Placed on the throne by the ten tribes of Israel who
had rebelled against the house of David, Jeroboam, the
former servant of Solomon, was in a position to bring about
wise reforms in both civil and religious affairs. Under the
rulership of Solomon he had shown aptitude and sound
judgment; and the knowledge he had gained during years
of faithful service fitted him to rule with discretion. But
Jeroboam failed to make God his trust.
Jeroboam's greatest fear was that at some future time
the hearts of his subjects might be won over by the ruler
occupying the throne of David. He reasoned that if the
ten tribes should be permitted to visit often the ancient seat
of the Jewish monarchy, where the services of the temple
were still conducted as in the years of Solomon's reign,
many might feel inclined to renew their allegiance to the
government centering at Jerusalem. Taking counsel with
His advisers, Jeroboam determined by one bold stroke to
lessen, so far as possible, the probability of a revolt from his
rule. He would bring this about by creating within the
borders of his newly formed kingdom two centers of worship,
one at Bethel and the other at Dan. In these places
the ten tribes should be invited to assemble, instead of at
Jerusalem, to worship God.
In arranging this transfer, Jeroboam thought to appeal
to the imagination of the Israelites by setting before them
some visible representation to symbolize the presence of
the invisible God. Accordingly he caused to be made two
calves of gold, and these were placed within shrines at the
appointed centers of worship. In this effort to represent
the Deity, Jeroboam violated the plain command of Jehovah:
"Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image. . . .
Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them."
Exodus 20:4, 5.
So strong was Jeroboam's desire to keep the ten tribes
away from Jerusalem that he lost sight of the fundamental
weakness of his plan. He failed to take into consideration
the great peril to which he was exposing the Israelites by
setting before them the idolatrous symbol of the deity with
which their ancestors had been so familiar during the
centuries of Egyptian bondage. Jeroboam's recent residence
in Egypt should have taught him the folly of placing
before the people such heathen representations. But his set
purpose of inducing the northern tribes to discontinue their
annual visits to the Holy City led him to adopt the most
imprudent of measures. "It is too much for you to go up
to Jerusalem," he urged; "behold thy gods, O Israel, which
brought thee up out of the land of Egypt." 1 Kings 12:28.
Thus they were invited to bow down before the golden
images and adopt strange forms of worship.
The king tried to persuade the Levites, some of whom
were living within his realm, to serve as priests in the newly
erected shrines at Bethel and Dan; but in this effort he met
with failure. He was therefore compelled to elevate to the
priesthood men from "the lowest of the people." Verse 31.
Alarmed over the prospect, many of the faithful, including
a great number of the Levites, fled to Jerusalem, where they
might worship in harmony with the divine requirements.
"Jeroboam ordained a feast in the eighth month, on the
fifteenth day of the month, like unto the feast that is in
Judah, and he offered upon the altar. So did he in Bethel,
sacrificing unto the calves that he had made: and he placed
in Bethel the priests of the high places which he had made."
Verse 32.
The king's bold defiance of God in thus setting aside
divinely appointed institutions was not allowed to pass
unrebuked. Even while he was officiating and burning incense
during the dedication of the strange altar he had set up
at Bethel, there appeared before him a man of God from
the kingdom of Judah, sent to denounce him for presuming
to introduce new forms of worship. The prophet "cried
against the altar, . . . and said, O altar, altar, thus saith
the Lord; Behold, a child shall be born unto the house of
David, Josiah by name; and upon thee shall he offer the
priests of the high places that burn incense upon thee, and
men's bones shall be burnt upon thee.
"And he gave a sign the same day, saying, This is the
sign which the Lord hath spoken; Behold, the altar shall
be rent, and the ashes that are upon it shall be poured out."
Immediately the altar "was rent, and the ashes poured out
from the altar, according to the sign which the man of God
had given by the word of the Lord." 1 Kings 13:2, 3, 5.
On seeing this, Jeroboam was filled with a spirit of
defiance against God and attempted to restrain the one who
had delivered the message. In wrath "he put forth his
hand from the altar" and cried out, "Lay hold on him."
His impetuous act met with swift rebuke. The hand
outstretched against the messenger of Jehovah suddenly became
powerless and withered, and could not be withdrawn.
Terror-stricken, the king appealed to the prophet to
intercede with God in his behalf. "Entreat now the face
of the Lord thy God," he pleaded, "and pray for me, that
my hand may be restored me again, And the man of God
besought the Lord, and the king's hand was restored him
again, and become as it was before." Verses 4, 6.
Vain had been Jeroboam's effort to invest with solemnity
the dedication of a strange altar, respect for which would
have led to disrespect for the worship of Jehovah in the
temple at Jerusalem. By the message of the prophet, the
king of Israel should have been led to repent and to renounce
his wicked purposes, which were turning the people away
from the true worship of God. But he hardened his heart
and determined to follow a way of his own choosing.
At the time of the feast at Bethel the hearts of the
Israelites were not fully hardened. Many were susceptible to the
influence of the Holy Spirit. The Lord designed that those
who were taking rapid steps in apostasy should be checked
in their course before it should be too late. He sent His
messenger to interrupt the idolatrous proceedings and to
reveal to king and people what the outworking of this
apostasy would be. The rending of the altar was a sign of
God's displeasure at the abomination that was being wrought
in Israel.
The Lord seeks to save, not to destroy. He delights in
the rescue of sinners. "As I live, saith the Lord God, I have
no pleasure in the death of the wicked." Ezekiel 33:11. By
warnings and entreaties He calls the wayward to cease
from their evil-doing and to turn to Him and live. He
gives His chosen messengers a holy boldness, that those who
hear may fear and be brought to repentance. How firmly
the man of God rebuked the king! And this firmness was
essential; in no other way could the existing evils have
been rebuked. The Lord gave His servant boldness, that
an abiding impression might be made on those who heard.
The messengers of the Lord are never to fear the face of
man, but are to stand unflinchingly for the right. So long
as they put their trust in God, they need not fear; for He
who gives them their commission gives them also the assurance
of His protecting care.
Having delivered his message, the prophet was about
to return, when Jeroboam said to him, "Come home with
me, and refresh thyself, and I will give thee a reward."
"If thou wilt give me half thine house," the prophet replied,
"I will not go in with thee, neither will I eat bread nor
drink water in this place: for so was it charged me by the
word of the Lord, saying, Eat no bread, nor drink water,
nor turn again by the same way that thou camest." 1 Kings
13:7-9.
Well would it have been for the prophet had he adhered
to his purpose to return to Judea without delay. While
traveling homeward by another route, he was overtaken
by an aged man who claimed to be a prophet and who made
false representations to the man of God, declaring, "I am
a prophet also as thou art; and an angel spake unto me
by the word of the Lord, saying, Bring him back with
thee into thine house, that he may eat bread and drink
water." Again and again the lie was repeated and the
invitation urged until the man of God was persuaded to return.
Because the true prophet allowed himself to take a course
contrary to the line of duty, God permitted him to suffer
the penalty of transgression. While he and the one who had
invited him to return to Bethel were sitting together at the
table, the inspiration of the Almighty came upon the false
prophet, "and he cried unto the man of God that came from
Judah, saying, Thus saith the Lord, Forasmuch as thou
hast disobeyed the mouth of the Lord, and hast not kept
the commandment which the Lord thy God commanded
thee, . . . thy carcass shall not come unto the sepulcher of
thy fathers." Verses 18-22.
This prophecy of doom was soon literally fulfilled. "It
came to pass, after he had eaten bread, and after he had
drunk, that he saddled for him the ass. . . . And when he
was gone, a lion met him by the way, and slew him: and his
carcass was cast in the way, and the ass stood by it, the lion
also stood by the carcass. And, behold, men passed by, and
saw the carcass cast in the way, . . . and they came and
told it in the city where the old prophet dwelt. And when
the prophet that brought him back from the way heard
thereof, he said, It is the man of God, who was disobedient
unto the word of the Lord." Verses 23-26.
The penalty that overtook the unfaithful messenger was
a still further evidence of the truth of the prophecy uttered
over the altar. If, after disobeying the word of the Lord,
the prophet had been permitted to go on in safety, the king
would have used this fact in an attempt to vindicate his own
disobedience. In the rent altar, in the palsied arm, and in
the terrible fate of the one who dared disobey an express
command of Jehovah, Jeroboam should have discerned the
swift displeasure of an offended God, and these judgments
should have warned him not to persist in wrongdoing. But,
far from repenting, Jeroboam "made again of the lowest
of the people priests of the high places: whosoever would,
he consecrated him, and he became one of the priests of
the high places." Thus he not only sinned greatly himself,
but "made Israel to sin;" and "this thing became sin unto
the house of Jeroboam, even to cut it off, and to destroy it
from off the face of the earth." Verses 33, 34; 14:16.
Toward the close of a troubled reign of twenty-two years,
Jeroboam met with a disastrous defeat in a war with Abijah,
the successor of Rehoboam. "Neither did Jeroboam recover
strength again in the days of Abijah: and the Lord struck
him, and he died." 2 Chronicles 13:20.
The apostasy introduced during Jeroboam's reign became
more and more marked, until finally it resulted in the utter
ruin of the kingdom of Israel. Even before the death of
Jeroboam, Ahijah, the aged prophet at Shiloh who many
years before had predicted the elevation of Jeroboam to the
throne, declared: "The Lord shall smite Israel, as a reed is
shaken in the water, and He shall root up Israel out of this
good land, which He gave to their fathers, and shall scatter
them beyond the river, because they have made their groves,
provoking the Lord to anger. And He shall give Israel up
because of the sins of Jeroboam, who did sin, and who
made Israel to sin." 1 Kings 14:15, 16.
Yet the Lord did not give Israel up without first doing
all that could be done to lead them back to their allegiance
to Him. Through long, dark years when ruler after ruler
stood up in bold defiance of Heaven and led Israel deeper
and still deeper into idolatry, God sent message after message
to His backslidden people. Through His prophets He
gave them every opportunity to stay the tide of apostasy
and to return to Him. During the years that were to follow
the rending of the kingdom, Elijah and Elisha were to live
and labor, and the tender appeals of Hosea and Amos and
Obadiah were to be heard in the land. Never was the kingdom
of Israel to be left without noble witnesses to the mighty
power of God to save from sin. Even in the darkest hours
some would remain true to their divine Ruler and in the
midst of idolatry would live blameless in the sight of a holy
God. These faithful ones were numbered among the goodly
remnant through whom the eternal purpose of Jehovah
was finally to be fulfilled.