These gatherings formed a source of revenue to the prince in
whose capital they were held, and financial as well as political
considerations required that periodical assemblies should be established
in Israel similar to those which attracted Judah to Jerusalem. Jeroboam
adopted a plan which while safeguarding the interests of his treasury,
prevented his becoming unpopular with his own subjects; as he was
unable to have a temple for himself alone, he chose two out of the most
venerated ancient sanctuaries, that of Dan for the northern tribes, and
that of Bethel, on the Judaean frontier, for the tribes of the east and
centre. He made two calves of gold, one for each place, and said to the
people, "It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem; behold thy gods,
O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt." He granted
the sanctuaries certain appanages, and established a priesthood
answering to that which officiated in the rival kingdom: "whosoever
would he consecrated him, that there might be priests of the high
places."* While Jeroboam thus endeavoured to strengthen himself on the
throne by adapting the monarchy to the temperament of the tribes over
which he ruled, Rehoboam took measures to regain his lost ground and
restore the unity which he himself had destroyed. He recruited the army
which had been somewhat neglected in the latter years of his father,
restored the walls of the cities which had remained faithful to him, and
fortified the places which constituted his frontier defences against the
Israelites.** His ambition was not as foolish as we might be tempted to
imagine. He had soldiers, charioteers, generals, skilled in the art of
war, well-filled storehouses, the remnant of the wealth of Solomon, and,
as a last resource, the gold of the temple at Jerusalem. He ruled over
the same extent of territory as that possessed by David after the death
of Saul, but the means at his disposal were incontestably greater than
those of his grandfather, and it is possible that he might in the
end have overcome Jeroboam, as David overcame Ishbosheth, had not the
intervention of Egypt disconcerted his plans, and, by exhausting his
material forces, struck a death-blow to all his hopes.

* 1 Kings xii. 25-32; chaps, xii. 33, xiii., xiv. 1-18
contain, side by side with the narrative of facts, such as
the death of Jeroboam's son, comments on the religious
conduct of the sovereign, which some regard as bein