1 Kings 12:33
On the fifteenth day of the eighth month, a month of his own choosing, Jeroboam offered sacrifices on the altar he had set up in Bethel. So he ordained a feast for the Israelites, offered sacrifices on the altar, and burned incense.
On the fifteenth day of the eighth month
This date is significant because it deviates from the God-ordained Feast of Tabernacles, which occurs on the fifteenth day of the seventh month (Leviticus 23:34). Jeroboam's choice to establish a new festival reflects his attempt to create a religious system independent of Jerusalem, where the true temple and priesthood were located.

a month of his own choosing
Jeroboam's decision to select a different month for the festival highlights his rebellion against God's commandments. This act of choosing his own religious calendar demonstrates his desire to consolidate power and control over the northern kingdom by establishing a separate identity from Judah.

Jeroboam offered sacrifices on the altar he had set up in Bethel
Bethel, meaning "house of God," was historically significant as a place where God appeared to Jacob (Genesis 28:19). Jeroboam's establishment of an altar here was a strategic move to legitimize his religious reforms. However, it was a direct violation of God's command to worship only at the temple in Jerusalem (Deuteronomy 12:5-14).

So he ordained a feast for the Israelites
By instituting a new feast, Jeroboam sought to unify the northern tribes under his rule and prevent them from returning to Jerusalem for worship. This act of creating a counterfeit religious festival was a means to solidify his political power and prevent allegiance to the Davidic line.

offered sacrifices on the altar
The offering of sacrifices was central to Israelite worship and was intended to be conducted by the Levitical priesthood in Jerusalem. Jeroboam's actions were a direct challenge to the divinely established order, leading the people into idolatry and false worship.

and burned incense
Burning incense was a priestly duty associated with prayers and offerings to God (Exodus 30:7-8). Jeroboam's unauthorized burning of incense further illustrates his usurpation of religious authority and his attempt to mimic the true worship practices of the temple, leading Israel into sin.

Persons / Places / Events
1. Jeroboam
The first king of the northern kingdom of Israel after the division of the united monarchy. He led Israel into idolatry by setting up golden calves in Bethel and Dan.

2. Bethel
A significant city in the northern kingdom where Jeroboam set up one of the golden calves, turning it into a center of idolatrous worship.

3. The Eighth Month
Jeroboam chose this month for the festival, deviating from the God-ordained calendar, which highlights his rebellion against God's commands.

4. Altar
The altar Jeroboam built in Bethel was a direct challenge to the altar in Jerusalem, where God had commanded sacrifices to be made.

5. Festival
A man-made festival instituted by Jeroboam to rival the God-ordained festivals, leading the people away from true worship.
Teaching Points
The Danger of Idolatry
Jeroboam's actions serve as a warning against creating idols in our lives, whether physical or metaphorical, that take the place of God.

Obedience to God's Commands
The deviation from God's prescribed worship highlights the importance of adhering to His commands rather than following human inventions.

Leadership Responsibility
Jeroboam's influence led an entire nation into sin, reminding us of the weight of responsibility leaders carry in guiding others toward or away from God.

The Consequences of Rebellion
Jeroboam's choices had long-lasting negative effects on Israel, illustrating the far-reaching consequences of rebelling against God.

The Importance of True Worship
This passage challenges us to examine our worship practices and ensure they align with biblical principles rather than personal preferences.
Bible Study Questions
1. How does Jeroboam's establishment of a new festival reflect his heart attitude towards God's commands, and what can we learn from this about our own obedience to God?

2. In what ways do we see modern parallels to Jeroboam's idolatry in today's society, and how can we guard against them?

3. How does the account of Jeroboam challenge us to consider the influence of our leadership, whether in our families, workplaces, or communities?

4. Reflect on a time when you were tempted to follow a "month of your own choosing" rather than God's timing or plan. What was the outcome, and what did you learn?

5. How can we ensure that our worship remains true to God's Word and not influenced by cultural or personal preferences? What steps can we take to evaluate and align our worship practices with Scripture?
Connections to Other Scriptures
Exodus 32
The incident of the golden calf at Mount Sinai parallels Jeroboam's actions, showing a repeated pattern of idolatry and rebellion against God.

2 Chronicles 11:15
This passage describes Jeroboam appointing his own priests for the high places, further illustrating his departure from God's established order.

Deuteronomy 12:5-14
God's instructions for worship at the place He chooses, contrasting with Jeroboam's self-appointed places of worship.
An Error that Could not be RepairedJ. Urquhart 1 Kings 12:21-33
A Man-Made ReligionHomiletic Review1 Kings 12:26-33
Ecclesiastical Policy of JeroboamW. G. Horder.1 Kings 12:26-33
Idolatry EstablishedA. W. Pitzer, D. D.1 Kings 12:26-33
Idolatry EstablishedMonday Club Sermons1 Kings 12:26-33
Idolatry in IsraelF. W. Ryder.1 Kings 12:26-33
Idolatry in IsraelW. F. McDowell.1 Kings 12:26-33
Jeroboam's SinJ.A. Macdonald 1 Kings 12:28-33
People
Adoniram, Adoram, Ahijah, Benjamin, Dan, David, Israelites, Jeroboam, Jesse, Levi, Levites, Nebat, Penuel, Rehoboam, Shemaiah, Solomon
Places
Bethel, Dan, Egypt, Jerusalem, Penuel, Shechem
Topics
Altar, Bethel, Beth-el, Built, Burn, Burning, Burnt, Choosing, Devised, Eighth, Feast, Festival, Fifteenth, Fixed, Heart, Incense, Instituted, Israelites, Maketh, Month, Offer, Offered, Offereth, Offerings, Ordained, Orders, Perfume, Pleasure, Sacrifices, Smoke, Sons
Dictionary of Bible Themes
1 Kings 12:26-33

     5811   compromise
     7233   Israel, northern kingdom

1 Kings 12:32-33

     1654   numbers, 11-99

Library
How to Split a Kingdom
And Rehoboam went to Shechem: for all Israel were come to Shechem to make him king. 2. And it came to pass, when Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who was yet in Egypt, heard of it (for he was fled from the presence of king Solomon, and Jeroboam dwelt in Egypt); 3. That they sent and called him. And Jeroboam and all the congregation of Israel came, and spake unto Rehoboam, saying, 4. Thy father made our yoke grievous: now therefore make thou the grievous service of thy father, and his heavy yoke which he
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Political Religion
'Then Jeroboam built Shechera in mount Ephraim, and dwelt therein; and went out from thence, and built Penuel. 26. And Jeroboam said in his heart, Now shall the kingdom return to the house of David: 27. If this people go up to do sacrifice in the house of the Lord at Jerusalem, then shall the heart of this people turn again unto their lord, even unto Rehoboam king of Judah, and they shall kill me, and go again to Rehoboam king of Judah. 28. Whereupon the king took counsel, and made two calves of
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

"This Thing is from Me"
"Thus saith the Lord, Ye shall not go up, nor fight against your brethren the children of Israel: return every man to his house; for this thing is from me."--1 Kings 12:24. IT IS VERY DELIGHTFUL to read a history in which God is made prominent. How sadly deficient we are of such histories of our own English nation! Yet surely there is no story that is more full of God than the record of the doings of our British race. Cowper, in one of his poems, shows the parallel between us and the house of Israel,
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 42: 1896

The Hebrews and the Philistines --Damascus
THE ISRAELITES IN THE LAND OF CANAAN: THE JUDGES--THE PHILISTINES AND THE HEBREW KINGDOM--SAUL, DAVID, SOLOMON, THE DEFECTION OF THE TEN TRIBES--THE XXIst EGYPTIAN DYNASTY--SHESHONQ OR SHISHAK DAMASCUS. The Hebrews in the desert: their families, clans, and tribes--The Amorites and the Hebrews on the left bank of the Jordan--The conquest of Canaan and the native reaction against the Hebrews--The judges, Ehud, Deborah, Jerubbaal or Gideon and the Manassite supremacy; Abimelech, Jephihdh. The Philistines,
G. Maspero—History Of Egypt, Chaldaea, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria, V 6

How God Works in the Hearts of Men.
1. Connection of this chapter with the preceding. Augustine's similitude of a good and bad rider. Question answered in respect to the devil. 2. Question answered in respect to God and man. Example from the history of Job. The works of God distinguished from the works of Satan and wicked men. 1. By the design or end of acting. How Satan acts in the reprobate. 2. How God acts in them. 3. Old Objection, that the agency of God in such cases is referable to prescience or permission, not actual operation.
John Calvin—The Institutes of the Christian Religion

Use to be Made of the Doctrine of Providence.
Sections. 1. Summary of the doctrine of Divine Providence. 1. It embraces the future and the past. 2. It works by means, without means, and against means. 3. Mankind, and particularly the Church, the object of special care. 4. The mode of administration usually secret, but always just. This last point more fully considered. 2. The profane denial that the world is governed by the secret counsel of God, refuted by passages of Scripture. Salutary counsel. 3. This doctrine, as to the secret counsel of
John Calvin—The Institutes of the Christian Religion

The Upbringing of Jewish Children
The tenderness of the bond which united Jewish parents to their children appears even in the multiplicity and pictorialness of the expressions by which the various stages of child-life are designated in the Hebrew. Besides such general words as "ben" and "bath"--"son" and "daughter"--we find no fewer than nine different terms, each depicting a fresh stage of life. The first of these simply designates the babe as the newly--"born"--the "jeled," or, in the feminine, "jaldah"--as in Exodus 2:3, 6, 8.
Alfred Edersheim—Sketches of Jewish Social Life

The Instrumentality of the Wicked Employed by God, While He Continues Free from Every Taint.
1. The carnal mind the source of the objections which are raised against the Providence of God. A primary objection, making a distinction between the permission and the will of God, refuted. Angels and men, good and bad, do nought but what has been decreed by God. This proved by examples. 2. All hidden movements directed to their end by the unseen but righteous instigation of God. Examples, with answers to objections. 3. These objections originate in a spirit of pride and blasphemy. Objection, that
John Calvin—The Institutes of the Christian Religion

The Twelve Minor Prophets.
1. By the Jewish arrangement, which places together the twelve minor prophets in a single volume, the chronological order of the prophets as a whole is broken up. The three greater prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, stand in the true order of time. Daniel began to prophesy before Ezekiel, but continued, many years after him. The Jewish arrangement of the twelve minor prophets is in a sense chronological; that is, they put the earlier prophets at the beginning, and the later at the end of the
E. P. Barrows—Companion to the Bible

Of Civil Government.
OF CIVIL GOVERNMENT. This chapter consists of two principal heads,--I. General discourse on the necessity, dignity, and use of Civil Government, in opposition to the frantic proceedings of the Anabaptists, sec. 1-3. II. A special exposition of the three leading parts of which Civil Government consists, sec. 4-32. The first part treats of the function of Magistrates, whose authority and calling is proved, sec. 4-7. Next, the three Forms of civil government are added, sec. 8. Thirdly, Consideration
John Calvin—The Institutes of the Christian Religion

Travelling in Palestine --Roads, Inns, Hospitality, Custom-House Officers, Taxation, Publicans
It was the very busiest road in Palestine, on which the publican Levi Matthew sat at the receipt of "custom," when our Lord called him to the fellowship of the Gospel, and he then made that great feast to which he invited his fellow-publicans, that they also might see and hear Him in Whom he had found life and peace (Luke 5:29). For, it was the only truly international road of all those which passed through Palestine; indeed, it formed one of the great highways of the world's commerce. At the time
Alfred Edersheim—Sketches of Jewish Social Life

The Figurative Language of Scripture.
1. When the psalmist says: "The Lord God is a sun and shield" (Psa. 84:11), he means that God is to all his creatures the source of life and blessedness, and their almighty protector; but this meaning he conveys under the figure of a sun and a shield. When, again, the apostle James says that Moses is read in the synagogues every Sabbath-day (Acts 15:21), he signifies the writings of Moses under the figure of his name. In these examples the figure lies in particular words. But it may be embodied
E. P. Barrows—Companion to the Bible

Kings
The book[1] of Kings is strikingly unlike any modern historical narrative. Its comparative brevity, its curious perspective, and-with some brilliant exceptions--its relative monotony, are obvious to the most cursory perusal, and to understand these things is, in large measure, to understand the book. It covers a period of no less than four centuries. Beginning with the death of David and the accession of Solomon (1 Kings i., ii.) it traverses his reign with considerable fulness (1 Kings iii.-xi.),
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

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