1-20 Northern Tribes of Israel Secede (2 Chronicles 10)
- After Solomon's death, Rehoboam his son comes to Shechem, where Israel intends to crown him king.
- Jeroboam son of Nebat returns from exile in Egypt and asks Rehoboam to lighten the burden of service Solomon has put on the people. Rehoboam says he'll think about it for 3 days.
- King Rehoboam consults with the older men, who advise him to serve his people and speak good words to them.
- He doesn't like that advice, so he goes to his younger cohorts, who tell him to make it harder on his people, rather than lighter, to tell his people in so many words, "You haven't seen anything yet!"
- According to verse 15, God is responsible for this attitude; it is what Ahijah had prophesied to Jeroboam (1 Kings 11).
- The tribes of Israel rebel against Rehoboam, killing (H)Adoram, a taskmaster that Rehoboam sends to them, and Rehoboam flees to Jerusalem.
- Israel makes Jeroboam their king. Only Judah stays to follow the house of David.
- Rehoboam gathers 180,000 men of Judah and Benjamin to fight Israel and restore them to his kingdom, but God through Shemaiah advises Rehoboam not to fight his kindred, for "this thing is from me." Why would God want his kingdom divided?
- He builds cities of defense all over Judah, putting commanders in each one of them, and supplying them with food, oil, and wine.
- They come from Israel because Jeroboam has appointed his own priests for the high places, "goat-demons" and golden calves
- They strengthen Judah, making Rehoboam secure for three years -- that's how long they walk in the way of David and Solomon.
- He builds Shechem in Ephraim for his residence, also builds Penuel.
- Afraid that if the people go to Jerusalem to worship, they will revert to the house of David and kill him, Jeroboam makes 2 golden calves and sets them up at Dan and Bethel for people to worship. "This thing became a sin." He also:
- Makes houses of high places, appointing priests who are not Levites
- Appoints a festival on the 8th month, 15th day, for offering sacrifices on the altars to the calves
1-34 Man of God from Judah
- Jeroboam is sacrificing at the altar at Bethel when a man of God comes and prophesies to him that Josiah, of the house of David, will sacrifice him on the priests of high places and that human bones will be burned on him.
- This is the sign: The altar will be torn down, and ashes poured out.
- Angry, the king commands his men to seize the man of God, but the hand he stretches out withers, and he can't draw it back in.
- The sign appears, and the king becomes a believer.
- He begs the man of God to restore his hand to health, which the man of God does.
- The king invites the man home to dine with him, but God has commanded the man not to eat food or drink water nor return home the way he came, and he refuses, leaving to go home via a different route.
- A old prophet in Bethel hears the story of the man of God''s encounter with the king, discovers his route home, mounts his donkey and eventually finds the man of God sitting under an oak tree.
- He invites the man of God home with him, and when he refuses, tells him that he is a prophet and has received instruction from an angel to receive the man of God into his home.
- This is a lie, which the man of God believes, and he goes to the older prophet's home.
- God tells the prophet, and he relays to the man of God that he will not return to his ancestral home.
- The man of God leaves the house on a donkey belonging to the prophet, and on the way home is attacked and killed by a lion.
- When the prophet hears of his death, he retrieves his body (which the lion did not eat, nor did it attack the donkey), and buries it, requesting that his own bones be buried in the same grave when the time comes.
- He recognizes that what the man of God has said about Samaria will come true.
- The incident has no lasting effect on Jeroboam; he continues to make anyone a priest who wants the office.
- This sin results in Jeroboam's house being cut off and destroyed from the face of the earth.
Considered in isolation, I suppose, the holy man's disobedience is a powerful argument that you must follow the letter of God's law. But read next to the Jeroboam story, the holy man's death is horrifying and senseless. God allows idolatrous Jeroboam to break every law on the tablet and get away with it, yet murders and curses a holy man for inadvertently breaking a rule about snacking? This is a capricious God, not a consistent one.I certainly can't pretend to understand the mind of God, but it is obvious Jeroboam will be punished for his sins, as will his descendants after him and numerous subjects. But this is a "man of God" who believes a lie. And that is what should sober us who claim to be people of God. God holds us as responsible, if not more so, than those who would preach false doctrine. We must be like the noble Bereans, who certified for themselves every day whether or not what even apostles told them was true (Acts 17:11).
1 Kings 14
1-18 Judgment on the House of Jeroboam [Israel]
- Abijah, Jeroboam's son, falls ill, so Jeroboam tells his wife to disguise herself and to inquire of the prophet Ahijah in Shiloh, taking gifts of food with her.
- Ahijah is old and blind, but God tells him Jeroboam's wife is on her way.
- When she gets there, he immediately recognizes her as Jeroboam's wife and tells her to tell Jeroboam that because he has not honored God, he will not allow any of his descendants to survive.
- They won't even be buried, but will be eaten by dogs and vultures.
- He tells her that the minute she enters back into her house, the child will die, and will be the only descendant to have a proper burial.
- Moreover, because of Jeroboam's sins, Israel will be scattered beyond the Euphrates.
- Sure enough, the moment she steps over the threshold, the child dies, and is buried as Ahijah has predicted. I cannot imagine her fear of going home nor her guilt over the death of her child.
- The rest of his acts are written in the Book of the Annals of the Kings of Israel
- He reigns 22 years, is succeeded by his son Nadab.
- 41 years old, reigns 17 years in Jerusalem; his mother is Naamah the Ammonite
- Under his reign, Judah also does evil in God's sight, building high places, sacred poles, even using male temple prostitutes, committing "all the abominations of the nations that the LORD drove out before the people of Israel." Everything God had warned, time after time after time not to do, when they were conquering the lands.
- Once his kingdom is established, Rehoboam abandons God's law.
- In the 5th year of his reign, King Shishak of Egypt comes to Jerusalem with 1200 chariots and 60,000 cavalry, including Libyans, Sukkiim, and Ethiopians, and takes all the fortified cities of Judah.
- The prophet Shemaiah comes to Rehoboam and Judah's officers and tells them this is God's doing because of their sin.
- They repent, and God does not allow them to be destroyed, but he does make them Egypt's servants, "so they know the difference between serving me and serving other lands."
- Shishak plunders the temple and the king's house, taking the shields of gold Solomon had made.
- Rehoboam replaces them with shields of bronze.
2 Chronicles 11:18-23 Rehoboam's Marriages
- Marries Mahalath, daughter of Jerimoth (David's son) and Abihail (daughter of Eliab, son of Jesse)
- Also Maacah, daughter of Absalom, whom he loves more than his other 17 wives and 60 concubines
- He fathers 28 sons and 60 daughters
- He appoints Abijah, son of Maacah as chief prince, intending to make him king. The son of Jeroboam who died was also named Abijah.
- "He dealt wisely," providing well for his sons.
- As long as they live, there is always war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam.
- His acts are written in the records of the prophet Shemaiah and the seer Iddo.
- When he dies, he is buried in Jerusalem and succeeded by his son Abijam (Abijah).
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