Jeroboam; Dynamic and Judgment

And Jeroboam said in his heart, Now shall the kingdom return to the house of David: If this people go up to do sacrifice in the house of the LORD at Jerusalem, then shall the heart of this people turn again unto their lord, even unto Rehoboam king of Judah, and they shall kill me, and go again to Rehoboam king of Judah. Whereupon the king took counsel, and made two calves of gold, and said unto them, It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem: behold thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. (1Kings 12: 26 – 28)

God had promised Jeroboam the kingdom after Solomon ‘backslid’ through ‘loves’. And He kept His promise and made him the king of Israel.

But like most people, he became insecure. And why?

The God who promised did not see it fit to shift the centre of Israeli worship. It still remained in the territory of David’s seed.

He therefore sought an insurance policy by ensuring that he diverts that worship into his territory. His insecurity led him to doubt that the God who had promised him the kingdom while Solomon was reigning and gave him without his fighting for the same was able to keep that kingdom secure in his hands. Like Saul, he who had received the gift by grace sought to maintain it by works (his effort).

But his was even worse than Saul’s in that it went as far as shifting worship.

Yet you realize that his promise was even surer than Saul’s.

And it shall be, if thou wilt hearken unto all that I command thee, and wilt walk in my ways, and do that is right in my sight, to keep my statutes and my commandments, as David my servant did; that I will be with thee, and build thee a sure house, as I built for David, and will give Israel unto thee. (1Kings 11:38)

How could he doubt that? Where did his insecurity stem from with such a promise?

Yet it visited Jeroboam.

Then what happens? God not only decides that the promise was annulled, but He went much farther.

He decided to do away with everything related with Jeroboam and his name. In short He declared that just as He did with Canaan and Amalek He will wipe out Jeroboam from the face of the earth.

Therefore, behold, I will bring evil upon the house of Jeroboam, and will cut off from Jeroboam him that pisseth against the wall, and him that is shut up and left in Israel, and will take away the remnant of the house of Jeroboam, as a man taketh away dung, till it be all gone. (1Kings 14:10)

His search of security destroyed his posterity and obliterated his name.

Why was God that drastic?

His sin was foundational. He had introduced an irremovable virus to Israel. To the end of the kingdom no king was able to demolish the idolatry he had introduced or even acknowledge it as such. It is possible that they viewed it as proper worship.

The only one who did something was Josiah who was from David, the kingdom whose fear led Jeroboam to introduce it.

Is this post about history or current affairs?

I believe it is more current than historical. It is instructional and more current than tomorrow’s headline as any intake of the Bible is.

But it is his sentence that I want us to look at. Simply speaking God declared that the name Jeroboam will disappear. God promised to take it upon Himself to wipe out Jeroboam from existence.

Why was God that drastic? You may wonder.

Jeroboam introduced an error that became institutionalized into the life of Israel. The definition of Israel changed to idolatry because of that error. Its destiny was changed by that self-protecting move he introduced. God’s revelation was blocked by that move.

That is why God took Jeroboam’s case seriously and finished him drastically.

Give us a context, I know someone is screaming inside.

What happens when someone uses his position, power or influence to benefit?

Most times the vulnerable will get more disenfranchised as they have no way of fighting back against power.

Let me give examples.

A person in power sees a huge tract of land whose owners are not able to maximize on its usage. He sees how much better he can use that huge chunk of ‘idle’ land.

The owners are not as enlightened or moneyed as he is to maximize the usage of that land.

He therefore ‘wisely’ sends emissaries to convince the poor landowners that it is in their best interests to take a much smaller piece of ‘prime’ land in exchange with that ‘wasteland’, knowing very clearly that he is defrauding them. Others will simply use the system to take that land like that. And the owners will have no redress because the system will be weighted heavily against them.

Or something I have seen all too often.

Someone in the government knows that a huge government project is on the way. It may be a road, a factory or any other project that makes the prices of land to skyrocket.

He therefore calls on a few of his friends who go to the location in question looking for land to buy at throw away prices since nobody knows about the project. They therefore are able to buy huge chunks of land strategically located around the project.

A few months or years and the project begins and they have a gold mine in their hands, either from compensation or resale.

Let me not talk about this virus as it is simply annoying.

How many pastors realize that their wish is normally the congregation’s command?

Of course we know of procurement managers who arrange tenders in such a way that only companies associated with them can get any serious tender or contract and then amplifying the amounts being paid out even to a hundred times their market value. And of course in disposing of assets doing the same and then diminishing their values to less than 10% of their value.

That ring-fencing (which is what I hear it being called) blocks anybody else from accessing those contracts or assets. Of course they will then sell the same assets at their market value because like it is said they know where the kitchen is.

All these will block genuine needs from being met honestly, meaning that poverty is expanded needlessly.

How do you think God feels when He sees someone using their position or influence to block someone else from genuinely and honestly meeting their needs?

That is why I believe the Jeroboam dynamic is on its way. What this means is that a few years from today there are names that are so prominent that will become completely forgotten. Like Jeroboam was told God will wipe them as we do with faeces.

That God loves justice is the reason He will do it.

Do you occupy a position of influence?

Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God? (Micah 6: 7, 8)

Otherwise