Slices
Prepare
Ask God to speak to you through his Word as you read these challenging verses.
Bible passage
Golden calves at Bethel and Dan
25 Then Jeroboam fortified Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim and lived there. From there he went out and built up Peniel.
26 Jeroboam thought to himself, ‘The kingdom is now likely to revert to the house of David. 27 If these people go up to offer sacrifices at the temple of the Lord in Jerusalem, they will again give their allegiance to their lord, Rehoboam king of Judah. They will kill me and return to King Rehoboam.’
28 After seeking advice, the king made two golden calves. He said to the people, ‘It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Here are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.’ 29 One he set up in Bethel, and the other in Dan. 30 And this thing became a sin; the people came to worship the one at Bethel and went as far as Dan to worship the other.
31 Jeroboam built shrines on high places and appointed priests from all sorts of people, even though they were not Levites. 32 He instituted a festival on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, like the festival held in Judah, and offered sacrifices on the altar. This he did in Bethel, sacrificing to the calves he had made. And at Bethel he also installed priests at the high places he had made. 33 On the fifteenth day of the eighth month, a month of his own choosing, he offered sacrifices on the altar he had built at Bethel. So he instituted the festival for the Israelites and went up to the altar to make offerings.
Explore
I find these verses hard, and depressing! Initially, Jeroboam seems a promising ruler (1 Kings 11:28). But things go from bad to worse when he ignores God’s specific commands and builds golden calves (v 28, harking back to Exodus 20:4). History repeats itself as the Israelites turn away from God and worship idols in acts of deliberate disobedience (see Exodus 32:7,8). It seems Jeroboam and his advisers have not learned any lessons from the past.
Jeroboam decides he knows best. Despite God’s gracious dealings with him, he plots to secure his kingdom for the future. He decides the idols are an investment in national security (vs 26,27), claiming they represent God and therefore using God for his own ends. Jeroboam also discourages the people from travelling to the Temple in Jerusalem (v 28). This means that those who obey Jeroboam are disobeying God.
In Tim Keller’s book, Counterfeit Gods, mentioned in Monday’s reading, he says that a thirst for power is often at the root of rebellion towards God, along with selfishness and greed. Certainly – and sadly – both Jeroboam and Rehoboam, along with many of the subsequent kings of Judah and Israel, seem to be partial to it.
Respond
Pray: ‘Almighty God, you alone can bring into order the unruly wills … of sinners: Grant your people grace to love what you command and desire what you promise; that … our hearts may be fixed where true joys are to be found.’*
*From the collect for the fifth Sunday in Lent from Common Worship, 2000
Bible in a year
Read the Bible in a year: 2 Kings 17,18; 2 Corinthians 7
Pray for Scripture Union
Leap of Faith (for primary ages) and Step of Faith (designed for 12–16s) are new, freely available assembly resources developed by the Mission Resources team and SU schools’ specialists. Pray that they will be widely and effectively used and will help pupils to see that there is another dimension to life.
Because a strong start begins with smart preparation
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