“Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did.” That’s what Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 10:6, after recounting how the Israelites grumbled and complained against God in the wilderness. In one of my naïve moments of life, I once thought that such examples really were unnecessary. After all, why do you need an example of someone disobeying God and being punished by him so that we might not desire evil? Isn’t it enough just to hear God tell us it’s bad to disobey? Isn’t it sufficient just to know that we must obey God? Why would we need to see disobedience in someone else before we would realize the folly of sin in ourselves?
Then I had my fourth birthday. No, I’m kidding. I’ve continued to show my naivety about the deceitful power of sin (sadly) much later than my fourth birthday. I used to sit and wonder how in the world the Israelites could pass through the Red Sea, with water rising up miraculously on each side of them as they passed through on dry ground, and then enter the wilderness and wonder how they might keep from starving to death. I would think of those wilderness episodes and want to scream, “Are you serious?” And, though, I might continue to ask that question when I read those texts today (for those texts demand that we ask that in light of God’s faithfulness to them), I do not ask it as one how does not know the answer in my own life experience.
After all, in the last six months alone I’ve found myself on multiple occasions having massive needs that I could not provide for and could not anticipate how these needs would be met. And on both of those occasions, the Lord provided precisely what I needed on the day I needed it. Yet right after rejoicing and giving thanks to God by praying, and singing, and even dancing (in the privacy of my own kitchen with only my children and wife watching – and laughing), I’ve caught myself saying, “Yeah, but what about the need a few weeks down the road?”
And I think it’s fair to say that I wouldn’t have a grasp as to how silly and disappointing such a response is if I hadn’t first seen it exampled for me with the Israelites. I perhaps, wouldn’t know to ask of myself, “Are you serious?” if I had not first asked that of the Israelites. For some reason, it’s just easier to see sin for what it is when you’re looking at it in someone other than yourself. What goes on in my mind and heart seem so normal to me. Watching the same thing in others helps me to evaluate things more objectively. And God knows that, for he made us, and that’s why he’s given us examples of disobedience in the Scriptures – so that we might not desire evil as they did.
As we consider examples of the folly of sin, then, one of the clearest pictures is given to us in 1 Kings 12-16. These five chapters provide for us a history how the kingdom over which Solomon reigned was divided, a glimpse into the events and reigns of the first seven kings who reigned over the northern kingdom of Israel, and a brief picture of three kings who reigned in the southern kingdom of Judah. A summary of the content of these chapters will perhaps be helpful as we prepare ourselves to look at the message of this text. In 12:1-24, we read how Solomon’s son, Rehoboam, assumed the throne of his father and yet made a terrible mistake early on in his reign and ended up losing ten tribes of the kingdom so that the kingdom is divided while he sits on the throne. Then, 12:25-14:20 gives us the report of Jeroboam’s reign over Israel, showing his rebellion against God, the stubbornness of that rebellion as he refuses to hear the prophets, and the judgment of God against him so that all his family ultimately are killed. Then, in 14:21-15:24, we get a brief glimpse into the reign of three kings of Judah – Rehoboam, Abijam, and Asa – before reading in 15:25-16:34 of the reign of six kings in the northern kingdom. Thus, these fives chapters provide for us a look into the history of the northern and southern kingdom, focusing mainly on the reign of the kings in the northern kingdom of Israel. But these chapters are definitely not interested in the simple chronicling of Israel’s history. Rather, they are aimed, I believe, at providing for us a picture of the certainty of God’s Word and the nature and folly of sin.
Therefore, one of first aspects of the message of 1 Kings 12-16 that I want us to see is the certainty of God’s Word
This section of 1 Kings begins and ends on this note of the certainty of God’s Word. First, as chapter 11 concludes with Jeroboam being told by Ahijah the prophet that the kingdom would be torn out of the hand of Solomon’s son and that the Lord would give him ten tribes, leaving Judah in the hands of David’s line, so chapter 12 begins with that exact thing happening. In 12:1-24, we read of this tragic episode under Rehoboam’s reign.
As his people come to him and ask him to make it easier on them than Solomon had done, Rehoboam refuses and basically declares that he will make his father look like a pushover. Therefore, when the people hear, they kill the one whom Rehoboam had set as a taskmaster over them, break their allegiance to the king, and make Jeroboam king over them so that he reigns over the northern ten tribes of Israel. The very report of these events screams that God’s word has been fulfilled perfectly, as we read in 12:20, “And when all Israel heard that Jeroboam had returned, they sent and called him to the assembly and made him king over all Israel. There was none that followed the house of David but the tribe of Judah only.” And lest we somehow miss that this is all unfolding under God’s sovereign hand and think instead that it is merely a tragic mistake by Rehoboam not to listen to counselors who instructed him to go easy on the people, apart from God’s plan, we read in 12:15, “So the king did not listen to the people, for it was a turn of affairs brought about by the LORD that he might fulfill his word, which the LORD spoke by Abijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat.”
God had made his Word clear, and he was now bringing it to pass. The account of the kingdom dividing under Rehoboam even ends with a declaration of God’s Word being fulfilled. Starting in 12:21, we read that Rehoboam rallied the tribes of Judah and Benjamin to fight against the northern tribes, but the word of the Lord came to Shemaiah to tell the people that they shall not go fight. And so the account ends in 12:24, “So they listened to the word of the LORD and went home again, according to the word of the LORD.”
But this theme is not contained only in chapter 12. We find it in every chapter throughout this section. In chapter 13, we read of a prophet of God declaring that the altar before Jeroboam will be torn down and the ashes poured out, and then we read in 13:5, “The altar also was torn down, and the ashes poured out from the altar, according to the sign that the man of God had given by the word of the LORD.” Then, in 13:26 we read that a prophet was killed by a lion “according to the word that the LORD spoke to him.” In 14:18, we read that Jeroboam’s child died “and all Israel buried him and mourned for him, according to the word of the LORD, which he spoke by his servant Ahijah the prophet.” In chapter 15, we read that Baasha killed Jeroboam’s son Nadab and then killed all of Jeroboam’s house “according to the word of the LORD that he spoke by his servant Ahijah the Shilonite” (15:29). Then, in 16:12 we read, “Thus Zimri destroyed all the house of Baasha, according to the word of the LORD, which he spoke against Baasha by Jehu the prophet.”
Finally, we read in the end of chapter 16 that a king named Ahab reigns and that under his reign a man named Hiel rebuilt the city of Jericho. And this is interesting in light of what Joshua had declared in Joshua 6:26. There, after the Israelites had conquered the city, Joshua had stated, “Cursed before the LORD be the man who rises up and rebuild this city, Jericho. ‘At the cost of his firstborn shall he lay its foundation, and at the cost of his youngest son shall he set up its gates.’” So, what happens when Hiel rebuilds the city? We read in 1 Kings 16:34, “In his days Hiel of Bethel built Jericho. He laid its foundation at the cost of Abiram his firstborn, and set up its gates at the cost of his youngest son Segub, according to the word of the LORD, which he spoke by Joshua the son of Nun.” This section in 1 Kings, thus, begins and ends with the note that God’s Word is certain and sure and declares it throughout. This simply cannot be overlooked as a clear message of these chapters.
What then does this mean for us? What is means is that when we look at the Scripture, we are looking at something that is sure and certain, trustworthy and true. This book claims that it is nothing less than God’s Word, its very words breathed out by God so that men wrote as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit (2 Tim 3:16-17; 2 Peter 1:21). Therefore, it is true and accurate in all that it affirms. For this reason, we can base our lives on it. We can understand the world and account for everything in it based on what God’s Word says. We can rest in affirming it and know that it will never fail in anything it promises, be wrong in anything it affirms, or be unable to account for any reality in the world. We must then base our lives on what is revealed here, and we fail our children and our neighbors if we do not instruct them to do the same. And those who want to think that God’s Word is anything less than true in everything it affirms fail to listen to what the Scripture claims for itself. It is God’s Word, and God’s Word is nothing less than certain, sure, right, true, and trustworthy.
And this reality leads us to another truth that is evident in these chapters, namely, that because God’s word is trustworthy and true, sure and certain, it is always wrong and dangerous to disobey God’s Word.
Because we are inadequate apart from God’s Word to interpret and understand the world around us, it is not always wrong and dangerous to disobey God’s Word. We see this throughout these chapters as well.
First, we see it with Jeroboam. After God’s Word is fulfilled and Jeroboam is made king over the ten northern tribes of Israel, you would think that he would set his heart to obey God’s commands. After all, he knew that the reason he was reigning over the northern kingdom is because Solomon had disobeyed God’s commands. And he had seen God’s declaration come to fruitition. Then, God had told him through Ahijah, “If you will listen to all that I command you, and will walk in my ways and do what is right in my eyes by keeping my statutes and my commandments, as David my servant did, I will be with you and will build you a sure house, as I built for David, and I will give Israel to you” (11:38). So, it doesn’t take a genius to see that the blueprint for a successful reign as king is to obey whatever God tells you.
Yet, in 12:25-33, we read that Jeroboam constructed golden calves, placing them at two different places in Israel so that if the people wanted to commit idolatry, they would find it easy to do. He made temples on high places, appointed unqualified priests, changed the day of one the feasts, and offered sacrifices not in accord with the law. But why did he do it? He did it because he’d exalted himself and his reason above God’s Word and thought he was wiser than God. We read that in 12:26-29: “And Jeroboam said in his heart, ‘Now the kingdom will turn back to the house of David. 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 their lord, to Rehoboam king of Judah, and they will kill me and return to Rehoboam king of Judah.’ So the king took counsel and made two calves of gold. And he said to the people, ‘You have gone up to Jerusalem long enough. Behold your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.’ And he set one in Bethel, and the other he put in Dan.”
Do you see what happened there? Instead of just obeying and trusting God, he began to attempt to understand how everything would work best without regard to God’s Word. He fell prey to the notion that he was wiser than God, and he thought he could figure out how to keep his kingdom from failure. What he forgot was that he never became king because of his effort but only by God’s hand, and therefore God would remove him. And God eventually did just that, as eventually all of his line was killed. In fact, we read of Jeroboam’s judgment in 14:1-20 (we’ll address chapter 13 shortly).
In chapter 14, Jeroboam’s son gets sick, and Jeroboam wants a good word about this, so he sends his wife to go see the prophet Ahijah in a disguise. Why is he sending his wife, and why making her disguise herself? No doubt, it’s because he knows that he’s been disobeying God, and the prophet would no doubt give him a bad word. But the plan backfires because God tells Ahijah that the woman is Jeroboam’s wife. Then, we read the fateful word in 14:7-12.
“Go, tell Jeroboam, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: \"Because I exalted you from among the people and made you leader over my people Israel and tore the kingdom away from the house of David and gave it to you, and yet you have not been like my servant David, who kept my commandments and followed me with all his heart, doing only that which was right in my eyes, but you have done evil above all who were before you and have gone and made for yourself other gods and metal images, provoking me to anger, and have cast me behind your back, therefore behold, I will bring harm upon the house of Jeroboam and will cut off from Jeroboam every male, both bond and free in Israel, and will burn up the house of Jeroboam, as a man burns up dung until it is all gone. Anyone belonging to Jeroboam who dies in the city the dogs shall eat, and anyone who dies in the open country the birds of the heavens shall eat, for the Lord has spoken it.\" ' Arise therefore, go to your house. When your feet enter the city, the child shall die.” So, not only does this child die, but eventually all of Jeroboam’s line is killed. Thus, we see that it is always wrong and dangerous to disobey God’s Word.
But we also see this in chapter 13. This is one of the oddest chapters in the Bible, without doubt. It begins with a prophet coming to Jeroboam and telling him that one would be born in the line of David named Josiah, who would sacrifice these evil priests on these pagan altars. And when Jeroboam put out his hand to say, “Seize him,” God dried up his hand so that he couldn’t draw it back. Therefore, Jeroboam realizes the man is of God, asks him to pray for God to heal him, the prophet does, and Jeroboam is healed. And then Jeroboam wants to do the man a favor. He wants the man to come to his house and receive a reward. But listen to the prophet’s response. We read in 13:8-10, “And the man of God said to the king, ‘If you give me half your house, I will not go in with you. And I will not eat bread or drink water in this place, for so was it commanded me by the word of the Lord, saying, 'You shall neither eat bread nor drink water nor return by the way that you came.'’ So he went another way and did not return by the way that he came to Bethel.”
That was a good and bold response, but it didn’t last long. The author goes on to tell us that there was an old prophet who lived in Bethel, and his sons came home telling him about what the man of God had done in confronting Jeroboam. The old prophet, then, decided he wanted to see this man, so he saddled up his donkey, set out, found the man of God sitting under an oak tree, and told him to come to his house. Then, as you would expect, the man of God told the old prophet that he’d been forbidden to do such a thing. However, then the story gets weird. The old prophet then lies to the man and says, “I also am a prophet as you are, and an angel spoke to me by the word of the LORD, saying, ‘Bring him back with you into your house that he may eat bread and drink water’” (13:18). So, the man of God agrees and goes to his house. Then, while they are eating, the old prophet, who had lied about having a word from the Lord, really does get a word from the Lord that the man of God is going to die because he disobeyed the true word he’d been given by God. So, he tells the young man, the young man goes out on his donkey, a lion attacks and kills him, and then the old prophet hears about it, goes and gets the man’s body, and declares that what the man had said against Jeroboam will indeed happen.
Now, that’s a crazy story. And we no doubt have about a hundred questions we want to ask, like “Why’d he lie? Did the man of God get mad at him when he found out he lied and was going to die? Did the old prophet feel bad afterward?” But, because the author didn’t give us these details, we just have to assume that they weren’t important to the point. So, then, what’s the point? I think the point of this episode is the same as that which we just saw in 12:25-33, namely, that it is always wrong and dangerous to disobey God’s Word.
And this makes sense, doesn’t it? If God’s Word is really what it claims to be – God’s Word! – then doesn’t it make sense that it is always wrong and dangerous to disobey God’s Word? Of course it does. So, do not try to reason within yourself as to why you think certain things might be okay that the Bible forbids, and do not try to reason so that you forbid what the Bible allows. It is simply an example of trying to be wiser than God, and that is always doomed to lead you to destruction. Simply put, we are not adequate to assess rightly the world around us, to understand what is good and right, apart from God’s Word. And to think otherwise is the height of human arrogance and will lead to your judgment even as God has always judged those who refuse to submit to his Word. He judged the man who’d rightly addressed Jeroboam, he judged Jeroboam himself, and he will judge all who refuse to submit to his Word. Therefore, let us remind ourselves to keep our hearts constantly subject to God’s Word and know that we depart from it only to our own destruction.
So, we’ve seen that God’s Word is sure and certain and that to disobey God’s Word is always wrong and dangerous. Well, we see something else in this text I want to highlight. I want to show it to you while skipping over 14:21-15:24, temporarily, and looking at 15:25-16:34 (as well as a reference to the end of chapter 13). It is this: If sin is not dealt with, it escalates.
First, notice Jeroboam by the end of chapter 13. At the beginning of the chapter, he is at least sensitive enough to God’s Word that he hesitates in his sin once God dries up his hand and breaks down the altar right in front of him so the ashes pour out. Then, he no doubt hears that God killed the prophet because he too disobeys God’s Word. So, what does he do? Does he finally address his sin? No. Rather, we read in 13:33, After this thing, Jeroboam did not turn from his evil way, but made priests for the high places again from among all the people. Any who would, he ordained to be priests of the high places. Do you see? He just rebuilt the altars and kept worshipping false gods.
So, what then happened with Nadab, who saw the judgment of his father and reigned on the throne after him? Well, 15:26 tells us that he walked in the way of his father and continued to spread evil throughout the kingdom. And it caught up with him because in a kingdom where everyone’s lusts rule, you can’t be surprised when someone’s lust for the throne is expressed. So, sure enough, we read in 15:27 that Baasha killed him and all the house of Jeroboam. Then, Baasha died and Elah, his son, reigned. But one night he got drunk, and a man named Zimri struck him down and killed him (16:10). But he only reigned seven days before a man named Omri cam and surrounded him, threatening to take his life, so that Zimri burned his house down around himself and committed suicide (16:18). And, the author of 1-2 Kings tells us that this happened “because of his sins that he committed, doing evil in the sight of the LORD, walking in the way of Jeroboam, and for his sin which he committed, making Israel to sin” (16:19). So, what then about Omri? Well, we read in 16:25, “Omri did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, and did more evil than all who walked before him.” And when he died, his son Ahab reigned, and of him we read, “And Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the LORD, more than all who were before him. And as if it had been a light thing for him to walk n the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, he took for his wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and went and served Baal and worshiped him” (16:30-31).
You see, what started with Jeroboam setting up golden calves and calling them Yahweh ended with Ahab outright worshiping Baal. And what started as taking the throne through evil means ended up with king after king killing one another to take the throne. And what started with great evil ended with greater and greater evil until the last king is worse than all who came before him.
It’s a good reminder to us that if sin is not dealt with and repented of, it escalates. So, just as we just saw that it’s always wrong and dangerous to disobey God’s Word at any point, so let me encourage you just as we saw from Solomon’s life last week, not to let sin in your life go unaddressed. Sin is simply not of a nature that it remains as it. It spreads and it escalates. People don’t just murder people out of the blue. They first allow their growing anger and bitterness to go unaddressed. People don’t just commit adultery out of the blue. They first allow their secret lust to go unaddressed. People don’t just steal and hate their brother out of the blue. They first covet what he has and lets that sin go unaddressed. And churches don’t just turn into something of a society of the unregenerate out of the blue. They first let unrepentant sin in their members go unaddressed. But sin that is not dealt with does not stay idle, it escalates.
God’s Word is sure and certain, when we disobey we do something wrong and dangerous, and when we allow our disobedience to go unaddressed, our sin escalates. But there is still one text that we haven’t addressed. It is 14:21-15:24. And, I want us to look at this text as we close. It is the one section of these chapters that focuses on the kings of the southern kingdom of Judah. Most of these chapters focus on the first seven kings of the northern kingdom. But these verses tell us more about Rehoboam, Abijam, and Asa – three kings of David’s line in Judah. And what they show us is that the king’s actions affect the people.
You see, Rehoboam’s sin not only affected him, it also affected the whole southern kingdom of Judah. In fact, we read in verse 14:22-24, “And Judah did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, and they provoked him to jealousy with their sins that they committed, more than all that their fathers had done. For they also built for themselves high places and pillars and Asherim on every high hill and under every green tree, and there were also male cult prostitutes in the land. They did according to all the abominations of the nations that the Lord drove out before the people of Israel.”
It wasn’t just that Rehoboam sinned, his sin also led to the sins of those under his reign. And, when the king of Egypt came and raided Jerusalem, he didn’t just take the king’s treasures. Rather, we read, “He took away the treasures of the house of the LORD and the treasures of the king’s house. He took away everything” (14:26). And Israel didn’t change when Rehboam’s son Abijam started reigning, for he too walked in the sins of his father.
But finally, Abijam’s son Asa started reigning, and he addressed sin. We read in 15:11, “And Asa did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, as David his father had done.” He even removed his mother as queen mother because she’s been involved in idol warship. And when Baasha attacked Judah under Asa’s reign, he wasn’t successful but actually witness Asa turning around and destroying some of the very things Baasha was trying to do.
So, in this brief look at Judah’s three kings from Rehoboam to Asa, we see the importance of having a good and godly king. And, why, we might ask, was this family even allowed to continue to reign though some kings did evil? We find the answer in 15:4-5. Right after telling us that Abijam walked in the sins of his father Rehoboam, we read, “Nevertheless, for David's sake the Lord his God gave him a lamp in Jerusalem, setting up his son after him, and establishing Jerusalem, because David did what was right in the eyes of the Lord and did not turn aside from anything that he commanded him all the days of his life, except in the matter of Uriah the Hittite.”
David’s obedience to the Lord still affected his grandson, great-grandson, and great-great-grandson. The king’s obedience was crucial. But why was it crucial? That answer is found in the understanding of what the king was to be. You see, when God set a king over his people, the king was to sum up before the people what Israel was supposed to be. Israel was God’s son in that they were to reflect and resemble God. But the king was specifically called God’s son because he was to represent the people in himself as he resembled and reflected God in his right. This is why Israel’s history is told through the history of Israel’s kings. This is why it is so crucial that the king obeyed, and yet they never did. From David onward, Israel simply could not produce a king who could represent them in righteousness before God so that they might be blessed. Even David was not the ultimate hope as the text reminds us that even he disobeyed in the matter of Uriah the Hittite.
But God knew that Israel could never produce a righteous king on their own. He knew that David and his sons would always fall short of living up to the title of God’s son. That’s why he sent his own Son, born of a virgin in David’s line, Jesus of Nazareth. And with Jesus, God’s people finally had one who could represent them in righteousness. That’s why his righteous life, penalty-bearing death, and justifying resurrection count for us. He is our king. He is the king of all those who have faith in him. That’s why our story can be told through him. He represents us.
Therefore, this morning, if you have been convicted of your sin, repent, and trust that God sees you as righteous because of your righteous king. And then live in such a way to show that Christ’s righteousness indeed is having a transforming effect on your life. But if you are not a believer, then realize that in the Old Testament, if you did not submit to the king, you were judged. And the same is true with the great King, the great Son of David, Jesus Christ. Believe in him, trust in him, and his righteousness is credited to you and you will be justified. But if you don’t believe, he will judge you as an enemy of God’s rightful king. Therefore, this morning I plead with you to believe. And if you are a believer in good standing with an evangelical church, I invite you to join us in remembering what our king has done for us as we celebrate his work in coming to the table. Amen.