Jeroboam also made houses of high places and appointed priests from among all the people, who were not of the Levitical line — Jeroboam's restructuring of the priesthood represents a radical departure from Levitical theology and the Deuteronomistic ideal of centralized worship. The phrase וַיַּעַשׂ בָּתִּים לָבָמוֹת (vayya'as battim labamot, he made houses of high places) indicates a proliferation of local shrines, each requiring its own priestly personnel. The recruitment of non-Levitical priests violates the fundamental Levitical monopoly on cultic service and represents a democratization of priesthood that undermines hierarchical religious authority. For the Deuteronomistic historian, this is radical sacrilege.

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