Divine Discipline on Israel; Basis for Evil. 1 Kings 14
We have an illustration in this chapter of the way government expands. There are many ways in which we can have government expansion but the underlying principles are the same. As we go through 1 & 2 Kings we will see this illustrated again and again and again. As we have seen in 1 Kings 1-11 we have the end of the united kingdom—Saul, David and then Solomon governed during the united monarchy. The apex of their divine blessing was under Solomon but just as he took them to the greatest level of blessing and prosperity, Solomon personally failed the prosperity testing and compromised with evil and idolatry and led the nation back into idolatry. So God brought discipline upon him and when God gave the report card to Solomon at the end of his reign Solomon was evil.
We see the same thing in chapter fourteen and fifteen which tells the story of two Abijahs. The first Abijah is the son of Jeroboam 1st who is the king in the northern kingdom and the second is going to be brought in in chapter fifteen, and he is called Abijam here but in other passages Abijah, and he is the son of Rehoboam. As we look at this passage and as we go forward in 1 Kings we are going to see a lot of interesting things. All of the history of Israel is a sort of divine viewpoint editorialised history and God is telling us what happened in Israel—over a huge number of years and not everything that happened—were the key elements that determined the course of that history. The Bible tells us that history has a purpose and a direction and it is following out the plan of God. By looking at these historical events and these individuals we see in the Scriptures what Hod says are the real causative events in history. It is not an economic policy, not a policy of direction of Supreme Court judges, not a policy on the military; it is more fundamental than that, it has to do with orientation to God, to creation, and how there is orientation to God and creation ultimately determines the kinds of decisions people make. That is why it is important for believers to understand the spiritual orientation of a man who is going to lead the country, because it tells something about his view of reality and about his view of history, and these are going to shape a lot of decisions that he makes whether he is conscious of that or not.
In chapter fourteen we see this working itself out in the life of Jeroboam. As we look at the passage there are three things we ought to think about in terms of analysing these events. The first is that the framework for understanding the prophets—in the Jewish canon, Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Kings were considered the former prophets—is that the role of the prophet is that he is the one challenging the nation on the basis of its obedience or disobedience to the Mosaic Law. He is the one who brings a message from God in terms of the promise of blessing if they obey and cursing or discipline of they disobey. So the framework for understanding all of this has to come out of our understanding of the Mosaic Law/Covenant, and foundational to this is the Ten Commandments given in Exodus 20.
The second thing that is important for understanding any kind of history, especially when we are dealing with social and political history, is the divine institutions. As soon as we make the statement, going back to Genesis 1:26, 27, it immediately puts us in counter point with much of the thinking in the culture today, because in our culture we live in a world where people don't think that man should rule and subdue. Ruling and subduing always should be done responsibly and when man is ruling over the planet he should use the resources responsibly. But there is a different framework from the Christian viewpoint of the environment and the pagan view of the environment. The first three divine institutions really focus on individual responsibility and outworking within the marriage and the family, and the marriage and the family both are viewed as being integral to fulfilling God's original purpose to rule the planet and to represent God over his creation. Then the last two divine institutions, human government and nations, have to do with institutions that are established by God in order to restrain the evil that is in man's heart. Genesis chapter six—"the thoughts of man's heart were evil continually." And so because that unrestrained evil that dominated the antediluvian culture God is going to change the terms of the contract again in the Noahic covenant—Genesis chapter nine—and establish government. Then after the tower of Babel establish nations in order to put external control on man's sin nature.
So part of the role of government in nations is to restrain the evil and another part is to promote the first three divine institutions which are designed to promote man's productivity, and when we think through the divine institutions and apply that framework to the events in Israel's history we see that they fall apart on the fundamentals.
Third, we use the framework of the ten stress busters. Any good story turns on conflict and the hero (always God) resolves the conflict. In other words, the conflict is the problem. So we determine the conflict in the story and the problem is always going to be resolved God's way through the use of one of the ten problem-solving devices or it is going to be handled through arrogance.
The first twenty verses of this chapter describe the end of Jeroboam's reign. The first three verses begin with identifying the immediate problem that Jeroboam faces. There is a broader spiritual problem which as to do with the success of his dynasty and rule over the northern kingdom of Israel but the immediate problem that is presented is that his son Abijah has become sick. We don't know how old Abijah was, though he was young. 1 Kings 14:2 NASB "Jeroboam said to his wife, 'Arise now, and disguise yourself so that they will not know that you are the wife of Jeroboam, and go to Shiloh; behold, Ahijah the prophet is there, who spoke concerning me {that I would be} king over this people. [3] Take ten loaves with you, {some} cakes and a jar of honey, and go to him. He will tell you what will happen to the boy.'" He wants to know if this is the one through whom his dynasty is going to continue. He is worried about the future, and rightly so because he knows he has disobeyed God. Notice here his arrogance. He uses religion for his own purposes.
1 Kings 14:4, 5 "Jeroboam's wife did so, and arose and went to Shiloh, and came to the house of Ahijah. Now Ahijah could not see, for his eyes were dim because of his age.
Verses 6-14 is the main body of this section. It is obvious that the focus here is on what happens in the conversation between Ahijah and Jeroboam's wife. As she comes in to meet with him the Lord communicates to Ahijah and identifies her. 1 Kings 14:6 NASB "When Ahijah heard the sound of her feet coming in the doorway, he said, 'Come in, wife of Jeroboam, why do you pretend to be another woman? For I am sent to you {with} a harsh {message.}'" Then in verse 7 he gives her the message that she is supposed to take back to Jeroboam from the Lord. Notice he says: "Thus says the LORD God of Israel…" A key element in this passage has to do with the authority and the infallibility of God's Word. It is the Lord speaking. The writers of Scripture knew they weren't speaking for themselves; they were speaking under the authority of God and by virtue of the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. He is speaking for the Lord and thus he has to come under the two tests we saw last time for a prophet. This was designed to protect the people.
The key issue in this whole analysis of Ahijah's boils down to Jeroboam's idolatry. The judgment is said to be idolatry. Verse 7 is the reminder that God is the one who raised up Jeroboam. God is the one (v. 8) who tore the kingdom away from Solomon and gave it to Jeroboam. God is the one who promised that if Jeroboam was obedient then God is the one who would exalt him. Remember Psalm 127:1 NASB "Unless the LORD builds the house, They labor in vain who build it…" We always have to relax and let Him be the one to be in control. The challenge is, v. 9: "you also have done more evil than all who were before you, and have gone and made for yourself other gods and molten images to provoke Me to anger, and have cast Me behind your back—" Notice how evil is defined here. We think of evil too often as some sort of political position or in certain kinds of criminality or sexual perversion, but the Bible defines evil at its starting point which is the rejection of God. We can go back and read the first two commandments and the Ten Commandments focus on that foundation: "that you will have no other gods before me and you won't make any idols and worship them." Because once that is gone, everything else that is built upon that collapses. Once a culture loses that eternal, infinite, absolute reference point then everything becomes relative. Jeroboam has violated all of that.
1 Kings 14:10 NASB "therefore behold, I am bringing calamity on the house of Jeroboam, and will cut off from Jeroboam every male person, both bond and free in Israel, and I will make a clean sweep of the house of Jeroboam, as one sweeps away dung until it is all gone. [11] Anyone belonging to Jeroboam who dies in the city the dogs will eat. And he who dies in the field the birds of the heavens will eat; for the LORD has spoken {it.}" It is not just that they are going to die, it is going to be a horrible death and a death that shows that they are not valued or respected at all. So He announces judgment on the house of Jeroboam because that was what Jeroboam was really concerned with—his dynasty.
The God answers the specific question: 1 Kings 14:12 NASB "Now you, arise, go to your house. When your feet enter the city the child will die." What a judgment! But it is very interesting what God said in the next verse. [13] "All Israel shall mourn for him and bury him, for he alone of Jeroboam's {family} will come to the grave, because in him something good was found toward the LORD God of Israel in the house of Jeroboam." He is the only one who will be buried respectfully. The reason this child is going to die is because all potential heirs had to die because Jeroboam's line is ending under divine discipline. But there is something about this one son, that something good was seen in him. It is believed that of all of his house this child was probably the only one positive. Another reason that this child is going to die is because if he had lived his impact spiritually on the nation would have been positive and God was judging the nation so He was not going to allow that to happen. We don't think like that. We wonder why God doesn't raise up a good leader to challenge the direction of the country. It is because God doesn't want that direction challenged because we are already under judgment as a culture, so God is not going to raise up that kind of leader or allow that kind of person to come on the scene. 1 Kings 14:14 NASB "Moreover, the LORD will raise up for Himself a king over Israel who will cut off the house of Jeroboam this day and from now on." Eventually because of the sin of Jeroboam God will eventually judge the northern kingdom, take them out of the land and scatter them beyond the Euphrates.
The conclusion of Jeroboam's life: 1 Kings 14:19 NASB "Now the rest of the acts of Jeroboam, how he made war and how he reigned, behold, they are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel." That is not 1 & 2 Chronicles, it is a non-extant work that was just a record of the rules of the kings of Judah and Israel. We don't have a copy of that. It shows that the writers of Scripture utilised historical sources and contemporary records in order to compile their accounts. Under the leadership of God the Holy Spirit they would pick and choose the correct information and interpret it correctly. [20] "The time that Jeroboam reigned {was} twenty-two years; and he slept with his fathers, and Nadab his son reigned in his place." There was a lot that went on in that time other than what we are told about. But what we are told about is crucial, and the first thing we are told about Jeroboam is his realisation that he can't have a successful autonomous nation in the north if his people are going down to Jerusalem to worship God. So the first thing that he did was to invent his own religious system in order to get the people to stay in the north. This was a failure personally because he failed spiritually in his own relationship with God and it would result in bringing divine discipline upon himself. And that relates to the first divine institution: individual responsibility. Leasers are individually responsible for their own spiritual life and their own walk with the Lord, and if their spiritual life leads them astray then it can (not necessarily have to) impact their leadership of the entire nation.
Secondly, as the anointed leader over God's people he leads them in rebellion against God. If we go back to Exodus 20 which begins with the Ten commandments, the preamble to the Mosaic Law: v. 1 NASB "Then God spoke all these words, saying, [2] 'I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery." That is how He identifies Himself. What happens with Jeroboam is that he is going to establish his alternate religion and makes two golden calves. And what did he says about them? 1 Kings 12:28 NASB "… It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem; behold your gods, O Israel, that brought you up from the land of Egypt." So he is directly challenging what God said in the Mosaic Law and he is violating the foundation of all of Israel's culture, religion and government by rejecting God at the foundation. This is what was so terrible about Jeroboam's sin and why it has such a terrible effect upon the entire nation.
So when we evaluate this in terms of the divine institutions he failed spiritually in his own walk with the Lord, he failed as a spiritual leader, and as a political leader who is to uphold the law. It is the Law that ruled Israel, not Jeroboam. It is the law that rules, people who govern simply govern, they don't rule. In terms of his marriage, divine institution # 2, rather than being a courageous, bold leader, because he knows he is guilty in his heart and knows he has violated God's will, he sends his wife to go talk to Ahijah. He won't do it himself. This shows a lack of moral courage in his marriage. In terms of family, because he led his family, like the nation, into idolatry the family is going to suffer just as much as he does. All of the males in the family are going to be wiped out in an ignominious manner, except for Ahijah and God will allow him to be buried as a sign of honour that there was something unique about him, something good in his heart toward the Lord. In terms of divine institution # 4, the government, he further shows the accuracy of Samuel's warning that the king wants to accrue power to himself. What could bring more powerful than redefining a nation's religion, redefining God. The more that government takes on power for itself, the more the government expands, the more freedom and liberty is lost, and the more the culture collapses. Jeroboam is instrumental in that and eventually it will bring about divine discipline.
Then we look at the other aspect in terms of the arrogance skills. They begin with self-absorption: we are focused on me. It is narcism, it is I'm going to do what I want to do to fulfil my power lust, my approbation lust, etc. It is self-absorption which leads into self-indulgence, and then self-indulgence leads to self-justification which leads to self-deception and then self-deification. It happens on the individual scale all the time. This is what happens with most unbelievers and many believers, especially in a narcissist culture.
Illustrations