He did not turn away from the sins of Jeroboam” – 1 and 2 Kings found 17x

I kept reading this over and over in the book of the Kings and then I went back to remind myself what exactly was the sin of Jeroboam?  Why was it so bad?

In essence the sin of Jeroboam was that he made copies of God’s original creation and made substitutes (1 Kings 12):

  • Substitute gods with golden calves
  • A substitute location for worship
  • Substitute priests where anyone could be a priest and not just Levites.
  • Substitute sacrifices and offerings
  • Substitute festivals

All of these looked like the originals–the temple, the worship, the sacrifices, the festivals, etc… but it was just slightly off.  It had all the appearance and rhythms of God’s way of doing things, but it was slightly modified “to meet the times.”  That and the worship of idols, especially the golden calves as it was easier than going to Jerusalem.

The evil that does some of the greatest harm is not that which is totally opposite and blatantly evil.  The evil most devious is that which is a copy of how God designed things or meant things to be, but it’s an alteration of it.

It’s then that I realized that so much of what is around us is the sin of Jeroboam.  Example:  Romans 1:27