Consequences for Jeroboam’s Sin

Jeroboam had been promised the same results if he would obey God that had been promised to David.  Instead, he had deliberately changed the Jewish religion, in direct disobedience of God’s commands because he didn’t believe God could do what he promised.  God sent a prophet to warn him about what he was doing, in I Kings 13:1-3. 

“And, behold, there came a man of God out of Judah by the word of the LORD unto Bethel: and Jeroboam stood by the altar to burn incense.  And he cried against the altar in the word of the LORD, and said, O altar, altar, thus saith the LORD; Behold, a child shall be born unto the house of David, Josiah by name; and upon thee shall he offer the priests of the high places that burn incense upon thee, and men's bones shall be burnt upon thee.   And he gave a sign the same day, saying, This is the sign which the LORD hath spoken; Behold, the altar shall be rent, and the ashes that are upon it shall be poured out.”

The prophet from Jerusalem came to Jeroboams main altar at Bethel and warned that in the future a king of Judah named Josiah would use the altar Jeroboam had built to burn the bodies of the priests who practiced the religion Jeroboam had started, destroying it.  The prophecy was fulfilled in II Kings 23:15-20, 350 years later.  As proof that the prophecy was true, the altar would break open and spill the ashes on the floor.

Jeroboam got really angry that his plan would be destroyed and ordered that the prophet be arrested.  I Kings 13:4-5 describes what happened.  “And it came to pass, when king Jeroboam heard the saying of the man of God, which had cried against the altar in Bethel, that he put forth his hand from the altar, saying, Lay hold on him. And his hand, which he put forth against him, dried up, so that he could not pull it in again to him.  The altar also was rent, and the ashes poured out from the altar, according to the sign which the man of God had given by the word of the LORD. “  When Jeroboam pointed at the prophet, his arm muscles shriveled up so that he was unable to even let it fall back to his side, and the altar broke open spilling out the ashes just as the prophet had said. 

“And the king answered and said unto the man of God, Entreat now the face of the LORD thy God, and pray for me, that my hand may be restored me again. And the man of God besought the LORD, and the king's hand was restored him again, and became as it was before.”(I Kings 13:6)  Jeroboam was forced to recognize the prophecy cane form God and ask for God to restore his arm to its normal state, but he refused to repent ad do what God had said, according to I Kings 13:33-34.  “After this thing Jeroboam returned not from his evil way, but made again of the lowest of the people priests of the high places: whosoever would, he consecrated him, and he became one of the priests of the high places.  And this thing became sin unto the house of Jeroboam, even to cut it off, and to destroy it from off the face of the earth.”  Israel would continue to practice the religion Jeroboam started for about 250 years, with the result that the nation would be completely destroyed about 700 BC.  The religion would be carried on by the mixed people who occupied the land for about another hundred years before being destroyed by Josiah. 

Jeroboam’s son became ill, and he sent his wife to a prophet to find out what the prognosis was.  The prophet sent back a strong warning, in I Kings 4:7-13.  “Go, tell Jeroboam, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Forasmuch as I exalted thee from among the people, and made thee prince over my people Israel, And rent the kingdom away from the house of David, and gave it thee: and yet thou hast not been as my servant David, who kept my commandments, and who followed me with all his heart, to do that only which was right in mine eyes; But hast done evil above all that were before thee: for thou hast gone and made thee other gods, and molten images, to provoke me to anger, and hast cast me behind thy back: 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.

Him that dieth of Jeroboam in the city shall the dogs eat; and him that dieth in the field shall the fowls of the air eat: for the LORD hath spoken it.  Arise thou therefore, get thee to thine own house: and when thy feet enter into the city, the child shall die.  And all Israel shall mourn for him, and bury him: for he only of Jeroboam shall come to the grave, because in him there is found some good thing toward the LORD God of Israel in the house of Jeroboam.”

Because Jeroboam had not kept his part of the agreement, but had started another religion, causing Israel to sin, his entire family would be wiped out.  The baby he had asked about would die as soon as his wife got home and be mourned because he had not yet done anything wrong.  Nobody would even bother to bury the rest of the family when they died.  Instead, they would just dump them on the trash pile for the animals to eat.   The only thing he’d be remembered for was causing Israel to sin, because they would continue to practice the religion he started.   The prophecy was fulfilled in I Kings 15:25-30. 

“And Nadab the son of Jeroboam began to reign over Israel in the second year of Asa king of Judah, and reigned over Israel two years.    And he did evil in the sight of the LORD, and walked in the way of his father, and in his sin wherewith he made Israel to sin.  And Baasha the son of Ahijah, of the house of Issachar, conspired against him; and Baasha smote him at Gibbethon, which belonged to the Philistines; for Nadab and all Israel laid siege to Gibbethon.  Even in the third year of Asa king of Judah did Baasha slay him, and reigned in his stead.  And it came to pass, when he reigned, that he smote all the house of Jeroboam; he left not to Jeroboam any that breathed, until he had destroyed him, according unto the saying of the LORD, which he spake by his servant Ahijah the Shilonite: Because of the sins of Jeroboam which he sinned, and which he made Israel sin, by his provocation wherewith he provoked the LORD God of Israel to anger.”   It wasn’t much of a legacy to leave, compared with what God had promised if he would obey.  Even Solomon left a far greater legacy.   

Sadly, there are many in the Church today who have, like Jeroboam, deliberately disobeyed and changed what God commanded.    Their eternal legacy will be as unimpressive as Jeroboam’s.   Matthew 5:17-19 warns, “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.  For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.  Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.”