We will begin the third part: "Jeroboam's Reign".
Part 2 of "God's Simple Commandment, ended with Jeroboam fleeing into Egypt until the death of Solomon. Chapter 11 closes with this:
" ⁴³ And Solomon slept with his father's,
and was buried in the city of David
his father: And Rehoboam his son
reigned in his stead.
1 kings 11:43"
Chapter 12 opens with with:
" ¹ And Rehoboam went to Shechem:
for all Israel were come to Shechem
to make him king.
1 kings 12:1"
Understad that, before Jeroboam could be made king, Rehoboam would first have to be rejected as king.
" ¹⁹ So Israel rebelled against the house
of David unto this day.
²⁰ And it came to pass, when all of
Israel heard that Jeroboam was come
again, that they sent and called him
unto the congregation, and made
him king over all of Israel: There were
none that followed the house of
David, but the tribe of Judah only.
Back in Jerusalem, Rehoboam assembles a large army of warriors from the tribes of Judah and Benjamin to take the Israel back, by force:
" ²² But the Word of God came unto
Shemaiah the man of God, saying,
²³ Speak unto Rehoboam, the son of
Solomon, king of Judah, and unto
all the house of Judah and Benjamin,
and to the remnant of the people,
saying,
²⁴ Thus saith the LORD, ye shall not go
up, no fight against your brethren
the children of Israel: Return every
man unto his house; for this thing is
from me. They hearkened unto the
voice of the LORD, and returned to
depart, according to the Word of
the LORD.
1 kings 12:22-24
In Jeroboam's fears that the people would turn back to Rehoboam.
Jeroboam made sacrifice easy for the people, in what appears as an act of compassion. and while to some extent that may have been true, his selfish motivation for doing what he did was not the comfort of the peopl. It was to keep the people.
" ²⁸ Whereupon the king took counsel,
and made two calves of gold, and
and said unto them, it is too much
for you to go to Jerusalem: behold
thy gods, O Israel, which brought
the up out of the land of Egypt.
He sets one towards Beth-el and the other towards Dan. v.29, and v.30 says that this thing became a sin: ..He made a house of high places, and made the priest (not of the son's of Levi) the lowest of the people.
He ordained a feast on the 15th day of the eighth month to imitate the feast in Judah, and offered upon the alter; and did the same in Beth-al and offered sacrifices unto the golden calves that he had made.
Chapter 13 opens with " a man of God coming out of Judah". You can read what he says in the verses that followed, as well as the sign that was given in v.4 of the chapter.
After Jeroboam was restored the use of his hand, (as that was the sign), he asked the man of God to come to his house, which he refuses as God told him not to go.
Things ultimately go wrong for the man of God also, as and old prophet, met him, and asked him to come home with him and eat bread. At first he refuse as the LIRD said no. Then the prophet told him that he also was a prophet, and an angel spoke to him and told him that it was OK that he went back to his house with him. v.18. That was a lie, but the man of God believed it and went with him.
He didn't fully obey God's commandment, and was cut down for the disobedience. See v.24
" ³³ After this thing, Jeroboam returned not
from his evil way; but made again of the
lowest of the people priest of the high
places: whosoever would, he
consecrated him, and he became one
of the priests of the high places.
³⁴ And the thing became sin unto the
house of Jeroboam, even to cut it off,
and to destroy it from off the face
of the earth.
1 kings 33-34
The above verses closes chapter 13, but the story doesn't end there, as it gets even worse for Jerusalem's house.
His son falls sick. Jeroboam tells his wife to disguise herself and go to Shiloh, with gift, for the prophet Ahijah, and he would tell what would become of the child. which he did, and the news is not good.
The more I read this, the more parallels I see between Jeroboam, and Saul, Israel first king that they chose.
God had a king in mind, but it wasn't Saul. The king that God had in mind, (David) wasn't yet ready to be king.
Jeroboam was given 10 kingdoms due to Solomon's turning away from God.
Nevertheless, God gave both of these kings a chance to establish their kingdoms forever. They both failed to do so, as they both became obsessed with protecting their kingdom from being lost, and lost it anyway, and they both started out good.
Since there are notable comparisons between Israel's first and fourth king, let's wrap this up with this:
There is the last prophet in the nation, whose son's doesn't walk in his ways. This is why the people wanted a king to begin with. Then it turns into wanting a king to "be like all the other nations." They got their king. Here they are in order:
1 Saul
2 David
3 Solomon
4 Jeroboam (Rehoboam, 1 kingdom)
Before ending, lets look at the generations from the house of David, which doesn't include Saul, or Jeroboam to get back to a king close to David.
1) David. God's chosen. Wasn't perfect, and
still was rightous.
2) Solomon. David's son. Started out very
but his heart was turned away, from God.
3) Rehoboam. All his days were in fighting with Jeroboam to regain control of his
kingdom. 1 kings 14:30
4) Abijam. 1 kings 15:1; 15:6
" ³ And he walked in all the ways of his
father, which he had done before him:
and his heart was not perfect with the
LORD his God, as the heart of David his
father.
Nevertheless less for David's sake did
the LORD his God give him a lamp in
Jerusalem, to establish Jerusalem:
1 kings 15:3-4
5) Asa - did right in the sigh of the LORD, as
David his father v11. He took away
the Sodomites from the land, and
removed the idols his father's had
made v.12 He removed his mother
from being green, and destroyed
her idol. v.13
" ¹⁴ But the high places were not removed:
nevertheless Asa's heart was perfect
with the LORD all his days.
1 kings 15:14
I went back and added to this. In reading for preparations of, Last prophet, First king. I discovered more similarities. Before moving on, I wanted to point to them, which I conclude that once the leaders take their eye's off of God, and does what is right in their own eye's, this is how long it takes to get back to God. The question we should be asking is: Are we there yet?
I don't think this turning away from God started with my generation. If we use ww2 as a place to start, that would have to be my grandparents generation. If that is right, then yes. We are in the turn back to God.
I included the last verse, as it kinda made me scratch my head in wonder.
I came to the determination that, it's not the " high places" that God is against, it's how the high places are used. Rather they are used as a road block to grant access to God, except for the few.
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