Using God

Using God

1 Kings 14:1-6

Watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBOsnQH5bDE

This story on the life of King Jeroboam is one that no one should ignore. In fact, it’s impossible to understand the history of the Jewish people and the nation of Israel without knowing it, and that’s because every king that followed came into judgment because they followed in King Jeroboam’s footsteps. It says that they did evil in the eyes of God because they walked in the ways of Jeroboam and his sin.

Of Ahaziah, the son of Ahab, it says, “He did evil in the sight of the Lord, and walked in the way of his father (Ahab) and in the way of his mother (Jezebel) and in the way of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who had made Israel sin.” (1 Kings 22:52 NKJV)

What exactly that sin entailed, however, is not so easily discerned.

The story begins in 1 Kings: 12, when King Rehoboam, Solomon’s son, didn’t listen to the advice of his elders, causing a rift between the 10 tribes up north, and the 2 tribes down south, causing the northern tribes to break off and start their own nation, with Jeroboam as their king.

Immediately Jeroboam was confronted with a possible kingdom buster, a problem that could cause the eventual downfall of this new kingdom and of his being its king.

The problem was the people had always gone to Jerusalem to offer their sacrifices and worship the Lord at the feasts as commanded by God in His word. The problem was Jerusalem lay in the Southern kingdom under Rehoboam’s control.

Jeroboam’s thought was if they continued going to the Temple, then their hearts would return to Rehoboam and they would defect, and possibly kill him (1 Kings 12:26-27).

So, Jeroboam developed a plan and started an alternate form of worship by placing a golden calf at each end of the nation telling the people that going to Jerusalem to worship God was too difficult, so he set up these golden calves to make it easier for them to worship God. Further, Jeroboam set up a new priesthood and feast days.

Basically, it had the name of God within it, but it had absolutely nothing to do with God and the worship of Him.

This was the sin of Jeroboam, and because of this, Israel sinned by worshipping God in way God never prescribed. You could say that Jeroboam led them into idolatry.

But there is another incident in Jeroboam’s life that is more illuminating and helpful in understanding Jeroboam’s character and speaks even more to this sin of Jeroboam. And while the sin of idolatry is what Jeroboam led Israel into, it wasn’t the sin that was at the heart of it.

Let’s look at our story. It’s found in 1 Kings 14:1-6.

“At that time Abijah the son of Jeroboam became sick. And Jeroboam said to his wife, ‘Please arise, and disguise yourself, that they may not recognize you as the wife of Jeroboam, and go to Shiloh. Indeed, Ahijah the prophet is there, who told me that I would be king over this people. Also take with you ten loaves, some cakes, and a jar of honey, and go to him; he will tell you what will become of the child.’ And Jeroboam's wife did so; she arose and went to Shiloh, and came to the house of Ahijah. But Ahijah could not see, for his eyes were glazed by reason of his age. Now the Lord had said to Ahijah, ‘Here is the wife of Jeroboam, coming to ask you something about her son, for he is sick. Thus and thus you shall say to her; for it will be, when she comes in, that she will pretend to be another woman.’ And so it was, when Ahijah heard the sound of her footsteps as she came through the door, he said, ‘Come in, wife of Jeroboam. Why do you pretend to be another person? For I have been sent to you with bad news.’” (1 Kings 14:1-6)

Everything revolves around what it says about Jeroboam’s son, Abijah.

“At that time Abijah the son of Jeroboam became sick.” (1 Kings 14:1 NKJV)

With these words a drama unfolds worthy of our attention. Jeroboam wasn’t a gentle and loving soul by nature. He was terrible and violent, but he loved his son so much he does something completely out of character for him, asking God for help.

For Jeroboam, God and religion was a matter of convenience, not belief. Jeroboam didn’t make those two golden calves because he stopped believing in God; rather he saw this as just another religion, one that was a likely cause for him to lose his power and prestige, not to mention his kingdom.

Jeroboam wasn’t an atheist who gave up belief in God; rather his sin was deliberately modifying and changing God’s commandments to suit his purposes. Jeroboam didn’t cease to be religious; he didn’t cease believing in God; rather he manipulated God’s laws to suit his own plans and purposes.