“ Speak to Aaron and his sons. Speak to all the Israelites. Tell them,‘ Here is what the Lord has commanded. He has said,“ Suppose someone sacrifices an ox, a lamb or a goat. They sacrifice it in the camp or outside of it.They do it instead of bringing the animal to the entrance to the tent of meeting. They sacrifice it instead of giving it as an offering to me in front of my holy tent. Then they will be thought of as guilty of spilling blood. Because they have done that, they must be separated from their people.The Israelites are now making sacrifices in the open fields. But they must bring their sacrifices to the priest. They must bring them to me at the entrance to the tent of meeting. There they must sacrifice them as friendship offerings.
Baasha did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. He lived the way Jeroboam had lived. He committed the same sin Jeroboam had caused Israel to commit.
Take your burnt offerings and sacrifices to that place. Bring your special gifts and a tenth of everything you produce. Take with you what you have promised to give. Bring any other offerings you choose to give. And bring the male animals among your livestock that were born first to their mothers.
So King Jeroboam asked for advice. Then he made two golden statues that looked like calves. He said to the people,“ It’s too hard for you to go up to Jerusalem. Israel, here are your gods who brought you up out of Egypt.”He set up one statue in Bethel. He set up the other one in Dan.What Jeroboam did was sinful. And it caused Israel to sin. The people came to worship the statue at Bethel. They went all the way to Dan to worship the statue that was there.Jeroboam built temples for worshiping gods on high places. He appointed all kinds of people as priests. They didn’t even have to be Levites.He established a feast. It was on the 15th day of the eighth month. He wanted to make it like the Feast of Booths that was held in Judah. Jeroboam built an altar at Bethel. He offered sacrifices on it. He sacrificed to the calves he had made. He also put priests in Bethel. He did it at the high places he had made.
