17 April

Bible in 365 Days                                                   

1 Kings 12-14

1 Kings 12

In this and the four following chapters we have the central section of this Book recording the tragedy of the break-up of the nation and the degradation of the people. It covers a period of about sixty years, from the disruption after the death of Solomon to the corruption of Ahab's reign and the coming of Elijah.

The seed of strife had long been growing, as we have seen. The occasion of the actual division arose on the human side, with Rehoboam's accession and Jeroboam's return to the country. These two men were utterly unworthy, as the folly of the first and the sin of the latter, make manifest. Rehoboam was proud and despotic. His asking for advice was a farce. A man with a prejudice is sure to follow advice which ministers thereto. This despotism led to Jeroboam's protest, and so ultimately to the rending of the kingdom. The sin of Jeroboam which cursed the whole later history of the people was due to his fear and expressed itself in a professed desire to make worship easy for them by establishing a new center.

The matter of chief interest in the story is the vision granted of God sitting high enthroned above human failure, making even the wrath of men to praise Him as He guided the sinning people toward the realization of His own purposes.

1 Kings 13

In this chapter are two lessons of supreme value; first, the patient grace of God, and, second, the solemn responsibility of such as bear His message.

The first of these is brought out in the story of Jeroboam. While he stood at the altar which his sin had erected he was rebuked and smitten. This was really his opportunity for repentance. His heart, however, was set on sin, and therefore he manifested no genuine repentance, but only a selfish desire for healing. Thus the opportunity for repentance became the occasion of the outworking of his own evil determination.

In his dealings with men, God ever leads them to circumstances through which they may either return to Him or by their continuance in sin make more certain their own ultimate doom. The second lesson is the deception and death of the prophet who had been sent to deliver the Lord's message. While there can be no excuse for the man who lied to him in order to draw him aside, that fact does not for one moment change his responsibility. No direct command of God must be disregarded by His messengers, even if it be m e that an angel suggest the change of method. A divine purpose directly communicated must never be set aside by any supposed intermediation of any kind.

1 Kings 14

In the story now recorded God is seen acting in judgment. The sickness of the son of Jeroboam was the first stroke of punishment and in connection therewith the prophet Ahijah uttered the doom of the man who had so grievously sinned.

In the name of God he reminded him through his wife, that his exaltation to power had been by the act of God, and declared that, because of his sin he and all his were to be swept away.

In the meantime, the southern kingdom of Judah was also sinning. Thus so quickly after David the nation. Was steeped in idolatry, and utterly failed to bear to the surrounding nations testimony to the purity of the divine government, although such testimony constituted the very purpose for which the nation had been created.

To fail to fulfill God's purpose is ever worse than to be merely useless. Peoples unrepentant because of the failure of the chosen become a scourge in the hand of God. This is seen in the invasion and spoliation of Judah by Shishak. The great principle uttered long after by Christ is seen here in its working. Salt which loses its savor is flung out, to be trodden under foot of men, whose corruption it ought to have prevented.