1 Kings 12:31
in 1 Kings 12Jeroboam also built shrines on the high places and appointed from every class of people priests who were not Levites.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And he made houses of high places, and made priests from among all the people, that were not of the sons of Levi.
KJV
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.
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This verse in 1 Kings 12
Commentary
8 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
He made an house of high places - i. e., “He built a temple, or sanctuary, at each of the two cities where the calves were set up.” The writer uses the expression “house of high places” in contempt, meaning that the buildings were not real temples, or houses of God, like that at Jerusalem, but only on a par with the temples upon high places which had long existed in various parts of the land.
This site's exposition
priests of the lowest of the people
Jeroboam builds houses of high places and staffs them with priests who are not of the sons of Levi, closing off the one tribe still loyal to Jerusalem's temple from any office in his new system. John Wesley notes that the fault was never the social rank of the men chosen, since some Levites themselves came from humble means, but the office itself claimed by hands the Lord had never given it to. A kingdom built on a stolen prophecy now builds a priesthood on a stolen office.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening4 voices
And that indeed was Jeroboam's sin; not that he chose mean persons, for some of the Levites were such; and his sin had not been less, if he had chosen the noblest and greatest persons; as we see in the example of Uzziah.
), and in each many altars, probably complaining of it as an inconvenience that in the temple at Jerusalem there was but one. The multiplying of altars passed with some for a piece of devotion, but God, by the prophet, puts another construction upon it, Hos. viii. Ephraim has made many altars to sin.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
And he made an house of high places,....
Sin is a bad way of building up a family. Rehoboam was the son of the wisest of men, yet did not inherit his father's wisdom, and then it stood him in little stead to inherit his father's throne. Neither wisdom nor grace runs in the blood.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
The latter place was the most frequented--for the words (1Ki 12:30) should be rendered, "the people even to Dan went to worship before the one" (Jer 48:13; The innovation was a sin because it was setting up the worship of God by symbols and images and departing from the place where He had chosen to put His name.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A house of high places - A temple of temples; he had many high places in the land, and to imitate the temple at Jerusalem, he made one chief over all the rest, where he established a priesthood of his own ordination. Probably a place of separate appointment, where different idols were set up and worshipped; so it was a sort of pantheon. Made priests of the lowest of the people - He took the people indifferently as they came, and made them priests, till he had enough, without troubling himself whether they were of the family of Aaron or the house of Levi, or not. Any priests would do well enough for such gods. But those whom he took seem to have been worthless, good-for-nothing fellows, who had neither piety nor good sense. Probably the sons of Levi had grace enough to refuse to sanction this new priesthood and idolatrous worship.
The words behind it
13 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיַּ֖עַשׂ | vaiyaas | and he made | H6213 → | 2628 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| בֵּ֣ית | beit | a house of | H1004 → | 2046 times |
| בָּמ֑וֹת | bamot | high places | H1116 → | 102 times |
| וַיַּ֤עַשׂ | vaiyaas | and he appointed | H6213 → | 2628 times |
| כֹּֽהֲנִים֙ | kohanim | priests | H3548 → | 750 times |
| מִקְצ֣וֹת | miktzot | from [the] ends of | H7098 → | 35 times |
| הָעָ֔ם | haam | the people | H5971 → | 1873 times |
| אֲשֶׁ֥ר | ʾasher | who | H834 → | 5497 times |
| לֹֽא־ | lo'- | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| הָי֖וּ | hayu | they were | H1961 → | 3559 times |
| מִבְּנֵ֥י | mibenei | from [the] descendants of | H1121 → | 4930 times |
| לֵוִֽי׃ | levi | Levi | H3878 → |
וַיַּ֖עַשׂand he made
vaiyaasH6213 →2628 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
בֵּ֣יתa house of
beitH1004 →2046 times
בָּמ֑וֹתhigh places
bamotH1116 →102 times
וַיַּ֤עַשׂand he appointed
vaiyaasH6213 →2628 times
כֹּֽהֲנִים֙priests
kohanimH3548 →750 times
מִקְצ֣וֹתfrom [the] ends of
miktzotH7098 →35 times
הָעָ֔םthe people
haamH5971 →1873 times
אֲשֶׁ֥רwho
ʾasherH834 →5497 times
לֹֽא־not
lo'-H3808 →5168 times
הָי֖וּthey were
hayuH1961 →3559 times
מִבְּנֵ֥יfrom [the] descendants of
mibeneiH1121 →4930 times
לֵוִֽי׃Levi
leviH3878 →
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Numbers 3:10So you shall appoint Aaron and his sons to carry out the duties of the priesthood; but any outsider who approaches the tabernacle must be put to death.”
it leads to
- Numbers 1:51
Whenever the tabernacle is to move, the Levites are to take it down, and whenever it is to be pitched, the Levites are to set it up. Any outsider who goes near it must…
- Numbers 3:38
Moses, Aaron, and Aaron’s sons were to camp to the east of the tabernacle, toward the sunrise, before the Tent of Meeting. They were to perform the duties of the sanctuary as a service…
- Numbers 1:51
Through
2 Chronicles 13:9But did you not drive out the priests of the LORD, the sons of Aaron, and the Levites? And did you not make priests for yourselves as do the peoples of other lands? Now…
it leads to
- 2 Chronicles 11:14–15
For the Levites left their pasturelands and their possessions and went to Judah and Jerusalem, because Jeroboam and his sons had rejected them as priests of the LORD.
- Jeremiah 2:11
Has a nation ever changed its gods, though they are no gods at all? Yet My people have exchanged their Glory for useless idols.
- Exodus 29:35
This is what you are to do for Aaron and his sons based on all that I have commanded you, taking seven days to ordain them.
- 2 Chronicles 11:14–15
Through
2 Kings 17:32So the new residents worshiped the LORD, but they also appointed for themselves priests of all sorts to serve in the shrines of the high places.
it leads to
- 2 Kings 17:29
Nevertheless, the people of each nation continued to make their own gods in the cities where they had settled, and they set them up in the shrines that the people of Samaria had made…
- Zephaniah 1:5
those who bow on the rooftops to worship the host of heaven, those who bow down and swear by the LORD but also swear by Milcom,
- 2 Kings 23:19
Just as Josiah had done at Bethel, so also in the cities of Samaria he removed all the shrines of the high places set up by the kings of Israel who had provoked the…
- 2 Kings 17:29
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies1
About 1 Kings
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.