1 At that time Abijah son of Jeroboam became ill, 2 and Jeroboam said to his wife, “Go, disguise yourself, so you won’t be recognized as the wife of Jeroboam. Then go to Shiloh. Ahijah the prophet is there—the one who told me I would be king over this people. 3 Take ten loaves of bread with you, some cakes and a jar of honey, and go to him. He will tell you what will happen to the boy.” 4 So Jeroboam’s wife did what he said and went to Ahijah’s house in Shiloh. Now Ahijah could not see; his sight was gone because of his age. 5 But the Lord had told Ahijah, “Jeroboam’s wife is coming to ask you about her son, for he is ill, and you are to give her such and such an answer. When she arrives, she will pretend to be someone else.”
In the previous chapter, Jeroboam showed us his true spirit toward God. When approached by the man of God, he defied him and was cursed with a withered hand. In that curse he denied repentance but asked for the hand to be returned to normal. When God acquiesced, there still was no repentance. In fact, when we get to the end of chapter 13 we saw that Jeroboam not only refused to repent but doubled his efforts to defy God by installing more priests who weren’t from the Levite bloodline.
Here, we see a similar pattern. Jeroboam’s son is sick. He is notably worried about it. He wants to appease God to get what he wants, so he sends his wife so the prophet Ahijah, who is very old now, won’t recognize her. She is to bring supplies with her to tempt him into helping. Jeroboam is trying to get around the issue that he is in opposition to God but still wants his power of healing.
This is very telling. Jeroboam wants to access God for his own purposes. Many people operate like this. They live a life that is in opposition to God only to fall toward him when times get tough. But instead of falling into Him and not letting go, most people get what they desire and then fall back into their life of opposition. God brings trials into our life in order to remind us that He is here and its His grace and mercy we must fall into or we will continue to repeat a costly pattern.
In verse 4, we learn that Ahijah is blind. But he is still very much in connection with God. Even though the king, the most powerful person in Israel devises a plan, it doesn’t escape God.
6 So when Ahijah heard the sound of her footsteps at the door, he said, “Come in, wife of Jeroboam. Why this pretense? I have been sent to you with bad news. 7 Go, tell Jeroboam that this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘I raised you up from among the people and appointed you ruler over my people Israel. 8 I tore the kingdom away from the house of David and gave it to you, but you have not been like my servant David, who kept my commands and followed me with all his heart, doing only what was right in my eyes. 9 You have done more evil than all who lived before you. You have made for yourself other gods, idols made of metal; you have aroused my anger and turned your back on me. 10 “‘Because of this, I am going to bring disaster on the house of Jeroboam. I will cut off from Jeroboam every last male in Israel—slave or free. I will burn up the house of Jeroboam as one burns dung, until it is all gone. 11 Dogs will eat those belonging to Jeroboam who die in the city, and the birds will feed on those who die in the country. The Lord has spoken!’
One of the amazing things about life is that we devise plans and believe that we are running the plan, but in truth we fall into a larger plot devised by God. In this story Ahijah, the old prophet, has bad news for Jeroboam and his wife. Jeroboam had to concoct the plan and send the wife but ultimately the plan was for them to hear God’s word.
God’s word is this: “I raised you up from among the people and appointed you ruler over my people Israel. 8 I tore the kingdom away from the house of David and gave it to you, but you have not been like my servant David, who kept my commands and followed me with all his heart, doing only what was right in my eyes.” God chose Jeroboam and gave him the option to have a kingdom covenant as strong and long as David’s. But Jeroboam chose an opposite way, a way of defiance that has dire consequences. He took Israel on an idolatrous path away from God and damned generations beyond him.
God’s judgment is this: “I am going to bring disaster on the house of Jeroboam. I will cut off from Jeroboam every last male in Israel—slave or free. I will burn up the house of Jeroboam as one burns dung, until it is all gone. 11 Dogs will eat those belonging to Jeroboam who die in the city, and the birds will feed on those who die in the country. The Lord has spoken!” First, disaster. Second, isolation and lack of legacy. Third, a complete destruction of his name. An end to his name, his dynasty, his future.
12 “As for you, go back home. When you set foot in your city, the boy will die. 13 All Israel will mourn for him and bury him. He is the only one belonging to Jeroboam who will be buried, because he is the only one in the house of Jeroboam in whom the Lord, the God of Israel, has found anything good. 14 “The Lord will raise up for himself a king over Israel who will cut off the family of Jeroboam. Even now this is beginning to happen. 15 And the Lord will strike Israel, so that it will be like a reed swaying in the water. He will uproot Israel from this good land that he gave to their ancestors and scatter them beyond the Euphrates River, because they aroused the Lord’s anger by making Asherah poles.16 And he will give Israel up because of the sins Jeroboam has committed and has caused Israel to commit.”
Ahijah states God’s plan precisely. There will an immediate prophetic resolution and a distant one. His son will die the moment his wife steps back into the kingdom and this son, which is the only one with an element of good, will be the only one buried. All others are likened to a curse. This shows that God is ready to make good on his promise that the name of Jeroboam will be blighted. There is no good left to resurrect it.
God’s long-distance prophecy is that a new king is already in the works. This new king will be active in severing the name of Jeroboam.
Even further, a third promise: 15 And the Lord will strike Israel, so that it will be like a reed swaying in the water. He will uproot Israel from this good land that he gave to their ancestors and scatter them beyond the Euphrates River, because they aroused the Lord’s anger by making Asherah poles.16 And he will give Israel up because of the sins Jeroboam has committed and has caused Israel to commit.” This comes to fruition about 300 later when Israel is overtaken by the Assyrians and dispersed into their society. In a very real way Israel is absorbed by the opposing force and the bloodline of the northern Israelites is destroyed. This is the penance paid by Jeroboam’s initial sin to turn away from God and take Israel with him.
17 Then Jeroboam’s wife got up and left and went to Tirzah. As soon as she stepped over the threshold of the house, the boy died. 18 They buried him, and all Israel mourned for him, as the Lord had said through his servant the prophet Ahijah. 19 The other events of Jeroboam’s reign, his wars and how he ruled, are written in the book of the annals of the kings of Israel. 20 He reigned for twenty-two years and then rested with his ancestors. And Nadab his son succeeded him as king.
The immediate prophecy comes to pass just as Ahijah predicted. As far as the rest of Jeroboam’s life, it is said to be chronicled in the lost annals of the kings of Israel. One decisive battle recorded in scripture was when Jeroboam lost half a million men (2 Chronicles 3:17). The other thing we know, also from Chronicles, is that God struck him down (2 Chronicles 3:20).
Rehoboam King of Judah 21 Rehoboam son of Solomon was king in Judah. He was forty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city the Lord had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel in which to put his Name. His mother’s name was Naamah; she was an Ammonite. 22 Judah did evil in the eyes of the Lord. By the sins they committed they stirred up his jealous anger more than those who were before them had done. 23 They also set up for themselves high places, sacred stones and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every spreading tree. 24 There were even male shrine prostitutes in the land; the people engaged in all the detestable practices of the nations the Lord had driven out before the Israelites.
During Rehoboam’s reign, Judah too fell away from proper worship of God. God’s jealous anger was stirred up by Judah. This is notable because it was the first time Judah had accelerated their defiance of God. They did this in a few ways:
1. They created new “high” places: these were places that were set up most likely for worship other gods, but sometimes they were set up for the worship of God in defiance of how God wanted to be worshipped: through His temple. In both cases the people of Judah built these new worship sites and moved away from he traditional worship system which had been made permanent just years before.
2. Asherah poles: Asherah was a fertility god of the Canaanites closely connected with Baal worship. By this description, the writer expresses that the worship of this god was widespread. They were on every high hill ( in Judah’s spreading worship centers) and under every spreading tree (throughout the land).
3. Male shrine prostitutes: these were special prostitutes who were holdovers from Baal worship. In the Canaanite religious ceremonies, sexuality, both heterosexual and homosexual, became intertwined with their religious practices. Here were see that this practice was accepted and widespread in Judah during the time of Rehoboam.
The people practiced evil: not only were these things present, but the people were allowed to practice evil. There wasn’t a governmental response to the debauchery. This shows that Judah, as well as Israel, had fallen into a lifestyle of decadence and the leadership allowed this slippage to occur. The king was not following God, therefore the people emulated the king.
25 In the fifth year of King Rehoboam, Shishak king of Egypt attacked Jerusalem. 26 He carried off the treasures of the temple of the Lord and the treasures of the royal palace. He took everything, including all the gold shields Solomon had made.
2 Chronicles is a good place to get more information on Shishak’s pillage of the temple. In 2 Chronicles we learn some context of his conquest. Why: It was because of the people’s transgression against God (2 Chronicles 12:2). How: He aligned nations against Judah (2 Chronicles 12:3) and did it while en route to Jerusalem (2 Chronicles 12:4) Jerusalem: it was spared, by God, because Shemaiah the Prophet led Judah into true repentance (2 Chronicles 12:6-8).
Shishak, actions born in the temporal world, became the bludgeoning force of judgment against Judah only five years after the temple was in full use again. All of the wealth accumulated by both David and Solomon were gone. Even the faux shields hung in Solomon’s palace were stolen, leaving Judah in a state of both physical and spiritual poverty.
27 So King Rehoboam made bronze shields to replace them and assigned these to the commanders of the guard on duty at the entrance to the royal palace. 28 Whenever the king went to the Lord’s temple, the guards bore the shields, and afterward they returned them to the guardroom.
Rehoboam’s replacement Solomon’s gold shields is a good metaphor for the spiritual and physical shapeJudah was in during the reign of Rehoboam. Back in Solomon’s day, gold was so plentiful that they considered silver worthless. But in Rehoboam’s reign, bronze is settled for.
29 As for the other events of Rehoboam’s reign, and all he did, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Judah? 30 There was continual warfare between Rehoboam and Jeroboam. 31 And Rehoboam rested with his ancestors and was buried with them in the City of David. His mother’s name was Naamah; she was an Ammonite. And Abijah his son succeeded him as king.
Rehoboam’s reign is signaled by a rash act of not listening to wise counsel and instead inciting the nation. In that moment we get a good idea of where Rehoboam was. He was the heir to a kingdom of wealth and privilege. He was brought up in opulence and didn’t understand the spiritual side of what Solomon had accomplished. 2 Chronicles 12:14 says it best: And he did evil, because he prepared not his heart to seek the LORD. He didn’t spend time in the scripture, but hoped to accomplish a relationship with God. He tried to exert power he did not understand and, in the end, did the very thing Jeroboam did: he pulled people away from a relationship with God. The land suffered for it. The heart of Judah suffered. Even though 2 Chronicles 12:6-7 tells us that Rehoboam humbled himself at the end of his life, the damage in Judah was done.