1Kings 14-15

Thursday Evening Bible Study

November 29, 2012

Introduction

After King David’s death, Solomon ruled for forty years. When Solomon’s son Rehoboam became king, the kingdom of Israel split into two, a northern kingdom called “Israel”, and a southern kingdom called “Judah”. Rehoboam ruled the southern kingdom while the northern kingdom was ruled by a man named Jeroboam.

After the kingdom split, Jeroboam worried that when the annual feasts came up when people would go to the temple at Jerusalem to worship, they would have second thoughts about following this northern king.

Jeroboam decided to start a new religion and set up two new places of worship at Bethel and Dan, complete with golden calves to worship.

14:1-20 Judgment on Jeroboam

:1 At that time Abijah the son of Jeroboam became sick.

:2 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.

:3 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.”

:1 Abijah – “Yahweh is my father”

:2 Shiloh –

Play Shiloh map video

Shiloh was where the Tabernacle used to be in the days of before Samuel the prophet. It is about 17 miles south of Tirzah, the capital of the northern kingdom.

:2 Ahijah – “brother of Yahweh”

This is the prophet that had met Jeroboam during the reign of King Solomon. Ahijah had taken his own new coat, tore it into twelve pieces, gave Jeroboam ten of the pieces. He told Jeroboam that God was going to tear the kingdom from the house of David and give Jeroboam 10 of the tribes to rule over.

There was also a promise/warning given to Jeroboam by Ahijah:

(1 Ki 11:38 NKJV) Then it shall be, if you heed all that I command you, walk in My ways, and do what is right in My sight, to keep My statutes and My commandments, as My servant David did, then I will be with you and build for you an enduring house, as I built for David, and will give Israel to you.

After Jeroboam set up his new religion, there came a warning from an unnamed prophet that there would be judgment on Jeroboam for this idolatry.

:2 disguise yourself

:3 he will tell you what will become of the child

I find it interesting that she isn’t to go and ask Ahijah to pray, but to simply ask what is going to happen to the child.

Jeroboam has a sense that God and Ahijah know the future, but he seems to be oblivious to the concept that God can actually work in our world.

Note: I also find it interesting that Jeroboam doesn’t send his wife to one of the priests of his own false religion. He knows it’s bogus. He sends his wife to the real deal. Hmmm.

:4 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.

:5 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.”

:6 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.

:6 Why do you pretend

Lesson

You can’t hide from God.

(Ps 139:7 NKJV) Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence?

You can try and put on a disguise in front of people, but God sees right through you. If He wants to, He has the ability to whisper things in someone else’s ear.

Illustration

BE SURE YOUR SIN WILL FIND YOU OUT!

A lineman for a professional football team often stayed out late, despite the club's curfew. He would pile things under his blankets, making it appear he was in bed. At one hotel, however, he couldn't find enough things to stuff the bed with, so he stuck a floor lamp under the covers and left. When a suspicious coach peeked in at 1 a.m. and snapped on the light switch, the bed lit up.

:6 I have been sent to you

Even though Jeroboam’s wife is the one that has come on a journey for information, Ahijah says that he’s the one who has been “sent” with news.

:7 Go, tell Jeroboam, ‘Thus says the Lord God of Israel: “Because I exalted you from among the people, and made you ruler over My people Israel,

:8 and tore the kingdom away from the house of David, and gave it to you; and yet you have not been as My servant David, who kept My commandments and who followed Me with all his heart, to do only what was right in My eyes;

:9 but you have done more evil than all who were before you, for you have gone and made for yourself other gods and molded images to provoke Me to anger, and have cast Me behind your back—

:10 therefore behold! I will bring disaster on the house of Jeroboam, and will cut off from Jeroboam every male in Israel, bond and free; I will take away the remnant of the house of Jeroboam, as one takes away refuse until it is all gone.

:11 The dogs shall eat whoever belongs to Jeroboam and dies in the city, and the birds of the air shall eat whoever dies in the field; for the Lord has spoken!” ’

:10 every male

The Hebrew speaks of urinating against a wall. Interesting way to describe men.

:10 take away the remnant

Every descendant of Jeroboam will be wiped out.

Lesson

Serious about religion

Jeroboam’s sin – setting up his golden calves – is going to lead an entire nation away from the pure worship of Yahweh.

I think you could even make the case that Jeroboam wasn’t “against” Yahweh, and in fact I think his concept was to make the people think that his golden calves were an image of Yahweh.

But he was making up a religion that was not based in truth, one that was just a little off.

It was a religion of political expediency.

It was a religion of convenience.

And it was wrong.

(Jn 4:24 NKJV) God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”

:12 Arise therefore, go to your own house. When your feet enter the city, the child shall die.

:13 And all Israel shall mourn for him and bury him, for he is the only one of Jeroboam who shall come to the grave, because in him there is found something good toward the Lord God of Israel in the house of Jeroboam.

The child shall die. He will be the only one in Jeroboam’s family who will have a traditional burial. The rest will be killed when a new king takes over and wipes out the rest of Jeroboam’s family.

:14 “Moreover the Lord will raise up for Himself a king over Israel who shall cut off the house of Jeroboam; this is the day. What? Even now!

:15 For the Lord will strike Israel, as a reed is shaken in the water. He will uproot Israel from this good land which He gave to their fathers, and will scatter them beyond the River, because they have made their wooden images, provoking the Lord to anger.

:16 And He will give Israel up because of the sins of Jeroboam, who sinned and who made Israel sin.”

:15 scatter them beyond the River

This will be the final judgment on the northern kingdom, taking place in 722 BC when the northern kingdom is conquered by the Assyrians and hauled off into captivity.

This will happen because of Jeroboam’s sin.

The northern kingdom will never repent from Jeroboam’s sin of setting up the golden calves.

:17 Then Jeroboam’s wife arose and departed, and came to Tirzah. When she came to the threshold of the house, the child died.

:18 And they buried him; and all Israel mourned for him, according to the word of the Lord which He spoke through His servant Ahijah the prophet.

:19 Now the rest of the acts of Jeroboam, how he made war and how he reigned, indeed they are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel.

:19 the chronicles of the kings of Israel

We do not have this book.

:20 The period that Jeroboam reigned was twenty-two years. So he rested with his fathers. Then Nadab his son reigned in his place.

If it sounds like Ahijah’s words aren’t coming to pass because the son will take the throne, but just wait…

14:21-31 Rehoboam’s Reign

:21 And Rehoboam the son of Solomon reigned in Judah. Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he became king. He reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city which the Lord had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, to put His name there. His mother’s name was Naamah, an Ammonitess.

:21 Rehoboam – “a people has enlarged”

:21 Naamah – “loveliness”

:21 an Ammonitess – We have a reminder that Solomon married many women that he shouldn’t have.

:22 Now Judah did evil in the sight of the Lord, and they provoked Him to jealousy with their sins which they committed, more than all that their fathers had done.

:23 For they also built for themselves high places, sacred pillars, and wooden images on every high hill and under every green tree.

:24 And there were also perverted persons in the land. They did according to all the abominations of the nations which the Lord had cast out before the children of Israel.

:22 Judah did evil

Lesson

Strength’s danger

The account in Chronicles tells us that after the kingdom split, there was a time of renewal. The priests and Levites from all over Israel migrated south to Judah because they did not want to participate in the worship of Jeroboam’s golden calves.

Yet it was after this time of strength, of walking with the Lord, that the writer of Chronicles tells us:

(2 Ch 12:1 NKJV) Now it came to pass, when Rehoboam had established the kingdom and had strengthened himself, that he forsook the law of the Lord, and all Israel along with him.

The northern kingdom was not the only kingdom to have spiritual trouble.

:23 wooden images – ‘asherah – a Babylonian (Astarte)-Canaanite goddess

The general idea is that these are carved images that are a bit pornographic.

:24 perverted persons – qadesh – male temple prostitute

A homosexual kind of thing.

Don’t think that the northern kingdom wore black hats and the southern kingdom were the good guys.

Both were going through a bad spiritual time.

This all happened when Rehoboam was “strong”.

It’s not so bad to be weak. When we’re weak we seek the Lord.

:25 It happened in the fifth year of King Rehoboam that Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem.

:26 And he took away the treasures of the house of the Lord and the treasures of the king’s house; he took away everything. He also took away all the gold shields which Solomon had made.

:25 Shishak king of Egypt

Shishak was the king that Jeroboam had been with when he was running from Solomon. (1Ki. 11:40)

(1 Ki 11:40 NKJV) —40 Solomon therefore sought to kill Jeroboam. But Jeroboam arose and fled to Egypt, to Shishak king of Egypt, and was in Egypt until the death of Solomon.

Shishak is being used by God to wake up Rehoboam. When he shows up in Israel, he has a HUGE army and conquers several cities.

(2 Ch 12:5–9 NKJV) — 5 Then Shemaiah the prophet came to Rehoboam and the leaders of Judah, who were gathered together in Jerusalem because of Shishak, and said to them, “Thus says the Lord: ‘You have forsaken Me, and therefore I also have left you in the hand of Shishak.’ ” 6 So the leaders of Israel and the king humbled themselves; and they said, “The Lord is righteous.” 7 Now when the Lord saw that they humbled themselves, the word of the Lord came to Shemaiah, saying, “They have humbled themselves; therefore I will not destroy them, but I will grant them some deliverance. My wrath shall not be poured out on Jerusalem by the hand of Shishak. 8 Nevertheless they will be his servants, that they may distinguish My service from the service of the kingdoms of the nations.” 9 So Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem, and took away the treasures of the house of the Lord and the treasures of the king’s house; he took everything. He also carried away the gold shields which Solomon had made.

When Rehoboam heard that Shishak was a judgment from God, he responded with humility and repentance.

Lesson

Safety in humility

I get myself into so much trouble when my pride creeps up.

I start to think that “I’m invincible!”

Play “Goldeneye Invincible” clip

I am not invincible. I am very flawed. I am in need of God every day.

(1 Pe 5:5b NKJV) …Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for “God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble.”

:27 Then King Rehoboam made bronze shields in their place, and committed them to the hands of the captains of the guard, who guarded the doorway of the king’s house.

:27 bronze shields

These shields that were kept in the House of the Forest of Lebanon become a type of gauge to show what’s going on in the kingdom. The golden glory days are gone. Things have gone to bronze.

:28 And whenever the king entered the house of the Lord, the guards carried them, then brought them back into the guardroom.

:29 Now the rest of the acts of Rehoboam, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?

:30 And there was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all their days.

:31 So Rehoboam rested with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the City of David. His mother’s name was Naamah, an Ammonitess. Then Abijam his son reigned in his place.

15:1-8 Abijam in Judah

:1 In the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam the son of Nebat, Abijam became king over Judah.

:2 He reigned three years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Maachah the granddaughter of Abishalom.

:1 Abijam – “my father is the sea”

:2 Maachah – “oppression”

This is actually the granddaughter of David’s son Absalom

:3 And he walked in all the sins of his father, which he had done before him; his heart was not loyal to the Lord his God, as was the heart of his father David.

Even though he participated in his father’s sins, he also had moments when he trusted in God (we’ll see in a minute)

:4 Nevertheless for David’s sake the Lord his God gave him a lamp in Jerusalem, by setting up his son after him and by establishing Jerusalem;

:5 because David did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, and had not turned aside from anything that He commanded him all the days of his life, except in the matter of Uriah the Hittite.

:4 for David’s sake

You will see this concept repeated.

(2 Ki 8:19 NKJV) —19 Yet the Lord would not destroy Judah, for the sake of his servant David, as He promised him to give a lamp to him and his sons forever.

(2 Ki 19:34 NKJV) —34 ‘For I will defend this city, to save it For My own sake and for My servant David’s sake.’ ”

(2 Ki 20:6 NKJV) —6 And I will add to your days fifteen years. I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria; and I will defend this city for My own sake, and for the sake of My servant David.” ’ ”

David wasn’t a perfect man, but he did follow the Lord.

David will be the standard by which other kings would be measured by.

(2 Ki 14:3 NKJV) —3 And he did what was right in the sight of the Lord, yet not like his father David; he did everything as his father Joash had done.

(2 Ki 16:2 NKJV) —2 Ahaz was twenty years old when he became king, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem; and he did not do what was right in the sight of the Lord his God, as his father David had done.

(2 Ki 18:3 NKJV) —3 And he did what was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his father David had done.

(2 Ki 22:2 NKJV) —2 And he did what was right in the sight of the Lord, and walked in all the ways of his father David; he did not turn aside to the right hand or to the left.

There would be a measure of grace extended to the southern kingdom for a long time because of David’s faithfulness to the Lord and the example he set.

Lesson

The Value of an example

You can be an example for the bad or an example for the good.

Play “Apple Stand” video

You don’t even have to be old to set the right example:

(1 Ti 4:12 NKJV) Let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity.

:6 And there was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all the days of his life.

The state of war that had existed between Rehoboam and Jeroboam continued on into the reign of Abijam.

:7 Now the rest of the acts of Abijam, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? And there was war between Abijam and Jeroboam.

:7 the chronicles of the kings of Judah

This may be referring to the book of Chronicles, or it may be referring to a book we do not have.

:7 there was war

Chronicles (2Chron. 13) gives an account of one of the battles, where Abijam faced Jeroboam and his army, being outnumbered 400,000 to 800,000.

Abijam called on God for help, and he killed 500,000 of Jeroboam’s men.

:8 So Abijam rested with his fathers, and they buried him in the City of David. Then Asa his son reigned in his place.

15:9-24 Asa in Judah

:9 In the twentieth year of Jeroboam king of Israel, Asa became king over Judah.

:10 And he reigned forty-one years in Jerusalem. His grandmother’s name was Maachah the granddaughter of Abishalom.

:11 Asa did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, as did his father David.

:11 Asa did what was right

Except for a turn in heart that happens at the end of his life, Asa is seen as a “good” king.

There will be 19 kings of Judah, and eight of them will be classified as “good”.

Of all the kings of Israel none were ever called “good”, though some were definitely more evil than others.

:12 And he banished the perverted persons from the land, and removed all the idols that his fathers had made.

:13 Also he removed Maachah his grandmother from being queen mother, because she had made an obscene image of Asherah. And Asa cut down her obscene image and burned it by the Brook Kidron.

:13 he removed Maachah

Sometimes we get the notion that grandmothers are the women who are always praying and being a good influence on their grandchildren. Here’s an example of a grandmother who was not a good example.

Lesson

Cutting the ties

Asa knew that he needed to stop his grandmother’s influence on the nation. So he fired her.

I think there is a sense in which we need to be careful about the effect that some people have on our lives.

There’s a time to cut the apron strings.

A man needs to cut some of those ties with his parents when he gets married.

(Ge 2:24 NKJV) Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.

:14 But the high places were not removed. Nevertheless Asa’s heart was loyal to the Lord all his days.

:14 the high places were not removed

There was a limit to Asa’s reforms.

It seems that the “high places” may have at one time been places where people worshipped Yahweh. When Solomon had his dream of God asking him for his request, it was at the “great high place” of Gibeon.

It seems that now the “high places” had degenerated into places where false gods were now worshipped.

:14 loyal to the Lord

He himself was a follower of Yahweh.

Asa himself will become a bitter man at the end of his life and will do some pretty mean things to a prophet of God (2Chron. 16). But what this is saying is that Asa did not stop following Yahweh and worship other gods.

:15 He also brought into the house of the Lord the things which his father had dedicated, and the things which he himself had dedicated: silver and gold and utensils.

:15 silver and gold and utensils

This would include the things that Abijam had taken as plunder from his victory over Jeroboam (2Chron. 13), as well as an incredible victory that Asa himself had in the tenth year of his reign, when he was attacked by 1,000,000 Ethiopians.

(2 Ch 14:13 NKJV) And Asa and the people who were with him pursued them to Gerar. So the Ethiopians were overthrown, and they could not recover, for they were broken before the Lord and His army. And they carried away very much spoil.

:16 Now there was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel all their days.

:17 And Baasha king of Israel came up against Judah, and built Ramah, that he might let none go out or come in to Asa king of Judah.

:17 Baasha king of Israel

We haven’t exactly met Baasha yet. We are going a little out of chronological order.

:17 built Ramah

Show Ramah map clip

Ramah is about six miles north of Jerusalem, sort of a border city with the southern kingdom. It’s halfway between Jerusalem and Bethel, the southernmost golden calf.

:18 Then Asa took all the silver and gold that was left in the treasuries of the house of the Lord and the treasuries of the king’s house, and delivered them into the hand of his servants. And King Asa sent them to Ben-Hadad the son of Tabrimmon, the son of Hezion, king of Syria, who dwelt in Damascus, saying,

:19 “Let there be a treaty between you and me, as there was between my father and your father. See, I have sent you a present of silver and gold. Come and break your treaty with Baasha king of Israel, so that he will withdraw from me.”

Asa is going to use his great wealth to purchase a treaty with the Syrians and make the Syrians attack Baasha from the north.

:20 So Ben-Hadad heeded King Asa, and sent the captains of his armies against the cities of Israel. He attacked Ijon, Dan, Abel Beth Maachah, and all Chinneroth, with all the land of Naphtali.

:21 Now it happened, when Baasha heard it, that he stopped building Ramah, and remained in Tirzah.

:20 He attacked

Play Syria attacks map video

Asa makes a treaty with Syria and their headquarters in Damascus. Ijon, and Dan are cities in the north. We don’t know where Abel Beth Maachah is but its name means “meadow of the house of Maachah”. Chinneroth means “harps” and is an Old Testament name for the Sea of Galilee.

When Baasha hears about the Syrian attacks, he heads back to his headquarters in Tirzah and stops the work at Ramah to focus on the northern war.

:22 Then King Asa made a proclamation throughout all Judah; none was exempted. And they took away the stones and timber of Ramah, which Baasha had used for building; and with them King Asa built Geba of Benjamin, and Mizpah.

:22 Geba … Mizpah

Play Geba Mizpah map clip

Asa takes the materials that were used in Ramah and builds the cities of Geba and Mizpah.

Lesson

Am I trusting God?

What Asa did made sense. It even worked. He took all the wealth he had accumulated, and used some of it to buy a little help from the Syrians.

But there was something wrong in what he had done.

(2 Ch 16:7–10 NKJV) —7 And at that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah, and said to him: “Because you have relied on the king of Syria, and have not relied on the Lord your God, therefore the army of the king of Syria has escaped from your hand.

Because Asa had not been trusting in the Lord, but had been trusting in the king of Syria, the king of Syria got away. God could have delivered the northern kingdom AND the Syrians into Asa’s hand.

8 Were the Ethiopians and the Lubim not a huge army with very many chariots and horsemen? Yet, because you relied on the Lord, He delivered them into your hand.

This was the battle that Asa had fought thirty years earlier. He had trusted in the Lord to give him victory over 1,000,000 Ethiopians.

9 For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him.

God is looking for people He can use. God is looking for people He can invest in. God is looking for people who will trust Him and be obedient to Him.

In this you have done foolishly; therefore from now on you shall have wars.” 10 Then Asa was angry with the seer, and put him in prison, for he was enraged at him because of this. And Asa oppressed some of the people at that time.

Asa didn’t like what he heard from Hanani.

What looks “smart” may not be displaying trust in God.

:23 The rest of all the acts of Asa, all his might, all that he did, and the cities which he built, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? But in the time of his old age he was diseased in his feet.

:24 So Asa rested with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the City of David his father. Then Jehoshaphat his son reigned in his place.

:23 diseased in his feet

(2 Ch 16:12 NKJV) And in the thirty-ninth year of his reign, Asa became diseased in his feet, and his malady was severe; yet in his disease he did not seek the Lord, but the physicians.

It’s not wrong to go to the doctor, but God would really like you to go to Him as well.

:24 Jehoshaphat his son

15:25-32 Nadab in Israel

Now we backtrack and pick up the story in the north …

:25 Now Nadab the son of Jeroboam became king over Israel in the second year of Asa king of Judah, and he reigned over Israel two years.

:25 Nadab – “generous”

:26 And he did evil in the sight of the Lord, and walked in the way of his father, and in his sin by which he had made Israel sin.

Nadab will continue the big sin that his father started, the worship of the golden calves (1Ki. 12:26-33).

:27 Then Baasha the son of Ahijah, of the house of Issachar, conspired against him. And Baasha killed him at Gibbethon, which belonged to the Philistines, while Nadab and all Israel laid siege to Gibbethon.

:27 Baasha – “wicked”

Now we find out about Baasha, who we saw mentioned back in 15:17.

:27 Baasha killed him at Gibbethon

Play Gibbethon video

Gibbethon is between the northern and southern kingdoms. Nadab has been attacking the city. While he is leading his troops, this fellow named Baasha kills him.

:28 Baasha killed him in the third year of Asa king of Judah, and reigned in his place.

:29 And it was so, when he became king, that he killed all the house of Jeroboam. He did not leave to Jeroboam anyone that breathed, until he had destroyed him, according to the word of the Lord which He had spoken by His servant Ahijah the Shilonite,

:30 because of the sins of Jeroboam, which he had sinned and by which he had made Israel sin, because of his provocation with which he had provoked the Lord God of Israel to anger.

:29 did not leave … anyone that breathed

Instead of just killing every male (14:10), he kills everyone from Jeroboam’s family, male and female.

The prophet Ahijah’s prophecy has now been fulfilled.

:31 Now the rest of the acts of Nadab, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?

:32 And there was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel all their days.

15:33-34 Baasha in Israel

:33 In the third year of Asa king of Judah, Baasha the son of Ahijah became king over all Israel in Tirzah, and reigned twenty-four years.

This man rules a nation for twenty-four years, and all we have a record of is how evil he was. Tragic.

:34 He did evil in the sight of the Lord, and walked in the way of Jeroboam, and in his sin by which he had made Israel sin.

:34 walked in the way of Jeroboam

He may not have liked the house of Jeroboam, but he was fine with his twisted religion.

Introduction

Do people see Jesus? Is the gospel preached? Does it speak to the broken hearted? Does it build up the church? Milk – Meat – Manna Preach for a decision Is the church loved?

After the kingdom split, Jeroboam worried that when the annual feasts came up when people would go to the temple at Jerusalem to worship, they would have second thoughts about following this northern king.

Jeroboam decided to start a new religion and set up two new places of worship at Bethel and Dan, complete with golden calves to worship.

14:1-20 Judgment on Jeroboam

:1 At that time Abijah the son of Jeroboam became sick.

:2 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.

:3 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.”

:1 Abijah – “Yahweh is my father”

:2 Shiloh –

Play Shiloh map video

Shiloh was where the Tabernacle used to be in the days of before Samuel the prophet. It is about 17 miles south of Tirzah, the capital of the northern kingdom.

:2 Ahijah – “brother of Yahweh”

There was also a promise/warning given to Jeroboam by Ahijah:

After Jeroboam set up his new religion, there came a warning from an unnamed prophet that there would be judgment on Jeroboam for this idolatry.

:2 disguise yourself

Why does Jeroboam think his wife needs to be disguised?

Perhaps he knows that he is in sin. He must feel some sort of conviction over his sin.

:3 he will tell you what will become of the child

I find it interesting that she isn’t to go and ask Ahijah to pray, but to simply ask what is going to happen to the child.

Jeroboam has a sense that God and Ahijah know the future, but he seems to be oblivious to the concept that God can actually work in our world.

In his own life, he’s seen God’s mercy. When he stretched out his hand toward the prophet, Jeroboam’s hand was withered. But when he asked for mercy, God healed his hand.

I think God wants us to come and ask for His help. He wants to show mercy.

Note: I also find it interesting that Jeroboam doesn’t send his wife to one of the priests of his own false religion. He knows it’s bogus. He sends his wife to the real deal. Hmmm.

:4 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.

:5 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.”

:6 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.

:6 Why do you pretend

Lesson

You can’t hide from God.

(Ps 139:7 NKJV) Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence?

You can try and put on a disguise in front of people, but God sees right through you. If He wants to, He has the ability to whisper things in someone else’s ear.

Illustration

BE SURE YOUR SIN WILL FIND YOU OUT!

:6 I have been sent to you

Even though Jeroboam’s wife is the one that has come on a journey for information, Ahijah says that he’s the one who has been “sent” with news.

:7 Go, tell Jeroboam, ‘Thus says the Lord God of Israel: “Because I exalted you from among the people, and made you ruler over My people Israel,

:8 and tore the kingdom away from the house of David, and gave it to you; and yet you have not been as My servant David, who kept My commandments and who followed Me with all his heart, to do only what was right in My eyes;

:9 but you have done more evil than all who were before you, for you have gone and made for yourself other gods and molded images to provoke Me to anger, and have cast Me behind your back—

:10 therefore behold! I will bring disaster on the house of Jeroboam, and will cut off from Jeroboam every male in Israel, bond and free; I will take away the remnant of the house of Jeroboam, as one takes away refuse until it is all gone.

:11 The dogs shall eat whoever belongs to Jeroboam and dies in the city, and the birds of the air shall eat whoever dies in the field; for the Lord has spoken!” ’

:10 every male

The Hebrew speaks of urinating against a wall. Interesting way to describe men.

:10 take away the remnant

Every descendant of Jeroboam will be wiped out.

Lesson

Serious about religion

Jeroboam’s sin – setting up his golden calves – is going to lead an entire nation away from the pure worship of Yahweh.

I think you could even make the case that Jeroboam wasn’t “against” Yahweh, and in fact I think his concept was to make the people think that his golden calves were an image of Yahweh.

But he was making up a religion that was not based in truth, one that was just a little off.

It was a religion of political expediency.

It was a religion of convenience.

And it was wrong.

(Jn 4:24 NKJV) God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”

:12 Arise therefore, go to your own house. When your feet enter the city, the child shall die.

:13 And all Israel shall mourn for him and bury him, for he is the only one of Jeroboam who shall come to the grave, because in him there is found something good toward the Lord God of Israel in the house of Jeroboam.

The child shall die. He will be the only one in Jeroboam’s family who will have a traditional burial. The rest will be killed when a new king takes over and wipes out the rest of Jeroboam’s family.

:14 “Moreover the Lord will raise up for Himself a king over Israel who shall cut off the house of Jeroboam; this is the day. What? Even now!

:15 For the Lord will strike Israel, as a reed is shaken in the water. He will uproot Israel from this good land which He gave to their fathers, and will scatter them beyond the River, because they have made their wooden images, provoking the Lord to anger.

:16 And He will give Israel up because of the sins of Jeroboam, who sinned and who made Israel sin.”

:15 scatter them beyond the River

This will be the final judgment on the northern kingdom, taking place in 722 BC when the northern kingdom is conquered by the Assyrians and hauled off into captivity.

This will happen because of Jeroboam’s sin.

The northern kingdom will never repent from Jeroboam’s sin of setting up the golden calves.

:17 Then Jeroboam’s wife arose and departed, and came to Tirzah. When she came to the threshold of the house, the child died.

:18 And they buried him; and all Israel mourned for him, according to the word of the Lord which He spoke through His servant Ahijah the prophet.

:19 Now the rest of the acts of Jeroboam, how he made war and how he reigned, indeed they are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel.

:19 the chronicles of the kings of Israel

We do not have this book.

:20 The period that Jeroboam reigned was twenty-two years. So he rested with his fathers. Then Nadab his son reigned in his place.

If it sounds like Ahijah’s words aren’t coming to pass because the son will take the throne, but just wait…

14:21-31 Rehoboam’s Reign

:21 And Rehoboam the son of Solomon reigned in Judah. Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he became king. He reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city which the Lord had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, to put His name there. His mother’s name was Naamah, an Ammonitess.

:21 Rehoboam – “a people has enlarged”

:21 Naamah – “loveliness”

:21 an Ammonitess – We have a reminder that Solomon married many women that he shouldn’t have.

:22 Now Judah did evil in the sight of the Lord, and they provoked Him to jealousy with their sins which they committed, more than all that their fathers had done.

:23 For they also built for themselves high places, sacred pillars, and wooden images on every high hill and under every green tree.

:24 And there were also perverted persons in the land. They did according to all the abominations of the nations which the Lord had cast out before the children of Israel.

:22 Judah did evil