Jeroboam's Defiance
1 Kings 12:25-13:34

Introduction

Every 5-6 years … the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change … or IPCC … publishes a comprehensive Assessment Report on the global climate. This assessment looks at past climate trends … to try and predict what the climate is going to look like … 20, 50 or even 100 years into the future. Now the last report came out in 2023 … and like the previous reports … the media jumped all over it … crying that we’re in the middle of the climate crisis. And the reason they use the phrase ‘climate crisis’ is because the report says things like heat waves, droughts, floods and storms are all on the rise … due to global warming.

Yet in his book ‘Unsettled’ … scientist Steven E. Koonin tells us what the media FAILS to mention … is the level of certainty the report has over the connections between climate change and changing weather patterns. So WHILE the IPCC says it has ‘HIGH confidence’ that human activity is contributing to climate change … they have LOW confidence over whether we’re actually seeing an increase in floods, droughts and other extreme weather patterns BECAUSE of climate change. The reason the media don’t mention these low confidence levels is because a ‘climate crisis’ sells more newspapers than ‘low confidence’ prediction.

Now I don’t mention this to turn us all into climate change sceptics. I personally believe human activity IS damaging this planet … AND that Christian should do our part to look after God’s creation. The reason I mention this is because when it comes to predicting ANYTHING in this life … our confidence is ALWAYS low. Now sure … we can spot patterns in the job market … the housing market … the stock market … and the weather. But those patterns rarely come with a high degree of confidence.

This is what makes v. 32 of our passage today so striking. Because one of the characters in this episode … the prophet from the north … says this:

1 Kings 13:32 (NIV) For the message he [the man of God] declared by the word of the Lord against the altar in Bethel and against all the shrines on the high places in the towns of Samaria will certainly come true.”

Our passage today is about ‘the word of the Lord’. The phrase ‘the word of the Lord’ occurs some 12 times in 1 Kings chapter 13. It occurs in v. 1, 2, 5, 9, 17, 18, 20, 21, 21, 26, 26 and v. 32. And the POINT of this passage … is that when it comes to the word of the Lord … we are not to claim low, medium or even HIGH confidence in what it says. What does the prophet say?

1 Kings 13:32 (NIV) For the message he declared by the word of the Lord […] will certainly come true.”

What this passage lays out for us … are different examples of how to APPROACH the word of the Lord. We have 2 very negative examples … and 1 positive example. And these are our 3 points for today … as your sermon outline shows. So we’re going to begin by seeing Jeroboam rely on human wisdom … to lead him to commit one of the most heinous and devastating sins in the whole of the OT. So I’ve titled this first point (i) Choosing human wisdom over the word of the Lord. We’re then going to look at this more obscure passage … about a man of God who is sent to BRING the word of the Lord to Jeroboam … yet HE instead ends up defying the word of the Lord himself … which I’ve titled (ii) Listening to conflicting voices over the word of the Lord. We’ll then finish with some GOOD news … which believe it or not comes from this lying prophet from the north. And I’ve titled this point (iii) Aligning oneself with the Word of the Lord. And that’s ‘Word’ with a capital ‘W’. So let’s dive in.

Choosing human wisdom over the word of the Lord

And our passage this week picks up the narrative STRAIGHT after last week’s passage. If you recall … Rehoboam … who is the Rightful heir to the throne of David … that’s our memory hook … R. R. … Rehoboam … Rightful heir. Well Rehoboam’s foolishness led to the ENORMOUS milestone of the nation of Israel splitting in 2. 10 of the 12 tribes of Israel REJECTED Rehoboam’s cruel and crass rule … and split off to form the northern kingdom of Israel … appointing Jeroboam as their king. The remaining … 4 of the 12 tribes … like I said … the OT doesn’t treat maths the same way we do … these 4 southern tribes remained loyal to the Davidic line … forming the southern kingdom of Judah.

This week’s passage looks at ANOTHER huge milestone … which is what Jeroboam did when he became ruler of the northern kingdom. So in v. 25 … he sets up a capital city for himself. There’s wisdom in that. Then in the SECOND verse of Jeroboam’s reign … we read this:

1 Kings 12:26-27 (NIV) Jeroboam thought to himself, “The kingdom will now likely revert to the house of David. 27 If these people go up to offer sacrifices at the temple of the Lord in Jerusalem, they will again give their allegiance to their lord, Rehoboam king of Judah. They will kill me and return to King Rehoboam.”

Now this is a legitimate concern. The word of the Lord COMMANDED that all Israel appear before the Lord 3 times a year … for their 3 major festivals … AT the place the Lord chooses. And with the opening of the Temple … God has chosen Jerusalem to be that place. So Jeroboam thinks to himself IF my subjects travel to Jerusalem 3 times a year … how long is it going to take for them to return their allegiance to the RIGHTFUL heir to the throne?

Now … when Rehoboam was faced with a dilemma … he spent at LEAST 1 verse thinking it over … v. 6 … tick … and another verse consulting the elders … v. 7 … BEFORE completely botching it. Let’s see if Jeroboam fairs any better. The very next verse:

1 Kings 12:28 (NIV) After seeking advice [tick], the king made two golden calves.

Are you KIDDING me! The DARKEST episode in the WHOLE OT … was the Golden Calf from Ex 32. WHILE Moses was receiving the 10 Commandments … the Israelites made an idol in the form of a Golden calf … saying ‘these are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt’. It became THE symbol of apostacy and rebellion for the people of Israel. And here is Jeroboam … just 4 verses into his kingship. Instead of listening to the word of the Lord spoken to him through Ahijah the prophet … that the Lord would establish Jeroboam’s kingdom … Jeroboam instead decides to not only emulate Israel’s darkest hour … but double down on it. He makes 2 Golden Calves … saying:

1 Kings 12:28 (NIV) “It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Here are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.”

Now Bethel is about 16 kilometres north of Jerusalem. That’s a 3-hour walk. It’s TOO MUCH for you to walk 3 more hours … to the place GOD resides. He puts a second one in Dan … which was the northern most point of Israel. You had to walk FURTHER to get to that one.

Now … the reason this is such a significant milestone in OT history … is we’re told every single northern king after Jeroboam … continued this idolatry. The author of 1 and 2 Kings tells us that without exception … each new king of Israel followed the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat. Let me give you just 1 example … for king Jehu … in:

2 Kings 10:29 (NIV) However, [Jehu] did not turn away from the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, which he had caused Israel to commit—the worship of the golden calves at Bethel and Dan

And BECAUSE every king after Jeroboam followed in this sin … God ends up wiping the northern kingdom off the face of the planet in 722 BC. This is why we call the nation of Israel ‘Jews’ today. It’s because ever since 722BC … they ALL come from the tribe of Judah. Hence Jew. And this world-changing sin came about … because Jeroboam chose human wisdom over the clear word of the Lord in Commandment 2; ‘do not make for yourself graven images’.

And we’ve seen this time and time again in church history. During the Middle Ages … not many people could read or write. So the church started to fill their buildings with stain-glass windows and statues … that told the gospel story in pictures. The logic was … we want illiterate church goers to learn the gospel. So let’s delete Commandment number 2 … and make for ourselves graven images … to help teach people the gospel. If you look up the Roman Catholic 10 Commandments … they don’t mention graven images. It’s been deleted. They then split Commandment 10 into 2 … to make it 10 again. The problem though … with deleting Commandment number 2 … is those stain-glass windows and icons then started to be venerated by the church. In the Greek Orthodox church … you’re not allowed to touch an icon if it’s that time of the month for you … because you’ll defile it.

Friends … we must be VERY careful to not let human logic … which might SOUND wise at the time … we must not let human logic lead us to disobey the word of the Lord … like Jeroboam son of Nebat did.

Listening to conflicting voices over the word of the Lord

Well … although Jeroboam has broken Commandment number 2 … God in his patience sends a prophet to warn Jeroboam against this. 1 Kings 13 calls this prophet ‘a man of God’. And he is sent by ‘the word of the Lord’ … to go and condemn the shrines that Jeroboam set up. And we read:

1 Kings 13:2 (NIV) By the word of the Lord he cried out against the altar: “Altar, altar! This is what the Lord says: ‘A son named Josiah will be born to the house of David. On you he will sacrifice the priests of the high places who make offerings here, and human bones will be burned on you.’ ”

Now this prediction doesn’t come true for another 300 years … which we’ll read about in our 3rd point. So God provides not 1 … but 2 signs to authenticate that what this ‘man of God’ is saying is truly ‘the word of the Lord’. When Jeroboam gives orders for the man of God to be arrested … we read:

1 Kings 13:4 (NIV) … But the hand he stretched out toward the man shriveled up, so that he could not pull it back. 5 Also, the altar was split apart and its ashes poured out according to the sign given by the man of God by the word of the Lord.

It’s at THIS point that Jeroboam realises he’s not just dealing with some rogue religious zealot here. He’s dealing with the word of the Lord. And he asks the man to ‘intercede with the Lord YOUR God’ … ‘that my hand may be restored’. And he does … and it is. And the king says:

1 Kings 13:7 (NIV) “Come home with me for a meal, and I will give you a gift.”

The man of God however refuses Jeroboam’s hospitality. His mission was not to enrich himself … by getting chummy with Jeroboam. It was to call Jeroboam to repent … which he has done.

Now … if this episode ended here … we’d be happy. The (i) man of God … has delivered (ii) the word of the Lord … to (iii) the defiant Jeroboam … for (iv) his heinous and disastrous sin. And they all lived happily ever after. But as the Bible has a tendency to do … our episode takes a left turn at Albuquerque … in v. 11. And we’re told about an old prophet who was living in Bethel. And this old prophet hears the news that a fellow prophet has just come to town. And he really wants to spend some time with this fellow prophet … so he invites him home for a meal. The man of God again refuses … pointing to his standing orders from God … in v. 16.

The old prophet then LIES to the man of God. He says ‘hey … I TOO am a prophet … and the Lord told ME to invite you for a meal’. Now friends … there will ALWAYS be conflicting voices in our world … telling us to either (i) defy the word of the Lord, (ii) follow their different interpretation of the word of the Lord, or (iii) get a more up to date version of the word of the Lord than the Bible.

So Jeroboam was (i) defying the word of the Lord … with his Golden Calves. And we’ve SEEN what that results in; the destruction of the whole northern kingdom.

What about those conflicting voices who claim to have (ii) a different interpretation of the Bible. Well granted … there ARE some verses in the Bible that even Christian scholars are split over … because they’re hard to understand. But they are almost ALWAYS 3rd or 4th tier issues. The Bible is very clear on the main issues of the gospel. It’s why churches have been reciting the Apostle’s Creed for centuries now. There ARE no different interpretations on the main issues.

And then there are those conflicting voices who claim (iii) the Bible is outdated … so get with the times. The thing is … God stands OUTSIDE of time … meaning he can see the beginning from the end. So when he writes something down for us … it is timeless. That’s why the 10 Commandments were literally set in stone. We can’t rub Commandment number 2 out … EVEN if it means (i) stopping your subjects from changing allegiance, or (ii) preaching the gospel in pictures to illiterate Christians.

What this man of God did wrong … was he listened to a conflicting voice … that SOUNDED trustworthy … OVER the word of the Lord. In Galatians chapter 1 … the Apostle Paul says ‘if I … the Apostle Paul … or forget me … if even an ANGEL from heaven should appear … in all his splendour … and tell you a DIFFERENT word of the Lord … let that angel be anathema … be cursed by God’. The reason being that the word of the Lord is HOW God tells us what he wants. So don’t let ANYONE tell you different.

Now for Jeroboam and this man of God … the consequences of going against the word of the Lord were immediate. Jeroboam received a shrivelled hand … and this man of God was mauled by a lion on the way home. But like MOST OT narrative … this passage is descriptive … not prescriptive. The lesson here is NOT that you and I will be attacked by a lion if we fail to heed the word of the Lord. The consequences for us are usually more natural than supernatural. For example:

Sexual immorality … in all its forms … ruins the marriage bed.
Treating people poorly … like gossiping about them … will ruin your friendships.
And behaving in a selfish manner … will ruin your society.

The point of this passage is that going against the word of the Lord ALWAYS has consequences. So brothers and sisters … do not listen to ANY conflicting voices out there … no matter how trustworthy they sound.

Aligning oneself with the Word of the Lord

Well … this is all good and well … but it leaves us with a serious dilemma. The man of God failed to heed the word of the Lord ONCE … and God judged him for it. You and I fail to heed the word of the Lord dozens of times every day. So what hope is there for us? Well the GOOD news is … this episode ends on a high note … believe it or not … with this lying prophet from the north.

When news reaches him that the man of God had been mauled by a lion … and the lion is just standing there … not eating the man OR his donkey … the northern prophet realises this is God’s judgment. So even though it was HIS lie that led to this other prophet’s death … he goes to bury the man of God. Then we read this:

1 Kings 13:31-32 (NIV) After burying him, he said to his sons, “When I die, bury me in the grave where the man of God is buried; lay my bones beside his bones. 32 For the message he declared by the word of the Lord against the altar in Bethel and against all the shrines on the high places in the towns of Samaria will certainly come true.”

Now what is going on here? It’s a bit rich isn’t it … with this lying prophet wanting to be buried with this man of God that HE was responsible for leading astray? Well this riddle is solved when we read about the fulfilment of this prophesy. So turn with me please to 2 Kings 23:15 … on page 609. This passage is about king Josiah … the king who was prophesied about in our passage … carrying out various religions reforms … some 300 years after the events of OUR passage:

2 Kings 23:15-18 (NIV) Even the altar at Bethel, the high place made by Jeroboam son of Nebat, who had caused Israel to sin—even that altar and high place he demolished. He burned the high place and ground it to powder, and burned the Asherah pole also. 16 Then Josiah looked around, and when he saw the tombs that were there on the hillside, he had the bones removed from them and burned on the altar to defile it, in accordance with the word of the Lord proclaimed by the man of God who foretold these things.

17 The king asked, “What is that tombstone I see?” The people of the city said, “It marks the tomb of the man of God who came from Judah and pronounced against the altar of Bethel the very things you have done to it.” 18 “Leave it alone,” he said. “Don’t let anyone disturb his bones.” So they spared his bones and those of the prophet who had come from Samaria.

Now to have your bones disturbed in OT times … or worse still … to have your bones dug up and burned … was seen as the ultimate form of disgrace. Even modern standards dictate treating a dead body with dignity. But getting his body buried with the man of God … protected this northern prophet from God’s judgment … of having his bones defiled. V. 32 of our passage says he believed the word of the Lord would quote ‘certainly come true’. So he aligned himself with the one who spoke it … thus protecting himself from the judgment he DESERVED … for (i) lying to a man of God, thus (ii) leading that man of God to disobey the word of the Lord.

And friends … this is a picture of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Just like the man of God died a shameful death … being mauled by a lion … and NOT being buried in the tomb of his ancestors … so too did Jesus die a shameful death … outside the city. And if we align ourselves with Jesus … whom John chapter 1 calls the Capital ‘W’ ‘Word’ of God … we too will be protected from the judgment we rightly deserve. The difference for US … is that our bones WILL be disturbed … when we are resurrected to eternal life. And we KNOW we can believe the Bible’s word on eternal life … because Jesus’ tomb has no bones in it. He came back from the dead … proving there is a resurrection for us too.

Conclusion