1 Kings 12:31

31 Jeroboam built shrines on high places and appointed priests from all sorts of people, even though they were not Levites.

1 Kings 12:31 in Other Translations

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.

31 He also made temples on high places and appointed priests from among all the people, who were not of the Levites.

31 Jeroboam also erected buildings at the pagan shrines and ordained priests from the common people—those who were not from the priestly tribe of Levi.

31 And that wasn't the end of it. Jeroboam built forbidden shrines all over the place and recruited priests from wherever he could find them, regardless of whether they were fit for the job or not.

31 Jeroboam also built shrines on the high places and set up priests from every class of people who were not Levites.

1 Kings 12:31 Meaning and Commentary

1 Kings 12:31

And he made an house of high places
Or "altars" ^F19, built a temple at Dan, and set up several altars in it for sacrifice, both for burnt offerings, and for incense, as at Jerusalem:

and made priests of the lowest of the people;
this clause seems not so well rendered; for this would have been very unpopular, and brought his new form of worship into contempt, to make the dregs of the people priests, which was not only a very sacred office, but of great honour; it was usual in some nations for kings to be priests also ^F20, and Jeroboam himself exercised this office, ( 1 Kings 12:33 ) ( 13:1 ) and therefore would never put the meanest of the people into it, but rather those of higher rank: the words may be literally rendered, "from the extremities" or "ends of the people" ^F21; meaning not merely from the extremist parts of his country, but rather out of the whole of the people; out of all sorts of them, out of any of them, without any distinction of tribe: for so it follows,

which were not of the sons of Levi;
and as by this means he enriched himself, by taking the cities that belonged to the priests and Levites, which they were obliged to leave, and from whence he drove them, ( 2 Chronicles 11:14 ) so he pleased the people by laying open the priesthood common to them, and freeing them from the payment of tithes, and the like.

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FOOTNOTES:

F19 (twmb) "altarium", Vatablus.
F20 Rex Anius Virgil. l. 3. Vid. Servium in ib.
F21 (Meh twuqm) "de extremitatibus populi", Vatablus, Piscator.

1 Kings 12:31 In-Context

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.

Cross References

• 1. S Leviticus 26:30; 1 Kings 13:32; 2 Kings 17:29
• 2. S Exodus 29:9; Numbers 3:10; 1 Kings 13:33; 2 Kings 17:32; 2 Chronicles 11:14-15; 2 Chronicles 13:9