March 28, 2011 (I Kings 12-14)

It's amazing what we will do to rationalize our sin. After Solomon's death, Jeroboam became king of ten tribes of Israel. Here is the story as it relates to him, as spoken by God:

³⁴ “‘But I will not take the entire kingdom from Solomon at this time. For the sake of my servant David, the one whom I chose and who obeyed my commands and decrees, I will keep Solomon as leader for the rest of his life. ³⁵ But I will take the kingdom away from his son and give ten of the tribes to you. ³⁶ His son will have one tribe so that the descendants of David my servant will continue to reign, shining like a lamp in Jerusalem, the city I have chosen to be the place for my name. ³⁷ And I will place you on the throne of Israel, and you will rule over all that your heart desires. ³⁸ If you listen to what I tell you and follow my ways and do whatever I consider to be right, and if you obey my decrees and commands, as my servant David did, then I will always be with you. I will establish an enduring dynasty for you as I did for David, and I will give Israel to you. 

So he was promised that God would establish an enduring dynasty with him, as long as he obeyed. We fast forward to the end of chapter 12, and we see Jeroboam's thoughts:

²⁶ Jeroboam thought to himself, “Unless I am careful, the kingdom will return to the dynasty of David. ²⁷ When these people go to Jerusalem to offer sacrifices at the Temple of the Lord, they will again give their allegiance to King Rehoboam of Judah. They will kill me and make him their king instead.”

 ²⁸ So on the advice of his counselors, the king made two gold calves. He said to the people, “It is too much trouble for you to worship in Jerusalem. Look, Israel, these are the gods who brought you out of Egypt!”

 ²⁹ He placed these calf idols in Bethel and in Dan—at either end of his kingdom. ³⁰ But this became a great sin, for the people worshiped the idols, traveling as far north as Dan to worship the one there.

He forgot what God had specifically told and promised him. He was afraid that if the people returned to Jerusalem to offer sacrifices, they would be 'wooed' to give their allegiance to King Rehoboam. Because of that, he decided to build altars at the northern and southern end of his territory, to offer sacrifices there and to appoint priests that were not from the tribe of Levi.

Fear can cause you to disobey God. The only fear God wants us to have is reverential fear of Him.

The end of this story is that he never repented. And God ripped the kingdom away from him and his family.