1 Kings 14:1-31
14:1 Jeroboam's son, Abijah becomes sick. Jeroboam has made a life based on idol worship, but none of his false gods are able to heal his son. The symbolic ailments of his life have no balm or cure because his lifestyle has not sourced from the true God.
14:2 Jeroboam's relationship with God and his fellow workers is poor. His outright defiance of God's word has ruined his connection with the prophet Ahijah. In 1 Kings 11, it was this prophet who told Jeroboam that he would become king over Israel. The opportunity was a gift from God, a chance to lead as an obedient child of God. Instead, Jeroboam immediately went a wayward way. It is only in his desperation that he seeks the help of God.
Jeroboam instructs his wife to bring the boy to Ahijah, but to disguise herself. Jeroboam knows that he is unlikely to receive help from a God he rejected because he is not repentant about it.
14:3 He tells his wife to bring provision and perhaps payment, but God does not require enticement to be moved into action. For the figurative illnesses of Jeroboam's life, he needs to change his lifestyle. Idols do not provide for what truly matters.
14:4 The wife arrives at the house of Ahijah. We find out that at this time, Ahijah has aged and can no longer see.
14:5 Ahijah's poor eyesight might have benefited Jeroboam's scheme but because Ahijah is true child of God, he has been prepared by God for this visit. He has already been informed that Jeroboam's son is ill and that his wife has traveled to have him seen under a guise.
14:6 Ahijah welcomes Jeroboam's wife the moment she enters the home.
14:7-16 Without preamble, Ahijah also already has God's response for Jeroboam and he delivers it to the wife. With this message, God confronts Jeroboam in the decisions he has made in his life to reject God's presence and counsel. God explains why Jeroboam's life has yielded such unsatisfactory results. The message from God is this:
‘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—
The tribes of Israel inherited Jeroboam as king partly because of Solomon's failure and partly because of their own. Had they been a faithful people, they would have received a faithful king. We create the atmosphere in which we live through the way that we live. A corrupt body of people raised a corrupt king. But it did not have to remain corrupt; in 1 Kings 11:37-38, God promised Jeroboam a blessed and everlasting kinship if he would heed the voice of God. But Jeroboam does not heed the voice of God, and now his son is ill. His family's reign will not last forever.
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!”’
The idol worship cut off the source of God. God provides peace and wisdom, love and provision. Having abandoned him, Israel has left itself vulnerable to the figurative dogs. It is vulnerable to corruption because it allowed corruption in.
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.
Jeroboam's child will die. God explains that the reason for the child's death will be his goodness. That only seems backward when we forget what a blessing it is to be with God. God disallows this good child to inherit such a corrupt kingdom because he deserves better than to be responsible for such a mess.
This is one small example of how sometimes, we do not realize God is blessing us. Sometimes the no or the closed door is God's way of being perceptive and generous. Sometimes the no is temporary, sometimes it is final. But it is always wisely given. God's timing and decisions are precious to our benefit. God feels that this child deserves to enter into heaven early, but all of Israel mourns because they do not understand God. They do not understand that they did not deserve the goodness of this child's heart.
This is one small example of how sometimes, we do not realize God is blessing us. Sometimes the no or the closed door is God's way of being perceptive and generous. Sometimes the no is temporary, sometimes it is final. But it is always wisely given. God's timing and decisions are precious to our benefit. God feels that this child deserves to enter into heaven early, but all of Israel mourns because they do not understand God. They do not understand that they did not deserve the goodness of this child's heart.
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.”
Instead, Israel will receive a different king. A king separate from Jeroboam's line. But Jeroboam is not the only guilty one. Israel has abandoned God, and thus their values. God explains that he has discipline planned for Israel. This is a tool any loving parent would implement. He is going to uproot Israel and scatter them. But these people have already rejected God's soil, and that is why they do not benefit from its glory and power.
In scripture and in life, realize that people only return to God once they experience how different life is when they are away from Him. It is both God's hope and intention that they will return. And the only reason He plans to uproot and scatter them is because they have already made moves to leave. So He allows it. He allows them, and us, to explore life away from Him. He is confident that we will realize how barren and cold it is and return to His warmth and abundance.
14:17 When Jeroboam's wife returns home and their child immediately passes away. His goodness cannot survive in that corrupted atmosphere. And for all of the worship and celebration of the false idols, none of them were able to respond to Jeroboam's prayers.
14:18 The boy is buried and Israel mourns for him. But heaven opens it arms in celebration for the child's arrival.
14:19-20 It is explained that we learn more about Jeroboam in the Book of Chronicles, 2 Chronicles 13. He reigned for twenty-two years and then passed away. Nadab, his son reigned after him.
14:21 Meanwhile, Solomon's son Rehoboam reigns over Judah (the remained two tribes). We learn that Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he inherited the kingship. He reigns in Jerusalem for seventeen years. His mother's name is Naamah.
14:22-24 The people of Judah are just as bad as the people of Israel. They are living evil and perverted lifestyles. They are worshiping idols and building sacred places in their honor. They have no love or gratitude for the God who provided everything they have, we led their ancestors out of slavery.
14:25-26 In the fifth year of Rehoboam's reign, a king of Egypt came and stole treasures from the house of the Lord. Because Judah abandoned God, they discarded the defense He provided.
14:27-28 Rehoboam replaces the stolen gold with bronze. It is symbolic: the greater was replaced by the lesser.
14:29 Rehbooam and Jeroboam reigned with tension between Israel and Judah their entire lives. These once united tribes lived as blessed children of God. The rift in their relationship is as complicated and unnecessary as humanity's inability to live cohesively is.
Rehoboam passes away and is replaced by his son Abijah. God promised that David's line would continue because of his faith (if not for David, Rehoboam's line would have been extinguished like Jeroboam's).
Rehoboam passes away and is replaced by his son Abijah. God promised that David's line would continue because of his faith (if not for David, Rehoboam's line would have been extinguished like Jeroboam's).
