Lesson 2 – Part 1
Jeroboam
Outline
- The Man
- Jeroboam’s Rise
- Jeroboam’s Sin
- Jeroboam’s Son
- Book Tie-in
1. The Man
And Jeroboam the son of Nebat, an Ephrathite of Zereda, Solomon’s servant, whose mother’s name was Zeruah, a widow woman, even he lifted up his hand against the king.
I Kings 11:26
Jeroboam was the first king of the Northern Kingdom of Israel, which we can just call “Israel” to simplify, though sometimes the Bible refers to it by the name of its capital, Sameria. Jeroboam’s name means “the people will contend,” and like most names in the Bible, it was spot on. Jeroboam is probably one of the most important kings in Jewish history, and not merely because he was the first King of the northern kingdom. He is mostly remembered because of his pragmatic departure from the Law of
Moses, and by the fact that through this he created a tradition that every other king of Israel after him, whether related to him or not, followed. His sin was repeated by all other kings of Israel. We’ll get to why that was later on. He is almost always referred to along with his father, Nebat, about whom we have no information other than the fact that he was of the tribe of Ephriam.
God has a lot to say about Jeroboam in Kings and Chronicles, and while he is mentioned
nowhere else in Scripture, his influence permeates the book of I Kings in particular. Parallels can be made between Jeroboam and Saul, in that they were both kings of Israel who were appointed by God, and both
men fell from their calling after gaining power and the pride that followed it. He was said to be Solomon’s servant, as we read. However, the reason he is mentioned in this passage is as an enemy of Solomon, sent by God as a consequence of Solomon’s fall. After 10 chapters talking about Solomon and his wealth, wisdom, and splendor, the book finally comes to the ultimate end of Solomon’s reign, and it is a sad story. Verses 1-8 of chapter 11 gives a summary of his fall. First, it says that he loved many strange
women, or women of other nations, therefore breaking Moses Law in making marriages with the nations of the land. The specific law Solomon broke is written in Deuteronomy. In reference to the Canaanite
peoples Israel was to utterly destroy, it says:
Neither shalt thou make marriages with them; thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son.3 For they will turn away thy son from following me, that they may serve other gods: so the anger of the LORD be kindled against you and destroy thee suddenly.4
– Deuteronomy 7:3-4
Verse 1 lists all of the nations God wanted them to destroy, and with whom he forbids marriage. These include the Hittites, Amorites, and so forth. In I Kings 11, we see that Solomon did exactly that, loving and marrying many of the women from these same countries. Interestingly, Deuteronomy does not mention Moabites, Ammonites, or Edomites, while Kings does. Remember that all three of those nations were somewhat related to Israel. But Kings expands the list, which makes sense as those nations
had become enemies of Israel during time of the Exodus, and had become pagan idol-worshipping peoples.
So Solomon married all of these women, as recorded in chapter 11 verse 1. Then it says, as Moses had warned, these wives turned his heart away from God and toward their own gods, and “went after” their gods, pursuing them in worship. This was not, the passage seems to indicate, to the turning of his back on God, but to what I call the “sin of inclusivity”: including other gods alongside the true God, which is a whole study and many sermons to itself: inviting error alongside the truth in order to not offend people, in this case his many wives. This culminates in his building “high places” for these gods, even including Molech, whose worship involved child sacrifice. We will likely talk more about “high places” as we get further along.
It is notable that the Bible never says that Solomon utterly turned his back on God. Indeed, the passage strongly implies that he did not abandon worship of God, but that he worshiped these other gods also. This is implied in verses 4 and 6.
I know this is a lot about Solomon, but I feel it wouldn’t do justice to a study in Kings to not begin by explaining the reason for the division that dominates this era in Israel’s history. To tell Jeroboam’s story we must talk about Solomon’s failures. So Solomon breaks the very first commandment, and God brings judgment upon him. He could have brought plagues and famine, but God actually tells Solomon that he will not do those extreme punishments because of the promises that He made to David. Instead, God tells Solomon that the kingdom will split and most of it will be taken away from his line, beginning with his heir. Kings then talks about various individuals that God used to diminish Solomon’s rule. There are three men mentioned. The first two are Hadad, an Edomite who is associated with Egypt, and Rezon, a man of Zobah, which is an offshoot of Syria. The Syrians would later fight against both Israel and Judah, while the formerly friendly Egyptians would also turn on Judah, leading to bloody wars. But the third “troublemaker” that God raised up was our man, Jeroboam.
Unlike the others, Jeroboam was an Israelite himself, and arguably caused more ruin to
Solomon’s kingdom than the first two men. He is originally, as we said, Solomon’s servant. Remember, Solomon’s kingdom was great, but Solomon was a hard man and enlisted many people to work for him as soldiers and laborers, with or without their willingness. Many people interpret this as slavery, but it was not considered slavery, as this was considered the right of a king, as found in I Samuel 8:10-18. Furthermore, the servitude imposed upon the people of other nations was also considered merciful, as the mandate had been to destroy them utterly. Jeroboam was a man that Solomon placed over these workers and building projects.
And the man Jeroboam was a mighty man of valor: and Solomon seeing the young man that he
– I Kings 11:28
was industrious, made him ruler over all the charge of the house of Joseph.
Solomon was at that time building and fortifying Millo, a military installation on the east side of Jerusalem that is spoke of as being a tower and possibly an outer wall or embankment for defense of the city. He saw Jeroboam and took notice of him, for he was an impressive man, who was a warrior as well as a natural leader and hard worker. Thus, Solomon decided to make him a kind of prince over the entire house of Joseph, the entire tribe of Ephraim, and possibly Manasseh as well, as the text which had previously mentioned Ephraim now mentions Joseph, which would include both half-tribes. Jeroboam’s position was likely quite comfortable, but he did also witness a lot of the hard labor that the people under him were subjected to, which will be important.
2. Jeroboam’s Rise
Read I Kings 11:29-39
Jeroboam’s appointment was divine. We see that Jeroboam is about to leave Jerusalem, likely after an audience with King Solomon, and he is intercepted by a prophet of God, Ahijah. This is the first of the three named major prophets that appear in Kings, not counting Nathan. These prophets are: Ahijah, Elijah, and Elisha. Ahijah is not recorded doing many miracles, but he is noteworthy as he brings judgment on the house of Solomon. In I Kings 11:11, it states that God spoke to Solomon and told him of the coming judgment, and that he would “rend” the kingdom away from him and give it “to thy servant.” Again, notice the similarity with King Saul, who was also told that the kingdom would be “rent” or torn away from him. Now we do not know if the Lord spoke directly to Solomon. This could be the case, as God spoke to Solomon directly at least once before, but I do not believe this to be the case. Instead, I believe that God spoke to Solomon through Ahijah, as Solomon was far from God spiritually speaking when this news came, just as when Nathan came to David for the same reason. God did not name which servant, so Solomon did not know who, but he did know that one of his own people was blessed by God to take the kingdom from his son.
That changed, however, when Ahijah found Jeroboam on his way back home to Ephraim. We’re told that Jeroboam was wearing a “new garment,” and that Ahijah the prophet grabs the garment away from him, and rips it into pieces. Now, I believe firmly that Ahijah was well known to everyone in Solomon’s court, including Jeroboam. In imagery very similar to Samuel and Saul, Ahijah tears the garment into 12 pieces. He then returns 10 to Jeroboam and tells him that because Solomon has worshipped other gods, that He will make Jeroboam king over 10 tribes, but Solomon’s line will retain 1 tribe. This list of tribes seems to group Ephraim and Manasseh as the tribe of Joseph, and include Levi in the reconning, since only 11 tribes are distributed at this meeting. Ahijah also promises that if Jeroboam will follow God’s commands (the Mosaic Law) that he will build his family a dynasty as blessed and mighty as David’s. At this point, Jeroboam had the ability to match the prowess, fame, and splendor of David himself. But he could not attain to it.
Solomon somehow catches wind of this meeting. While it is doubtful that Jeroboam shared anything about the encounter, even being seen with Ahijah would have been damaging enough. After all, Solomon was on the lookout for a treacherous servant and Jeroboam was one of his servants. Chapter 10:40 tells us that Solomon tried to have Jeroboam killed for treason, but failed, as he escaped into Egypt, where he apparently was blessed by God to work for the king, Shishak. This pharaoh had replaced the king whose daughter Solomon had married, and thus was no friend of Solomon, as he viewed Solomon and his family as threat to his new dynasty. Thus he gladly entertained and even supported men like Jeroboam, and the earlier Hadad, from verse 14. Jeroboam lived for years in exile in Egypt, but he never forgot the prophecy that Ahijah had given him, the very reason for his exile.
Following Solomon’s death years later, his son Rehoboam goes to Shechem. Now, Shechem was a storied history in the Bible, but the important thing to note in the context of our study in Kings is that it was a meeting place of the twelve tribes of Israel. It had been used by Joshua as a place of council, to divide up the land as God had commanded, and it was used by other leaders seeking power in Israel as well. So once again all Israel is gathered together in a council, this time at the behest of Rehoboam, who was to succeed his father. Chapter 12 tells us that Jeroboam found out about Solomon’s death, being apparently sent for by supporters in Israel (he had been a great man in Solomon’s court and head of a tribe), and returned to attend the meeting at Shechem.
Now, we will talk about Rehoboam in detail later, but let’s skip ahead to keep our focus on Jeroboam. Ten of the tribes of Israel ask Rehoboam to be a kinder king than his father, he refuses, and they renounce their loyalty to David’s line. One tribe is the priestly tribe, Levi, who has no allegiance in the matter, and Judah, who follows David’s family in spite of what happened. The ten rebel tribes then approach Jeroboam again. His name, remember, means “the people will contend,” which is exactly what
happened at Shechem. Ahijah’s prophecy then comes true, though it’s taken years: Israel at large makes Jeroboam king. He establishes his capitol at Shechem, fortifying it against the possibility of reprisal by Judah and Rehoboam.
3. Jeroboam’s Sin
And Jeroboam said in his heart, Now shall the kingdom return to the house of David: If this
I Kings 12:26-27
people do sacrifice in the house of the LORD at Jerusalem, then shall the heart of this people
turn again unto their lord, even unto Rehoboam king of Judah, and they shall kill me, and go
again to Rehoboam king of Judah.
Here we find the first real lesson to be learned from Jeroboam’s story, and it isn’t a good lesson. Here is a man ordained by God, commissioned personally by God to do His will, and empowered directly by God to that end. He has been told that the whole reason for Solomon’s family losing most of the kingdom was because of his idolatry and forsaking of God’s Law, and he had been promised by God that if he could do better, if he could follow God the same way that David had, that he would have a kingdom as sure as that of David.
But like so many of us, even though he had God’s promises, and God’s assurance, his gaze was focused on what he could see and what his own wisdom told him. He did not follow the principle of Proverbs 3:5, that we should not lean on our own understanding. Instead of realizing that his rule was assured by God as long as he was obedient, he considered that there was a way that he could lose his kingdom, and thus he devised a plan, one that would not only condemn him and his line, but spell disaster for the northern kingdom through its entire existence.
Whereupon the king took counsel, and made two calves of gold, and said unto them, It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem: behold thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. And he set the one in Bethel, and the other he put in Dan. And this thing became a sin: for the people went to worship before the one, even unto Dan.
I Kings 12:28-30
The text says that after his own human wisdom had evaluated the situation, without regard for God or consulting God or even a prophet like Ahijah, that he “took counsel.” It does not say who he took counsel from, but it does kind of remind us of what happened with Rehoboam earlier, who also took bad counsel. Jeroboam’s counselors are not named in Scripture, I think, because it doesn’t really matter. The point is, Jeroboam was unwilling to do it God’s way. He had already ruled out following the Mosaic Law, and thus he the advice he got was only ever going to be advice that led him away from Moses. In other words, he wanted validation.
And how much does this apply to us in our day. Right now everyone, everywhere is crying “validation me!” They aren’t interested in other opinions, in challenge, in betterment, in finding out the truth about themselves, and neither was Jeroboam. Just as evolutionists are willing to entertain just about any theory no matter how unlikely, because they have already said God’s way is out, so too people in our day and age have closed their minds to admonition, to dissent, and used “being loving” as a cudgel to beat people over the head who would dare to offend them. And it’s very easy to get angry at all of this craziness, this perversion of God’s love, this societal deafness to anything that might open people to the truth. But in what way do we fall into this trap? This class is supposed to take these lessons and apply them to us, not to the lost people out there. After all, they’re doing what we should expect them to. But are we doing what God expects?
We also have promises directly from God:
In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
Proverbs 3:6
Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall recieve the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.
James 1:12
For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and love, and of a sound mind.
II Timothy 1:7
Jesus tells us in Matthew 6 not to take thought for our food or clothing, because He will provide what we need. He promises us help in trouble, peace in difficult situations, joy, wisdom, comfort. And yet, how often to we do a Jeroboam? We get to looking around at the physical world as if we have no spiritual eyes whatsoever. And then we start to make our plans for how things should go.
Now, don’t get me wrong: if you’re an adult and you’ve lost your job, or you’ve experienced a severe illness, or something is happening within your family that simply cannot be ignored, I’m not saying that you should just sit down, laugh joyfully and do nothing. You’re an adult and God does expect us to try to be responsible for ourselves, and those who depend upon us. Definitely make plans, try to do your best to solve things, but keep two things in mind, in light of our study of Jeroboam’s life: 1) make sure your plan does not conflict with God’s morality (i.e., if you lose your job, don’t go get a job at a strip club or deal drugs to make ends meet), and 2) hold any plans you make loosely, ready to drop them immediately as soon as you are aware that God is moving in your life. Jeroboam saw a potential problem: the people might be drawn away from his rule if he let them go to Jerusalem to worship. His solution made both mistakes: not only did it violate God’s Law, but he had already determined to take his own advice, to hold onto his own ideas with a death grip. And because he was a king, a leader, it affected those who he ruled. All the people were required to follow his lead, and as a result they all sinned. Our children, grandchildren, those who look up to us, can also end up following us into sin.
How much do your kids worry? Are you worried all the time? Do your coworkers respond to your witness? Do they see you as a spiritual person, or as a carnal person wearing spiritual makeup? Do people not take you seriously when to try to talk about spiritual things? Remember, if we really believe something, it shows. We act on things we believe in.
Now, notice that Jeroboam followed in the footsteps of Moses brother, Aaron, who also made golden calves. Similarly, Aaron did not proclaim the calves to be new gods, but representative of Jehovah, and so did Jeroboam.
…and they said, these by thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.
Exodus 32:4b
…behold thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.
I Kings 12:28
Notice the language is nearly identical. Jeroboam and his counsellors did this on purpose, calling on something that the Israelites were familiar with, something already associated with worship of Jehovah. This facade of worshiping God is prevalent today. Many modern churches put up a front of being true worshippers, but underneath they are worshipping everything except God. And this is an error we too can fall into.
Word Weld 