Sunday
I didn’t get to say much yesterday about Jeroboam. King Solomon had noticed Jeroboam when they had been building the temple and palaces and recognized his leadership abilities. So he had made Jeroboam an official. Later after he had revolted against Solomon, Jeroboam was met by the prophet Ahijah and was told that he would rule over ten of the tribes of Israel.
But, Jeroboam foolishly let power and authority get to him and he turned his back on God. He built altars and made two golden calves for the people to worship. Again Jeroboam is confronted by a man of God and this time Jeroboam doesn’t like what he has to say to him. When he tries to have the man of God captured, Jeroboam’s hand shrivels up. Yikes. Then he asks him to intercede with the Lord “your” God – I think that’s interesting since shouldn’t Jeroboam have recognized that it was “his” God? Well the story goes on and the kings hand is healed but the prophet refuses to go back with Jeroboam because God had told him not to. Again, we read that God was disobeyed and for the man of God – it doesn’t go well.
One of the problems that we humans seem to face generation after generation is to grasp the idea that God is a jealous God and he will not allow us to worship anything that is not Him. We, on the other hand, try to get around this and think that God won’t notice if we are not worshipping Him. It was a costly mistake for the people of Israel and it is a costly mistake for us.
Jeroboam’s entire family is wiped out at the end of his son, Nadab’s, reign. The price he paid for turning his back on God.
And the story continues. Have you ever watched “Reign” on Netflix (it is about the early years of the reign of Mary Queen of Scots), I’m thinking they may have taken their plot line from the Bible except that it is loosely based on real events – so not much has changed in the last couple of millenniums.
Following the extermination of Jeroboam’s family is the rule of Baasha. Baasha is no different than Jeroboam or Nadab, in-so-much that his twenty-four-year reign is remembered as “filled with evil”. His son, Elah is ruler for only two years and then is assassinated by Zimri, an army officer. Zimri is only king for seven days when his reign ends with suicide. We read that Omri takes the throne from Zimri and he “sinned more than all those before him.” This is repeated with Omri’s son Ahab. (we’ll talk a lot more about Ahab in the next couple of days. Let me just say this, I shudder when I think of Ahab and the evil he and Jezebel do.)
OK those are the kings of the Northern Kingdom, now let’s focus on the Southern Kingdom. When last we left Rehoboam had passed away and now his son, Abijah succeeds him as King of Judah. Abijah, the bible tells us, committed all the sins his father and done before him and his heart was not fully devoted to the Lord.” (1Kings 15:3). Throughout Abijah’s reign there was war between the Israelites. Then Asa becomes king and reigns for forty-one years. We finally meet someone who “did what was right in the eyes of the Lord.” (1Kings 15:11). Asa is met by Azariah the prophet of God and tells Asa, “the Lord is with you when you are with him. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him he will forsake you.” (2Chron 15:2) Azariah uses for an example the troubles the kings of the Northern Kingdom have experienced because they turned away from God. He also encouraged the people of Judah (vs 7) to help motivate them to stay the course. Words of encouragement often help us through difficult times. We all need people like Azariah who speak the truth and by doing so can help build up. How refreshing to end today’s blog know that even though evil exits all around us, there are still many of God’s people working and striving to do great things for the Kingdom of God.
It is not hard to follow God when we lift each other up and stay true to His word and work. All I know is that I want to stay obedient to God, to follow His plan for my life, and to be filled with His Spirit and the peace that I get from knowing Him. And I want this for you too!
Loving God and living in His peace,
Pastor Kathy