Jeroboam’s Apostasy

Because Solomon turned away from him. God caused Israel to split and gave most of the kingdom to man named Jeroboam.  I Kings 11:28-38 describes What God offered Jeroboam if he would serve God completely. 

“And the man Jeroboam was a mighty man of valour: and Solomon seeing the young man that he was industrious, he made him ruler over all the charge of the house of Joseph.  And it came to pass at that time when Jeroboam went out of Jerusalem, that the prophet Ahijah the Shilonite found him in the way; and he had clad himself with a new garment; and they two were alone in the field: And Ahijah caught the new garment that was on him, and rent it in twelve pieces: And he said to Jeroboam, Take thee ten pieces: for thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel, Behold, I will rend the kingdom out of the hand of Solomon, and will give ten tribes to thee: (But he shall have one tribe for my servant David's sake, and for Jerusalem's sake, the city which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel:) Because that they have forsaken me, and have worshipped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zidonians, Chemosh the god of the Moabites, and Milcom the god of the children of Ammon, and have not walked in my ways, to do that which is right in mine eyes, and to keep my statutes and my judgments, as did David his father.

Howbeit I will not take the whole kingdom out of his hand: but I will make him prince all the days of his life for David my servant's sake, whom I chose, because he kept my commandments and my statutes: But I will take the kingdom out of his son's hand, and will give it unto thee, even ten tribes.  And unto his son will I give one tribe, that David my servant may have a light alway before me in Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen me to put my name there.  And I will take thee, and thou shalt reign according to all that thy soul desireth, and shalt be king over Israel.  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.”

God’s promise to Jeroboam was essentially the same as he had given Solomon that, if he would serve God completely his kingdom would last forever.   After Solomon’s death his son Rehoboam refused to listen to the people, so most of them refused to accept him as king as I Kings 12:19-20 describes.  “So Israel rebelled against the house of David unto this day.  And it came to pass, when all Israel heard that Jeroboam was come again, that they sent and called him unto the congregation, and made him king over all Israel: there was none that followed the house of David, but the tribe of Judah only.” 

Although God had done exactly what he had promised in giving Jeroboam eleven of the tribes of Israel, Jeroboam did not trust him to fulfill the rest of his promise and  preserve his kingdom forever, as we see in I Kings 12:26-27.  “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.”

Because he didn’t believe God could fulfill the rest of his promise, Jeroboam was afraid to obey God completely.   Fearing they would rejoin Judah, if they continued to worship God in Jerusalem, he concluded the best thing would be to change their religious beliefs so they would no longer need to go to Jerusalem.   I Kings 12:28-describes the changes. 

“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.   And he set the one in Bethel, and the other put he in Dan.  And this thing became a sin: for the people went to worship before the one, even unto Dan.   And he made an house of high places, and made priests of the lowest of the people, which were not of the sons of Levi.

And Jeroboam ordained a feast in the eighth month, on the fifteenth day of the month, like unto the feast that is in Judah, and he offered upon the altar. So did he in Bethel, sacrificing unto the calves that he had made: and he placed in Bethel the priests of the high places which he had made.  So he offered upon the altar which he had made in Bethel the fifteenth day of the eighth month, even in the month which he had devised of his own heart; and ordained a feast unto the children of Israel: and he offered upon the altar, and burnt incense.”

In the effort to consolidate his position, Jeroboam combined features that had played a part in Israels history, with a style of worship and guidelines similar to what God had established, but incorporating the golden calf that Aaron had made about 550 years before, as described in Exodus 32.  He also adopted various sacred or high places so many of the Jews, including Solomon had worshipped at.  He changed the sacrifices and removed the requirement s for priests so that anyone could serve and changed the services around so that they would not have the same meaning.   Everything was close enough to the old Jewish religion that most people would go along with it while different enough to keep them from going to the temple and worshipping God as he had commanded. 

Solomon had loved the Lord and obeyed his commands and pleasing him at first, but gradually drifted into sin, justifying it as a way to help God.   Jeroboam never really trusted God’ ability to keep his promises, and turned into sin immediately to make the things God had promised happen.    He never please God during his reign. 

Hebrews 11:6 tells us, “But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.”    Without that true faith in God, we will never be completely able to just obey his commands, but will always feel forced to try to make things happen by our own efforts and intelligence.   Like Jeroboam and the nation of Israel,  our religious actions become an imitation of Christianity, not the real thing.  Sadly, like the people who followed Jeroboam, many in the modern church accept the changes without question.