Jeroboam,
the first king of the northern tribes, said to himself: It is not good that
the people of my kingdom have to go to the temple in Jerusalem when they wish to hold a
religious ceremony or offer up a sacrifice. And so he had two golden calves
made. One he erected in the north of his kingdom, in the city of Dan, and the other in the
south, in the city of Bethel. Then he announced to
all the people: You no longer need to go up to Jerusalem when you want to
celebrate a feast or offer up a sacrifice. You will find God in Dan and in Bethel, the same God who
brought your fathers out of the land of Egypt.
Not
all the Israelites listened to Jeroboam, for they remembered that God had
forbidden them to make images of God as the Egyptians had done. They knew
they would break the Covenant if they exchanged the living God for a lifeless
idol.