And the priests and the Levites that were in all Israel resorted to him out of all their coasts.
The priests and the Levites ... resorted to him out of all their coasts. This was an accession of moral power, for the maintenance of the true religion is the best support and safeguard of any nation; and as it was peculiarly the grand source of the strength and prosperity of the Hebrew monarchy, the great numbers of good and pious people who sought an asylum within the territories of Judah contributed greatly to consolidate date the throne of Rehoboam. The cause of so extensive an emigration from the kingdom of Israel was the deep and daring policy of Jeroboam, who set himself break the national unity by entirely abolishing, within his dominions, the religious institutions of Judaism. He dreaded an eventual re-union of the tribes, if the people continued to repair thrice a year to worship in Jerusalem, as they were obliged by law to do; and accordingly, on pretence that the distance of that city was too great for multitudes of his subjects, he fixed upon two more convenient places, where he established a new mode of worshipping God under gross and prohibited symbols. The priests and Levites, refusing to take part in the idolatrous ceremonies, were ejected from their livings; and along with them a large body of the people who faithfully adhered to the instituted worship of God, offended and shocked by the impious innovations, departed from the kingdom.