1 KINGS 14
Read 1 Kings 14:1-30
Now that the people of God had split into two separate kingdoms, the writer of 1 Kings tells us how they are getting on.
Firstly, we get an update on the northern kingdom of Israel. We remember that they broke away from the southern kingdom of Judah because at the end of his reign Solomon treated his people badly, and then when he died, his son Rehoboam treated them even worse. So, they elected their own king, Jeroboam, and we saw that the first thing he did was to turn his back on God and institute his own form of religion. Despite God sending a prophet to convict him of his sin, and despite Jeroboam seeing at first hand both the judgement and the grace of God towards him, we read that ‘Jeroboam did not change his ways’ (13:33). The consequence was that Jeroboam received further judgement from the Lord. Jeroboam’s son was ill and so he sent his wife to consult a holy man, a prophet, Ahijah. Why did he not go himself? Well, perhaps he feared that a man of God would not be sympathetic to his idolatry whereas he might give a ‘good word’ to a woman seeking comfort for her sick son. Furthermore, the prophet was blind so he might not recognise Mrs Jeroboam for who she was. However, Ahijah was a prophet, a servant of the Lord, and he could not be hoodwinked because the Lord told him what was going on. And through the blind prophet God delivered a damning judgement upon Jeroboam; he would have no surviving male heirs and there would be no ruling dynasty descended from him. The prophet continued; the kingdom of Israel will not last, the Lord will uproot it (v15) because of the sins of Jeroboam. And this prophecy hung over the northern kingdom of Israel for 180 years until its fruition.
So, what about the southern kingdom? Surely that must be doing better under King Rehoboam, son of Solomon and grandson of David? But no! We read that Judah did evil in the eyes of the Lord (v22). They were no better than their northern neighbours and they were committing idolatry and also the ‘detestable practices’ of the nations they drove out of the Promised Land. Despite all that God had done for them, they too turned their backs on him, and worshipped other gods and because of that they were subject to judgement. This took the form of an invasion by Egypt and the loss of much of their wealth.
For both the northern and southern people of God their faithlessness towards God; their sin brought a heavy judgement from God. But perhaps the most damning comment in this chapter is in v30, ‘there was continual warfare between Rehoboam and Jeroboam’. The people of God had committed all sorts of sin and were not in a good relationship with God, yet it seems that their priority was fighting with one another. It is always a tragedy when God’s people fall out with each other, but it is necessary to get one’s perspectives right and to keep in a good relationship with our Lord and saviour.