So the king consulted, and made two golden calves, and he said to them, “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.” (1 Kings 12:28).

Jeroboam king of Israel worried that if the people returned to Jerusalem to worship the LORD, their hearts would eventually turn back to Rehoboam king of Judah; therefore, he took counsel from his advisors and devised a scheme to replace the temple worship in Jersalem with something else, which the LORD had not prescribed.

He said to him, “I also am a prophet like you, and an angel spoke to me by the word of the Lord, saying, ‘Bring him back with you to your house, that he may eat bread and drink water.’” But he lied to him. So he went back with him, and ate bread in his house and drank water (1 Kings 13:18-19).

The prophet of God, who pronounced judgment against Jeroboam for listening to evil counsel, is himself guilty of listening to counsel from someone other than the LORD. A lion would suddenly kill this prophet (1 Kings 13:24). And God would raise up Baasha to destroy the house of Jeroboam (1 Kings 15:29).

Friends, seeking counsel is not wrong (Proverbs 11:14), but not seeking, even failing to prioritize, the Lord's counsel is both wrong and dangerous. Jesus taught, "Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness..." (Matthew 6:33). It is in our desperation that we seek any kind of counsel to obtain a favorable outcome for ourselves. We even imagine that the Lord spoke when He did not speak. We reason in our own minds and excuse our hasty conclusions. We do this because we fear men and our precarious circumstances more than we fear God. 

Dear friends, we cannot free ourselves from all wrong judgment or from ever accepting wrong counsel, but we can pray. We can remember to always and diligently seek the Lord in His Word. Sometimes, as in the case of Rehoboam king of Judah, "bad" things happen because it is "from the LORD" (1 Kings 12:15, 24). Such things we must humbly accept and remain faithful. But more often than not we fret and act hastily because we are not praying and trusting in the Lord. As the Proverbs reminds us:

Trust in the Lord with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways submit to him,
and he will make your paths straight (Proverbs 3:5-6).

So the king did not listen to the people; for it was a turn of events from the Lord, that He might establish His word, which the Lord spoke through Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat (1 Kings 12:15).

Before you got to this verse, some of you may have been thinking what a foolish choice Rehoboam made in listening to his young friends over the advice of the elders. But then, when you get to this verse, you realize that he really did not have a choice, "for it was a turn of events from the Lord."

This, of course, led to the stoning death of Adoram, King Rehoboam's chief over forced labor.

Then, Rehoboam mustered the army to war against Israel to reunite the nation, but God again intervened:

‘Thus says the Lord, “You must not go up and fight against your relatives the sons of Israel; return every man to his house, for this thing has come from Me.”’” So they listened to the word of the Lord, and returned and went their way according to the word of the Lord (1 Kings 12:24).

This time, however, God sends the prophet Shemaiah to Rehoboam rather than manipulating events behind the scenes.

All these turns of events demonstrate that God is sovereign over the affairs of men and His will ultimately prevails every time. Let us trust in Him alone and completely.

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Although this is somewhat conjecture, I wanted to give a perspective on the instance of the disobedient man of God. Why did the old prophet lie to him about God's Word and how was it that the man of God believed him over the word that was spoken directly to him?

Simply put, I imagine the prophet was hungry and so his heart was ready to accept anything that freed him from the command of the LORD. The older prophet's lie was just such an escape. 

Parallel to this subplot is the account of Jereboam. God had promised to build him an enduring dynasty if he would faithfully obey His commands. But Jereboam worried that he would lose the hearts of the people of Israel if they went to worship the LORD in Jerusalem. He would not keep them from worshipping the LORD, but his heart was ready to accept any idea to keep the people from having to go back to Jerusalem. The advice of his counselors to make two golden calves and set them in Bethel and Dan was just such an opportunity.

The heart of the man of God and that heart of Jeroboam were both bent on disobedience rather than obedience, so that when they were tested, they failed the test. 

I wonder how often you and I fail the tests that God brings into our lives. Testing by God was not simply an Old Testament phenomenon. It is amply found in the New Testament as well. God used tests across all the covenants. And so I believe God tests us today. While the intention is to strengthen faith, such tests can also entrench the tested in their unbelief and rebellion, as was the case with Jeroboam (1 Kings 13:33).

God's testing means that living by faith will not be easy on this side of heaven. Even the Lord Jesus was often tested. He was tested when led into the wilderness to be tempted by Satan. He was tested in the Garden of Gethsemane. The Bible even says that Jesus learned obedience by that which He suffered (cf. Hebrews 5:8). 

Therefore, we should not think that we will be free from testing. Rather than try to escape the tests, we ought to try to respond rightly and learn from them. For the promise is that if we respond rightly, we will gain a harvest of righteousness and peace.

Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father? If you are not disciplined—and everyone undergoes discipline—then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all. Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of spirits and live! They disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it (Hebrews 12:7-11).

Friends, I have been thinking many years now about how best we might go about training ourselves in righteousness. Thus far, I have discerned that it begins by spending a lot of time in God's Word. Whatever else we do, we need to spend time reading, studying, and memorizing God's Word. 

I have also learned that this is not enough. You may think that the missing component is prayer, but I have not found that prayer is the answer either. Praying, fasting, serving, sharing the Gospel, and exercising our gifts are all tools of obedience. By prayer we learn how to align our wills with God's will. By fasting we practice substituting God's priorities and desires over our own. By serving others we exercise humility and trust in God by putting the interests of others above our own. In boldly sharing the Gospel we declare the value of God's truth and way over and against every other truth and way. By faithfully exercising our gifts we fulfill our calling in life and participate in God's sovereign plan for the ages.

As we are doing these things, I have also learned that it is to our benefit to remove every encumbrance to holiness, which I have discovered can crop up in an instant and last a lifetime. You might recognize these as simply "bad habits." Anger, wrath and malice may crop up as a result of selfishness, greed or simply frustration. Sexual immorality, lusting and impurity may crop up as a result of idleness, indulgence, and undiscipline. Idolatry may crop up as a result of forgetting our calling or neglecting God's Word. A gazillion little things can serve as a complex of triggers that so encumber our lives that we feel incapacitated to fully live the holy life to which God has called us. 

Friends, as you read 1 Kings 12-14, I once again encourage you to read the parallel account in 2 Chronicles 10-12. As I mentioned before, the books of the Chronicles provide more of an editorial on the events, particularly with respect to the dynasty of David. These additional insights will help you better understand, for instance, the how and why of the events in the books of the Kings.

I also want to remind you again that there is a section on this website providing introductions to all of the Books of the Bible. I encourage you to read these introductions as you follow the reading schedule. They will give you a birds-eye view and some relevant history to help you better understand each Bible reading.

One of the interesting things we discover from the Chronicles account is that King Rehoboam was in large part a good king, at least until his power was firmly established and he became strong. At that point he fell away from the LORD and the rest of Israel with him:

But when Rehoboam was firmly established and strong, he abandoned the Law of the LORD, and all Israel followed him in this sin. (2 Chronicles 12:1 NLT)

Another important tidbit we learn is that when Rehoboam is rebuked by the LORD, he and Israel humble themselves and avert terrible judgment from the LORD:

The prophet Shemaiah then met with Rehoboam and Judah’s leaders, who had all fled to Jerusalem because of Shishak. Shemaiah told them, “This is what the LORD says: You have abandoned me, so I am abandoning you to Shishak.” Then the leaders of Israel and the king humbled themselves and said, “The LORD is right in doing this to us!” When the LORD saw their change of heart, he gave this message to Shemaiah: “Since the people have humbled themselves, I will not completely destroy them and will soon give them some relief. I will not use Shishak to pour out my anger on Jerusalem. Because Rehoboam humbled himself, the LORD’s anger was turned away, and he did not destroy him completely. There were still some good things in the land of Judah. (2 Chronicles 12:5-7, 12 NLT)

Do you see what you would have missed by only reading the abbreviated account in the Kings? Therefore, even though you will read these books of the Chronicles again in keeping with the Bible reading schedule, it would be to your great benefit to take the time to read the Chronicles account as you are reading the Books of the Kings. 

One last tidbit from the Chronicles account. Although we learn that ten tribes went over to Jeroboam and the Northern Kingdom of Israel, because Jeroboam's unfaithfulness and idolatry, all the Levites and those devoted to the LORD among the ten tribes came over to Rehoboam in the Southern Kingdom of Judah:

But all the priests and Levites living among the northern tribes of Israel sided with Rehoboam. The Levites even abandoned their pasturelands and property and moved to Judah and Jerusalem, because Jeroboam and his sons would not allow them to serve the LORD as priests. Jeroboam appointed his own priests to serve at the pagan shrines, where they worshiped the goat and calf idols he had made. From all the tribes of Israel, those who sincerely wanted to worship the LORD, the God of Israel, followed the Levites to Jerusalem, where they could offer sacrifices to the LORD, the God of their ancestors. (2 Chronicles 11:13-16 NLT)

In all this we learn a repeated lesson throughout the history of Israel and particularly the divided monarchy about which we are reading now. God is in control. Ultimate blessings and cursings are directly tied to one's devotion to the LORD and His Word. I'm not saying that we can apply to ourselves today any of the blessings and cursings connected with the Law of Moses, for we are no longer under that Law; however, we can appreciate the demonstration of God's power and sovereignty over history and count the infinite blessing of being adopted into the family of God through Christ. We are under grace, not Law, therefore, we may not experience all the temporal consequences for sin that ancient Israel experienced. However, we can still take warning and learn from them that God desires our whole-hearted devotion to Him and His Word. Then, when we sin, we will not hesitate to humble ourselves and repent and turn back to God and obey His Word. Also, we will not fear when disaster overtakes us, because we know that God is in control, even when we are not, and we can trust that come what may, "all things will work together for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose" (Romans 8:28):

For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified. (Romans 8:29, 30 NIV)

Hallelujah! Praise the Lord!

It is almost discouraging to read history of Israel from this point because almost all of the kings turned away from God.  The peace lasted for such a short period of time of their history and the distinction between the nation of Israel and her neighboring countries belonged to past.  Whether God shows His signs and wonders or not, their evil hearts ignored God and succumbed to their sinful nature.  We think, though, that signs and wonders enable people to come to the Lord, but as we can see from today's text, Jeroboam experienced God's power in a tangible way by his arm being shriveled up by God and being healed by the prophet's prayer but his heart was never humbled before the Lord.  I remember that the faith we have is God's gift, not something that we can earn by our determination or our effort.  Brothers and sisters!  Let us be thankful to God who has graciously given the faith through Jesus, His Son and live daily to show it to others!