1 Kings 13:33

_AFTER THIS THING JEROBOAM RETURNED NOT FROM HIS EVIL WAY, BUT MADE AGAIN OF THE LOWEST OF THE PEOPLE PRIESTS OF THE HIGH PLACES: WHOSOEVER WOULD, HE CONSECRATED HIM, AND HE BECAME ONE OF THE PRIESTS OF THE HIGH PLACES._ Jeroboam ... made again of the lowest of the people priests - (see the notes at 1 Kings 12:31.) WHOSOEVER WOULD, HE CONSECRATED, х_ YªMALEE'_ (H4390) _ 'ET_ (H853) _ YAADOW_ (H3027)] - he filled his hand; i:e., invested him with the priestly office [Septuagint, epleerau teen cheira autou]....

23-34 God is displeased at the sins of his own people; and no man shall be protected in disobedience, by his office, his nearness to God, or any services he has done for him. God warns all whom he employs, strictly to observe their orders. We cannot judge of men by their sufferings, nor of sins by present punishments; with some, the flesh is destroyed, that the spirit may be saved; with others, the flesh is pampered, that the soul may ripen for hell. Jeroboam returned not from his evil way. He promised himself that the calves would secure the crown to his family, but they lost it, and sunk his family. Those betray themselves who think to support themselves by any sin whatever. Let us dread prospering in sinful ways; pray to be kept from every delusion and temptation, and to be enabled to walk with self-denying perseverance in the way of God's commands....

Verse 1 Kings 13:33. _JEROBOAM RETURNED NOT FROM HIS EVIL WAY_] There is something exceedingly obstinate and perverse, as well as blinding and infatuating, in idolatry. The prediction lately delivered at Beth-el, and the miracles wrought in confirmation of it, were surely sufficient to have affected and alarmed any heart, not wholly and incorrigibly hardened; and yet they had no effect on Jeroboam! _MADE-THE LOWEST OF THE PEOPLE PRIESTS_] So hardy was this bad man in his idolatry that he did not even attempt to form any thing according to the model of God's true worship: he would have nothing like God and truth. In his _calves_, or rather _oxen_, he copied the manner of Egypt; and in the formation of his priesthood, he seems to have gone aside from all models. Amongst the worst of heathens, the priesthood was filled with respectable men; but Jer

WHOSOEVER WOULD, HE CONSECRATED HIM - i. e., he exercised no discretion, but allowed anyone to become a priest, without regard to birth, character, or social position. We may suspect from this that the office was not greatly sought, since no civil governor who cared to set up a priesthood would wish to degrade it in public estimation. Jeroboam did impose one limitation, which would have excluded the very poorest class. The candidate for consecration was obliged to make an offering consisting of one young bullock and seven rams 2 Chronicles 13:9....

EXPOSITION THE DISOBEDIENCE AND DEATH OF THE MAN OF GOD.—The seduction of the man of God, who has borne such fearless witness against Jeroboam's ecclesiastical policy, and his tragical end, are now narrated, partly because of the deep impression the story made at the time, but principally because these events were in themselves an eloquent testimony against the worship of the calves and the whole ecclesiastical policy of Jeroboam, and a solemn warning for all time against any, the slightest, departure from the commandments of God. The very unfaithfulness of this accredited messenger of the Most High, and the instant punishment it provoked, became part of the Divine protest against the new _regime, _against the unfaithfulness of Israel; whilst the remarkable manner in which these occurrences were recalle

AFTER THIS THING JEROBOAM RETURNED NOT FROM HIS EVIL WAY,.... From the idolatrous practices he had started, and was establishing; though he had seen his altar rent, and the ashes poured out as the man of God predicted, his own hand withered, and that restored again upon the prayer of the prophet; and though he had heard of the death he died for his disobedience to the command of God, and the several marvellous things that attended it; these were so far from reforming him, that he seemed to be the more hardened thereby: BUT MADE AGAIN OF THE LOWEST OF THE PEOPLE PRIESTS OF THE HIGH PLACES: and officiated there, and indeed those of the tribe of Levi would not serve there, and therefore were expelled their cities; see 2 Chronicles 11:14....

2. JEROBOAM AND REHOBOAM AND THEIR REIGN CHAPTER 13 The Man of God from Judah _ 1. The man of God and Jeroboam (1 Kings 13:1)_ 2. The temptation and lying message (1 Kings 13:11) 3. Judgment announced (1 Kings 13:20) 4. The fate of the man of Judah (1 Kings 13:23) 5. Jeroboam's impenitence (1 Kings 13:33) A dramatic scene opens this chapter. The idolatrous King is engaged in his religious ceremony when an unnamed man of God interrupted him. He did not rebuke Jeroboam, but addressed

1 Kings 12:25 to 1 Kings 13:34. THE SIN OF JEROBOAM. THE PROPHET AT BETHEL. The sources cannot be exactly determined. Some (see Cent.B) may belong to the annals of the northern kingdom, but the tone is decidedly Deuteronomic. The prophet's message to Jeroboam is certainly late. Jeroboam's first act as recorded was to build or fortify Shechem (1 Kings 12:25). Then for some reason he transferred his seat of government to the E. of Jordan to Penuel. Possibly he was hard pressed by his former patron Shishak, who invaded Israel in his reign (1 Kings 14:25). There is no proof of this; but Abner after Saul's death set up Ishbosh

BECAME ONE OF THE PRIESTS. Septuagint, Syriac, and Vulg, reads "became priest"....

Jeroboam goes on in his evil way (Not in Chronicles) 33. _made again of the lowest of the people_ R.V. MADE AGAIN FROM AMONG ALL THE PEOPLE. See note on 1 Kings 12:31 above. _he consecrated him_ The Hebrew expression is -he filled his hand." See margin of A.V. The idea is -he intrusted this solemn office to his charge." _and he became_one of _the priests of the high places_ The insertion of the italic -one of" shews that the construction is irregular. The R.V. gives, THAT THERE MIGHT BE PRIESTS OF THE HIGH PLACES. But the awkwardness of the Hebrew which has the verb in the singular and the noun in the plural is not removed thereby. It can be explained but not imitated in a translation. -Whosoever would" in the previous clause is singular in form but plural in notion. Hence the latter portion of the verse says -whosoever would he became,...