II Chronicles 11:15
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And Jeroboam appointed his own priests for the high places and for the goat demons and calf idols he had made.
Commentaries
Excerpts gathered from published commentaries to ground the reading.
Rehoboam's defection from the Lord, and his humiliation by the Egyptian king Shishak. - Ch2 12:1. The infinitive כּהכין, "at the time of the establishing," with an indefinite subject, may be expressed in English by the passive: when Rehoboam's royal power was established. The words refer back to Ch2 11:17. כּחזקתו, "when he had become strong" (חזקה is a nomen verbale: the becoming strong; cf. Ch2 26:16; Ch2 11:2), he forsook the Lord, and all Israel with him. The inhabitants of the kingdom of Judah are here called Israel, to hint at the contrast between the actual conduct of the people in their defection from the Lord, and the destiny of Israel, the people of God. The forsaking of the law of Jahve is in substance the fall into idolatry, as we find it stated more definitely in Kg1 14:22.
Open source ↗We are here going on with the history of Rehoboam. I. His attempt to recover the ten tribes he has lost, and the letting fall of that attempt in obedience to the divine command (Ch2 11:1-4). II. His successful endeavours to preserve the two tribes that remained (Ch2 11:5-12). III. The resort of the priests and Levites to him (Ch2 11:13-17). IV. An account of his wives and children (Ch2 11:18-23).
Open source ↗11:15 Some scholars believe that Jeroboam set up the goat and calf idols as pedestals for the Lord, noting that the Canaanites believed that their gods stood on the backs of animals (cp. Exod 32:5, where the gold calf was used in “a festival to the Lord”). However, Jeroboam never specifically credited the Lord with rescuing Israel (1 Kgs 12:28), so others think he might have meant that other gods stood on the animals. Still others think Jeroboam might have adopted the practice of the Egyptians, portraying actual pagan deities in animal form (cp. Exod 32:4).
Open source ↗Original language
The Hebrew and Greek words behind this passage, with Strong's numbers — from openscriptures (CC BY-SA).
Cross-references
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After seeking advice, the king made two golden calves and said to the people, “Going up to Jerusalem is too much for you. Here, O Israel, are your gods, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.”
They sacrificed to demons, not to God, to gods they had not known, to newly arrived gods, which your fathers did not fear.
Jeroboam also built shrines on the high places and appointed from every class of people priests who were not Levites.
Even after these events, Jeroboam did not repent of his evil ways, but again he appointed priests for the high places from every class of people. He ordained anyone who desired to be a priest of the high places.
So Moses returned to the LORD and said, “Oh, what a great sin these people have committed! They have made gods of gold for themselves.
These are demonic spirits that perform signs and go out to all the kings of the earth, to assemble them for battle on the great day of God the Almighty.
You have done more evil than all who came before you. You have proceeded to make for yourself other gods and molten images to provoke Me, and you have flung Me behind your back.
Now they sin more and more and make for themselves cast images, idols skillfully made from their silver, all of them the work of craftsmen. People say of them, “They offer human sacrifice and kiss the calves!”
Now the Spirit expressly states that in later times some will abandon the faith to follow deceitful spirits and the teachings of demons,