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Jeroboam son of Nebat was an Ephrathite, which is distinct from Bethlehem Ephrathah. His name means He who fights the battles of the people or the people will contend (SHD 3379) (1Kings 11:26-27). He fled to Egypt because Solomon sought to kill him (1Kgs 11:40).

The book of Kings is not as clear but the Septuagint states that Jeroboam succeeded in conscripting 300 chariots. The rebellion failed and Jeroboam was forced to flee to Egypt.

Jeroboam was the Lord’s anointed. Solomon had become an idolater and his line was punished. The Eternal wrenched the kingdom from Solomon’s son Rehoboam (1Kings. 12:1-15).

The condition of Jeroboam’s kingship was loyalty to God and His laws. Jeroboam was the logical successor and the one to unite the tribes under Ephraim, but God knew he would fail. Nevertheless He set him as king (1Kings 12:21-24).

Jeroboam decided to re-introduce a religious system that was in fact idolatrous. The centre of the system of worship was based on the symbolism of the golden calf, which was the pedestal upon which God stood.

It appears that Jeroboam obtained the sanction of the Sanhedrin, because all the actions he took were based on the view of tolerance of religion implicit in the calve system as opposed to the Torah (cf. the paper The Golden Calf (No. 222)).

The Levites recorded that Jeroboam posted guards to stop on pain of death, the pilgrimages to Jerusalem. The people, even the king’s son, disobeyed the orders.

Jeroboam decided to move the feast from its original position in the seventh month, to a position in the eighth month. The lesson for the modern-day Church is that God does not condone systems of worship that have an idolatrous centre or that change the feasts to later times, away from the set months. God’s Calendar does not depend on human calculation or on human observation. The New Moon is the conjunction of the sun, moon and earth and is able to be precisely measured to the second over centuries.

The Samaritans and the Sadducees both determined the calendar according to the conjunction and the festival was determined in accordance with the conjunction. The Samaritans still determine according to the conjunction to this day (cf. the paper God's Calendar (No. 156), 1999 edition).

The Samaritan calendar thus retained the correct basis of the understanding of the New Moon and the Phasis, but had taken on board the error of fixing the start of the year incorrectly. In some years when the New Moon of the first month fell before the equinox, they determined the start of the year with the second month and thus had the feast in the eight month of the true lunar year, instead of the seventh month.

The Jewish system of worship under the Hillel calendar has done exactly what Jeroboam did. Under the Hillel system, the Feast of Tabernacles in 1997 was in the eighth month and not the seventh month. This error is effected by a system of postponements that have no validity in the Bible. See the papers God's Calendar (No. 156) and also Tishri in Relation to the Equinox (No. 175).

The ancient rule is very simple. The month of Nisan is determined from the New Moon nearest the equinox. No Passover is permitted after 20-21 April (cf. the paper The Moon and the New Year (No. 213)).

This was known and kept by all branches of the Church from the time of Christ. From the second century and the Quarto-deciman controversy the church at Rome began to keep Easter, but they still kept the ancient rules for the determination of Nisan as Easter also fell in Nisan.

The church at Rome, however, made an alteration to the rule. Friday was held to be the day of the crucifixion and not 14 Nisan (a Wednesday when Christ was crucified; see the paper Timing of the Crucifixion and the Resurrection (No. 159)). That calendar places the crucifixion of Christ on 25 March, which was the accepted date for centuries, but had to be denied by the Roman Church because it destroys the Friday crucifixion argument. 25 March was a Sunday in 31 CE. The date of 25 March also has significance from the worship of the god Attis and entered Christianity through the mysteries (cf. the paper The Origins of Christmas and Easter (No. 235)).

The church based in Rome changed from determining the Passover from the first Holy Day of Unleavened Bread as succeeding the equinox, to the time frame where Easter was the first Sunday following the Paschal Moon (i.e. the Full Moon of 15 Nisan).

This keeping of Easter instead of the Passover at Rome seems to have commenced from the time of Sixtus bishop of Rome circa 120 CE. No writer before Justin Martyr (c. 140) mentions the Sunday as the focal point of the Passover festival of the Church.

The majority were coerced into conformity with the Easter system, but the churches of Syria and Mesopotamia, still would not abandon the Quarto-deciman system.

Canon I of the Council of Antioch 341 indicates that the Syrian bishops from this time accepted the Roman system, which was in fact to be determined from Alexandria.

No Church, either Trinitarian or Unitarian, adopted the later Jewish or Hillel system. It was not until the twentieth century that this false system of determining the calendar was adopted by the Church, and then only in one branch.

Jeroboam thought he could kill the prophet of God. He did not understand that God alone deals with the prophets (1Kings 13:4-10).

Just as Jeroboam appointed false teachers, who produced idolatrous doctrines, so too has the Church polluted itself by false doctrine. See the paper The Oracles of God (No. 184). The premise is advanced that the Jews have the oracles of God and that concerns the calendar. If that is true, why do these same people observe the New Testament which is rejected by Judaism; or keep Pentecost on Sunday when the Jews keep it on 6 Sivan?

Jeroboam’s sins - altering the feasts from the seventh to the eighth month and the Asherah - caused his house to be punished and there was war with Judah all the days of his life (1Kings 15:6-7).

Jeroboam caused Israel to be sent into captivity through his poor leadership and his false religious system. Judah was not any better. Soon Messiah will return and the Samaritans and the Jews will be made to understand their errors in this most important aspect of the worship of the One True God.