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"And
Down They Go" • 3.5.17 • Calvary Christian
Fellowship, Sunday Morning Service
Intro.
- In examining Jeroboam's life, we've operated
under the principle that God will go to great lengths to return a soul back to
Himself.
- Jeroboam exists to represent a type of person
who will resist to the very end! This chapter deals with the final days of the
first two Kings of the Divided Kingdom. Verse 1.
Text
•
I Kings 14:1-4 : "At that time Abijah the son of
Jeroboam became sick. And Jeroboam said to his wife, 'Please arise, and disguise
yourself, that they may not recognize you as the wife of Jeroboam, and go to
Shiloh. Indeed, Ahijah the prophet is there, who told me that I would be king
over this people. Also take with you ten loaves, some cakes, and a jar of honey, and
go to him; he will tell you what will become of the child.' And Jeroboam’s wife did so; she
arose and went to Shiloh, and came to the house of Ahijah. But Ahijah could not
see, for his eyes were glazed by reason of his age." : "At that time," when Jeroboam resisted God's message
and reaffirmed his commitment to his false religion.
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His arm had been paralyzed. His altar at Bethel had split in half. At his
request, the God who had been responsible for his condition, restored his hand.
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Did he repent and return to God recognizing that he had no help from his false
religion? Not at all! He doubled down and entered his false religion's
priesthood! At that time, his son fell ill.
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The word indicates that Abijah, whose name means "God Is my Father,"
became increasingly weak over a period of time and before long, it became clear
that his life was in danger.
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Please note that God is not charged with Abijah's illness. The author does not
indicate that He struck him with this malady. Rather, this seems to be the
natural course of Abijah's life.
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Because we live in a fallen world, each of us is susceptible to illnesses of
varying degrees. Many of us will gamble with our lives and shorten them by our
activity or lack thereof.
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God isn't to blame for these things. We are in fact, people with the great
blessing of knowing that we can come to the Lord and find help in dealing with
what comes our way.
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What does a person who has rejected God do? Jeroboam likely exhausted every
medical cure that was available to him at that time before he conceived of this
desperate plan.
-
I'd hate to have seen what false religious activity he engaged in on Abijah's
behalf! Most of that would have necessarily been for show, because he knew
first "hand" how false it was!
-
This is why a trip to Judah was out of the question for him. Aside from the constant
tension that existed between these two Kings, it was more important to keep up
impressions!
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That's why Mrs. Jeroboam travels incognito. Even her gift is cleverly composed
to imitated that of a middle class citizen!
-
She makes the trip and is encouraged to find that Ahijah is visually impaired!
Her disguise probably wouldn't even need to be that good! She's in for a bit of
a surprise. Verse 5.
•
I Kings 14:5,6 : "Now the Lord had said to Ahijah, 'Here is the
wife of Jeroboam, coming to ask you something about her son, for he is sick.
Thus and thus you shall say to her; for it will be, when she comes in, that she
will pretend to be another woman.' And so it was, when Ahijah heard the sound of her footsteps as
she came through the door, he said, 'Come in, wife of Jeroboam. Why do you
pretend to be another person? For I have been sent to you with bad news."
-
Ahijah didn't need a set of eyes to see this coming! God forewarned the prophet
and prepared him with a message that she heard the moment she came through the
door.
-
She had come to him, but he had been sent to her with bad news. Verse 7.
•
I Kings 14:7-9 : "Go, tell Jeroboam, ‘Thus says the Lord God of Israel: 'Because I exalted
you from among the people, and made you ruler over My people Israel, and tore the kingdom away from the
house of David, and gave it to you; and yet you have not been as My servant David,
who kept My commandments and who followed Me with all his heart, to do only
what was right in My eyes; but you have done more evil than all who were before you, for
you have gone and made for yourself other gods and molded images to provoke Me
to anger, and have cast Me behind your back—" : To whom much is given, much is required! Jeroboam had been
given a great promotion, having risen from among the people to be the King.
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For all that God had done for him, Jeroboam failed to follow the Lord with his
whole heart, to act according to what God thought was right. The one defines
the other!
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We study God's Word to receive God's instruction, that we may then do what is
right in His sight. That is following God with a whole heart! I pray you are
found by God in that way!
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Far from coming close, Jeroboam was guilty of unprecedented evil, making gods
for himself. That is the essence of idolatry: Worshipping and serving gods
after our own desires!
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We noted earlier that Jeroboam made his religion similar to the true worship of
"Yahwheh."
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It might have been similar enough to fool the people but God clarifies that He
was not fooled in the slightest!
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Aside from the egregious misrepresentation of God that Jeroboam foisted upon
the people, the real crime is that the King cast the real God behind his back!
-
Any attempt at worship, which is either directed at God through falsehood or
which is directed at some other supposed deity, is a choice to disregard the
God of Creation!
-
Jeroboam had tossed the thought of God's rule over his life aside like trash! This
was an incredibly bad decision then, and it remains such today! Verse 10.
•
I Kings 14:10-13 : "—therefore behold! I will bring
disaster on the house of Jeroboam, and will cut off from Jeroboam every male in
Israel, bond and free; I will take away the remnant of the house of Jeroboam,
as one takes away refuse until it is all gone. The dogs shall eat whoever belongs
to Jeroboam and dies in the city, and the birds of the air shall eat whoever
dies in the field; for the Lord has spoken!' Arise therefore, go to your own house. When your feet enter the
city, the child shall die. And all Israel shall mourn for him and bury him, for he is the
only one of Jeroboam who shall come to the grave, because in him there is found
something good toward the Lord God of Israel in the house of Jeroboam." : Jeroboam's apostasy would lead to a set of disasters that would
hit his own home first.
-
God had promised a lasting dynasty had he been faithful, but he had not come
close!
-
Consequently, there wouldn't be a single successor that would peaceably come to
the grave aside from Abijah! Every other descendant would be treated like
Jeroboam treated God!
-
For the Jewish person, a proper burial was a matter of peace and blessing from
God. To declare that bodies would be eaten by dogs and birds would have been
horrifying to hear.
-
Essentially, the idea is God will have abandoned Jeroboam's descendants without
thought!
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Abijah would also die at the the very moment that Jeroboam's wife entered the
city!
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Unlike the rest of Jeroboam's descendants, Abijah would simply die and be
buried. He would have the distinct honor of a grave and Israel's mourning. Why?
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Because God accounted that there was something good, pleasant toward Himself in
him!
-
The NLT renders verse 13 like this:
"for this child is the only good
thing that the Lord, the God of Israel, sees in the
entire family of Jeroboam." What a statement to make!
-
Regardless of what Jeroboam was before the Lord, there was still someone in his
house that God found good in and He would treat him well on account of it.
-
God deals specifically with people. He doesn't condemn anyone simply because of
their relation to a person who is godless! That isn't their fault!
-
I might mention that Abijah is a great example that you might share with others
who believe that they are destined to be like their godless Fathers or Mothers.
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Nobody "has" to be what their parents are! God will see you based on
who you are and will honor your choice to honor Him! In Abijah's case, we
aren't told what the basis of this "good" was.
-
Was it a disgust or disagreement over his Father's actions? He may not have
been old enough to voice his concerns, but God saw His heart and made note!
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Abijah lived in an apostate home, but he wasn't an apostate himself and as
such, his death would actually be a means of grace. In some cases, in this case
particularly, it is exactly that!
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Turn in your Bibles to Isaiah 57.
Listen to the prophet give a hopeful explanation.
•
Isaiah 57:1,2 : "The righteous perishes, and no man takes it to heart;
Merciful men are taken away, while no one considers that the righteous is taken away from evil. He shall enter into peace; They shall rest in their beds, each one walking in his uprightness." : Abijah is a sure example of this! Verse 14.
Merciful men are taken away, while no one considers that the righteous is taken away from evil. He shall enter into peace; They shall rest in their beds, each one walking in his uprightness." : Abijah is a sure example of this! Verse 14.
•
I Kings 14:14-18 : " Moreover the Lord will raise up for Himself a king over Israel who shall cut off
the house of Jeroboam; this is the day. What? Even now! For the Lord will strike Israel, as a reed is
shaken in the water. He will uproot Israel from this good land which He gave to
their fathers, and will scatter them beyond the River, because they
have made their wooden images, provoking the Lord to anger. And He will give Israel up because
of the sins of Jeroboam, who sinned and who made Israel sin.' Then Jeroboam’s wife arose and
departed, and came to Tirzah. When she came to the threshold of the house, the
child died. And they buried him; and all
Israel mourned for him, according to the word of the Lord which He spoke through
His servant Ahijah the prophet." : God
promises a King that would be born on that particular day that would finally
and fully bring down the house of Jeroboam.
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The reference is to King Baasha, who we will learn of at another time. The
dynasty that should have been Jeroboam's was now living on borrowed time, as
was all of Israel.
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He and the rest of the Kings of Israel will supervise an ever spiritually
declining nation for a few hundred years and then God would strike. He will
effect all of these things.
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Because of Israel's disobedience, God will reverse every one of His previous
actions.
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Instead of soothing them, He will shake them. He had planted them, now He will
uproot them! He who gathered will now scatter, and instead of delivering from,
He will deliver Israel to it's enemy!
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They would soon weaken to a point that would be reminiscent of a reed that was
moved by any movement of the water.
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Assyria will take the North into captivity around 220 years from this point because
of their decision to embrace the wooden images of idolatry during this period
of history.
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Jeroboam may have erected them, but the people of Israel accepted them and aroused
the Lord's anger. God isn't dispassionate about His people's sins.
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Israel was now on a path that would eventually lead to their dispersion.
Jeroboam's wife could know that this was true because the moment she came home,
her son died!
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The near miracle or sign of Abijah's death would ratify the distant prophecy of
Israel's demise! The moment she came to the door, God fulfilled His prophet's
word. Verse 19.
•
I Kings 14:19,20 : " Now the rest of the acts of Jeroboam, how he made war and how he
reigned, indeed they are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of
Israel. The
period that Jeroboam reigned was twenty-two years. So he rested with his
fathers. Then Nadab his son reigned in his place." : Jeroboam's idolatrous reign only lasted 22 years but his legacy
will mark Israel's 220 year history!
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When you think about your life and the impact that you will have, what do you
think will remain after you're gone? Will your kids love the Lord more than you
did or will they love themselves?
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Jeroboam set a spiritual tone that was disastrous! The Lord moves our attention
back to the South and the Kingdom of Rehoboam. Verse 21.
•
I Kings 14:21 : "And Rehoboam the son of Solomon
reigned in Judah. Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he became king. He
reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city which the Lord had chosen out of all the tribes
of Israel, to put His name there. His mother’s name was Naamah, an Ammonitess." :
Rehoboam is the closest person to
King David that was alive at this time and he was reigning from the very city
that God ordained as His own.
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Unfortunately, it's quite obvious that the influences over his life were quite
confusing. He lived in Jerusalem, but His Dad worshipped all the false gods of
his wives, especially of Naamah.
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Solomon built an altar to the abomination of the Ammonites, Milcom, or Molech
to the other nations. He had become an idle worshipper at her behest!
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It seems that Rehoboam sought to make his Mother proud. Verse 22.
•
I Kings 14:21-24 : "Now Judah did evil in the sight of
the Lord, and they provoked Him to jealousy
with their sins which they committed, more than all that their fathers had
done. For they
also built for themselves high places, sacred pillars, and wooden images on
every high hill and under every green tree. And there were also perverted
persons in the land. They did according to all the abominations of
the nations which the Lord had cast out before the children of Israel." : Like the Northern tribes, Judah had set new lows by their sinful
actions. This generation of God's people erected all sorts of idol worshipping
mechanisms throughout the entire land.
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The high places were elevated platforms upon which idolatrous statues were
placed. The pillars were generic images, while the wooden images are
specifically Asherah poles or "Asherim."
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There are no descriptions given in scripture, but archeology has unearthed many
of these artifacts. Suffice it to say, they were sexual in nature, which was
how the gods were worshipped.
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This was everywhere in Judah, upon every high hill and under every green tree.
Remember that Asherah and Baal were tied into the fertility of the agriculture
of the land.
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The Canaanites believed that their sexual practices encouraged the gods to act
out their own. It was believed that their acts brought fertility to the land.
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To help facilitate a greater range of "worship activity," "perverted
persons" were dispatched. These were male cult prostitutes who "helped"
the people of Judah worship false idols.
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Everything that Judah was doing had been done before by the nations that were
indigenous to Canaan! Judah, for
their part, saw what Israel was doing and somehow didn't want to be undone!
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Instead of making it their determination to fully take advantage of God's
actual presence, they decided to imitate what they saw in Israel! They didn't
want to be left out!
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Soon they found themselves in deep trouble. Verse 25.
•
I Kings 14:25-28 : "It happened in the fifth year of
King Rehoboam that Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem. And he took away the treasures of
the house of the Lord and the treasures of the king’s
house; he took away everything. He also took away all the gold shields which
Solomon had made. Then King Rehoboam made bronze shields in their place, and
committed them to the hands of the captains of the guard, who guarded the
doorway of the king’s house. And whenever the king entered the house of the Lord, the guards carried them, then
brought them back into the guardroom." : II Chronicles 12:1ff details that
Rehoboam had followed the Lord until his Kingdom was established.
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When he had strengthened his position, he forsook the Lord and this was God's
response.
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Shishak came into Jerusalem and sacked the city making sure that he got away
with every valuable shield that Solomon had left for Israel.
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Instead of repenting at the sight of their recent loss, Rehoboam merely
replaced the gold shields with bronze ones, which were then placed under heavy
guard!
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He dealt with the symptom, but didn't see the cause. He had rebelled against
the Lord and it issued in loss and a lack of security!
•
I Kings 14:29-31 : "Now the rest of the acts of
Rehoboam, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles
of the kings of Judah? And there was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all their days. So Rehoboam rested with his
fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the City of David. His mother’s
name was Naamah, an Ammonitess. Then Abijam his son reigned in his
place." : We'll learn of Abijam's reign next
week.
Conclusion
- I'm grateful
that within this chapter, a young boy without a voice then, speaks clearly to
us now.
- God looked
down upon the nation of Israel for one that was good, that sought Him and found
that there were none that were good.
- But there was
Abijah, God is my Father, and there was some found in Him! Today, the truth
remains: There is none good, for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory
of God.
- We deserve to
be shaken, uprooted and delivered to our enemy, the Devil, but God in His grace
has looked down upon the annals of history and has seen His Son!
- He struck His
Son with all the wrath that our sin deserved, that He might then apply His
Son's good to our account!
- In Abijah,
there was some good that allowed him the dignity of a burial. In Jesus Christ,
there is nothing but good and the grave was not suited for Him!
- In Abijah's
day, his good was not good enough to stem what would eventually come upon
Israel.
- Thankfully,
the eternal good in Jesus Christ will be enough to keep us from wrath and
reward those who believe in Him for eternity!
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