In 1 Kings 13, God interrupted the King’s pagan worship proceedings when he sent a man of God to declare His judgement.
• He gave King Jeroboam a chance to repent, but 13:33 says EVEN AFTER THIS, the King did not change his evil ways.
Sadly, the King made no effort in knowing God or understanding His will.
• God authenticates His Word with miraculous signs – the altar splitting apart and the King’s hand shrivelled up and subsequently healed.
• If he had taken the opportunity to ponder and reflect, he could have been awakened by what God has been saying and doing.
• But he was too blinded by his sin to see the obvious, even with the miraculous signs and the healing of his hand.
We continue to see his folly in 1 Kings 14. Let’s read what happened - 1 Kings 14:1-11.
1. HE SEEKS GOD ONLY WHEN HE WANTS SOMETHING
Now we see Jeroboam seeking to know the truth about his son through the prophet.
• His son was sick, seriously sick, it seems. It worries him because he was the likely heir to the throne.
• He needed some answer, some assurance, so he thought of the prophet Ahijah, the “one who told me I would be king” (14:2)
• “He has the Word of God. We can find out from him the answer to my son’s illness.”
2. HE SEEKS GOD ONLY ON HIS OWN TERMS
“But I cannot be the one going. I’ve rejected what he said back in chapter 11. He would be unhappy with me and might reprimand me and not give me a good answer.”
• So Jeroboam sends his wife instead and tells her to disguise herself.
• Not recognising her to be Jeroboam’s wife is an advantage, the prophet might just give her a “good word” about their son.
• And he asked the wife to take some gifts, hoping to “buy” some favour?
This is the folly of man. On the one hand, he believes Ahijah is a true prophet who has the truth, and yet at the same time, thinking that he can deceive him.
• The irony is that Ahijah is already blind at this time (because of his age). It does not matter whether the wife disguises herself or not. He could not see.
• When the prophet heard her footsteps at the door, he said, “Come in, wife of Jeroboam. Why this pretence?” (14:6)
He did not need to hear her voice. She did not speak. In fact, she did not speak in this whole encounter.
• The prophet sees because he hears from God. He could be blind but he “sees” because he has the revelation of God.
All our effort to try and hide who we are before God is FUTILE.
• We may pull the same stunt with God sometimes, thinking that we can hide from Him.
• We know in theory that we cannot but in reality we sometimes behave as if God does not know.
But look at verse 5. God reveals everything - the WHO, WHAT, WHY and HOW.
• God reveals who is coming, what she wants, why she is asking, how she will behave, and what his answer to her would be. Everything!
• We don’t have to hide from God. We don’t have to cover up. Even if man is blind and cannot see a thing, God can and He knows.
3. HE SEEK GOD ONLY TO FIX HIS PROBLEMS
Why is Jeroboam seeking the prophet now? The reason is given – his child is sick.
• The King seeks God when he is in trouble. Nothing wrong with that in itself.
• The Lord is gracious and compassionate. He is our help in times of troubles.
• But he seeks God ONLY in his troubles. We have only TWO accounts of Jeroboam seeking God – one, when his hand shrivelled up and cannot be pulled back (13:4) and the other is now, when his son is sick. Both are self-serving.
Jeroboam showed no regard for the Word of the Lord in all other occasions.
• He spurned the Word of God. He chose to reject the Word of God.
• God says, “You have provoked me to anger and thrust me behind your back.” (14:9b) He cast God behind his back, that’s how the Lord puts it.
Since meeting the prophet in chapter 11, Jeroboam has been behaving in this manner.
• He did not take God’s Word to heart. And the two times he turned to God were selfish reasons.
• He wants God only for the emergencies of life and not as the Lord who rules the course of his life. “I don’t want you, except during emergencies.”
4. HE SEEKS GOD ONLY FOR HIMSELF
God is more than our “insurance policy” when things go wrong or our divine paramedic in A&E situation. He is the Sovereign Lord who governs our lives.
• We seek Him for who He is and not just for what we want. We honour Him for who He is, and not for what we can get out of Him.
• Jesus puts it this way – He turned to the crowd following him and said, you seek Me only “because you ate the loaves and had your fill.” (John 6:26).
It’s like seeing God as a WAITER in a restaurant, there to serve us what we need.
We point to the menu and says, “This is what I want.” And wait to be served. We complain when the food is taking too long to come or is not what we ordered.
No one goes into the restaurant to know the waiter. We don’t know his name and we don’t care, we are not bothered with Him because that’s not why we come.
The waiter is only important in getting me what I really come for — the food.
To put it bluntly, Jeroboam is USING GOD. He is using God to meet his needs.
• He sought God for what He can do for him and not for WHO He is.
• It’s not about a relationship.
God has a message for Jeroboam. Listen to what the Lord says - 1 Kings 14:7-10
7 Go, tell Jeroboam that this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: `I raised you up from among the people and made you a leader over my people Israel. 8 I tore the kingdom away from the house of David and gave it to you, BUT you have not been like my servant David, who kept my commands and followed me with all his heart, doing only what was right in my eyes. 9 You have done more evil than all who lived before you. You have made for yourself other gods, idols made of metal; you have provoked me to anger and thrust me behind your back. 10 BECAUSE OF THIS…
• The Lord recounted what He has done – (I… I… I…) I raised you up, I made you a leader, and I gave you David’s Kingdom (the larger part)…
• BUT YOU (you… you…) - you did not follow Me like David, you have done more evil, you made other gods, you provoked Me to anger, you thrust Me behind your back…
Jeroboam’s offense is a sin against God’s grace, because God has been good to him.
• He did not respond in kind. God treated him well but he spurned God. God has been gracious to him, but he despised it.
• He literally threw God’s goodness away. He threw God’s Word to the winds.
14:10-11 “BECAUSE OF THIS, I am going to bring disaster on the house of Jeroboam. I will cut off from Jeroboam every last male in Israel-slave or free. I will burn up the house of Jeroboam as one burns dung, until it is all gone. 11Dogs will eat those belonging to Jeroboam who die in the city, and the birds of the air will feed on those who die in the country. The LORD has spoken!'
• His rejection of God’s grace and God’s goodness resulted in the downfall of his Kingdom. He brought this upon himself by his own doing.
Let’s complete the story, at least to know what happen to his son - 14:12-18.
• (1) His son will die, (2) his dynasty will be overthrown, and (3) Israel will be exiled from the land eventually.
• His son’s death is immediate – the moment Jeroboam’s wife stepped over the threshold of the house. (14:17)
• His dynasty will be overthrown in the next chapter 15.
• And Israel will be eventually removed from the land. That happens in 2 Kings 17:21-23 some 200 years later, by the Assyrians.
Israel could not get out of the idolatry that Jeroboam introduced here.
• The poison that he brought into could not be eradicated for good and Israel suffers.
• Subsequently, in the recordings of 1 and 2 Kings, we see many references made to the sins of Jeroboam, because the generations after him copied his sinful ways.
The death of his son turned out to be merciful because he had a proper burial.
• The prophet says, “He is the only one belonging to Jeroboam who will be buried, because he is the only one in the house of Jeroboam in whom the Lord, the God of Israel, has found anything good.” (14:13)
• We do not know what that good is, but God gave him a decent burial and spared him from being eaten by dogs or birds. God is still gracious!
The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Rom 6:23)
• Israel's only hope is the Messiah. They must look forward to the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Messiah and their Lord.
We’ve seen all the Jeroboam has done wrong. Let me put in the right word:
• WE SEEK GOD FOR WHO HE IS. He is our Lord and we obey Him.
• The Lord says, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.” (Matt 5:6) We shall be filled, fully satisfied.
• This is the only way to a good life, there is no other way.
• Let’s pledge our allegiance to the Lord.
PRAY:
“You are our God. We bow down in worship of You. You are God and there is no one else. We seek You and we obey You. The day will come when every eye will see You, when every heart and every voice will say, that You are perfect in Your wisdom and Your justice. Keep us faithful to You and to Your Word.”
Song A THOUSAND GENERATIONS by Brenton Brown
