2 Chronicles 11:15
in 2 Chronicles 11And Jeroboam appointed his own priests for the high places and for the goat demons and calf idols he had made.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
and he appointed him priests for the high places, and for the he-goats, and for the calves which he had made.
KJV
And he ordained him priests for the high places, and for the devils, and for the calves which he had made.
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This verse in 2 Chronicles 11
Commentary
8 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
The high places - i. e., the two sanctuaries at Dan and Bethel. For the devils - literally, “for the goats:” probably the word is used (as in Lev 17:7) for objects of idolatrous worship generally.
This site's exposition
for the high places, and for the devils
Jeroboam ordains his own priests for the high places, and for the devils, and for the calves which he had made. The word rendered devils is se'irim, literally the hairy ones or goat-demons, the same term Leviticus uses for the goat-idols Israel is forbidden to sacrifice to at Lev 17:7. The commentators read it either as another name for the calf cult itself or for a separate goat-worship kept alongside it, and the text does not settle which; either way Jeroboam's clergy stands outside the line Aaron's sons alone were given.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
High places - Or, for the high places, both for the devils (the Baals, or false gods, which divers of his people worshipped, whom he encouraged to do so, giving them liberty to do anything but to serve God at Jerusalem) and for the calves. So he erected two sorts of high places, some for Baal, and some for the true God, whom be pretended to worship, in and by the calves.
And he ordained him priests for the high places,....
No marvel if he that cast off God cast off his ministers; they were not for his purpose, would not do whatever he might bid them do, would not serve his gods, nor worship the golden image which he had set up.
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
But here it is applied distinctively to the goat deities, which were probably worshipped chiefly in the northern parts of his kingdom, where the heathen Canaanites still abounded. for the calves which he had made--figures of the ox gods Apis and Mnevis, with which Jeroboam's residence in Egypt had familiarized him.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
The priests and Levites, refusing to take part in the idolatrous ceremonies, were ejected from their living [2Ch 11:13, 14]. Along with them a large body of the people who faithfully adhered to the instituted worship of God, offended and shocked by the impious innovations, departed from the kingdom.
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
And he ordained him priests - for the devils - שעירים seirim, the hairy ones; probably goats: for as the golden calves, or oxen, were in imitation of the Egyptian ox-god, Apis; so they no doubt paid Divine honors to the goat, which we know was an object of religious veneration in Egypt.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
priests for the high places i.e., Why did Jeroboam coerce them to abandon [their positions]? Because he stationed pagan priests for the satyrs.
1 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
For the Levites had abandoned their open land that was in the entire land of the ten tribes.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 4 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
8 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיַּֽעֲמֶד־ | vaiyaamed- | and he appointed | H5975 → | 521 times |
| לוֹ֙ | lo | for himself | ||
| כֹּֽהֲנִ֔ים | kohanim | priests | H3548 → | 750 times |
| לַבָּמ֖וֹת | labamot | for the high places | H1116 → | 102 times |
| וְלַשְּׂעִירִ֑ים | velaseirim | and for the goats | H8163 → | |
| וְלָעֲגָלִ֖ים | velaagalim | and for the calves | H5695 → | |
| אֲשֶׁ֥ר | ʾasher | which | H834 → | 5497 times |
| עָשָֽׂה׃ | ʾasah | he had made | H6213 → | 2628 times |
וַיַּֽעֲמֶד־and he appointed
vaiyaamed-H5975 →521 times
לוֹ֙for himself
lo
כֹּֽהֲנִ֔יםpriests
kohanimH3548 →750 times
לַבָּמ֖וֹתfor the high places
labamotH1116 →102 times
וְלַשְּׂעִירִ֑יםand for the goats
velaseirimH8163 →
וְלָעֲגָלִ֖יםand for the calves
velaagalimH5695 →
אֲשֶׁ֥רwhich
ʾasherH834 →5497 times
עָשָֽׂה׃he had made
ʾasahH6213 →2628 times
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
1 Kings 12:31Jeroboam also built shrines on the high places and appointed from every class of people priests who were not Levites.
it leads to
- 2 Chronicles 13:9
But 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…
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Numbers 3:10
So 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.”
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- 1 Kings 13:32–33
for the message that he cried out by the word of the LORD against the altar in Bethel and against all the shrines on the high places in the cities of Samaria will surely…
- 2 Kings 17:32
So 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.
- 2 Chronicles 13:9
Through
1 Kings 12:28After 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…
it leads to
- 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…
- 2 Kings 17:16
They abandoned all the commandments of the LORD their God and made for themselves two cast idols of calves and an Asherah pole. They bowed down to all the host of heaven and served…
- Exodus 32:4
Through
Deuteronomy 32:17They sacrificed to demons, not to God, to gods they had not known, to newly arrived gods, which your fathers did not fear.
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 28:64
Then the LORD will scatter you among all the nations, from one end of the earth to the other, and there you will worship other gods, gods of wood and stone, which neither you…
- Judges 5:8
When they chose new gods, then war came to their gates. Not a shield or spear was found among forty thousand in Israel.
- Deuteronomy 28:64
About 2 Chronicles
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Jamieson Fausset and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; 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.