1 Kings 14:1-31
Q.1. Why did Jeroboam send his wife in disguise to the prophet Ahijah? What would happen to Jeroboam’s dynasty? Why? – (1 Kgs.14:1-20)
It was the prophet Ahijah who had predicted – that I would be king over this people – (1 Kgs.14:2 c.f. 1 Kgs.11:29-38). Jeroboam respected Ahijah sufficiently enough, that he named his son ‘Abijah’ after him (1 Kgs.11:29; 14:1). Why then, didn’t Jeroboam go to the prophet himself, and why did he advise his wife to disguise herself? (1 Kgs.14:2). The reason was that God had outlined through Ahijah, how he could establish a kingdom like that of David’s – SADLY, HE HAD PURPOSELY DISOBEYED GOD’S INSTRUCTION. (1 Kgs.11:37-38 c.f. 1 Kgs.12:25-33). However, God would not be mocked or deceived by a paltry disguise, even though the prophet was old and his eyes dim (1 Kgs.14:4). God told the prophet who was coming, and exactly what to say to Jeroboam’s wife – 7 Go, say to Jeroboam, ‘Thus says the Lord God of Israel, “Because I exalted you from among the people and made you leader over My people Israel, 8 and tore the kingdom away from the house of David and gave it to you—yet you have not been like My servant David, who kept My commandments and who followed Me with all his heart, to do only that which was right in My sight; 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— 10 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 (1 Kgs.14:7-11). Worst of all for Jeroboam’s wife, was the news that her sick son would be the first to die … even as she returned to home.
Q.2. What terrible legacy did Jeroboam bring to the northern tribes of Israel? Why did this happen? – (1 Kgs.14:15-16)
God had promised to greatly honour Jeroboam. However, he forfeited God’s blessing with his ungodly attempts to stop the northern tribes of Israel from returning to Jerusalem (1 Kgs.11:38; 12:26-30). Consequently, he led Israel astray. They placed their trust in Asherim idols (1 Kgs.14:15). The prophet told Jeroboam’s wife – He will give up Israel on account of the sins of Jeroboam which he committed and with which he made Israel to sin (1 Kgs.14:16).
Q.3. How did God distinguish between Jeroboam and his son who would die young? What lesson do we learn from this? – (1 Kgs.14:12-13, 17-18)
God saw to it that the young prince would not be treated like the rest of the house of Jeroboam – 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 (1Kgs.14:13). And so it proved to be – 18 All Israel buried him and mourned for him, according to the word of the Lord which He spoke through His servant Ahijah the prophet (1 Kgs.14:18). There are at least two lessons to learn from this – (i) God will treat everyone as they deserve, and not bring wholesale judgment on the righteous; (ii) A brief life, or what may be considered as an early death in no way reflects how God feels about a person. God sovereignly ordains the exact number of days of our lives (Psalm 139:16).
Q.4. What was the reign of Rehoboam, son of Solomon like? How did God respond to his reign? – (1 Kgs.14:21-31)
Rehoboam’s mother was no help to him, because she was an Ammonitess (1 Kgs.14:21). The Ammonites were the result of an incestuous relationship between Lot and his daughter. There was bad blood between the Ammonites and Israel. In fact, they were the ones who would not let Israel pass through their territory after their exodus from Egypt (c.f. Deut.23:3-4). Solomon should not have married an Ammonitess. God had chosen the Tribe of Judah, out of all the Tribes of Israel, to place His name in Jerusalem, in the Temple there, yet – 22 Judah did evil in the sight of the Lord, and they provoked Him to jealousy more than all that their fathers had done, with the sins which they committed. 23 For they also built for themselves high places and sacred pillars and Asherim … 24 There were also male cult prostitutes in the land. They did according to all the abominations of the nations which the Lord dispossessed before the sons of Israel (1 Kgs.14:22-24). It is unbelievable that Judah would introduce the very evils that had caused God to dispossess the nations who had inhabited the land before them. However, this did not bring them blessing or peace, for there was continual war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam (1 Kgs.14:30) … and Shishak, king of Egypt took away the treasures of the Temple and the king’s palace. So Rehoboam replaced the gold shields with bronze ones (1 Kgs.14:26-27). How tragic to see the demise of the nation, from the heady heights of Solomon’s reign to that of Rehoboam, his son.