Today's reading from the One Year Bible Chronological Reading Plan is 1 Kings 13-14:24, 2 Chronicles 12:13-14, 2 Chronicles 11:18-23, 2 Chronicles 12:1-12, 1 Kings 14:25-28, 2 Chronicles 12:15-16, 1 Kings 14:29-15:5, 2 Chronicles 13:1-22, 1 Kings 15:6-8, 2 Chronicles 14:1-8, 1 Kings 15:9-15, 1 Kings 14:19-20, 1 Kings 15:25-34, 2 Chronicles 14:9-15:19. For less flipping read 1 Kings 13-15:15, 15:25-34, 2 Chronicles 11:18-23, 12-15:19.
God punished Solomon for worshipping other gods, but He kept his promise not to take away the kingdom until after his death. And it sure didn't take long after Solomon's death for things to spiral downhill fast!
The kingdom is immediately divided. Jeroboam doesn't listen to God's earlier promise...
If you do whatever I command you and walk in my ways and do waht is right in my eyes by keeping my statutes and commands, as David my servant did, I will be with you. I will build you a dynasty as enduring as the one I built for David and will give Israel to you. 1 Kings 11:38
Jeroboam is obviously not a wise king. After seeing God take 10/12ths of the kingdom from Solomon's line, after hearing from God's prophet that the reason for this is directly due to Solomon's disobedience, after hearing God's promise of an amazing kingship as a reward for faithfulness - what would be the smart response? Obedience and faithfulness to God of course! What was Jeroboam's actual response? To turn away from God and become the first of many evil kings of Israel. What an absolutely foolish decision!
And he is not alone.
Rehoboam obviously did not listen to the wisdom given him by his father King Solomon, and apparrently did not read much of the Proverbs filled with wise advice specifically for him. He listens to poor advice of his peers (likely because they said what he wanted them to say, and they were his friends) over the wise advise of his father's counsellors. And within only 5 years of King Solomon's death, the priceless pieces of the temple are looted. How far the mighty can fall how quickly! And it just breaks my heart. All the work, all the previous obedience and faithfulness - destroyed so quickly by hearts turned away from God, by one great king not finishing well, and the next starting so poorly. 5 years!
Then the prophet of God falls for a lie and disobeys the very Word of God he personally heard, and paid for it with his life.
There is no end to the foolish decisions in these chapters!
Until finally, with a breath of fresh air, we read about King Asa who wholeheartedly served the Lord, who publicly proclaimed his devotion to God. And, surprise surprise, experienced incredible successes and victories! At least for the first 35 years. More bad news to come tomorrow.
It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out how things work for the kings of Israel. Faithfulness to God equals victories, wealth, success, prosperity of every kind! And rebellion leads to kingdoms divided, temples looted, death, disaster of every kind! And yet, so many choose rebellion. Why?! It just makes you want to shake sense into them, slap them upside the head, anything to wake them up and see the destructive consequences their foolish choices will result in.
We can't do that. We can't change history. But we can learn from their mistakes. The only question is - will we?
Tomorrow's passage: 1 Kings 15:16-22, 2 Chronicles 16:1-10, 1 Kings 16:1-34, 15:23-24, 2 Chronicles 16:11-17:19, 1 Kings 17:1-7. For less flipping read 1 Kings 15:16-24, 16-17:7, 2 Chronicles 16-17:19.
6 comments:
That is a great question, Tammy. I'm so thankful to be participating in this blog group. I'm learning a lot!
The thing that jumped out at me as I read was in 2 Chronicles 15 where Azariah prophesied before Asa. He said "...if you seek him, he will be found by you...be strong and do not give up, for your work will be rewarded." That was encouraging for me! And a reminder that my efforts, if for myself, are in vain, but if my efforts are a result of seeking him and trying to follow his will, my work will be rewarded.
That verse is very encouraging!
I felt really bad for the prophet. That was a strange story. We never see why the old prophet tried to deceive him. I think I'd like to look into this further. Does anyone have any thoughts on it?
Interesting how the account in 1 Kings paints Rehoboam as being an evil king and yet the 2 Chronicles account gives the indication he started out well ~ even calling his decisions WISE ~ but that after his kingdom was established, he turned his back on God. It sounds like he may not have actually been a bad guy, just that he did not consistently follow the will of God. His behavior is quite typical of human nature, I think ~ when things are going well, we tend to feel we don't need God, but as soon as things go wrong (Shishak's attack, in this case), suddenly we realize how desperately wrong we were, and we have to humble ourselves and repent of our pride.
I felt bad for the deceived "man of God," too. I guess this just goes to show how even when we walk in close communion with God, we're never immune to temptation and deception. We're always responsible for the choices we make and accepting the consequences or rewards they bear.
Was anyone else really frustrated by all the flipping back and forth today? I found it particularly annoying this time. I think even the authors of this reading plan are getting themselves confused ~ a few of the references overlap each other!
I'm getting a bit frustrated. I've been reading the less flipping version lately.
My thoughts on the one prophet trying to deceive the other was that perhaps it was a test to see if he would truly stand firm.
@LaughingLady - the sermon I referenced yesterday talked about the differences btwn Jeroboam and Rehoboam with regards to their leadership. Basically, Jeroboam willfully and purposefully led his people astray by creating gods for them to worship, whereas Rehoboam just kind of sat back and let the people do what they wanted - including following other gods, etc. Still not a good thing to do, but more of a failure to lead than a leading in the wrong direction. Fortunately, Asa's leadership skills and desire to follow God were stronger.
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