Deceived by Lust
During King Solomons reign, he found himself fascinated with many different women. Many of these women were from other nations, and God had forbidden the Israelites from marrying them, because they could turn the Israelites away from God. Solomon ignored the commands of God and started to bring these women to himself, and even marry them, over 700 in total. Near the end of Solomon’s reign, he began to separate from God. In fact, he started to build temples and idols that represented the Gods that many of his wives worshipped.
Solomons actions angered God, and God spoke to Solomon. He told him that he was angered and while he would not take Israel away from Solomon, he would take it away from the son of Solomon, leaving only the single tribe in Jerusalem, because he loved Jerusalem and he also loved David, and would allow it to remain.
Through the remaining years of Solomon, God raised up adversaries to him. Hadad and Rezon, and Jeroboam were among those adversaries. Jeroboam was actually a man whom Solomon had trusted and had given high standing to. He assigned him official duties and gave him rank over the labor force of the tribe of Joseph.
During a trip outside of Jerusalem, Jeroboam met with a prophet named Ahijah along the way. This prophet gave a message to Jeroboam from God. The message from God was that Jeroboam would be given reign over 10 of the tribes of Israel, and only 1 tribe would be left (Benjamin), so that God could still be honored by the lamp of David. For Jeroboam, he would have to honor God and walk in the same way as David before God. Keeping all of God’s commands. As for Solomon, he would rule until he died, and his son would inherit only the one single tribe to rule over.
When Solomon heard this, he tried to kill Jeroboam. Jeroboam fled from Israel and hid until the days of Solomon’s death.
Deceived by Power
Rehoboam, the son of took rule after Solomon’s death. Jeroboam, upon hearing the news of the King’s death, returned to Israel from Egypt. He brought with him the people of Israel, to confront the newly crowned King Rehoboam. But Rehoboam wasn’t willing to concede. He told Jeroboam and the Israelites to return in 3 days to hear his answer.
During these 3 days, Rehoboam asked the city elders for advice. They gave him wise advice and told him that if he would be a favorable servant to the people, the people of Israel would always be his servants. However, this wasn’t what Rehoboam wanted. He had already had a taste of power, and now wanted to keep it. SO, he sought council of friends. They were men that he had grown up with. When he told them of his choice, and sought their advice, they told him to stand strong. In fact, they instructed him to be even more stern and harder on the people, than Solomon was. 1 Kings 12:14 says “he followed the advice of the young men and said, “My father made your yoke heavy; I will make it even heavier. My father scourged you with whips; I will scourge you with scorpions.”
Rehoboam made his intentions clear, and it angered the Israelites. The Israelites felt betrayed and felt they were being prevented from God’s chosen rule. Rehoboam however, was not detoured. He would continue to force his rule over them, even though they would rebel against him. In fact, the Israelites would kill those that Rehoboam would send out to force them to work.
Eventually, Rehoboam would return to Jerusalem and put together an army to fight against Israel. He would not be satisfied with only ruling over 1 tribe and he sought to regain control of all of Israel, like his father had.
At this point, a man of God confronted Rehoboam and all of the tribe of Judah. He gave them a message he had received from God. 1 Kings 12:24 says ‘This is what the Lord says: Do not go up to fight against your brothers, the Israelites. Go home, every one of you, for this is my doing.’” So they obeyed the word of the Lord and went home again, as the Lord had ordered.
Jeroboam Desires More
Meanwhile, Jeroboam began to think about all that had transpired. He concluded that now that peace between Israel and the tribe Rehoboam ruled over, might have a significant downside. What if the people of Israel, now free to travel to the Temple of the Lord, began to become part of the house of David again? It would mean he might lose power over them. So, he devised a plan.
Jeroboam decided to build golden calves as idols. He told them that these were the Gods that brought them out of Egypt, and they could worship these Gods, without having to travel all the way to Jerusalem. He placed a calf in Dan and a calf in Bethel. Then, he appointed his own priests, and even made special holidays around the golden calves.
Deceived by Kindness
At the same moment that Jeroboam was standing at the alter in Bethel, God sent a man from Judah to Bethel. The man forcefully spoke out against the altar with words from God. He told the altar, that a man named Josiah would be born to the house of David, and Josiah would sacrifice all the priests who use this altar. He also said that the altar would be split apart as a sign from God.
Just then, Jeroboam tried to have the man seized. When he raised his hand, his hand was shriveled up and he couldn’t pull it back. Immediately, the altar also split, and the ashes poured on to the ground. Jeroboam was just witness to a powerful sign from God, but he was more concerned about his shriveled hand. Instead of asking forgiveness for his sins, he asks the man to request God repair his shriveled hand. The man does this, and God restores his hand.
Jeroboam gives no credit to God for these acts. He asks the man to come for dinner, but the man refuses. The man of God told jeroboam that he was told by God not to partake in food at this place, and he must take a different route home than he came. God tells the man this, because this place and its practices have been defiled by rituals of sin and offerings to idols. In fact, even when offered gifts by Jeroboam, the man refuses. He tells him that he could offer him half of everything he owns, and he would still refuse. He has been given a command by God, and he intends to follow it.
The Old Prophet
An old prophet lives in the area, and when his sons came to tell him what just happened in town, he decided to ride his donkey out to find the man of God. Soon enough, he found the man, and asked him to come back to his home and eat. Again, the man tells the prophet about his command from God. Upon hearing this, the prophet lies to the man. He tells him that an angel had spoken to him and sent him to find the man and bring him back to eat. This was enough to convince the man
While they were still at the table, God spoke to the prophet. He told the prophet that the man had just defied him and therefore he would not be buried with his ancestors. This he passed on to the prophet. After he finished eating, he left to go back to Judah. On the road, a lion killed him, and stood by his body. The donkey also stood by, and without fear of the lion. People who passed by recognized the man, and word got back to the prophet.
When the prophet saw what had happened, he realized that the man had been speaking truth and God had punished the man for his disobedience. He took his body and buried it in a tomb of his own. He instructed his sons that when he dies, to place his bones in the same tomb, along side the man of God’s bones.
Deceived and Disobeying God
King Solomon was deceived by lust. Even against Gods command, Solomon chose to marry wives from other nations, that worshipped false Gods. Instead of staying faithful to the one true God, Solomon helped those wives worship their Gods, by building temples for them. This is a sin and it separated Solomon from God. Solomon’s lust for these women, blinded him to the commands given him by God.
Rehoboam desired more power and wanted to rule all of Israel. He wanted this control so much, that he ignored the advice of the elders, and sought council among friends. Friends can sometimes be the worst people to give us advice. After assembling an army to take control over all the land, he listened to the words of God. God spoke to Rehoboam and told him to go home and not attack Israel. Rehoboam listened to God and went home. When he realized the wishes of God, he obeyed.
It was Jeroboam that became deceived by power. Jeroboam was in control of nearly all of Israel but wasn’t satisfied. He allowed Satan to deceive his mind and he believed the Israelites would begin following Rehoboam again, if allowed to travel to Jerusalem and use the Temple of God. Jeroboam sought to preserve his power and did so by creating false idols for the Israelites to worship.
Solomon created false idols to hold his sinful wives in Israel. Jeroboam created false idols, to trick the Israelites into staying. Both separated from God, and both were deceived. Solomon by lust and Jeroboam by power.
The man of God from Judah was given clear instruction by God. He was to go and give the message to Jeroboam, have no food or drink while there, and then take a different route home. He was first tempted by Jeroboam, after the man successfully requested that God restore his shriveled hand. Jeroboam wanted to thank the man by offering food and drink, but the man knew of God’s instruction and refused.
The man was tempted a second time on the road, while traveling home. An old prophet had heard of the man of God’s work and wanted to offer him food and drink. He met with the man on the road, and made his offer, but the man refused and cited God’s instructions. This caused the old prophet to come up with a lie, and he told the man that an Angel had instructed him to feed and give drink.
The man of God trusted this prophet but went against God’s instruction and went back to his home for food and drink. When God punished the man with death, the old prophet realized what he had caused. He gave him burial in his tomb and then was also laid to rest alongside him. The prophet’s kindness and lie deceived the man of God. The man was given his instructions and failed to follow those insytructions It’s a lesson for us all.
Follow the path God gives you
God gives us all a path. He places in our hearts his instruction for us. These instructions are not mere suggestions. They aren’t just choices that are given to us by God. God has a plan for us all. We must obey those plans. When you feel it so strongly in your heart, it’s from God. We can also be deceived if we allow it. We shouldn’t allow people to convince us that we have choices to obey God or not. Allowing someone to deceive us into disobeying God, is a sin of our own. We must follow the path that God gives you, and we must learn to recognize what is from God so that we do not become deceived. If God tells us one thing, we don’t have the choice to go against God, if we are to remain faithful.