13:33 After this thing Jeroboam {u} returned not from his evil way, but made again of the lowest of the people priests of the high places: whosoever would, he consecrated him, and he became [one] of the priests of the high places.
(u) So the wicked do not profit by God's threatenings, but go backward and become worse and worse, 2Ti 3:13.
13:33 After this - That is, after all these things: the singular number put for the plural; after so many, and evident, and successive miracles. Made again - He abated not so much as a circumstance in his idolatrous worship. Whosoever - Without any respect to tribe or family, or integrity of body, or mind, or life; all which were to be regarded in the priesthood.
13:23-34 God is displeased at the sins of his own people; and no man shall be protected in disobedience, by his office, his nearness to God, or any services he has done for him. God warns all whom he employs, strictly to observe their orders. We cannot judge of men by their sufferings, nor of sins by present punishments; with some, the flesh is destroyed, that the spirit may be saved; with others, the flesh is pampered, that the soul may ripen for hell. Jeroboam returned not from his evil way. He promised himself that the calves would secure the crown to his family, but they lost it, and sunk his family. Those betray themselves who think to support themselves by any sin whatever. Let us dread prospering in sinful ways; pray to be kept from every delusion and temptation, and to be enabled to walk with self-denying perseverance in the way of God's commands.
