1 Reis 12:30

30. This thing became a sin It was not designed to be idolatry, but it speedily ran into it. How could it result otherwise, for it was a direct violation of the second commandment, and a likening of the glory of the invisible God to an ox that eateth grass? Jeroboam must have known the hazards of his course; but his case is only one example out of many which show how the natural heart of man will turn away from those parts of God’s word which conflict with his self-interests and desires. He probably, as we have indicated above, (note on 1 Kings 12:26,) quieted his conscience by explaining away and distorting the obvious lessons of sacred history.

For the people Rather, and the people went before the one, unto Dan. The meaning is obscure, and perhaps some words have fallen out of the text. Keil takes the one to mean the calf at Beth-el, and understands that the people even unto Dan, that is, the greater part of the people, went to the sanctuary at Beth-el. Others take the one in the sense of one of the two, and explain: The people throughout the whole kingdom, even unto Dan, resorted to one or the other of these shrines, the one, of course, which was most convenient. In this sense, unto Dan would be a shortened form of the common expression from Beersheba unto Dan, Beersheba not being named, because, perhaps, of its adherence to the tribe of Judah. 1 Kings 19:3.