דברי הימים ב, פרק י״א, פסוק ט״ו

Jeroboam’s religious revolution was a calculated political move designed to secure his rule by severing the people's spiritual connection to Jerusalem. To achieve this, he engineered a complete alternative system of worship that fundamentally altered the religious landscape of the kingdom.

A central pillar of this strategy involved dismantling the established religious leadership. Jeroboam stripped the original priests and Levites of their traditional status. In their place, he appointed a completely new priesthood to serve at his high places. These new priests were not chosen from the sacred lineage of Aaron; rather, anyone willing and capable could assume the role, regardless of their family background [מצודת דוד, ביאור שטיינזלץ]. He was forced to abandon the traditional priests because he needed leaders who would willingly participate in the unauthorized forms of worship he was establishing [רש"י].

This newly invented religion introduced the worship of goat-like figures. The primary approach among commentators is that this practice involved the worship of demons and false illusions that the people elevated to the status of deities. To those who believed in them, these demonic entities were perceived as taking the physical form of goats [מצודת דוד].

Alongside these goat figures, Jeroboam instituted the worship of calves. Commentators offer different perspectives regarding his underlying theological motives for this dual worship. One approach suggests that Jeroboam did not initially intend to promote literal idol worship. Instead, he designed the calves as physical symbols meant to represent God as the redeemer of Israel [ביאור שטיינזלץ].

Another perspective attributes the creation of these idols to astrological uncertainties among the people. The Israelites harbored doubts about the spiritual forces behind their successful Exodus from Egypt. They questioned whether their liberation was driven by the astrological sign of Taurus, represented by the calf, or the sign of Aries, represented by the goat, which had been a major deity in Egypt. To satisfy these doubts, Jeroboam created symbols for both astrological signs. Ultimately, the people gravitated more toward the worship of the calves, heavily influenced by the historical precedent of the Golden Calf in the desert. Because of this strong preference, the historical account in the Book of Kings only mentions the calves, while the narrative here provides the complete picture by detailing the inclusion of the goat figures as well [רלב"ג].