Another violation of the Ten Commandments. This is reminiscent of the Golden calf of I Kings 12:28-30 of Baal.
Whereupon the king took counsel, and made two calves of gold, and 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. 29 And he set the one in Bethel, and the other put he in Dan. 30 And this thing became a sin: for the people went to worship before the one, even unto Dan.
Jeroboam may say “Is there anything inherently evil about a bull?” But when Canaanites worshipped animal replicas, God’s people had to be willing to do without to demonstrate their uniqueness to God.