This practice of worshiping other gods began early in Jeroboam’s reign. When the kingdom was divided and he controlled the northern part, he stopped all pilgrimages to Jerusalem: “‘It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Here are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.’ One [golden calf] he set up in Bethel, and the other in Dan. And this thing became a sin; the people came to worship the one at Bethel and went as far as Dan to worship the other” (1 Kings 12:28–30).
