Jeroboam has another way

[B-A-C]

1King 12:22 But the word of God came to Shemaiah the man of God, saying,
1King 12:23 "Speak to Rehoboam the son of Solomon, king of Judah, and to all the house of Judah and Benjamin and to the rest of the people, saying,
1King 12:24 'Thus says the LORD, "You must not go up and fight against your relatives the sons of Israel; return every man to his house, for this thing has come from Me."'" So they listened to the word of the LORD, and returned and went their way according to the word of the LORD.

Isn't it interesting, sometimes we are doing God a favor, trying to save someone... but then God says no... This has come from Me, don't fight against it.

1King 12:25 Then Jeroboam built Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim, and lived there. And he went out from there and built Penuel.

1King 12:26 Jeroboam said in his heart, "Now the kingdom will return to the house of David.
1Ki 12:27 "If this people go up to offer sacrifices in the house of the LORD at Jerusalem, then the heart of this people will return to their lord, even to Rehoboam king of Judah; and they will kill me and return to Rehoboam king of Judah."

The kingdom was divided, part in the north, and part in the south. But even though the country was divided, God didn't change the worship instruction. The Jews were to worship Jerusalem. Jeroboam knew this. He also knew that if the people went to Jerusalem... they would "return to their Lord". I have to wonder how many preachers and pastors in this day and and age.. are creating their own worship... to prevent people from returning to God.

1King 12:28 So the king consulted, and made two golden calves, and he said to them, "It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem; behold your gods, O Israel, that brought you up from the land of Egypt."
1King 12:29 He set one in Bethel, and the other he put in Dan.
1King 12:30 Now this thing became a sin, for the people went to worship before the one as far as Dan.

He even built two golden calves. Where have we seen golden calves before?

1King 12:31 And he made houses on high places, and made priests from among all the people who were not of the sons of Levi.

Now of course only the tribe of Levi could be priests, but no Jeroboam changed that also. Just change a little here, a little there, not much, not enough to matter right? Made golden idols, make a different kind of priests, don't go to Jerusalem to worship anymore... it's all good right?

1King 12:32 Jeroboam instituted a feast in the eighth month on the fifteenth day of the month, like the feast which is in Judah, and he went up to the altar; thus he did in Bethel, sacrificing to the calves which he had made. And he stationed in Bethel the priests of the high places which he had made.
1King 12:33 Then he went up to the altar which he had made in Bethel on the fifteenth day in the eighth month, even in the month which he had devised in his own heart; and he instituted a feast for the sons of Israel and went up to the altar to burn incense.

But God wasn't happy about this.

 

[B-A-C]

1King 13:1 Now behold, there came a man of God from Judah to Bethel by the word of the LORD, while Jeroboam was standing by the altar to burn incense.

So what does God do? He sends a prophet.. a man of God

1King 13:2 He cried against the altar by the word of the LORD, and said, "O altar, altar, thus says the LORD, 'Behold, a son shall be born to the house of David, Josiah by name; and on you he shall sacrifice the priests of the high places who burn incense on you, and human bones shall be burned on you.'"
1King 13:3 Then he gave a sign the same day, saying, "This is the sign which the LORD has spoken, 'Behold, the altar shall be split apart and the ashes which are on it shall be poured out.'"

The prophet tells Jeroboam what he is doing is wrong, is this is a sign so you will know I am from God. The altar will split apart, and the ashes will be poured out.

1King 13:4 Now when the king heard the saying of the man of God, which he cried against the altar in Bethel, Jeroboam stretched out his hand from the altar, saying, "Seize him." But his hand which he stretched out against him dried up, so that he could not draw it back to himself.

Jeroboam didn't like this, so he tries to tell the guards to "seize" the prophet. But God paralyzes his hand.

1King 13:5 The altar also was split apart and the ashes were poured out from the altar, according to the sign which the man of God had given by the word of the LORD.

and sure enough, the altar splits in two, and the ashes pour out, just as the prophet said they would.

1King 13:6 The king said to the man of God, "Please entreat the LORD your God, and pray for me, that my hand may be restored to me." So the man of God entreated the LORD, and the king's hand was restored to him, and it became as it was before.

Jeroboam asks the man to pray for him, and God restores his hand. It seems there are several things Jeroboam tries to do here.
Force he tries to win by force, but God paralyzes his hand.. so what should we try next? Bribery.

1King 13:7 Then the king said to the man of God, "Come home with me and refresh yourself, and I will give you a reward."
1King 13:8 But the man of God said to the king, "If you were to give me half your house I would not go with you, nor would I eat bread or drink water in this place.

But the prophet heeds the word of God, and he doesn't fall for the bribery. He doesn't eat bread with the king (jeroboam).

As I was reading this, I couldn't help but wonder... He bribes the prophet with bread.
Satan bribes Eve with an apple. Satan tempts Jesus by telling him to turn stones to bread. Esau gives up his birth-right for a bowl of soup.
How much are we willing to disobey God.. just for something small and temporary, that's gone tomorrow. A bite to eat.

1King 13:9 "For so it was commanded me by the word of the LORD, saying, 'You shall eat no bread, nor drink water, nor return by the way which you came.'"
1King 13:10 So he went another way and did not return by the way which he came to Bethel.

But the prophet remembers that God told him not to eat with the King.. and he goes on his way.

 

[B-A-C]

You would think that was the end of the story, but...

1King 13:11 Now an old prophet was living in Bethel; and his sons came and told him all the deeds which the man of God had done that day in Bethel; the words which he had spoken to the king, these also they related to their father.
1King 13:12 Their father said to them, "Which way did he go?" Now his sons had seen the way which the man of God who came from Judah had gone.
1King 13:13 Then he said to his sons, "Saddle the donkey for me." So they saddled the donkey for him and he rode away on it.
1King 13:14 So he went after the man of God and found him sitting under an oak; and he said to him, "Are you the man of God who came from Judah?" And he said, "I am."
1King 13:15 Then he said to him, "Come home with me and eat bread."
1King 13:16 He said, "I cannot return with you, nor go with you, nor will I eat bread or drink water with you in this place.
1King 13:17 "For a command came to me by the word of the LORD, 'You shall eat no bread, nor drink water there; do not return by going the way which you came.'"
1King 13:18 He said to him, "I also am a prophet like you, and an angel spoke to me by the word of the LORD, saying, 'Bring him back with you to your house, that he may eat bread and drink water.'" But he lied to him.

So now there is another prophet.. or at least an old man who claims to be a prophet of God. He tries to bribe the younger prophet, the man of God. At first, the young prophet says no. He was doing as God had instructed him. But the old prophet lies to him and tells him he received a word from God, a word from an angel. But he was lying.

The point here is... Not every who says they have a word from God actually does. And just because you passed the first test doesn't mean you will pass the second or third test. The Bible says Satan and his servants disguise themselves as angel of light. How many people have told you to do something that you know God didn't want you to do? How many of these people told you they had a word from God for you?

1King 13:19 So he went back with him, and ate bread in his house and drank water.
1King 13:20 Now it came about, as they were sitting down at the table, that the word of the LORD came to the prophet who had brought him back;

Now this is very interesting, at first the old prophet lied, in order to get the young prophet to come eat with him. So the young prophet does go eat with him. But then, the old prophet actually does get a real word from God. I have to wonder about this. Someone who lied to us, can give us a word of God later.

1King 13:21 and he cried to the man of God who came from Judah, saying, "Thus says the LORD, 'Because you have disobeyed the command of the LORD, and have not observed the commandment which the LORD your God commanded you,
1King 13:22 but have returned and eaten bread and drunk water in the place of which He said to you, "Eat no bread and drink no water"; your body shall not come to the grave of your fathers.'"

The old prophet gives the young prophet a word from the Lord, because you disobeyed me,,, (it doesn't matter that you obeyed the first two times) you are going to die in this land.

1King 13:23 It came about after he had eaten bread and after he had drunk, that he saddled the donkey for him, for the prophet whom he had brought back.
1King 13:24 Now when he had gone, a lion met him on the way and killed him, and his body was thrown on the road, with the donkey standing beside it; the lion also was standing beside the body.

It took a long time for me to understand what was going on here. It didn't seem right, everyone else went against the Lord, and yet this young prophet who did everything right up until this point... is the one who gets killed. I think the point here is... when God tells you not to do something... don't do it. Don't even think about it. So the lion kills the young prophet, but the lion doesn't eat the man's body, and the lion doesn't attack his donkey. It's like this is a sign from God. The lion didn't do the normal things a lion would do,

1King 13:25 And behold, men passed by and saw the body thrown on the road, and the lion standing beside the body; so they came and told it in the city where the old prophet lived.
1King 13:26 Now when the prophet who brought him back from the way heard it, he said, "It is the man of God, who disobeyed the command of the LORD; therefore the LORD has given him to the lion, which has torn him and killed him, according to the word of the LORD which He spoke to him."

Even the old prophet who deceived him sees the truth. He disobeyed God, so God let the lion have him.

1King 13:27 Then he spoke to his sons, saying, "Saddle the donkey for me." And they saddled it.
1King 13:28 He went and found his body thrown on the road with the donkey and the lion standing beside the body; the lion had not eaten the body nor torn the donkey.
1King 13:29 So the prophet took up the body of the man of God and laid it on the donkey and brought it back, and he came to the city of the old prophet to mourn and to bury him.
1King 13:30 He laid his body in his own grave, and they mourned over him, saying, "Alas, my brother!"
1King 13:31 After he had buried him, he spoke to his sons, saying, "When I die, bury me in the grave in which the man of God is buried; lay my bones beside his bones.

Sure enough God was right, the young prophet didn't get to be buried with his fathers.

1King 13:32 "For the thing shall surely come to pass which he cried by the word of the LORD against the altar in Bethel and against all the houses of the high places which are in the cities of Samaria."
1King 13:33 After this event Jeroboam did not return from his evil way, but again he made priests of the high places from among all the people; any who would, he ordained, to be priests of the high places.
1King 13:34 This event became sin to the house of Jeroboam, even to blot it out and destroy it from off the face of the earth.

But even after all of this, Jeroboam didn't change his ways. No matter how many signs people see from God, they don't change.

 

[B-A-C]

I can't help but wonder about Jeroboam, was his the first "user friendly" church. A church willing to make compromises and go against the Lord's command, just to please people?

You don't have to go to Jerusalem... that's too far. I'll make it easier for you.
You don't have to sacrifice real animals... that's too expensive. I'll make some golden calves for you.
You don't have to confess to Levi priests... You can use my priests.

...and on it goes. Sound familiar? Too many churches are compromising how God wants us to meet with Him, and worship with Him.