Scripture: 1 Kings 12:20—13:5, 33-34 (NKJV)
12:20 Now it came to pass when all Israel heard that Jeroboam had come back,
they sent for him and called him to the congregation, and made him king over
all Israel. There was none who followed the house of David, but the tribe of
Judah only. 21 And when Rehoboam came to Jerusalem, he assembled all the house
of Judah with the tribe of Benjamin, one hundred and eighty thousand chosen men
who were warriors, to fight against the house of Israel, that he might restore
the kingdom to Rehoboam the son of Solomon. 22 But the word of God came to
Shemaiah the man of God, saying, 23 “Speak to Rehoboam the son of Solomon, king
of Judah, to all the house of Judah and Benjamin, and to the rest of the
people, saying, 24 ‘Thus says the LORD: “You shall not go up nor fight against
your brethren the children of Israel. Let every man return to his house, for
this thing is from Me.”‘” Therefore they obeyed the word of the LORD, and
turned back, according to the word of the LORD.
25 Then Jeroboam built Shechem in the mountains of Ephraim, and dwelt there.
Also he went out from there and built Penuel. 26 And Jeroboam said in his
heart, “Now the kingdom may return to the house of David: 27 If these people go
up to offer sacrifices in the house of the LORD at Jerusalem, then the heart of
this people will turn back to their lord, Rehoboam king of Judah, and they will
kill me and go back to Rehoboam king of Judah.” 28 Therefore the king asked
advice, made two calves of gold, and said to the people, “It is too much for
you to go up to Jerusalem. Here are your gods, O Israel, which brought you up
from the land of Egypt!” 29 And he set up one in Bethel, and the other he put
in Dan. 30 Now this thing became a sin, for the people went to worship before
the one as far as Dan. 31 He made shrines on the high places, and made priests
from every class of people, who were not of the sons of Levi. 32 Jeroboam
ordained a feast on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, like the feast that
was in Judah, and offered sacrifices on the altar. So he did at Bethel,
sacrificing to the calves that he had made. And at Bethel he installed the
priests of the high places which he had made. 33 So he made offerings on the
altar which he had made at Bethel on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, in
the month which he had devised in his own heart. And he ordained a feast for
the children of Israel, and offered sacrifices on the altar and burned incense.
13:1 And behold, a man of God went from Judah to Bethel by the word of the
LORD, and Jeroboam stood by the altar to burn incense. 2 Then he cried out
against the altar by the word of the LORD, and said, “O altar, altar! Thus says
the LORD: ‘Behold, a child, Josiah by name, shall be born to the house of
David; and on you he shall sacrifice the priests of the high places who burn
incense on you, and men’s bones shall be burned on you.’” 3 And he gave a sign
the same day, saying, “This is the sign which the LORD has spoken: Surely the
altar shall split apart, and the ashes on it shall be poured out.” 4 So it came
to pass when King Jeroboam heard the saying of the man of God, who cried out
against the altar in Bethel, that he stretched out his hand from the altar,
saying, “Arrest him!” Then his hand, which he stretched out toward him,
withered, so that he could not pull it back to himself. 5 The altar also was
split apart, and the ashes poured out from the altar, according to the sign
which the man of God had given by the word of the LORD.
33 After this event Jeroboam did not turn from his evil way, but again he made
priests from every class of people for the high places; whoever wished, he
consecrated him, and he became one of the priests of the high places. 34 And
this thing was the sin of the house of Jeroboam, so as to exterminate and
destroy it from the face of the earth.
Devotion
God’s Word had been spoken to Jeroboam in 1 Kings 11, promising him the ten
northern tribes and promising to establish his house if he would heed the
Lord’s Word. It was, after all, for failing to heed the Lord’s Word that
Solomon and the house of David were being punished.
But Jeroboam refused to believe the Lord or heed His Word, setting up instead
the infamous high places on the northern and southern borders of his kingdom as
alternate (and illegitimate) places of worship to keep the northern tribes from
going to God’s Temple in Jerusalem, where God Himself had placed His Name
forever. This attempt to worship the LORD in ways and in places not sanctioned
by the LORD was the great sin of the house of Jeroboam and resulted in the
permanent destruction of the northern kingdom.
God is serious when He threatens to punish false worship. He condemns false
worship so forcefully because He wants sinners to stop looking for Him where He
is not found and to seek Him in the one place where He is to be found. In the
Old Testament, that place was the Temple. In the New Testament, it is Christ.
Every other form of worship is worship of the Law in which man devises his own
ways to please God and earn His favor. But true worship is to receive God’s
blessings where He gives them out: in His Word and Sacraments, where we receive
from Christ the gifts that He has earned for us, even eternal life.
Posted by The Reverend Jeffrey A. Ahonen on behalf of the Evangelical Lutheran
Diocese of North America, publisher of the Lutheran Herald.
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