Year 1, Week 48, Day 5 Bible Reading Observations

Year 1, Week 48, Day 5

I have a brief observation for today’s reading of 1 Kings 13-14.

Today’s reading begins the account of Israel as a divided nation. The historical account will go back and forth from the Northern Kingdom, who at the moment is ruled by Jeroboam, and the Southern Kingdom, who at the moment is ruled by Rehoboam. Most of today’s reading pertains to Jeroboam. 1 Kings 13 records the warning that Jeroboam received, while at one of his false altars, by a prophet of God. The prophet warned: “O altar, altar, thus says the LORD: ‘Behold, a son shall be born to the house of David, Josiah by name, and he shall sacrifice on you the priests of the high places who make offerings on you, and human bones shall be burned on you” (1 Kings 13:2). The prophet announced that down the road, a descendant of David, Josiah, would slaughter the fake priests on the false altar. When Jeroboam attempted to seize the prophet, he was bodily unable to do so. Sadly, the same prophet who announced the Word to Jeroboam, disobeyed the Word God gave him, and his life suddenly ended: “And as he went away a lion met him on the road and killed him. And his body was thrown in the road, and the donkey stood beside it; the lion also stood beside the body” (1 Kings 13:24).

1 Kings 14 opens with Jeroboam’s sick son. Jeroboam sends his wife to the prophet Abijah to learn their son’s fate. Abijah declares: “Go, tell Jeroboam, ‘Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: “Because I exalted you from among the people and made you leader over my people Israel…and yet you have not been like my servant David, who kept my commandments and followed me with all his heart, doing only that which was right in my eyes, but you have done evil above all who were before you and have gone and made for yourself other gods and metal images, provoking me to anger…I will bring harm upon the house of Jeroboam and will cut off from Jeroboam every male, both bond and free in Israel, and will burn up the house of Jeroboam” (1 Kings 14:7-10). 1 Kings 14 also provides an account of Rehoboam’s reign over Judah. Rehoboam lead Judah into evil: “And Judah did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, and they provoked him to jealousy with their sins that they committed…They did according to all the abominations of the nations that the LORD drove out before the people of Israel” (1 Kings 14:22, 24b).

One of the things that struck me from today’s reading was the LORD’s immediate chastening and correcting, particularly upon Rehoboam and the Kingdom of Judah. There seems to be significance in what was summarized concerning Rehoboam’s rule: “Now Rehoboam the son of Solomon reigned in Judah. Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city that the LORD had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, to put his name there. His mother’s name was Naamah the Ammonite” (1 Kings 14:21). First, it is one thing for Jeroboam to engage in false worship in the Northern Kingdom; but it is a whole other thing for, “the city that the LORD had chosen…to put his name there,” to become flush with idolatry. Second, Israel, as they entered the Promised Land, was to have removed the foreigners who dwelt there. That did not fully occur. Thus, the ethnicity of Rehoboam’s mother is mentioned twice: “his mother’s name was Naamah the Ammonite” (1 Kings 12:21, 31). This is not a matter of racial prejudice; it is a reminder that the nations were to be removed from the Land because of their false worship. Tragically the nations and their gods remained and Judah acclimated: “For they also built for themselves high places and pillars and Asherim on every high hill and under every green tree, and there were also male cult prostitutes in the land” (1 Kings 14:23-24a). The influence of the nations and their gods went all the way to the Queen Mother. But the influence was not just within the royal house, the entire kingdom was indicted: “And Judah did what was evil in the sight of the LORD” (1 Kings 14:22a).

The wicked ways of Rehoboam and Judah were immediately met with a warning by the hand of the LORD: “Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem. 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 shields of gold that Solomon had made” (1 Kings 14:25b-26). The LORD issues an initial blow against His people. But this first round of warnings do not seem to awaken either the king or the people to confess their wrong-doing. Instead, Rehoboam conceals the loss: “King Rehoboam made in their place shields of bronze, and committed them to the hands of the officers of the guard, who kept the door of the king’s house” (1 Kings 14:27). What was once gold had become bronze—not as glorious, but it will do the trick. Judah’s demise had begun, but keeping up certain appearances was deemed more acceptable than humbling, admitting that they were experiencing the diminishment of true glory due to their idolatry.

What struck you in today’s reading? What questions were prompted from today’s reading?

Pastor Joe