00:00Hey everyone, welcome back to our channel. Today, we're going on a super interesting
00:05journey back in time to meet a king named Jeroboam. Imagine you're a builder and you've
00:11just built the most amazing, gigantic treehouse ever. It's so big that all your friends can
00:17hang out in it. That's kind of what happened with King Solomon's kingdom. It was huge.
00:23But after he was gone, the kingdom split into two, like breaking a cookie in half.
00:28The southern part was called Judah, and the northern part was called Israel.
00:34Our story today is about the very first king of the northern kingdom, Israel. His name was Jeroboam.
00:41Now, Jeroboam was chosen to be king, which is a pretty big deal. But right away, he started to
00:47worry. You see, the most important place for all the Israelites to worship God was in a city called
00:54Jerusalem. But Jerusalem was in Judah, the other kingdom. Jeroboam started thinking,
01:00Oh no! If all my people keep going to Jerusalem to worship, they might start liking the king of
01:06Judah more than me. They might want to reunite the kingdom, and then I won't be king anymore.
01:12He was scared of losing his power and his crown. So, Jeroboam came up with a plan. He thought it was
01:19a clever plan, but as we'll see, it was a really, really bad one. He said to his people,
01:26Hey everyone, going all the way to Jerusalem is such a long and tiring trip. It's too much for you.
01:32He decided to make things easier. He told his people, I have a great idea. I'll build two new
01:39places for you to worship, right here in our own kingdom. And what did he put in these new worship
01:45centers? Get this. He made two giant, shiny, golden calves, like statues of baby cows, but made of pure
01:53gold. He set one up in a town called Bethel, which was in the south of his kingdom, and the other one
02:00way up north in a town called Dan. He then declared, Behold, Israel, these are your gods who brought you
02:07up out of the land of Egypt. Wait a minute, does that sound familiar? It should. It's almost the exact
02:14same thing the Israelites said a long, long time ago in the desert with Moses, when they made a
02:20golden calf while Moses was up on the mountain. That was a huge mistake then, and it was a huge
02:27mistake now. God had given them very clear rules, and one of the most important ones was,
02:33You shall not make for yourself an idol. They were only supposed to worship the one true God,
02:39not statues of animals. Jeroboam was basically creating a copycat religion. It looked a little
02:46bit like the real thing, but it was fake. He even created new holidays and festivals.
02:52The Bible tells us he made up a festival on his own accord, which means he just invented it himself
02:58to keep people away from the real festivals in Jerusalem. But his plan didn't stop there.
03:03In God's law, only men from a special family, the tribe of Levi, could be priests. The Levites
03:11were the ones who were supposed to teach the people about God and lead the worship services.
03:16But Jeroboam didn't want the Levites in charge. Why? Because many of them were still loyal to God
03:22and the temple in Jerusalem. So, he kicked them out and said anyone who wanted to could become a priest.
03:29He let people from all different tribes become priests, as long as they were loyal to him.
03:35This completely went against God's instructions and caused a lot of confusion.
03:40Imagine if you had a recipe for the most delicious chocolate chip cookies in the world.
03:45The recipe says you need flour, sugar, and chocolate chips. But someone comes along and says,
03:52Oh, flour is too hard to find. Let's use sand instead. And sugar? Nah, let's use salt.
03:59And instead of chocolate chips, let's use tiny rocks. Would those be good cookies?
04:04Of course not. They would be terrible. Jeroboam was changing God's perfect recipe for worship
04:11into something that was not good at all. His actions created a huge problem. People started
04:17getting confused about who they were supposed to worship and how. Instead of traveling to Jerusalem
04:22to worship the one true God, they started worshiping these golden calf statues right in their own
04:28backyard. It was easier, it was convenient, but it was wrong. It was the beginning of a long,
04:35sad story of idolatry for the northern kingdom of Israel. God didn't just stay silent about this.
04:42He sent prophets, who were his special messengers, to warn Jeroboam and the people.
04:47A prophet came right to the altar at Bethel while Jeroboam was making a sacrifice and shouted a
04:53message from God. He warned that one day, a king from the family of David would come and put a stop
04:59to this fake worship. The prophet even gave a sign. The altar would split apart and the ashes would
05:06pour out. And guess what? It happened right then and there. You'd think that would make Jeroboam stop
05:12and think, right? But it didn't. He was so focused on keeping his power that he ignored God's warning.
05:19The Bible says that, after this event, Jeroboam did not turn from his evil way. This decision had
05:26huge consequences. It set the whole kingdom of Israel on a path away from God. For hundreds of
05:32years after this, when the Bible talks about a bad king in Israel, it often says he walked in the
05:39ways of Jeroboam and continued the sin he had started. His name became a symbol for leading people
05:46astray. So what can we learn from Jeroboam's story? First, we learn that trying to take shortcuts
05:52with God is never a good idea. Jeroboam wanted an easier religion that suited his own plans,
05:59but it led his whole nation into trouble. God's way is always the best way, even if it seems harder.
06:06Second, we see the danger of fear. Jeroboam was so afraid of losing his kingdom that he made
06:12terrible choices. When we let fear control us, we can end up doing things that hurt ourselves and
06:19others and that disobey God. Instead of trusting God to keep him as king, he tried to control everything
06:26himself. And finally, the story reminds us how important it is to worship God alone. The golden
06:33calves were a distraction, a fake replacement for the real thing. In our lives, there can be things
06:39that try to take God's place too. It might not be a golden statue, but it could be anything we love
06:46more than God, money, popularity, or even our own plans. Jeroboam's story is a powerful reminder that
06:54our worship belongs to God and God alone. He created everything, he loves us, and he knows what's best for
07:01us. Unlike the shiny but silent golden calves, the true God is alive, he speaks to us through his word,
07:09and he wants to have a real relationship with us. It's a sad story, but it teaches us a very important
07:16lesson about staying true to God, no matter what. Thanks so much for watching with me today. I hope
07:23you learned something new. Don't forget to like this video and subscribe to the channel so you don't miss
07:29our next adventure. See you next time and God bless.
