When experiments go wrong, it can be an opportunity for learning. Thomas Edison famously quipped, “I have not failed. I’ve found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” But when a failed experiment doesn’t provoke change, there is no progress. We must learn from our mistakes, or we will repeat them.

Israel had received the king they desired. They followed the example of the nations around them, raising up leaders that valued power, wealth, and influence. But God desired a different kind of kingship, one that valued obedience, righteousness, and humility.

Time and time again, the nation followed leaders who chose a worldly path and led the nation away from God. Jeroboam, the first king of the Northern Kingdom of Israel, set the standard for wickedness. He was given his throne by God, yet when he came to power he quickly gave in to ungodly fear and set up idols to worship, and the nation followed him (v. 9)!

The kings of Israel, like the judges, were supposed to lead the nation closer to the Lord. Instead, Jeroboam led them astray. Judgment came swiftly, “You have aroused my anger and turned your back on me,” God said. He declared that the nation would go into exile for what Jeroboam did (v. 15).

One would expect the nation to learn from this disastrous experiment and turn to God in repentance and righteousness, but they did not. The rest of the books of 1 and 2 Kings detail the repeated failures of Israel leaders and the failure of the people to reject wicked leadership. What would come of the promise to Abraham to bless the nation? Could there ever be a king who could lead the nation like David did? The failures of kingship created an expectation for the one King who would light the world.