Viewed from the perspective of the centralization of the cult, the legitimate priests and Levites could serve only in Jerusalem; against the background of the Second Temple system of rotating divisions, this opportunity was now denied them by the schism, since to dwell in the northern kingdom prevented their free communication to Jerusalem. Their only chance to realize their privilege to serve God was to move to the kingdom of Judah. And as is clear from the words ‘Jeroboam and his sons cast them out’, ‘his sons’ referring to all the following kings of northern Israel, the very separate
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