After this thing Jeroboam didn’t return from his evil way, but again made priests of the high places from among all the people. Whoever wanted to, he consecrated him, that there might be priests of the high places.
Parallel Translations
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After this thing Jeroboam didn’t return from his evil way, but again made priests of the high places from among all the people. Whoever wanted to, he consecrated him, that there might be priests of the high places.
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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.
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After this thing Jeroboam returned not from his evil way, but made again from among all the people priests of the high places; whosoever would, he consecrated him, that he might be one of the priests of the high places.
Cross-references (13)
Passages linked to 1 Kings 13:33 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- 2 Chronicles 11:15 He himself appointed priests for the high places, for the male goats, and for the calves which he had made.
- 2 Chronicles 13:9 Haven’t you driven out the priests of Yahweh, the sons of Aaron, and the Levites, and made priests for yourselves according to the ways of the peoples of other lands? Whoever comes to consecrate himself with a young bull and seven rams may be a priest of those who are no gods.
- Exodus 28:41 You shall put them on Aaron your brother, and on his sons with him, and shall anoint them, and consecrate them, and sanctify them, that they may minister to me in the priest’s office.
- Numbers 1:51 When the tabernacle is to move, the Levites shall take it down; and when the tabernacle is to be set up, the Levites shall set it up. The stranger who comes near shall be put to death.
- Numbers 3:10 You shall appoint Aaron and his sons, and they shall keep their priesthood, but the stranger who comes near shall be put to death.”
- Numbers 17:5 It shall happen that the rod of the man whom I shall choose shall bud. I will make the murmurings of the children of Israel, which they murmur against you, cease from me.”
- Numbers 17:12-13 The children of Israel spoke to Moses, saying, “Behold, we perish! We are undone! We are all undone! Everyone who keeps approaching Yahweh’s tabernacle, dies! Will we all perish?”
- Judges 17:12 Micah consecrated the Levite, and the young man became his priest, and was in the house of Micah.
- 1 Kings 12:31-33 He made houses of high places, and made priests from among all the people, who were not of the sons of Levi. Jeroboam ordained a feast in the eighth month, on the fifteenth day of the month, like the feast that is in Judah, and he went up to the altar. He did so in Bethel, sacrificing to the calves that he had made, and he placed in Bethel the priests of the high places that he had made. He went up to the altar which he had made in Bethel on the fifteenth day in the eighth month, even in the month which he had devised of his own heart; and he ordained a feast for the children of Israel, and went up to the altar, to burn incense.
- Psalms 78:34 When he killed them, then they inquired after him. They returned and sought God earnestly.
- Jeremiah 18:4 When the vessel that he made of the clay was marred in the hand of the potter, he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.
- Amos 6:11 “For, behold, Yahweh commands, and the great house will be smashed to pieces, and the little house into bits.
- 2 Timothy 3:13 But evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (16 sources)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain So the wicked profit not by God’s threatenings, but…
So the wicked profit not by God’s threatenings, but go backward, and become worse and worse, 2 Tim. 3:13.
Hebrew, fill his hand.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 1Ki 13:33 After this thing Jeroboam returned not from…
1Ki 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.
Ver. 33. After this thing Jeroboam returned not.] All these wonderful accidents, as God’s hammers, did but beat upon cold iron. Wicked men grow worse and worse, till they have filled up the measure of their sins, and so wrath come upon them to the utmost. See Popelings. {Rev 9:21; Rev 16:9; Rev 16:11}
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Whosoever would, he consecrated him.] Heb., He filled his hand; that is, Jeroboam’s hand, as some sense it, they filled with money, to be made priests. Omnia Romae venalia. But it seemeth rather to allude to the custom of censecrating the Levitical priests, by filling their hands with sacrifices and gifts. {Exo 29:9-10} Faciunt et vespae favos; simiae imitantur homines: wasps also have their honeycombs; and apes, that scorn of nature, do imitate men.
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.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain After this thing, i.e. after all these things; the…
After this thing, i.e. after all these things; the singular number put for the plural; after so many, and evident, and successive miracles; which is noted to aggravate his infidelity and apostacy.
Made again of the lowest of the people priests; he abated not so much as a circumstance in his idolatrous worship.
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Whosoever would; without any respect to tribe or family, or integrity of body, or mind, or life; all which were to be regarded in the priesthood.
He consecrated him, Heb. he filled his hand; of which phrase see Exo 28:41; 29:9,33.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain After this - That is, after all these things:…
After this - That is, after all these things: the singular number put for the plural; after so many, and evident, and successive miracles. Made again - He abated not so much as a circumstance in his idolatrous worship. Whosoever - Without any respect to tribe or family, or integrity of body, or mind, or life; all which were to be regarded in the priesthood.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 33. Jeroboam returned not from his evil way]…
Verse 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 Jeroboam took of the lowest of the people, and put them in that office.
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Whosoever would, he consecrated him] He made no discrimination: any vagabond that offered was accepted even of those who had no character, who were too idle to work, and too stupid to learn.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain 1Ki 13:33. After this — That is, after all…
1Ki 13:33. After this — That is, after all these things; the singular number being put for the plural; after so many evident and successive miracles; Jeroboam returned not from his evil ways — He was not at all changed in his principles or practice, but continued in his idolatry. Made again of the lowest of the people, &c. — He abated not so much as a circumstance in his idolatrous worship. Whosoever would he consecrated him, &c. — Without any respect to tribe, or family, or integrity of body, or mind, or life; all which things were to be regarded in the priesthood.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Whosoever would, he consecrated him - i. e., he…
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 2Ch 13:9.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Way. Every thing promotes the salvation of the just,…
CHAPTER XIII.
Way. Every thing promotes the salvation of the just, while the wicked pervert the most gracious designs of Providence to their own ruin. The king concluded that the prediction deserved no regard, ver. 18. (Calmet) --- Meanest. Chap. xii. 31. Thus he wished to eradicate all sense of religion. (Haydock) --- His, suam, "own." Any person who brought the oil and the necessary victims, might assume the office of priest. See Exodus xxviii. 41. (Haydock)
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).
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 33. Made again — See note on 1Ki_12:31.
33. Made again — See note on 1Ki_12:31.
Whosoever would — The mere desire of the one who offered himself for the priesthood was the sufficient call to the holy service.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 33–34. Jeroboam goes on in his evil way (Not…
33–34. 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 1Ki_12:31 above.
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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,’ but as there were many who did so, the result was not one priest but many ‘priests of the high places.’
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.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (33) Whosoever would.—See 1Ki_12:32. The emphatic tone of the…
(33) Whosoever would.—See 1Ki_12:32. The emphatic tone of the words, “whosoever would, he consecrated him,” possibly indicates that, in spite of all that Jeroboam and his prophet could do, there was some difficulty in securing candidates for his unauthorised priesthood.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain After this thing calculated though it was to make…
After this thing calculated though it was to make a deep impression and to furnish a solemn warning Jeroboam turned not from his evil way. "Some hand was found that durst repair the altar God had rent" (Matthew Henry). According to Josephus, the old prophet now explained away the miracles of the prophet of Judah, alleging that the altar had fallen because it was new and the king"s hand had become powerless from fatigue (Ant., 8:9, but made again Heb. returned and made." The tautology is significant. He returned not from his sin, but returned to it of the lowest (see on 1Ki_12:11) of the people priests of the high places: whosoever would Heb. pleased, he consecrated Heb. filled his hand. In the consecration of Aaron and his sons, and possibly of their successors also, the portions of the victim which were usually burned upon the altar, together with the right shoulder or leg, which was the priest"s portion, and three cakes of unleavened Bread, were put into the hands of the candidates for the priesthood, and waved before the Lord before they were offered on the altar (Exo_29:22-26; Lev_8:25-28) To "fill the hand" consequently Became a synonym for consecration him It would almost appear, from the extreme readiness with which Jeroboam ordained his priests, that few candidates offered themselves for the office. In one respect, however, he exacted more from the candidate than did the law. For whereas the latter required "one bullock and two rams", (Exo_29:1, etc.) he demanded one Bullock and seven rams as the offering on consecration, (2Ch_13:9) and he became one of the priests Heb. and he became priests, etc. So the Chaldee. LXX kaineto iJereuv of the high places.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain Jeroboam turned not from his way.
1Ki_13:33-34
Jeroboam turned not from his way.
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Jeroboam: a character study
Jeroboam had decidedly a fine start with a flattering prospect of success, a rare opportunity for excelling both temporally and spiritually. There was the promotion of the king, and by God the conditional promise of kingship, together with His guiding, protecting, and counselling presence. Permanent regnancy for himself and his children after him. Hence, having God to begin with, and Gods unfailing promise to rest on, provided he fulfilled the conditions, what could he have better, what more? A grand Start! A splendid chance to march to the coveted goal of success on the very threshold of an untried life enterprise. But every fair morning does not end in a cloudless eventide; neither does every such beginning as Jeroboam had culminate in continuance in well-doing. The start may be the best part in a mans life. It was so with Jeroboam.
1. There was manifest distrust of God. Evidently he had forgotten Gods promise to be with him and to establish his house and kingdom.
2. This distrust of God led to departure from God. Leaning to his own understanding, he resolved to build two altars and to make two golden calves, and place one of them at Bethel, and the other at Dan, the extreme points in his kingdom.
3. Another point which strikes us in this mans history is his despising Jehovahs warning and servant. These histories of the Bible repeat themselves in the lives around us to-day. There are many men to whom God has given a good start in life. They have been blessed with an auspicious entrance into the world, with social and religious environment most favourable and helpful, God-fearing parents, a religious training, a comfortable home, good education, business tact, common-sense views of life, and men, and things, and, above all, with Heavens call to fellowship and godliness. Each has started right, with high aims and noble purposes. Public favour has greeted them, success has blossomed in their path of enterprise and effort, until, by sweat of brain and brawn of muscle, and the smile of Providence, they have taken a steady and straight course to wealth and position. But, as in the case of Jeroboam, temporal prosperity has been followed by spiritual degeneracy. A going up in the world has resulted in a going down in grace. Such persons, however, are not left without warning. Gods ministers are commanded to prophesy against them. This is done, though it provokes anger and brings disfavour. Faithfulness ofttimes forfeits popularity and position, but it ensures the Well done of God. To rebuke sin in high places, to tear the mask from the face of the hypocrite, to denounce a mans pet idol--indifference, intemperance, or impurity--is like touching gunpowder with a lucifer. You must expect an explosion if not an expulsion. Persecution in some form will hound you; but fear not, for He who has said, Touch not My anointed and do My prophets no harm, covers you with His wings, and smites your persecutors with the rod of judgment.
He wastes their strength and withers their health.
1. Learn from this study of character the influence of one life.
2. Learn, too, the danger of attempting to injure Gods true servants. Whoso toucheth you, toucheth the apple of My eye.
3. Lastly, beware of the developing power of evil. The seedlings of sin finding congenial soil grow into a harvest of woe. The rill of evil first, the river of corruption at last. Jeroboam went from bad to worse. Slighting God grew into abandonment of God. Worship through the medium of symbols became rank idolatry. No man intends to become a drunkard when he lifts the first glass to his lips, but he takes the beginning step towards it. The possibilities of sin--the resources of wrong-doing pent up in every mans nature--no mind can gauge, no tongue can tell Safety alone lies in salvation from sin, salvation through the cross--full, free, eternal (J. O. Keen, D. D.)
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The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain HOMILETICS OF 1Ki_13:33-34
HOMILETICS OF 1Ki_13:33-34
AN INVETERATE SINNER
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I. That an inveterate sinner is indifferent alike to entreaty and warning. “After this thing Jeroboam returned not from his evil way.” There is something exceedingly obstinate and perverse, as well as blinding and infatuating, in idolatry. The gracious overtures of Jehovah through the prophet Ahijah (chap. 1Ki_11:37-38), the prediction against the altar and the miraculous and awe-inspiring events in connection with it, sent as much in mercy as in anger, were surely sufficient to have affected and alarmed any heart not wholly and incorrigibly hardened: and yet they had no effect on Jeroboam! “All these wonderful accidents, as God’s hammers, did but beat upon cold iron.” This state of mind is not acquired all at once. It is the result of repeated rejections of God’s grace, of stifled convictions, and a love of sin for its own sake. An inveterate sinner is an occasion of sorrow to ministers, to angels, to God!
II. That an inveterate sinner adds to his guilt by a stolid persistency in the same course of iniquity. “But made again of the lowest of the people priests of the high places.” Among the worst of heathens, the priesthood was filled with respectable men: but Jeroboam made no discrimination. Any strolling vagrant who offered himself was accepted, irrespective of moral or intellectual fitness. The king became more and more careless as to the character and motives of the men he appointed. The spiritual office is put to shame if borne by men who make a traffic of religion, and are intent only on filling their own hands. Wicked men grow worse and worse, till they have filled up the measure of their sins, and so wrath come upon them to the uttermost (Rev_9:21; Rev_16:9; Rev_16:11).
III. That an inveterate sinner will not escape the most complete punishment. “And this thing became sin unto the house of Jeroboam—even to destroy it from the face of the earth.” Sin will not always triumph. Its glaring abominations cry to heaven for vengeance; and that vengeance, though long delayed, will fall with terrible and desolating power. When neither the severity nor the patient long-suffering of his God brings to repentance a man who walks in evil ways, he is brought by his own sin under the sentence for the obdurate, namely, temporal and eternal ruin (2Ti_3:13; Joh_8:34).
LESSONS:—
1. Unrepented sin hardens the heart.
2. The goodness of God will not leave the most inveterate unwarned.
3. Though hand join in hand, the wicked shall not go unpunished.
GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES
1Ki_13:33-34. Apparently the witness which the man of God bore, and the death which he died, were in vain. The destruction of an altar, and the withering of a hand which was cured again, were lessons soon forgotten. A law once broken, there must be continual new transgressions to justify the first. A superstition once established will go on increasing and multiplying itself. At last the sense of being under any authority will vanish almost wholly from the mind of the rebellious ruler. He will say—using the words in precisely the opposite sense to that in which they are used in the parable—“May I not do what I will with mine own?” As the necessary retribution for such a state of mind, he will become more and more a slave. The priests whom he has made will insist on ever higher prizes for their ignominious work. To soothe the fears which haunt him after the fear of a Righteous Being has been cast aside, he will ask those whom he has put in the place of his conscience what acts he must do that he may seem a religious man to them, possibly at last to himself.—Maurice.
—The means to strengthen or ruin the civil power is either to establish or destroy the right worship of God. The way to destroy religion is to embase the dispensers of it. This is to give the royal stamp to a piece of lead. It is a sad thing when all other employments shall empty themselves into the ministry; when men shall repair to it not for preferment, but refuge, like malefactors flying to the altars only to save their lives, or like those of Eli’s race (1Sa_2:36), that should come crouching and seeking to be put into the priest’s office that they may eat a piece of bread.—R. South.
1Ki_13:33. Idolatry. I. An evil way. II. Delusive. III. Dangerous. IV. Corrupting. V. Leads to destruction.
—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 of one young bullock and seven rams (2Ch_13:9).—Speaker’s Comm.
—The authoritative source of the ministry. I. Is not the will of the aspirant. II. Not the exigencies of a false religious system. III. Not the appointment of the crown. IV. But the call of God.
1Ki_13:34. This persistence in wrong, after the warning given him, was such a sin as to bring a judgment, not only on Jeroboam himself, but on his family. Jeroboam’s departure from the path of right forfeited the crown (chap. 1Ki_11:38), and in that forfeiture was involved naturally the destruction of his family, for in the East, when one dynasty supplants another, the ordinary practice is for the new king to destroy all the males belonging to the house of his predecessor.
—Diminution, disquiet, and desolation of families, is the fruit of sin. He promised himself that the calves would secure the crown to his family, but it proved they lost it and sunk his family. Those betray themselves that think by any sin to support themselves.—M. Henry.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 This matter became sin to the family of Jeroboam
This matter became sin to the family of Jeroboam
This can be stated in active form. AT: "Jeroboam's family sinned by doing this thing" (See: Active or Passive)
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This matter
This phrase refers to Jeroboam's setting up shrines and appointing priests.
caused his family to be destroyed and to be exterminated
This can be stated in active form. AT: "because of this God destroyed and exterminated Jeroboam's family" (See: Active or Passive)
to be destroyed and to be exterminated
These mean nearly the same thing. AT: "to be completely destroyed" (See: Doublet)
translationWords
Jeroboam
turn
evil
priest
people group
servant
consecrate
sin
family
face
earth
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 13:33-34 Apparently, Jeroboam knew what had happened to the…
13:33-34 Apparently, Jeroboam knew what had happened to the man of God, but it did nothing to change his spiritual outlook. Jeroboam’s persistently apostate religion, despite God’s denunciation of it, doomed his dynasty to destruction (14:7-11, 15-16; 15:27-30). As succeeding Israelite kings perpetuated his sin, it brought about the complete demise of the northern kingdom (2 Kgs 17:20-23).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.