Let’s See If He Means It

1 Kings 14:1-20

¹ At that time Abijah the son of Jeroboam fell sick.

² And Jeroboam said to his wife, “Arise, and disguise yourself, that it not be known that you are the wife of Jeroboam, and go to Shiloh. Behold, Ahijah the prophet is there, who said of me that I should be king over this people.

³ Take with you ten loaves, some cakes, and a jar of honey, and go to him. He will tell you what shall happen to the child.”

⁴ Jeroboam’s wife did so. She arose and went to Shiloh and came to the house of Ahijah. Now Ahijah could not see, for his eyes were dim because of his age.

⁵ And the Lord said to Ahijah, “Behold, the wife of Jeroboam is coming to inquire of you concerning her son, for he is sick. Thus and thus shall you say to her.” When she came, she pretended to be another woman.

⁶ But when Ahijah heard the sound of her feet, as she came in at the door, he said, “Come in, wife of Jeroboam. Why do you pretend to be another? For I am charged with unbearable news for you.

⁷ Go, tell Jeroboam, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: “Because I exalted you from among the people and made you leader over my people Israel

⁸ and tore the kingdom away from the house of David and gave it to you, and yet you have not been like my servant David, who kept my commandments and followed me with all his heart, doing only that which was right in my eyes,

⁹ but you have done evil above all who were before you and have gone and made for yourself other gods and metal images, provoking me to anger, and have cast me behind your back,

¹⁰ therefore behold, I will bring harm upon the house of Jeroboam and will cut off from Jeroboam every male, both bond and free in Israel, and will burn up the house of Jeroboam, as a man burns up dung until it is all gone.

¹¹ Anyone belonging to Jeroboam who dies in the city the dogs shall eat, and anyone who dies in the open country the birds of the heavens shall eat, for the Lord has spoken it.” ’

¹² Arise therefore, go to your house. When your feet enter the city, the child shall die.

¹³ 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 something pleasing to the Lord, the God of Israel, in the house of Jeroboam.

¹⁴ Moreover, the Lord will raise up for himself a king over Israel who shall cut off the house of Jeroboam today. And henceforth,

¹⁵ the Lord will strike Israel as a reed is shaken in the water, and root up Israel out of this good land that he gave to their fathers and scatter them beyond the Euphrates, because they have made their Asherim, provoking the Lord to anger.

¹⁶ And he will give Israel up because of the sins of Jeroboam, which he sinned and made Israel to sin.”

¹⁷ Then Jeroboam’s wife arose and departed and came to Tirzah. And as she came to the threshold of the house, the child died.

¹⁸ And all Israel buried him and mourned for him, according to the word of the Lord, which he spoke by his servant Ahijah the prophet.

¹⁹ Now the rest of the acts of Jeroboam, how he warred and how he reigned, behold, they are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel.

²⁰ And the time that Jeroboam reigned was twenty-two years. And he slept with his fathers, and Nadab his son reigned in his place.

Everyone who has ever parented a child knows that you absolutely must follow through with what you said you would do, whether in terms of the fun stuff or of discipline. It was a happy day for me when my daughters turned 16. I wasn’t one of those parents who dreaded them having the ability to drive. I embraced it. After some good training, they were both allowed to get their license the day they turned 16. It was wonderful independence – for me! But I had a few strict (and some might add harsh) rules about driving the car. If they were ever ticketed for an avoidable offense, especially speeding or running a stop sign/red light their license would hang on the wall by the door and they would be unable to drive. The number of weeks that this would be in effect would be directly related the number of miles per hour over the speed limit they were traveling. So, 5 miles over would be a 5 week suspension – you get the idea. These parameters were laid out long before the license was acquired. (And for the oldest, there was a similar punishment for whining about transporting her younger sister.) Fortunately for all of us, neither of them ever had to discover if I meant it, for they didn’t get any tickets (at least under my watch.) Ultimately, they both knew, I wasn’t kidding. While the loss of that freedom would have been painful, it would have also been necessary!

God sent Jeroboam a very clear message in chapter 13 about his idolatry. But Jeroboam didn’t believe God was serious about His judgments. He continued forward with the worship of false gods believing that God wouldn’t really do anything about it. He was wrong. Now the punishment hits close to home as Jeroboam’s own child becomes ill. Even as Jeroboam and his wife seek unsuccessfully to deceive the prophet, he is getting the idea that there may be a price to pay for his sin. The price is steep and once God has pronounced the judgment, there is no going back. The child does indeed die (although God does find something redeeming about the boy and allows him to be buried as was the custom of the people) and Jeroboam now knows that God is to be taken seriously. Because of his sinful leadership of the people into idol worship, his entire family will pay a heavy price and the kingdom will be taken from his family, just as happened to King Saul. Did this event change Jeroboam’s heart and mind? No. Sadly, he never turns away from the false gods and his life is spent in rebellion against God and His ways. Once our hearts are hard, it is difficult to go back. We believe in a God of second chances, but He will never force you to believe. If you want to harden your heart, God will let you. Romans 1 even indicates that if you choose to live with a hard heart, eventually God will help you along that path as well.

Keeping our hearts in a softened condition isn’t that tough. We need only be conscience of our walk with God and desire to know Him better. If you are concerned that your heart is hard, chances are it is not. Repentance always leads to a softened heart for the Spirit lives inside of those who believe and works daily to convict of sin and also to comfort with forgiveness. We should probably try to avoid testing God to see if He really means what He says when it comes to sin. We have an entire book full of examples of people who did just that – some to be blessed and some to suffer painful consequences. If God said it, trust that He’s not kidding!