A Journey Through The Old Testament - Elmer Towns

It took the serious illness of his son and heir to convince Jeroboam of his need for God.
Only then did he remember the uniqueness of the religion of Judah and the worship of Jehovah
over that which he had created. When Jeroboam needed to hear from God, he sought out the
prophet of the Lord, Ahijah, who had years earlier told him he would someday be king.
Jeroboam gave his wife directions to disguise herself and search for Ahijah to learn what would
become of the sickness of their son.
The disguise was really unnecessary so far as Ahijah was concerned, for he had lost his
sight as he had grown old. But even the disguise did not fool the blind prophet, who identified
the wife of Jeroboam even as she approached him. God had forewarned the prophet to expect her
coming in disguise and had given the prophet a message for the wavering king of the north.
“And so it was, when Ahijah heard the sound of her footsteps as she came through the
door, he said, `Come in, wife of Jeroboam. Why do you pretend to be another person? For I have
been sent to you with bad news’ “ (14:6). The prophet went on to explain how God would judge
the wavering king for his evil practices, including that of idolatry. God would “bring disaster on
the house of Jeroboam, and ... take away the remnant of the house of Jeroboam, as one takes
away refuse until it is all gone” (v. 10). The queen had come to learn the fate of her seriously ill
son, and the prophet responded to her concern even before she had opportunity to ask. Her son
would die the moment she stepped inside the gate of her city. “And all Israel shall mourn for him
and bury him, for he is the only one of Jeroboam who shall come to the grave, because in him
there is found something good toward the Lord God of Israel in the house of Jeroboam” (v. 13).
All that the prophet promised happened just as he had said. Jeroboam’s wife returned to
Tiraah to arrive home just as her son died. He was buried and the people mourned just as she had
been told. The vivid fulfillment of the prophecy concerning the death of her son was a
demonstration of the certainty with which the rest of the prophecy would be fulfilled in future
generations. Jeroboam continued to reign until his death, a total of twenty-two years, when he
was succeeded by his son Nadab; but he did so with the knowledge that he and his family would
be judged by God for his sin.
THE APOSTACY OF REHOBOAM
(1 Kings 14:21-31; 2 Chron. 11:18-12:16)
The division of the kingdom resulted in an initial period of prosperity in southern Judah.
This was due largely to the influence of the Levites and righteous remnant which left the north
and came to Jerusalem. But Rehoboam counteracted any positive influence made by the Levites
and settlers from the north. Contrary to the biblical guidelines for the domestic life of the king,
Rehoboam began to build a harem until he had eighteen wives and sixty concubines. In his later
years, Rehoboam encouraged his twenty-eight sons to follow his example by searching out many
wives for them.
But the problems in Judah reached beyond the palace walls. Judah also became involved
in the pagan worship of their neighbors, worshiping pillars scattered throughout the land on high
hills and under trees. As Judah practiced these pagan rites, a class of people known as the
gedeshim came into being (1 Kings 14:24). The Hebrew word gedeshim refers to men who
practiced sodomy and prostitution as a part of their religious rituals. These men were becoming
in practice the new priests of Judah.
God could not allow His people to continue in sin unchallenged. In Egypt, He found the
instrument He could use to accomplish His purpose in the life of Judah. A number of years
earlier, a Libyan had taken the throne of Egypt with dreams of conquering Asia. Archeologists