Jeroboam's golden calves at Bethel and Dan
1 Kings 12:25–13:34; 2 Kings 17:21–22
To keep his people from worshiping in Jerusalem, Jeroboam set up golden calves at Bethel and Dan, appointed his own priests, and invented his own festival.
So the king took counsel, and made two calves of gold; and he said to them, “It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Look and behold your gods, Israel, which brought you up out of the land of Egypt!”
1 Kings 12:28 (World English Bible)
Jeroboam feared that if Israel kept going to the temple in Jerusalem, their hearts would return to the house of David. His answer echoed Aaron's words at Sinai. A prophet from Judah confronted him at the altar in Bethel and foretold that a king named Josiah would one day burn the bones of its priests on it (fulfilled in 2 Kings 23:15–16).
“The sins of Jeroboam” became the refrain for nearly every king of Israel who followed.
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Dating notes
Ussher dates Jeroboam's festival to the 15th day of the eighth month, which he computes as 16 December 975 BC, and counts the 390 years of Ezekiel 4:5 from it.