1 Kings 12:31

1Ki 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.

Ver. 31. And he made a house.] A mock temple, a pantheon, a place to hold his mawmets and monuments of idolatry.

And made priests, &c.] Leaden priests are well fitted to golden deities: such are those greasy hedge priests among the Papists.

Which were not of the sons of Levi.] The Levites he had turned out of their places, and enriched himself with their spoils. {2Ch 11:14}

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1Ki 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, Hos 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, (2Ch 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.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

12:31 Jeroboam directly violated the law of Moses, which prohibited worship at pagan shrines (Deut 12:2-7) and specified that priests were to come only from the tribe of Levi (Exod 40:13-15; Num 1:50-53).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

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

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

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.

Next: 1 Kings Chapter 13

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 31. A house of high places] A temple of temples; he had many high places in the land, and to imitate the temple at Jerusalem, he made one chief over all the rest, where he established a priesthood of his own ordination. Probably a place of separate appointment, where different idols were set up and worshipped; so it was a sort of pantheon.

Made priests of the lowest of the people] He took the people indifferently as they came, and made them priests, till he had enough, without troubling himself whether they were of the family of Aaron or the house of Levi, or not. Any priests would do well enough for such gods. But those whom he took seem to have been worthless, good-for-nothing fellows, who had neither piety nor good sense. Probably the sons of Levi had grace enough to refuse to sanction this new priesthood and idolatrous worship.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(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 2Ch_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.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

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 (2Ch_11:13-14).

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

So he offered upon the altar which he had made in Bethel the fifteenth day of the eighth month,.... As he had done in Dan:

even in the month which he had devised of his own heart; the feast of tabernacles was of God's appointing, but the time of keeping he had devised himself, changing it from the seventh month, or Tisri, which answers to our September and October, to the eighth month, or Marchesvan, which answers to part of October and part of November:

and ordained a feast unto the children of Israel; to be observed by them as the feast of tabernacles was by the priests of Judah and Benjamin:

and he offered upon the altar, and burnt incense; which none but the priests should do; perhaps the reason why the same resentment was not shown as to Uzziah was, because this was not at the altar of the Lord: whether he burnt incense after the manner of the Jewish priests, or as the priests of Egypt did to the sun, where he had been for some time, is not certain; the former burnt incense only twice a day, morning and evening, the latter three times; at sunrising they burnt rosin, about noon myrrh, and about sun setting "kuphi", which was a compound of sixteen sorts (w).

(w) Plutarch de lside & Osiride.

Next: 1 Kings Chapter 13

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

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 2Ch 11:13-14.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Places, to other idols or devils, (2 Paralipomenon xi. 15.; Haydock) not merely at Bethel, chap. xiii. --- Lowest. Such places were fittest for him. (Worthington) --- Hebrew, "extremity:" others understand people of reputation: but it seems he took any whosoever would (chap. xiii. 33.) accept the office, without confining himself to the Levites. (Calmet) --- Indeed most of them were banished, as refractory; (2 Paralipomenon xi. 13.) though some were so weak as to take part with him; (Ezechiel lxiv. 10.) probably the descendants of Micha, Judges xviii. 31. (Haydock) --- They were not punished with instant death, like Core, though their crime seemed greater. (Salien)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

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, 2Ch 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, 2Ch 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.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

31. House of high places — That is, a house at the two high places just mentioned — Beth-el and Dan. At each of these high places he built houses suitable to the worship that was to be established at them. So the houses of high places (1Ki_13:32; 2Ki_17:29; 2Ki_17:32; 2Ki_23:19) are the temples for worship built at the high places.

Made priests of the lowest of the people — Rather, from the whole of the people; that is, the entire mass of the population without reference to tribes. The priesthood had hitherto been hereditary, and confined to the tribe of Levi; but Jeroboam annulled this Divine arrangement, probably because the Levites refused to give their sanction to the new forms of worship, and thus obliged him to do this or have no priests at all. מקצות העם, literally, from the ends of the people, never has reference to the moral character or social position of the people, but to their numerical or territorial extent. The sin of Jeroboam in this was not that he selected for priests persons of low birth or infamous character, but persons taken indiscriminately from the entire population.

Not of the sons of Levi — These probably opposed the king’s new devices and unauthorized innovations; and when he proceeded to make priests from the whole people, they “left their possessions,” and with “such as set their hearts to seek the Lord God of Israel, came to Jerusalem,” and by their piety and numbers they greatly “strengthened the kingdom of Judah.” See 2Ch_11:13-17.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And he made a house of high places See on 1Ki_3:2, and cf. 2Ki_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. 2Ki_17:29, 2Ki_17:32, 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 (Jdg_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. twOxqmi 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. Gen_19:4, Jud_1:18:2, , 2Ch_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.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

An house - Houses, or chapels, besides the temples, which are built at Daniel and Beth-el; he built also for his peoples better accommodation, lesser temples upon divers high places. Of the lowest - Which he might do, either,

1. because the better sort refused it, or,

2. because such would be satisfied with mean allowances; 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 Chron. xi, 13, 14, or,

3. because mean persons would depend upon his favour, and therefore be pliable to his humour, and firm to his interest, but the words in the Hebrew properly signify, from the ends of the people; which may be translated thus, out of all the people; promiscuously out of every tribe. Which exposition seems to be confirmed by the following words, 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. But that he chose men of other tribes, contrary to God's appointment, which restrained that office to that tribe. Levi - To whom that office was confined by God's express command.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

Jeroboam made houses on high places

The workers who did this at Jeroboam's commands are represented by the metonym of the name of Jeroboam himself. AT: "Jeroboam's workers made houses on high places" (See: Metonymy)

houses on high places

The implied information is that these were houses of worship. The full meaning of this statement can be made explicit. AT: "houses of worship on high places" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)

made priests

"appointed men to be priests"

in the eighth month, on the fifteenth day of the month

This is the eighth month of the Hebrew calendar. The fifteenth day is near the beginning of November on Western calendars. AT: "on the fifteenth day of the eighth month" (See: Hebrew Months and Ordinal Numbers)

went up to the altar

"Went up" here is an idiom for going to a sacred place to worship since these altars were located on high places. AT: "offered sacrifices on the altar" (See: Idiom)

translationWords

high place

priest

son

Levi

ordain

feast

day

altar

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.