And Jeroboam said in his heart, "Now the kingdom will return to the house of David. If this people go up to other sacrifices in the house of the Lord at Jerusalem, then the heart of this people will return to their lord, even to Rehoboam king of Judah; and they will kill me and return to Rehoboam king of Judah." (verse 26-27)
Message: Jeroboam I Breaks the Covenant
Time: The author of 1&2 Kings (originally 1 book) is not known. First Kings follows the history of this divided kingdom from the death of David around 971 BC through the year 853 BC. First Kings reveals Solomon’s relationship with Yahweh and introduces the prophet Elijah who pronounces judgment on the evil northern king Ahab. Like other books, it helps us to understand the history of Israel and Judah.
What the Lord is Saying: As a reminder, the resulting northern and southern kingdoms was due to the sin of Solomon, namely I think his disregard for marriage and taking wives and concubines from many different nations, comprising the integrity of Jerusalem but also his dual ways of building the temple and yet building a larger palace and wrongly treating workers to make his kingdom larger. I Kings 11:11 the Lord says, "I will surely tear the kingdom from you." What followed was his son Rehoboam then also not listening to the wise council of men from Solomon's days but instead listening to youthful wisdom with I Kings 12:11 speaking of a greater discipline to come and Rehoboam receiving a small kingdom in the south. I looked at his reign in 1 Chronicles 11 and 12 and now here look to the north and Jeroboam's reign.
Jeroboam established his residence at Shechem, a mere 116km north of Jerusalem. Abraham had built an altar at Shechem after the Lord had promised land to his descendants (Genesis 12:6–7), and Joshua renewed the covenant there before Israel (Joshua 24:1, 25–26). He established himself in a good place, but this doesn't mean that he necessarily had good outcomes. In verse 26 and 27, Jeroboam fears that his new northern kingdom will leave him and instead return to Jerusalem to do their sacrifices and their loyalty will shift back to the house of David. But Jeroboam continues to consult himself and he sets up two worship centers of his own doing at Dan and Bethel. Jeroboam actually wasn't trying to replace God, but he thought it could be as simple as he himself setting up 2 worship centers - erecting calves which he believed could be physical representations of God. Animals were used as sacrifices at the temple and bulls especially were treated as a high value sacrifice and so by erecting a calf, a young bull, he thought that he could craft something that would work as well and be more convenient.
Jeroboam doesn't ask God about this but instead devises his own plan. Do we do this? Do we erect our own way of doing things out of convenience? Is it possible we have replaced too quickly the sabbath day worship day? For many they would say we have. Have we too quickly gone to high octane, entertainment focused worship services where we pay professional musicians to lead us and create atmospheres that are possibly too seeker focused? In our worship services, we brand our messages often times more on self-help than God glorifying messages. As Christians, do we too quickly separate ourselves from the world to safeguard ourselves from reaching out to people in the name of staying safe? Do we think that trusting in Jesus is simply our 'get of hell free card' and we can resume life the way we like to live it? But do we often too quickly follow a rigid checklist of obedience in order to ensure somewhat that we are close to God? Do we only evangelize with people at certain times? Is Sunday the most spiritual day of the week for us? Do we invite God into all the areas of our lives?
I think the hard point here in this passage is Jeroboam was seen as working in opposition to God and yet he might have believed something different.
Jeroboam had been given a promise in I Kings 11:38 by God when it was said to him, "if you listen to all that I command you and walk in My ways, and do what is right in My sight by observing My statutes and My commandments, as My servant David did, then i will be with you and build you an enduring house as I built for David, and I will give Israel to you." God here in these verses is asking Jeroboam to follow him and listen to Him and walk in His ways. The word 'My' is used 5 times. But in this chapter, Jeroboam responds by not citing God when he makes decisions. The author makes a point to mention that he did not.
The subject of this lesson is that Jeroboam I Breaks the Covenant. This is the Mosaic covenant which was a conditional covenant at the time. God had set up specific ways of worship and sacrifice and places where these need to occur - namely the temple. In these times, it was very important that people acted in the way God prescribed, not simply doing things there own ways for him in hopes that it would be good enough. No, God expected strict conformity to His ways. Yes, he forgave but He still had a standard.
Summary: Jeroboam fears that if his people leave his area to go worship and sacrifice in Jerusalem then they will turn their allegiance to Rehoboam so he sets up alternate ways to worship and sacrifice in his area.
Promise: We must listen carefully to God's leading.
Prayer: Lord God, these are hard passages. It is hard to understand the conditional messages here and wonder if there is more condition expected of us today. Thank you for showing me how you accept our repentance and turning to You. Thank you for your sacrifice. Show me how I need to sacrifice for You. Give me wisdom in decisions and doing things that will glorify You. Help me to know the best way to go always. Give me direction as I speak to people about you. Keep me focused on this in life and surrendering to You.
Note: If you are interested in other studies/devotions, check out my index of Bible Study's.
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