This verse would then refer exclusively to Jeroboam's procedure at Bethel (see next verse). There he built a temple and ordained a number of priests, but Dan had both already. We know that the Danite priests carried on the calf worship to the time of the captivity (Judges 18:30). This "house of high places" has grown in Ewald's pages into "a splendid temple in Canaanite style"], and made priests of the lowest of the people [Heb. מִקְצות "from the ends," i.e., from all classes, ex universe populo (Gesen.), and not, as the writer explains presently, from the tribe of Levi alone. Genesis 19:4, Judges 18:20, Ezekiel 33:2, prove this to be the correct interpretation of the word. Rawlinson, who remarks that "Jeroboam could have no motive for specially selecting persons of low condition," does not thereby dispose of the A.V. rendering, for the historian might mean that some of Jeroboam's priests were of the lowest stamp, because he could find no others, or because he was so little scrupulous as to take them. "Leaden priests are well fitted to golden deities" (Hall)], which were not of the sons of Levi. [Jeroboam would doubtless have been only too glad to have retained the services of the Levitical priests, but they went over in a body to Rehoboam (2 Chronicles 11:13). The statement of ver. 14, that, "Jeroboam and his sons" had "cast them out," suggests that they had refused to take part in his new cult and that thereupon he banished them, and, no doubt, confiscated their possessions. The idea of Stanley, that "following the precedent of the deposition of Abiathar by Solomon, he removed from their places the whole of the sacerdotal order," is a wild conjecture for which Scripture affords not the slightest warrant.] 1 Kings 12:31

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

But this institution became a sin to Jeroboam, because it violated the fundamental law of the Old Testament religion, since this not only prohibited all worship of Jehovah under images and symbols (Exodus 20:4), but had not even left the choice of the place of worship to the people themselves (Deuteronomy 12:5.). "And the people went before the one to Dan." The expression "to Dan" can only be suitably explained by connecting it with העם: the people even to Dan, i.e., the people throughout the whole kingdom even to Dan. The southern boundary as the terminus a quo is not mentioned; not because it was for a long time in dispute, but because it was already given in the allusion to Bethel. האחד is neither the golden calf at Dan nor (as I formerly thought) that at Bethel, but is to be interpreted according to the receding את־האחד ואת־האחד: one of the two, or actually both the one and the other (Thenius). The sin of which Jeroboam was guilty consisted in the fact that he no longer allowed the people to go to the house of the Lord in Jerusalem, but induced or compelled them to worship Jehovah before one or the other of the calves which he had set up, or _(as it is expressed in 1 Kings 12:31) made a house of high places, בּמות בּית (see at 1 Kings 3:2), instead of the house of God, which the Lord had sanctified as the place of worship by filling it with His gracious presence. The singular בּית ב may be accounted for from the antithesis to יהוה בּית, upon which it rests. There was no necessity to say expressly that there was a house of high places at Bethel and Dan, i.e., in two places, because it followed as a matter of course that the golden calves could not stand in the open air, but were placed in a temple, by which the sacrificial altar stood. These places of worship were houses of high places, Bamoth, because the ark of the covenant was wanting, and therewith the gracious presence of God, the Shechinah, for which no symbol invented by men could be a substitute. Moreover Jeroboam made "priests from the mass of the people, who were not of the sons of Levi." העם מקצות, i.e., not of the poorest of the people (Luther and others), but from the last of the people onwards, that is to say, from the whole of the people any one without distinction even to the very last, instead of the priests chosen by God out of the tribe of Levi. For this meaning of מקצות see Genesis 19:4 and Ezekiel 33:2, also Lud. de Dieu on this passage. This innovation on the part of Jeroboam appears very surprising, if we consider how the Ephraimite Micah (Judges 17:10.) rejoiced that he had obtained a Levite to act as priest for his image-worship, and can only be explained from the fact that the Levites did not consent to act as priests in the worship before the golden calves, but set their faces against it, and therefore, as is stated in 2 Chronicles 11:13-14, were obliged to leave their district towns and possessions and emigrate into the kingdom of Judah.