1 Kings 12

Study Guide 36: 1 Kings 12-14; 2 Chronicles 10-12 THE KINGDOM DIVIDES Overview The division of David and Solomon’ s United Kingdom into two often hostile nations was truly one of history’ s turning points. In looking at the text which describes the division, we sense the spiritual apostasy which was part and parcel of the founding of the Northern realm, Israel. In the entire history of the North, there is no godly king. In the history of the South, a kingdom known as Judah, there were only a few. Yet the kings in the Southern line were all descendants of David, for God’ s covenant-promise to Israel’ s greatest king was faithfully kept. This era marks development of the prophetic ministry. Increasingly, prophets played a role in speaking out about the sins of the nation, and in calling God’ s people back to the Lord. Both North and South knew the ministry of these “ men of God.” When teaching these turning-point chapters in the Old Testament, it is important to go beyond the immediate text to provide an overview of the future of each segment of the Divided Kingdom, and also to look ahead at the role to be played by the prophets. CHARTS. Charts like the one in this unit are important teaching tools. They permit you to present a large amount of information in a simplified, visual form. The charts in this text are intended not only for your instruction but also for your use in your teaching. So do feel free to duplicate them for your class or study group.

Commentary With the division of the kingdom of Solomon, the Hebrew people were launched on a three and a half century decline, culminating in a final exile from the Promised Land. What happened during this extended period? And how did God’ s ancient people journey toward the edge of divine judgment?

Israel, the Northern Kingdom (931-722 b.c.). The times of David and Solomon were days of glory for Israel. Blessed with power and prosperity, the united Jewish nation was a politically dominant force in the Middle East. But all was not well within Israel. In Solomon’ s later years, as the weight of his bureaucracy increased and his building projects multiplied, even his great income was not enough. Solomon increased the taxes on his people and drafted more and more men into labor levies. Discontent grew. When Solomon died, Rehoboam, his son, went to Shechem to meet with the dissidents. These people came with the intention of making him king. Choosing a spokesman who had been Solomon’ s enemy (Jeroboam), the people promised to accept Rehoboam as king if he would lighten the tax burden. Foolishly, Rehoboam refused, promising rather to increase the burden. The 10 Northern tribes then openly rebelled, rejecting the Davidic dynasty’ s right to rule (2 Chronicles 10:1-19). In place of Rehoboam, they recognized Jeroboam as king of Israel. When the Prophet Shemaiah turned back a loyalist army, a permanent division between the Southern and Northern tribes resulted. Two nations were now formed. They would afterward be known as Judah (the south) and Israel (the north). As king of Israel, Jeroboam now faced a difficult political situation. The worship center for the Hebrew people was at Jerusalem, which was also the capital of the Southern Kingdom. Fearing that the people would return to the Davidic dynasty if they made the required annual pilgrimages to the temple, Jeroboam set up his own “ iron curtain” between the two nations. And he went about setting up a rival religious system (1 Kings 12:1-33). Jeroboam’ s false system counterfeited the pattern established by God in the Old Testament Law. He established worship centers at Dan and Bethel, but rather than erect temples, he put up idols — golden calves on whose backs the invisible God was imagined to ride. Jeroboam turned out the levitical priests who would not go along with his apostate plans, and ordained volunteers from among the people. And he set up his own priestly class and sacrificial system. Finally Jeroboam copied the great feasts of the Law in which all Hebrews were commanded to participate. He established his own festivals, set for different times than those ordained by God. This false religious system had a dual impact on the Northern Kingdom, Israel. First, the godly slipped over into Judah and settled there, so they could worship the Lord as He had commanded. These immigrants were a significant number. At the time of the division Judah was able to mobilize only 180,000 men (2 Chronicles 11:1). But just 18 years later, Judah’ s army entered the field with 400,000 fighting men (2 Chronicles 13:2). A second impact was on the character of the Northern Kingdom. The first king made a conscious and overtly rebellious decision to break with God and His Law. Each succeeding king continued in the pattern Jeroboam set! Israel, with only 19 kings during its brief existence, had nine different dynasties. Only eight kings died a natural death. Seven were assassinated, one was a suicide, one was killed in battle, one died of injuries suffered in a fall, and the last king, Hoshea, simply disappeared into captivity. The Bible says that they all “ did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord.” With this kind of leadership, no wonder the people who remained in the apostate kingdom quickly fell into Baal worship and all sorts of injustice. God continued to send prophets to speak to Israel, but kings and people continued to resent the prophets’ ministries and to reject their messages. After a stormy history — during which Israel, however, did know material prosperity under strong rulers such as Jeroboam II and Omri (who established Israel’ s capital at Samaria) — Israel fell to the Assyrians in 722 b.c. The city of Samaria was totally destroyed and the people of Israel were deported. The Northern Kingdom disappeared from history; only the families who had settled in Judah kept the identity of the 10 tribes alive.

Judah, the Southern Kingdom (931-586 b.c.) The dreary portrait of Israel’ s experience under the apostate kings is lightened when we look at Judah. Politically, the Southern Kingdom knew its ups and downs as conflicts with Egypt, Israel, and other surrounding states brought alternate victories and defeats. Spiritually, Judah was blessed with several godly kings. But she also knew the rule of apostate kings who followed Solomon’ s example and permitted pagan worship in the holy land. Queen Athaliah (841-835 b.c.) struggled to introduce the cult of Baal in Judah as her mother Jezebel had in Israel. Yet a succession of God-approved kings (Joash through Jotham) kept the extension of evil tendencies to a minimum. Still, the great revivals under Kings Asa, Jehoshaphat, and Joash were unable to purify the land. Much local autonomy was retained, and the piety of the king did not guarantee the holiness of his people. Hezekiah, one of the most godly kings, guided Judah during the critical time of Israel’ s destruction. He instituted drastic reforms to correct the idolatry of his father Ahaz, and thoroughly cleansed the land. He was certainly influenced by two great prophetic contemporaries, Isaiah and Micah. Yet Hezekiah’ s own son, Manasseh, who ruled 55 years, was one of Judah’ s most evil men. He supported pagan worship, recognized the sacrifice of children to the Ammonite god Molech, and killed all who protested. Tradition tells us that Isaiah met his death at Manasseh’ s hands. Despite a later revival under Josiah (640-609 b.c.), king during Habakkuk’ s day, the religious and moral deterioration was such that the revival made little impact on Judah. The graphic description by Jeremiah and Ezekiel (esp. Ezek. 8-11) of the way of life of God’ s people helps us see clearly why the announced judgment had to come. And come it did. In a series of deportations, the surviving kingdom was wrenched from the land. The temple and the Holy City were razed. Under the weight of this agonizing chastisement, God’ s people finally did come to repent in a foreign land. There they were purified of idolatry and, finally, a remnant returned from Babylon to the Promised Land to reestablish the Jewish homeland and to await the Messiah.

The Prophets Reading the divine history, we quickly gain the impression that two groups of people are most significant during the time of the Divided Kingdom. One group is made up of rulers, whose deeds and misdeeds are chronicled. The other group is made up of prophets, whose voices were raised at critical times in each nation’ s experience. Who were these prophets, and what was their mission? While the original sense of the word is unclear, its use in Scripture gives us a clear definition. A prophet is a spokesman for God. An incident in Exodus helps us to see this role. Moses had been called by God to deliver Israel, yet he feared that because he did not speak fluently he would not be able to move Pharaoh. God promised to give him Aaron his brother as “ a mouth.” “ He will speak to the people for you, and it will be as if he were your mouth and as if you were God to him” (Exodus 4:16). This relationship is further described by God in Exodus 7:1 : “ See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron will be your prophet.” As Moses was God’ s spokesman, Aaron was to be Moses’ . In a similar relationship, prophets in the time of the two kingdoms served as “ God’ s mouth.” The prophetic ministry was not one in which the spokesman’ s personality was blotted out in some ecstatic mystical experience. Each prophet retained his own individuality, his own personality, and peculiarities. Each spoke in his own historical and cultural context. Yet each was God’ s spokesman: each communicated God’ s own message. Scripture gives us insights into how the prophets received their messages. At times they seem to have heard an external voice (cf. 1 Samuel 3:3-9). Often the voice was internal (Isaiah 7:3-4; Habakkuk 2:2). Then again, the prophets were enabled to see spiritual realities invisible to others (Numbers 22:31; 2 Kings 6:15-17). At other times the prophets saw visions (Ezekiel 37:1-28; 40-48). The message was received in many ways, but the true spokesman recognized its source and confidently announced that what he had to say was “ the word of the Lord.” Often, during the days of the two kingdoms, the ministry of the prophets was directed to the rulers. This was true in earlier days as well. Nathan the prophet rebuked David (2 Samuel 12:1-31), as did Gad (2 Samuel 24:1-25). It was Samuel, the prophet-judge, who ministered to Saul and anointed David king. Because the kings chose to move away from God, meetings between prophets and rulers often became confrontations. On the day that Jeroboam instituted his false religion, he was confronted by “ a man of God . . . from Judah” (1 Kings 13:1). This prophet announced judgment on the altar Jeroboam was consecrating, foretelling the birth of Josiah, a king of Judah, who would one day burn the bones of the false priests on it. He gave a sign to prove that he was speaking by God’ s command: the altar would crack, and the ashes spill out. Angered, Jeroboam commanded that the young prophet be seized. But the hand he stretched out was gripped by paralysis: he could not lower it! And at that moment, the altar split. Cowed, Jeroboam begged the prophet to ask God to release his paralysis, and the hand was restored. God’ s spokesman then made his announcements with unquestioned divine authority! Such miracles or soon-fulfilled prophecies often authenticated the prophets. The influence they wielded is shown by the fact that Rehoboam turned back an army about to attack the rebels in Israel at the word of Shemaiah (2 Chronicles 11:1-23). Even Jeroboam, when his son became ill, sent his wife to the Prophet Abijah to inquire of the Lord (1 Kings 14:1-31). The ministry of the prophets was often resented by rebellious kings, and their messages were often rejected. But kings — godly and ungodly — and the common people as well, recognized these men as God’ s spokesmen and viewed them with awe and often fear. How is it then that the prophets were unable to halt the slide of the two kingdoms into sin? Why was their ministry largely ineffective? As today, the problem lay not with the Word but with the hearers. These spokesmen for God did deliver His message. But the people did not respond with faith. They recognized that the message and the messenger were from God, but this awareness did not lead them to commitment. Unwilling to submit to God’ s way, the people stubbornly held to their own paths. It is not, as Jesus reminds us, the one who hears the Word of God who is blessed. It is the person who hears and does who receives God’ s blessing (Matthew 7:24). The men and women of the two kingdoms who took pride in their religious activities, their prophets, their temple, and holy places, were all too like men and women of today who confuse churchgoing with discipleship, and “ Bible-believing” with obedience. In the prophetic call to God’ s people to respond to Him and wholeheartedly obey, we hear His invitation to us today — an invitation designed not to burden us, but to lead us safely away from the edge of personal judgment, toward which our willful choices would most certainly lead.

Teaching Guide Prepare Jot down notes on what you see as the most important truths your group can learn from a review of the history of these two kingdoms.

Explore Give a minilecture overview of the two kingdoms. The minilecture is important background to the study of the biblical text.

Expand

1. Ask your group members to develop from 1 Kings 11:26-14:20 a personality profile of Jeroboam. How is he like or unlike modern politicians?
2. Or, examine and list from 1 Kings 12:26-13:6 the actions which Jeroboam took to establish his kingdom. What impact did each have on the future of his people? NOTE: Be sure your group members see each of the following elements of Jeroboam’ s false system:

A.Two calves of gold served as idols, even though the invisible God was supposed to be riding astride them. Jerusalem was replaced by Dan and Bethel as worship centers. B.Priests not of the priestly line were appointed to serve at Bethel and Dan, as well as at “ high places” (like roadside shrines). C.A system of festivals that counterfeited those ordained by God were established. D.Sacrifices were offered at the northern worship centers, which was again a direct violation of God’ s Law.This whole pattern is summed up in 1 Kings 12:33, which contrasts the system Jeroboam devised in his own heart to replace that which had been devised and revealed by God. 3. Or, list at least 20 observations on prophecy by examining the ministry of the “ man of God from Judah” (1 Kings 13:1-34). 4. Or, divide your group into three teams, each of which is to undertake one of the studies above. Give most of the hour for these studies, but save 8 to 10 minutes for final sharing.

Apply If your group members have explored the text as suggested above, spend the last few minutes sharing. Do not ask what your study teams found. Instead, ask: “ What did you personally learn that you can apply to your life from the passage you studied?”