Through the inspired writer, the Holy Spirit emphasizes once again the serious nature of Jeroboam’s leading Israel into sin. We remember, thereby, that public sins may bring both individual condemnation upon the sinner and judgment upon all who follow him in his sin.
The sin of Jeroboam was the worship of the calf in Bethel and Dan, intended to be a copy of the priest and temple worship in Jerusalem. For the origin of this, see 1 Kings 12:26–32. The sin of idol worship is contagious: the spark of Jeroboam is spreading over the people.
The word here translated provoke
can also be rendered defy,
incentivize,
challenge,
and is often used with the sin of worshipping images. We also encounter this word in 1 Kings 16:2, 1 Kings 16:7.
30 It was for the sins of Jeroboam that he sinned and that he made Israel to sin, and because of the anger to which he provoked the LORD, the God of Israel.