John Gill Commentary 1 Kings 12:28

"Whereupon the king took counsel, and made two calves of gold; and he said unto them, It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem: behold thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt." — 1 Kings 12:28 (ASV)

Whereupon the king took counsel
Of some of his principal men, that had as little religion as himself, and were only concerned for the civil state; and the result of their consultation was as follows:

and made two calves of gold ;
in imitation of that which was made by Aaron, and encouraged by his example and success; and having been in Egypt some time, he might have learned the calf or ox worship there, and might take his pattern from thence, and have two as they had; the one they called Apis, which was worshipped at Memphis, and another called Mnevis, worshipped at Hierapolis, as many learned men have observed; these were two calves, according to the Septuagint and Josephus ^F17 :

and said unto them ;
not his counsellors, but the people of the land:

it is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem ;
pretending he sought their ease, by contriving a method to prevent their long fatiguing journeys, to go up with their sacrifices, firstfruits and the Jews

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behold your gods, O Israel, which brought you up out of the land of
Egypt;
using the same words Aaron did on a like occasion; not that he thought these were really gods, and had divinity in them; nor could he hope or expect that the people would believe they had; but that these were representations of the true God, who had brought them out of Egypt; and that it might as well be supposed that God would cause his Shechinah to dwell in them as between the cherubim over the ark.

FOOTNOTES:

• F17: Ut supra, (Antiqu. l. 8. c. 8.) sect. 4.