Another illustration occurs in the history of Jeroboam, late a refugee and perhaps idolater in Egypt, who, fearing that if the people of the ten tribes, and the Levites who dwelt among them, should continue to go up to Jerusalem to worship Jehovah in the temple, their hearts would be turned from him to Rehoboam as their rightful king, "made two calves of gold, and said unto the people, It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem; behold thy Elohe, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. And he set the one in Bethel, and the other put he in Dan. And this thing became a sin." Doubtless the people regarded these graven images in the same light as that made under the direction of Aaron; for, with the exception of the priests and Levites, they acquiesced in the change, though a week before they were ready, as subjects of the legitimate successor of Solomon, to continue in the established worship of Jehovah in the temple. The priests and Levites were expelled as too closely connected with the service in Jerusalem; new priests were appointed, and the same rites were observed before the images as before Jehovah in the temple. And when Jehu, in his zeal for Jehovah, slew all the partisans of Baal, he still adhered to the golden calves in Dan and Bethel, as not in his view inconsistent with the true worship. 2 Kings x. In the same class of acts, in point of turpitude, and in respect to the apparent intention of the actors and the tendency of their acts, may be included that of Nadab and Abihu, in "offering _strange fire_ before Jehovah, which he commanded them not. And there went out fire from Jehovah and devoured them, and they died before Jehovah;" and that of Korah and his company, who usurped the priests' office and burned incense, and were destroyed with their families and fourteen thousand of their adherents. These illustrations show that the worship rendered to images did not terminate in them as its object, but referred to an unseen Intelligence beyond them, who was supposed to be cognizant of their circumstances and their acts, and to be able to protect them and grant their requests. It proceeded on the assumption that the visible emblem, the graven image, or whatever was selected by individuals or canonized by the priests, and worshipped as an idol--the proper signification of which is, a figure, likeness, or representation--was a medium of intercourse with the Being worshipped.