But in making Bethel and Dan temples of the kingdom--that he set up
high places, is a statement which need not be considered--Jeroboam
did nothing more than Solomon had done before him; only he had
firmer ground under his feet than Solomon, Bethel and Dan being
old sanctuaries, which Jerusalem was not. The golden calves,
again, which he set up, differed in their gold but not in their
object from the ephods and idols of other kinds which were
everywhere to be found in the older "houses of God"; e.g. from
the brazen serpent at Jerusalem. /l/
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1. "Although Jeroboam had lived in Egypt, it would he wrong to say
that he brought animal worship with him from that country, as
wrong as to regard Aaron's golden calf as a copy of Apis. The
peculiarity of the animal-worship of Egypt, and of its
bull-worship in particular, was that sanctity was attributed to
_living_ animals." Vatke, p. 398. Egyptian gods cannot help
against Egypt, Exodus xxxii. 4; 1Kings xii. 28.
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Even Eichhorn remarked with force and point, that though Elijah
and Elisha protested against the imported worship of Baal of Tyre,
they were the actual champions of the Jehovah of Bethel and Dan,
and did not think of protesting against His pictorial
representation; even Amos makes no such protest, Hosea is the
first who does so.
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