We saw last week King Rehoboam (Solomon’s son) listening to the advice of his peers, motivated by his own desires, caused the split of the Kingdom.
• This turn of events fulfilled the Word of God given to Solomon and Jeroboam.
• We see the sovereignty of God and the certainty of His Word.
With the harsh words from the King, the TEN TRIBES walked out on him. They made Jeroboam their King.
• Let’s read what Jeroboam did in 1 Kings 12:25-33. Godless delusion II.
Jeroboam drove the Northern Kingdom further away from God. He created a new religion.
• His behaviour was odd and unexpected, given the fact that God has spoken to him earlier and prepared him for this.
• This outcome wasn’t unexpected. God pre-empted him when God spoke to him. “TEN TRIBES would follow you. You will be King over them.”
Yet he was driven by fear and insecurity, because he heard another voice.
• Jeroboam THOUGHT TO HIMSELF: "The kingdom will now likely revert to the house of David… They will kill me and return to King Rehoboam."
• ESV and KJV puts it, “Jeroboam said in his heart…”. He was hearing his own voice.
• His own voice was SO LOUD that it drowned out what God has said.
Has that happened to you? When your own thought overwhelms you and you are filled with fear and worry, even though God has spoken to you in His Word?
• This Word of God cannot gets through, but your thoughts get through to you?
• You don’t remember what God says. You remember only what you think about.
What exactly did the Lord say to him in chapter 11, through prophet Ahijah?
• 11:31 “Then he said to Jeroboam, “Take ten pieces for yourself, for this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘See, I am going to tear the kingdom out of Solomon's hand and give you ten tribes.’”
• 11:35 “ I will take the kingdom from his son's hands and give you ten tribes.”
The Lord said more.
• 11:37-38 “37However, as for you, I will take you, and you will rule over all that your heart desires; you will be king over Israel. 38If you do whatever I command you and walk in my ways and do what is right in my eyes by keeping my statutes and commands, as David my servant did, I will be with you. I will build you a dynasty as enduring as the one I built for David and will give Israel to you.”
• “Your Kingdom will last, your throne will be secured, BY ME actually, if you walk in My ways and keep my commands.”
• That’s the assurance God gave him! So his fear is unfounded and his insecurity is unreal.
There is certainty to God’s Word because ten tribes had already followed him.
• If Jeroboam had taken the time to reflect, he would have seen this outcome as a fulfilment of God’s Word to him.
• That would have given him faith in God’s Word and the assurance that his Kingdom will endure, as God said, if he obeys Him.
But Jeroboam chose to believe his own voice - “The people will kill me and return to Rehoboam…”
• Who are we really listening to today? Are we preoccupied by what we think or what God says?
Jeroboam made the 2nd big mistake, when he listened to the voices of men, his advisors.
• 12:28-30 “After seeking advice, the king made two golden calves. He said to the people, "It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Here are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt." 29One he set up in Bethel, and the other in Dan. 30And this thing became a sin; the people went even as far as Dan to worship the one there.”
Jeroboam wanted to do something to make his Kingdom more secure.
• God has already laid down the prescription for success, but God’s Word was not enough for him.
• Now he listened to the voices of godless men and decided to create a new religion that would hold the people back within the boundaries of his Kingdom.
• He was seeking to secure his Kingdom in his own ways and by his own hands, while ignoring what God has clearly said.
Listen to his call to worship – 12:28 “Here are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.”
• Sound familiar? It’s almost an exact quotation of the line taken from Exodus (Exo 32:4). It regurgitates the same cry the apostate Israelites made after their exodus from Egypt, when they made a golden calf to worship.
• Jeroboam probably wanted this. “Remember we did this before? It’s not something new. This is not a wild idea. It’s a ‘tradition’ of our ancestors when they gained freedom from Egypt…”
Whether apostasy stinks depends on how it is pitched. You package it, quote some historical event, make it palatable, and people will fall for it.
• ‘This is not apostasy; it’s diversity. I am providing you with good alternatives.’
Everything Jeroboam did from here onwards flew in the face of Israel’s history and against God’s Law. Nothing is right.
• 28 – Made two golden calves; “here are your gods”.
• 29 – Set up one in Bethel, the other in Dan.
• 31 – Built shrines on high places; appointed priests from all sorts of people, even though they were not Levites.
• 32 – Instituted festival on the 15th day of the 8th month (33 - of his own choosing); offering sacrifices to gods; installed priests at the high places he had made.
The Feast of Tabernacles is held on the 15th of the Hebrew month Tishri (7th month on the Hebrew calendar), to celebrate the Fall Harvest and to remember God’s provision and protection during Israel’s 40 years in the wilderness.
The author strings all his doings in one paragraph – he did this and that, this and that, almost in a shocking way. “Look at what he did!”
• Jeroboam violated all of God’s stipulations. Nothing was right.
• The Israelites reached a new level of sin and rebellion against God.
This sad outcome was totally uncalled for. God has spoken to him, and given him His Word and His assurance.
• No one would threaten him. No one could rob him of his reign.
• God gave him the ten tribes. God made him King. God says he can “rule over all that his heart desires” (11:37) and he can have “a dynasty as enduring as the one I built for David.” (11:38)
So what’s the problem? He wasn’t LISTENING. He has no faith in God’s Word.
• Instead, he BELIEVES his own thoughts and TRUSTS the words of men.
• Strangely, the only voice that Jeroboam wasn’t listening to is God’s voice.
• Yet God’s Word is the most certain and most important. It is the only Word that can truly secure his Kingdom.
Who are we listening to? Whose words are we trusting? Are we “dull of hearing”?
• It’s like the angel in Revelation 2-3 having to repeat a line to all the 7 churches: “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches…”
• As if there are people without ears. God is urging the churches to LISTEN well to what the Spirit of God has to say.
An elderly couple was debating about which one of them was losing their hearing. It went on for some time and the husband decided he would settle the issue once and for all.
While his wife was enjoying a book in the living room he said in a loud voice, "Dear, would you like a cup of tea?"
Upon hearing no response he came out of the kitchen and said again in a firm voice, "Dear, would you like a cup of tea?" Still there was no reply from his wife.
Lastly he went into the living room and stood directly behind the chair in which his wife was sitting. In an even louder voice he repeated, "Dear, would you like a cup of tea?"
She turned to him with a slightly annoyed expression on her face and said, "For the third time... yes, yes, yes!”
So who is the one “dull of hearing” (cf. Heb 5:11)?
• The problem is not with the one who speaks but the one who listens.
• It is not that God is not speaking; He spoke. Man is not listening.
• Jeroboam has no excuse. He chose to ignore God and sin.
Notice this, God’s plan for Jeroboam was good. He could have a bright future ahead of him, based on what God has promised. But sadly he threw that away.
God will speak to Jeroboam again. And again, through the same prophet, Ahijah.
• The same God who prophesied his future in chapter 11, will now prophesy his end in chapter 14.
• The prophet is in Shiloh and Jeroboam’s wife came looking for him.
Listen to what the prophet says:
1 Kings 14:7-11 “7Go, tell Jeroboam that this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: `I raised you up from among the people and made you a leader over my people Israel. 8 I tore the kingdom away from the house of David and gave it to you, but you have not been like my servant David, who kept my commands and followed me with all his heart, doing only what was right in my eyes. 9 You have done more evil than all who lived before you. You have made for yourself other gods, idols made of metal; you have provoked me to anger and thrust me behind your back.
10 "`Because of this, I am going to bring disaster on the house of Jeroboam. I will cut off from Jeroboam every last male in Israel-slave or free. I will burn up the house of Jeroboam as one burns dung, until it is all gone. 11Dogs will eat those belonging to Jeroboam who die in the city, and the birds of the air will feed on those who die in the country. The LORD has spoken!'
1 Kings 12 highlights to me the SOVEREIGNTY of God and the CERTAINTY of His Word.
Whose voice do you want to listen to? Your own thoughts? The advice of men?
• If it’s the Word of God, then we need to make a greater effort, in reading and studying His Word, and seek to understand His will.
• Our true security is in the Word of God. Don’t let other noises to drown out what He says. His plan for us is good, is always good.
