And Jeroboam said in his heart, Now will the kingdom return
to the house of David: this people go up to offer sacrifices in the house of
Jehovah at Jerusalem, then will the heart of this people turn again unto their
lord, even unto Rehoboam king of Judah; and they will kill me, and return to
Rehoboam king of Judah. Whereupon the king took counsel, and made two calves of
gold; and he said unto them, It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem:
behold thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.
1 Kings 12:26-28
Jeroboam took
his football and went home; I wrote that last week. This was what the 10 Northern tribes did: they
turned away from the united kingdom under Rehoboam son of Solomon. Jeroboam’s
revolt was prophesied in that The Lord had sent His word through the prophet
Ahijah the Shilonite who told Jeroboam that he would be given ten tribes, for
the Lord was taking them out of the hand of the son of Solomon (cf. 1 Kings
11:30-35). However, the Lord left it at just that. He did not say that Jeroboam
had the right to take his football and go home. It was not his football. These
tribes were suffering because of the idolatry of the King and his many wives,
and now the heavy hand of his heir. While God had said that ten would separate
and be under Jeroboam, it did not give Jeroboam the right to inflict and
inspire further idolatry upon His people.
Fear is a
source of all kinds of peril. When fear controls our every move, we make poor
decisions based on that fear. Jeroboam feared that people would turn their
hearts back to the house of David when they went up to Jerusalem to worship in
the Temple built by his son. So with that fear in his heart, he made a
different way for the people to “worship.” He built two calves and said words first
made famous by Aaron in Exodus 32, “behold thy Gods, O Israel, which brought
thee up out of the land of Egypt.” He added to the faith. He added his own
idols he built. Rather than taking the responsibility that he had now over the ten
northern tribes, he made them further idolaters.
How many
times has the Lord’s church let fear dictate our practices? I know that there
are several congregations that have embraced error in worship, works, and leadership
because they feared becoming irrelevant. Aaron and Jeroboam did this by taking
a symbol and using it as representative of God. In the days of the Wanderings,
the people at the base of the Mount Sinai plead, “Make us gods.” Aaron obliged
because of the need for relevance. Moses was not there and may not come back.
Jeroboam did not wait for the people to ask. He took it upon himself for the
purpose of relevance. This was certainly evil, and their worship in Sinai, Dan
or Beth-el was not authorized nor accepted by God. Will the same God accept unauthorized worship
and celebrations today that ignorant masses demand and fearsome leaders allow?
Grace and Peace,
Ryan
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