In this Bible Story, we watch the fragile kingdom of Jeroboam descend into idolatry and pride. Jeroboam erects altars of golden calves and establishes pagan priests. The Lord sends a man from Judah to rebuke him, but his disobedience does not cease. This story is inspired by 1 Kings 12:25-13:8 & 13:33-34. Go to BibleinaYear.com and learn the Bible in a Year.
Today's Bible verse is 1 Kings 12:28 from the King James Version.
Episode 118: Jeroboam, Israel’s new king, built a new capital in Shechem to separate themselves from Judah. However, because the temple of God was in Judah, people would still travel from his kingdom to worship in Judah. Jeroboam feared this would lead to the loss of his kingdom and his life. So he, like Aaron so many years before, made two golden calves and introduced them as Israel's new gods. Slowly Jeroboam added more and more idols into Israel’s public worship. God would not stand for the corruption of His people and sent a prophet to let him know what would become of his idolatrous altar.
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Let us pray. 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 out of the land of Egypt, First Kings twelve twenty eight. Protect me, Lord from the moments in my life when I want to go back to the golden calves and false idols that held me captive to limited beliefs and ungodly behaviors. I confess that whatever success You've blessed me with isn't a sign for me to take my foot off the spiritual gas pedal and abandon the ways and principles that have elevated my life and brought peace and understanding to everything I do. The sins of Jeroboam will not be copied in my life. The rejection from godly wisdom and alignment will not be the action I take when I'm confronted for compromising my standards. When I am faced with tough choices, I will be like Josiah, the descendant of David, and I will bring down anything that isn't in alignment with your words or your ways. For the rest of my days, I will keep my mind and heart focused on the main thing, and that will forever be you in Jesus name. Amen. Thanks for making prayer or priority in your life to hear the Bible come to life. Stay tuned for the Bible in a Year brought to you by Bible in a Year dot com The sin of King Jeroboam. In our last story, we witnessed the splitting of Israel. Solomon's sin had caused God to strip him of his legacy. Riaboem, Solomon's son, used the throne as an opportunity to be cruel. Jereboam, the son of a widow and old servant of King Solomon, was named king in place of Rihaboem. So Riaboam ruled over Judah while Jereboam ruled over the other ten tribes of Israel. Now we see that even the noble Jeroboam is vulnerable to the traps of sin and idol worship, and how God shows no partiality when it comes to taking away kingdoms. Inspired by the Book of First Kings, this is Jack Graham with today's episode of the Bible in a Year. In our last time together, we heard how Raeaboam's pride and foolishness cost him most of his kingdom. When given an opportunity to show mercy and kindness to his people, he chose rather to oppress them in an attempt to prove his own strength and gain more power, And so Israel became a kingdom divided, with ten tribes of the north serving Jereboam, a man who had served Solomon and was chosen by God to rule much of Israel today. Will hear how, despite being warned by God not to turn away from him and his commandments, Jeroboam succumbs to temptations and sins in the eyes of the Lord, and just like Solomon and Raheeboam before him, his disobedience will prove costly, as God will judge him because of his unfaithfulness. Let's listen now to the word of God. It had been over five hundred years since God led his people out from the grips of Egyptian slavery. Since then, the Hebrew people had learned to wrestle with their own sin and shame. They learned to cling to God through wilderness and hardship. In that time, a wonderful blossoming had taken place in the hearts of every man and woman. However, sins still lurked at the borders of Israel, like a hungry lion, seeking whom it may devour. Jeroboam, the new king of Israel, built up a new capital in the city of Sheikam. He worked diligently and with much compassion. However, his time spent in Egypt had mudried his mind. He had forgotten the history of Israel and its history with golden calves. Jeroboam noticed that people were still traveling to Jerusalem to worship God at the Temple. Wary of this, Jereboam thought to himself, unless I am careful, the people will return to the dynasty of David. They will kill me if they spend too much time over there. So, under the advice of his councilors, Jeroboam sought to build a place of worship in the new capital. He amassed fine gold and precious jewels from the storehouses and built a beautiful new monument in the center of the city. There, among the nation of Israel stood two massive golden calves. The very image of ancient idolatry stood in the presence of the people of Israel. Unaware of his ignorance, Jereboam yelled to the people, behold the gods who brought you out of Egypt. Jereboam was elated at his new project. People came from all over to worship the golden calves. Jereboam smiled. However, God was burning with anger. Under the influence of his time spent in Egypt, he also erected pagan shrines and ordained his own priests to tend to them. He established religious festivals and parties. Jereboam led the people of Israel into a time of laughter, revelry, and feasts. However, their hearts drifted away from God. This God would not allow. At God's command, a man of God came up from Judah and went to Bethel, where Jereboam was burning incense at the altar. The sun had set and the people of Israel were partying down below in the city streets. Jereboam lit matches and burned incense when he heard of voice from behind him, oh Altar, oh Altar. Jereboam turned around to see the man from Judah standing a few yards behind him. The man approached him with great force, saying the Lord has spoken, saying a child named Josiah will come from the dynasty of David. He will come and make sacrifice of your priests and false worship. The words shook Jereboam, but he did not budge from his idolatry. Jereboam shrugged and continued worshiping. The man struck his staff under the ground, demanding Jereboam's attention. The Lord has promised you this sign. Your precious altar of evil will split in half, and ashes will pour forth from it like snow. King Jeroboam stood up from where he was kneeling. Fuming with anger. He turned to his guards who were with him, and yelled, seize that man. Spit fell from his face as he screamed. He pointed to him, but as he was yelling, a jolt of pain coursed through his arm. Jeroboam fell to the floor, holding his right arm. It was paralyzed in a pointing motion. As he fell to the floor, writhing in pain, cracks could be heard from behind him. He turned his head and watched his altar split in two. The sound of stone cracking pierced his ear. Drums and ash poured out from the middle and flew through the air like snowfall. Jeroboam could barely stand the pain from his arm. He turned to the man and said, please, ask the Lord to restore my arm. He did, and his arm was restored. The king rose to his feet. Sweat dripped from his whole body. He panted and stared at the broken altar. He gripped his arm and faced the man, saying, please come to the palace with me and eat. I will give you a gift. The man looked at Jeroboam. He was a pathetic sight. Indeed, the man turned his back to the king and said, even if you gave me half your kingdom, I would not go with you. I would not eat or drink anything in this city of darkness. And with that he departed back to Judah. Despite all that Jereboam just witnessed, his heart did not turn from its corruption. He continued to ordain priests and burning sense at the altar of false gods. His idolatry seeped into the hearts of Israel. God would not allow any king to corrupt the hearts of his people. Soon he would remove the throne from Jereboam in order to protect his sheep. Today's scripture begins with King Jereboam establishing the capital of the Northern Kingdom in Shachem. The new king showed potential for greatness, and he acted kindly and graciously towards his people, as David had once done and Solomon after him. But within Jereboam's heart was a seed that lives in all of us. Unfortunately, it is the seed of sin that was planted long ago when Adam and Eve turned from God in the garden. God had told him that if he would obey his commands, Jereboa's kingdom would be established. Yet Jereboam followed the seed of doubt and allowed this seed to grow in his heart. As he saw his people traveled to Jerusalem to worship God in his dwelling place, the Temple, Jereboam began to fear that he would lose power and sway over them, and that Raya Boam would soon have the kingdom once more. In First King's twelve twenty seven, we see what Jeroboam was thinking when he says to himself, if this people go up to offer sacrifices in the Temple of the Lord at Jerusalem, then the heart of this people will turn again to the Lord, to raya Boam King of Judah, and they will kill me and return to Raya Boam King of Judah. So clearly he was afraid of losing power and control. But rather than believing God, he built a place of worship in Schechem. What's worse, he didn't build a temple for the Almighty God. He repeated the mistakes the terrible sin of Eron, the brother of Moses, and erected golden calves for people to worship. This angered God had brought judgment five hundred years before, and it angers him again when Jereboam does the same thing. Jereboam also repeated the pagan practices of the Egyptians, among whom he had lived when he was exiled escaping Solomon's sword. He built shrines to pagan gods. The Lord would not allow this to continue. He loved his children too much to watch as they gave their hearts to lifeless idols and forget their covenant relationship with him. So God sent a prophet to Jereboam to rebuke him and to deliver some very bad news. The kingdom that God had entrusted to Jereboam would be taken from him. A man named Josiah of the line of David would rise up and destroy Jereboam's priest and false gods, and he would send a sign. The altar on which Jereboam made sacrifices to his pagan deities would be split open right before his eyes. The king, rather than repenting, became angry and ordered his men to seize the prophet. But God struck Jereboam down with intense pain. His arm shriveled up. At that very moment, he watched as the altar was torn into and ashes poured from it. There was no question that this was God's doing, and the king recognized this. He pleaded with the prophet to ask God to restore his arm, and God did just that. But when Jereboam asked the Man of God to stay with him and have a meal so he could give him a gift, the prophet refused, saying he would never remain there with Jereboam, not at any price. It may seem a small point, but it is a valuable lesson about how we should deal with people who reject God. That we should separate ourselves from worldly idols and people who do not honor God, genuine biblical separation. This man had given Jereboam a word from the Lord. He had given witness to God's power, but he was not about to remain in the king's inner circle. He would not allow himself to be seduced by the power and the riches of the King because he refused to turn away from God. So he left. But Jereboam did not change his ways. He remained unfaithful, and soon the Lord would deal with his unfaithfulness in order to love and protect his own people. Dear Lord, may we never be lured into the sin of idolatry, including the idols that people put in their hearts, the idols of money or prestige or power, or even sinful Satanic idols that people worship. Today. God, may we be alert that Satan, like a roaring lion, is roaming throughout the whole earth, seeking whom he may devour. May we always look to you. May we protect ourselves with your armor, the armor of God. And may we pray always knowing that you will deliver us from evil. For this we pray in Jesus name. Amen. Thank you for listening to today's Bible in a Year podcast. I'm Jack Graham from Dallas, Texas. Download the Prey dot com app, and make prayer and Bible study a priority in your life. If you enjoyed this podcast, share it with someone you love, share it with a friend, Pass it on because this podcast can make a huge difference in people's lives. I'm hearing wonderful stories of the impact of God's Word as a result of listening to Bible in a Year. And if you want more biblical resources, resources from God's Word that will enable you and assist you in your walk with God, then be sure to visit Jack Graham dot org. That's Jack Graham dot org. God bless you. This episode is sponsored by Medicine, an innovative healthcare solution for Christians to save money without sacrificing quality