The sins of Jeroboam: Warning Against Departing from True Worship
1 Kings 12:26-32 and 13:33-34 - Saturday, Feb 10, 2024 - Memorial of Saint Scholastica, Virgin
In 1 Kings 12:26-32 and 13:33-34, we find a significant episode in the biblical narrative involving Jeroboam, the first king of the northern kingdom of Israel. After the kingdom split into the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah, Jeroboam became concerned about losing the allegiance of his people to the southern kingdom, where the temple in Jerusalem was located. And so, he decided to establish an alternative place of worship to the temple in Jerusalem.
It was a "brilliant" idea. The people did not have to travel to Jerusalem to worship the Lord, they could do it within the borders of his kingdom. Jeroboam chose to set up two places of worship — one in Bethel in the south and the other in the north in Dan. Biblical commentators state that Jeroboam did not attempt to displace the worship of the God of Israel by setting up those two temples. For the biblical author, however, the actions of Jeroboam that aimed to consolidate his reign were in violation of God's command: "You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below" (Exod. 20:3-4a). From then on, the biblical author would refer to those actions as the "sins of Jeroboam".
Jeroboam's golden calves remind us of the single golden calf worshipped by the Israelites in the wilderness (see Exod, 32). In 1 Kings 12:28-30, Jeroboam is described as saying, "Behold your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt." This statement is a direct echo of the language used during the construction of the golden calf in the wilderness (Exodus 32:4). The worship of the golden calf in the wilderness could end up tragically for the people and it was Moses' intercessory prayer that prevent a disaster.
The consequences of Jeroboam's actions were severe. God sent a prophet to denounce Jeroboam and foretell the destruction of his dynasty. The altar at Bethel, where Jeroboam offered sacrifices to the golden calf, would be split apart, and the ashes poured out (1 Kings 13:1-3). Furthermore, the prophet predicted the birth of a future king named Josiah, who would carry out judgment on the altar at Bethel, put an end to all alternative places of worship, and centralise the worship of the Lord in the temple in Jerusalem (1 Kings 13:2, 2 Kings 23:15-18).
This episode serves as a cautionary tale about the dangers of departing from God's command, "You shall have no other gods before me" (Exod. 20:3). In our contemporary context, among the sins that transgress this commandment the Catechism highlights: superstition, idolatry, divination and magic, irreligion, atheism and agnosticism (CCC 2110-2128). Let us always remember that "for us, there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live" (1 Cor. 8:6).