A Choice toward Self Destruction

When Moses was asking the Pharaoh to free the Israelites from decades of slavery in Egypt, the Bible says that the Pharaoh gave in to this plea only after Egypt has suffered devastating plagues that destroyed the people’s livelihood and took away their young son’s lives. The pharaoh “hardened his heart” and his pride led to the death of his youngest son. Yet even when he has already allowed the people to go, he still has a change of mind and pursued them. We know the rest of the story.

How many leaders are too proud to listen to the wisdom of their conscience? Why would these leaders be so proud as to sacrifice their honor and integrity just so they can hold on to power?

We continue our study about the beginning of Israel’s decline. Jeroboam has made the cities of Shechem and Penuel his capital cities. He has inaugurated the places of worship, installed and consecrated priests in the high places, offered sacrifices to “calves” and enjoined the people to come worship: “Here are your gods who rescued you out of Egypt.”

We see him offering sacrifices to the “altar” that he built. We are horrified at his total desecration of the true worship of the Only One God. We cannot imagine how this leader has completely embraced false gods, even instituting a festival similar to that in Judah, in simulation of the consecrated rituals his fathers had bequeathed on to him. We can only conclude that the reason for this is that he did not have faith in God or he did not understand how God had chosen the Israelites to “become separate unto Himself.”

Although God prevented Rehoboam from attacking Jeroboam’s newly found kingdom (1 Kings 12:24) through a military assault, he sent a prophet, to pronounce judgment on Jeroboam’s evil ways (1 Kings 13). In one of the King’s festivals of sacrifices, while he was making an offering to idols in the presence of his subjects, one voice threatened the very vector of his worship. “Altar, Altar,” the prophet shouts, “The priests sacrificing here will all be killed; they will all become ashes right at its feet because a king from David’s line named Josiah will rise up and consume their bones in fire! (1 Kings 13:2)”

During this bold declaration of judgment that wouldn’t take effect until 300 or more years later, we can imagine the people staring with mouth agape, one of either fear or confusion creeping in their bellies. They know this God who called this prophet to pronounce judgment. They know the one True God. He is not an alien being. He had always ministered to them, He is part of their history, He gave them their kings, and their judges and their prophets. The prophet seals his powerful threats with a sign: Much like the dramatic performance at Carmel when Elijah told the rain to pour on earth to end a three year drought, this time, this prophet told Jeroboam that the altar would be split into two and the ashes will flow down from it (1 Kings 13:3). It happened as he said it. The public did not miss it, could not have missed it. But worse than not taking note of this event, they would also have been merely amazed that such things could still happen in Israel.

Yet even before this dramatic show of God’s power and authority Jeroboam wanted to kill the prophet. He commanded his guards to seize him. In that very instant his hands dried up and only the prophet’s prayer restored it back to normal. His response to his healing is yet another act of corruption – “Thank you prophet,” he seemed to say, “Come and share my table. Let us eat and I can give you more, even more than food.” (1 Kings 13:6)

Jeroboam did not alter his ways, although he had a first hand experience of the authority of God’s Word, the finality of God’s judgment. Could it be that Jeroboam’s heart has already been so corrupted that he was so blinded to see the full implication of his actions to his person and to the fate of the nation? What had led to this corruption? Could it be his indifference to God’s Word?

Before this judgment, Jeroboam had a choice, but when he decided to build the high places, he made the wrong choice, not by accident, nor by ignorance but with deliberation. It was a choice for self-preservation, a choice for self-exultation. God’s succeeding reminders only deepened in him a belief that he could never get away from the faith of his fathers, and he was openly rebelling against it. Much like the pharaoh in Egypt, his question could have been, “Why would I let this faith control me? I do not have to subject myself to the ministrations of this faith. I can be free of this religion. I will do my religion, in my own time, in my own way, and it will be less restrictive; in fact, it will be without restrictions.”

Of course this set a precedent. From this time on, worship of the one True God was not anymore as “it used to be” although many in Israel were probably thinking it was the same as the faith of their fathers. The icons became “representatives” of the “gods who rescued them out of Egypt” and the high places became merely symbols of their reaching out to the One True God who now became distant and alien. These desolated places drove the godly away. No good man was left in Israel, the Bible notes. Jeroboam had institutionalized the worship of false Gods. He set his own dates for the festivals and he misled the people toward total destruction.

For the rest of his days, King Jeroboam would persist in his ungodly ways. The nation remained indifferent; they allowed their king to be ungodly. Only one prophet, among the many prophets and their sons decried his woeful practices. Jeroboam would fortify his kingdom, would make alliances with strong nations, will succeed in separating the people of Israel from their center of worship. But the duration of his kingship also marked the beginning of the decline of his nation. His reign didn’t leave a legacy which spoke about progress and development; rather it left a tragic, black note in history. What began the road to total destruction and the scattering of the ten tribes of Israel.is just one – one decisive wrong act of an insecure, power-hungry leader.