So the king took counsel, and made two calves of gold; and he said to them, “It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Look and behold your gods, Israel, which brought you up out of the land of Egypt!”
ExplanationCommentary
Verse 28. Device. Wicked policy, to make religion subservient to the state. Worthington.—Jeroboam was right in judging, ( Bible.) that it is one of the strongest foundations of government, ( Calmet.) and therefore he would have a peculiar religion for his subjects. Bible.—Strange blindness, caused by ambition! As if God could not have maintained him on the throne. The sequel evinces how delusive were his wicked projects. Calmet.—Calves. It is likely, by making his gods in this form, he mimicked the Egyptians, among whom he had sojourned, who worshipped their Apis and their Osiris under the form of a bullock. Challoner. S. Jerom in Osee iv. 15. and v. and so forth—The Greeks commonly style these idols, heifers, are more contemptible than bulls: ( Tirinus.) and some Fathers style them, “calf-heads.” Lact. iv. 10. Monceau pretends that they resembled the cherubim, and were intended to represent the true God; thus endeavouring to excuse the Israelites from idolatry, on this occasion, as well as when they came out of Egypt. Exodus 32:4. But his arguments are weak, and Jeroboam is constantly condemned as a most wicked and idolatrous prince. Calmet. 14:9. 4 Kennicott. 23:15. Osee 8:5 and 10:5. Calmet.—Egypt. The same had been said by Aaron. Menochius.