To set up a high place is to have a division. Hence, the significance of the high places is division. These places were a substitute and an alternative for the unique place chosen by God to preserve the oneness of His people (see note Deut. 12:5¹). In this book two kings — Solomon and Jeroboam — took the lead to set up the high places, the former because of the indulgence of lust (see note 1 Kings 11:7¹) and the latter because of ambition (see note 1 Kings 12:27¹). Thus, the high places were related to lust, ambition, and idolatry. All the divisions among God’s people are connected to these three evil things.

A high place is an elevation, something lifted above the common level. This indicates that a high place involves the exalting of something. In principle, every division in Christianity involves the uplifting, the exalting, of something other than Christ. Anything that is exalted above Christ, even biblical teachings and scriptural practices, can be used to set up a “high place” to cause division among God’s people. See note 1 Cor. 1:2^9f and note 1 Cor. 1:9².

The high places in the Old Testament are a matter of great significance, for they seriously damaged the ground of oneness among God’s elect. Once these places were set up, they were not easily removed, even by the good kings (1 Kings 15:14; 22:43; 2 Kings 12:3; 14:4; 15:4, 35; cf. 2 Kings 18:4; 23:8, 12, 15, 19).

The word house here indicates that Jeroboam built a temple on the high places.

Jeroboam’s apostasy became a serious sin that caused his entire family to be destroyed under God’s judgment (1 Kings 13:34; 14:7-11; 15:29-30) and eventually led to Israel’s being carried away into captivity (1 Kings 14:15-16; 2 Kings 17:20-23). The sins of Jeroboam are referred to repeatedly throughout the books of the Kings.

Jeroboam’s apostasy (vv. 25-33; 13:33-34) consisted of his;
1) making two calves (idols) of gold, putting one in Bethel and the other in Dan, in order to distract his people from worshipping God in Jerusalem (vv. 25-30), thus breaking God’s ordination of having one unique worship center in the Holy Land for keeping the unity, the oneness, of the children of Israel (Deut. 12:2-18);
2) building a temple at the high places and appointing priests from among the common people who were not of the tribe of Levi (v. 31; 13:33b; 2 Chron. 13:9);
3) ordaining a feast on the fifteenth day of the eighth month (the month he had devised in his own heart), like the feast that was in Judah (vv. 32-33b);
4) offering sacrifices on the altar at Bethel to the calves that he had made, and placing in Bethel the priests of the high places (vv. 32*b-33*a);
5) going up to the altar to burn incense (v. 33b) although he was not a priest.
The apostasy of Jeroboam can be considered a type of the apostasy in today’s Christendom, with its divisive worship centers, its clergy-laity system, its self-ordained religious “feasts,” and its idolatry. Cf. note Judg. 17:5¹.

God had ordained that His people come together three times a year in Jerusalem (Deut. 16:16). Jeroboam was afraid that the ten tribes would return to their rightful king if they went to worship God in Jerusalem. Thus, he set up two divisive worship centers, saying that it was not convenient to travel to Jerusalem (vv. 28-29). The source of Jeroboam’s apostasy was selfish ambition, the desire to have his own kingdom. The divisions in Christianity are also caused mainly by selfish ambition.

The twelve tribes of Israel provided the daily necessities of Solomon and his vast family (4:22-23, 27-28), which included Solomon’s one thousand wives and concubines (11:3) with all their dependents. Eventually, the requirement to provide these daily necessities became a factor in the people’s rejecting of Solomon. Jeroboam took Solomon’s extraordinary, luxurious life and his heavy levying on the people as the cause of his rebellion. Solomon lost the kingdom partly due to his indulgence in lust and idol worship and partly because the people were burdened by the need to provide for Solomon’s vast family.