Jeroboam's Compromise

'So he made offerings on the altar which he had made at Bethel...which he had devised in his own heart.' 1 Kings 12:25-33
After the days of David & Solomon. Rehoboam Solomon's son laid a heavy burden on God's people that divided the kingdom into the North & South. Rehoboam ruled in the South and Jeroboam ruled in the North. The prescribed place of worship by God remained in the Southern kingdom of Judah in the city of Jerusalem. 
Jeroboam feared for his kingdom in the North, that all would return to Rehoboam & Jerusalem and would kill him so that his reign would be non-existent. As a result Jeroboam built a mock temple with a mock altar and hired 'priests from every class of people who were not of the sons of Levi' (1 Kings 12:30-31) to resemble the one in Jerusalem according to his own heart.
Jeroboam's compromise in failing to worship as God prescribed set up the compromise of all future kings of Israel. Instead of worshipping as God commanded He made worship into a convenience. In the book of Kings the phrase 'walked in the way of Jeroboam, and in his sin' described the succeeding compromising kings. What a horrible example! 60 years later the door was open for Ahab & his wicked wife Jezebel to introduce further idolatrous worship.  
In the New Testament book of Revelation 2, we see how the Perverted church at Pergamos set the stage for the wickedness of the church at Thyatira. Satan knows we're worshippers by nature. If he can get us to worship ourselves, nature, money or anything other than God as He commands and prescribes then he has succeeded. 
May we remember to worship the Lord our God with all our heart, all our soul & all our might and place no other gods before Him! The Psalmist in Psalm 96:8-9 wrote, 'Give to the LORD the glory due His name; bring an offering, and come into His courts. Oh, worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness! Tremble before Him, all the earth.'