Bible Strands
2 Chronicles 11:15
And Jeroboam appointed his own priests for the high places and for the goat demons and calf idols he had made.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The narrator records Jeroboam’s institutional response immediately after the Levites abandon his northern kingdom due to his rejection of them as priests.
The words — וַ/יַּֽעֲמֶד־ (va/i.ya.'a.med-) denotes he appointed, and כֹּֽהֲנִ֔ים (ko.ha.Nim) identifies the priests he installed.
The thread — This action parallels 1 Kings 12:31, where Jeroboam appoints non-Levites for high places, and aligns with Deuteronomy 32:17, which condemns sacrifices to goat demons.
Why it lands — The text documents a deliberate replacement of God-ordained priesthood with self-made religious systems. It demands a clear-eyed assessment of whether one accepts God’s established order or constructs personal substitutes.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And he ordained him priests for the high places, and for the devils, and for the calves which he had made.
Cross-references
- 1 Kings 12:28 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.”
- Deuteronomy 32:17 They sacrificed to demons, not to God, to gods they had not known, to newly arrived gods, which your fathers did not fear.
- 1 Kings 12:31 Jeroboam also built shrines on the high places and appointed from every class of people priests who were not Levites.
- 1 Kings 13:33 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.
- Exodus 32:4 He took the gold from their hands, and with an engraving tool he fashioned it into a molten calf. And they said, “These, O Israel, are your gods, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!”
- Exodus 32:31 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.
- 1 Kings 14:9 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.
- Psalms 106:19 At Horeb they made a calf and worshiped a molten image.
- Hosea 8:5 He has rejected your calf, O Samaria. My anger burns against them. How long will they be incapable of innocence?
- Hosea 13:2 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!”