Könige I 12:28 Kommentar: Radak

So the king took counsel: He asked for counsel about what he should do, and his [own] counsel was in agreement with that of those who advised him: That he should make two golden calves. But why calves? He seduced them with words, saying to them, "Did you not know that the kingdom was divided by the will of God, like the prophet, Achiyah the Shilonite said to me? If so, God did not desire the monarchy of the House of David, and He also did not want Jerusalem, since it is [the seat of] the monarchy of the House of David. If so, let us make a place to which you can come and sacrifice." But why a calf? He said to them, "Did not Aharon make a calf for the Jewish people, in order to have the Divine Presence dwell within it, in place of Moshe who they [no longer] had? You too, now that you do not have a place of the Divine Presence - which is Jerusalem - let us make a calf in its place to have the Divine Presence dwell within it." That is why he said, "This is your god, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt," just like [the Jews] said with the calf in the desert. For his intention was not for idolatry. And why did he make two? In order not to burden the Jewish people that they should all need to come to one place.