The Sin Of Jeroboam

by D. Smith, Lerwick | Category: General | Aug 1969

It is not surprising that wise king Solomon should say Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life ". The heart is the seat and centre of man's affection and interest, for there his actions are conceived (Acts 5.4). Many a whisper in the heart has brought fearful and tragic consequences beyond the reach of recall. Hence the importance to keep our hearts with all diligence.

God made a remarkable statement concerning David the son of Jesse, when He spoke of him as "a man after My heart, who shall do all My will " (Acts 13.22). The affection and desire of God's heart found a corresponding reflection in the heart of David. Among the many godly aspirations which influenced his life none was more prominent than that of building a house for God in the midst of His people. " It was in my heart to build an house unto the name of the LORD my God" (1 Chronicles 22.7). This worthy desire found fulfilment the day that Solomon dedicated unto the LORD that wonderful temple "exceeding magnifical, of fame and of glory ", which he had built according to the pattern that David had been made to understand in writing from the hand of the LORD. The days of David and Solomon were the golden age of Israel's history which soon gave place to less glorious times when God was forced to divide the kingdom in judgement, rending ten tribes from Rehoboam, David's grandson, and giving them to Jeroboam the son of Nebat. However, Jerusalem, where the house of God was situated, still remained under the crown of the house of David, and, as the place of God's name, was intended to remain the centre of divine worship and service for the whole twelve tribes.

But being an astute and ambitious ruler "Jeroboam said in his heart, Now shall the kingdom return to the house of David: if this people go up to offer sacrifices in the house of the LORD at Jerusalem ... and they shall kill me, and return to Rehoboam king of Judah " (1 Kings 12.26-27). Thus in an attempt to forestall any such loss to himself or his kingdom, and to reduce what he regarded as an imminent danger, Jeroboam foolishly introduced into the nation of Israel a policy of religious perversion. "Whereupon the king took counsel, and made two calves of gold; and he said unto them, It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem ... and he set the one in Bethel, and the other put he in Dan " (1 Kings 12.28-29). We are not told with whom he took counsel, but one thing is obvious it was not with God for had he consulted the word of the LORD as contained in the writings of Moses he would have readily realised that it was clearly God's purpose that His redeemed and covenanted people should worship and serve Him in one place and one place only, called; the place of His Name. "Thou shalt sacrifice the passover unto the LORD thy God... in the place which the LORD shall choose to cause His name to dwell there " (Deuteronomy 16.2). There the Israelite was to bring all his offerings and gifts. " Unto the place which the LORD your God shall choose out of all your tribes to put His name there, even unto His habitation shall ye seek, and thither thou shalt come" (Deuteronomy 12.5).

The place of God's Name in any age is the place of His habitation, where God resides in the midst of a separated and covenanted people, dwelling together according to His word. This vital truth was not cast away with the casting away of Israel (Romans 11.15) but was foremost in the mind and purpose of the apostles, as is evident from Paul's epistle to the church of God in Ephesus when he wrote, "Ye also are builded together for a habitation of God in the Spirit" (Ephesians 2.22).

That the living God whom the heavens cannot contain dwells in the midst of a separated people is clearly taught from the New Testament Scriptures as seen in the following words, " Know ye not that ye are a temple of God. and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? " (1 Corinthians 3.16). "What agreement hath a temple of God with idols? for we are a temple of the living God; even as God said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people " (2 Corinthians 6.16). Those early churches of God were based on divine principles, keeping the same decrees and holding the same Faith (Jude 3). They formed God's house and temple, the place of His Name in the present age. This was not a material house but a spiritual one where a holy priesthood could "offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God through Jesus Christ" (1 Peter 2.5).

When Jeroboam set up his calves at Bethel and at Dan with priests and appointed feasts, as devised of his own heart (1 Kings 12), he thus introduced a spurious order of religion. This may be likened in the present day to Christendom, which by its numerous sects and denominations is a reproach and a shame to outward testimony, as well as being the cause of great grief to the heart of the Lord Jesus Christ who died that He might "also gather together into one the children of God that are scattered abroad " (John 11.52).

The sectarian character of Jeroboam's sin is declared in the words "Jeroboam drew Israel away from following the LORD, and made them sin a great sin " (2 Kings 17.21 R.V.M.). His evil work had the very effect on Israel which the apostle Paul sadly foresaw taking place among the early churches of God, and against which he wisely warned the Ephesian elders, saying, " I know that after my departing grievous wolves shall enter in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them" (Acts 20.29-30). How sad when disciples are drawn away from the Lord and His word to follow after men, to form and participate in sects and parties (Galatians 5.20) contrary to the doctrine of the Lord and His apostles! (Romans 16.17).

Thus in the heart of Jeroboam was born a disruptive system of religion which was to stain the spiritual life of Israel for generations to come, for the "sin of Jeroboam wherewith he made Israel to sin " remained indelibly "until the LORD removed Israel out of His sight". The existence of any religious system which is a rival to that authorised by the word of God is both dishonouring and displeasing to Him, "Who willeth that all men should be saved, and come to the knowledge of the truth" (1 Timothy 2.4).

D. Smith, Lerwick | Aug 1969
General