1 Kings 12:25-33
Golden Calves at Bethel and Dan
Jeroboam built up the walls of Shechem. It was in the hill country of Ephraim. Jeroboam made Shechem his home. From there he went out and built up Peniel.
Jeroboam thought, “My kingdom still isn’t secure. It could very easily go back to the royal family of David. Suppose the Israelites go up to Jerusalem to offer sacrifices at the Lord’s temple. If they do, they will again decide to follow Rehoboam as their master. Then they’ll kill me. They’ll return to King Rehoboam. He is king of Judah.”
So King Jeroboam asked for advice. Then he made two golden statues that looked like calves. He said to the people, “It’s too hard for you to go up to Jerusalem. Israel, here are your gods who brought you up out of Egypt.” He set up one statue in Bethel. He set up the other one in Dan. What Jeroboam did was sinful. And it caused Israel to sin. The people came to worship the statue at Bethel. They went all the way to Dan to worship the statue that was there.
Jeroboam built temples for worshiping gods on high places. He appointed all kinds of people as priests. They didn’t even have to be Levites. He established a feast. It was on the 15th day of the eighth month. He wanted to make it like the Feast of Booths that was held in Judah. Jeroboam built an altar at Bethel. He offered sacrifices on it. He sacrificed to the calves he had made. He also put priests in Bethel. He did it at the high places he had made. He offered sacrifices on the altar he had built at Bethel. It was on the 15th day of the eighth month. That’s the month he had chosen for it. So he established the feast for the Israelites. And he went up to the altar to sacrifice offerings.
1 Kings 13:1-34
A Man of God From Judah
A man of God went from Judah to Bethel. He had received a message from the Lord. He arrived in Bethel just as Jeroboam was standing by the altar to offer a sacrifice. The man cried out. He shouted a message from the Lord against the altar. He said, “Altar! Altar! The Lord says, ‘A son named Josiah will be born into the royal family of David. Altar, listen to me! Josiah will sacrifice the priests of the high places on you. They will be the children of the priests who are offering sacrifices here. So human bones will be burned on you.’ ” That same day the man of God spoke about a miraculous sign. He said, “Here is the sign the Lord has announced. This altar will be broken to pieces. The ashes on it will be spilled out.”
The man of God announced that message against the altar at Bethel. When King Jeroboam heard it, he reached out his hand from the altar. He said, “Grab him!” But as he reached out his hand toward the man, it dried up. He couldn’t even pull it back. Also, the altar broke into pieces. Its ashes spilled out. That happened in keeping with the miraculous sign the man of God had announced. He had received a message from the Lord.
King Jeroboam spoke to the man of God. He said, “Pray to the Lord your God for me. Pray that my hand will be as good as new again.” So the man of God prayed to the Lord for the king. And the king’s hand became as good as new. It was just as healthy as it had been before.
The king said to the man of God, “Come home with me for a meal. I’ll give you a gift.”
But the man of God replied to the king. He said, “What if you were to give me half of what you own? Even then I wouldn’t go with you. I wouldn’t eat bread or drink water here. The Lord gave me a command. He said, ‘Do not eat bread or drink water there. Do not return the same way you came.’ ” So he took another road. He didn’t go back on the same road he had taken when he came to Bethel.
An old prophet was living in Bethel. His sons came and spoke to him. They told him everything the man of God had done there that day. They also told their father what the man had said to the king. Their father asked them, “Which way did he go?” His sons showed him the road the man of God from Judah had taken. So he said to his sons, “Put a saddle on the donkey for me.” When they had done it, he got on the donkey. He traveled on the same road the man of God had taken. He found the man sitting under an oak tree. He asked him, “Are you the man of God who came from Judah?”
“I am,” he replied.
So the prophet said to him, “Come home with me. I’ll give you something to eat.”
The man of God said, “I can’t go back to Bethel with you. I can’t eat bread or drink water with you there. I’ve received a message from the Lord. He told me, ‘Do not eat bread or drink water there. Do not return the same way you came.’ ”
The old prophet answered, “I’m also a prophet, just like you. An angel gave me a message from the Lord. The message said, ‘Bring the man of God back with you to your house. Then he can eat bread and drink water with you.’ ” But the old prophet was telling him a lie. The man of God returned with him. He ate and drank in his house.
They were sitting at the table. The Lord gave a message to the old prophet who had brought the man of God back. He cried out to the man who had come from Judah. He told him, “The Lord says, ‘You have not done what I told you to do. You have not obeyed the command I gave you. I am the Lord your God. You came back here and ate bread and drank water. You did it in the place where I told you not to. So your body will not be buried in your family tomb.’ ”
The man of God finished eating and drinking. Then the old prophet who had brought him back put a saddle on the man’s donkey for him. And the man went on his way. A lion attacked him on the road and killed him. His body was left lying on the road. The donkey and the lion were standing beside it. Some people passed by. They saw the body lying on the road. They saw the lion standing beside the body. Then they went and reported it in the city where the old prophet lived.
The prophet who had brought the man back from his journey heard about what had happened. He said, “It’s the man of God. He didn’t do what the Lord told him to do. So the Lord has given him over to the lion. The lion has attacked him and killed him. Everything has happened just as the Lord’s message had warned him it would.”
The old prophet said to his sons, “Put a saddle on the donkey for me.” So they did. Then he went out. He found the body of the man of God lying on the road. The donkey and the lion were standing beside it. The lion hadn’t eaten the body. It hadn’t attacked the donkey either. So the prophet picked up the man’s body. He put it on the donkey. He brought it back to his own city. He wanted to mourn for him and bury him. Then he placed the body in his own tomb. People mourned for him. They said, “Oh, no, my friend! My dear friend!”
After the old prophet had buried the man of God, he spoke to his sons. He said, “When I die, bury me in the grave where the man of God is buried. Put my bones next to his bones. I want you to do that because he announced a message from the Lord. He spoke against the altar in Bethel. He also spoke against all the temples that are on the high places. They are in the towns of Samaria. What the man of God said will certainly come true.”
Even after all of that happened, Jeroboam still didn’t change his evil ways. Once more he appointed priests for the high places. He made priests out of all kinds of people. In fact, he let anyone become a priest who wanted to. He set them apart to serve at the high places. All of that was the great sin the royal family of Jeroboam committed. It led to their fall from power. Because of it, they were destroyed from the face of the earth.
1 Kings 14:1-20
Ahijah’s Prophecy Against Jeroboam
At that time Abijah became sick. He was the son of Jeroboam. Jeroboam said to his wife, “Go. Put on some different clothes. Then no one will recognize you as my wife. Go to Shiloh. That’s where Ahijah the prophet is. He told me I would be king over the Israelites. Take ten loaves of bread with you. Take some cakes and a jar of honey. Go to him. He’ll tell you what will happen to our son.” So Jeroboam’s wife did what he said. She went to Ahijah’s house in Shiloh.
Ahijah couldn’t see. He was blind because he was so old. But the Lord had told Ahijah, “Jeroboam’s wife is coming. Her son is sick. She’ll ask you about him. Give her the answer I give you. When she arrives, she’ll pretend to be someone else.”
Ahijah heard the sound of her footsteps at the door. He said, “Come in. I know that you are Jeroboam’s wife. Why are you pretending to be someone else? I have some bad news for you. Go. Tell Jeroboam that the Lord has a message for him. The Lord is the God of Israel. He says, ‘I chose you from among the people. I appointed you king over my people Israel. I tore the kingdom away from the royal house of David. I gave it to you. But you have not been like my servant David. He obeyed my commands. He followed me with all his heart. He did only what was right in my eyes. You have done more evil things than all those who lived before you. You have made other gods for yourself. You have made statues of gods out of metal. You have made me very angry. You have turned your back on me.
“ ‘Because of that, I am going to bring horrible trouble on your royal house. I will cut off from you every male in Israel. It does not matter whether they are slaves or free. I will burn up your royal house, just as someone burns up trash. I will burn it until it is all gone. Some of the people who belong to you will die in the city. Dogs will eat them up. Others will die in the country. The birds will eat them. The Lord has spoken!’
“Now go back home. When you enter your city, your son will die. All the Israelites will mourn for him. Then he will be buried. He is the only one who belongs to Jeroboam who will be buried. That is because he is the only one in Jeroboam’s royal house in whom I have found anything good. I am the Lord, the God of Israel.
“I will choose for myself a king over Israel. He will destroy the family of Jeroboam. This day your son will die. Even now this is beginning to happen. I, the Lord, will strike down Israel. Israel will be like tall grass swaying in the water. I will pull Israel up from this good land by the roots. I gave it to their people who lived long ago. I will scatter Israel to the east side of the Euphrates River. That is because they made the Lord very angry. They made poles used to worship the female god named Asherah. I will give Israel up because of the sins Jeroboam has committed. He has also caused Israel to commit those same sins.”
Then Jeroboam’s wife got up and left. She went to the city of Tirzah. As soon as she stepped through the doorway of the house, her son died. He was buried and all the Israelites mourned for him. That’s what the Lord had said would happen. He had said it through his servant, Ahijah the prophet.
The other events of Jeroboam’s rule are written down. His wars and how he ruled are written down. They are written in the official records of the kings of Israel. Jeroboam ruled for 22 years. Then he joined the members of his family who had already died. Jeroboam’s son Nadab became the next king after him.
