Day 34: Jeroboam
1 Kings 11:26-40, 12:25-14:20
So I had to go back a bit to get some background on the situation. It seems like we're skipping over a bunch of prominent characters like David and Solomon, but I guess according to the reading guide I'm following, they come in later when we hit the books of Psalms and Proverbs respectively.
In chapter 11, it states that Solomon loved many foreign women on top of Pharaoh's daughter. He had 700 wives and 300 concubines. Of the 700 were many women from Moab, Ammon, Edom, Sidon and the Hittites. God told the Israelites clearly they were not to intermarry with those nations because it would lead them worship pagan gods. But Solomon didn't listen and sure enough they led his heart away from God. So God got really mad at him and decided to take the kingdom of Israel away from him and hand it over to one of his servants. But because David was faithful to God, he would let Solomon's son, Rehoboam, remain king over Judah.
- Jeroboam was one of Solomon's officials. A prophet named Ahijah told him that he would be made king over 10 tribes of Israel.
- Solomon tries to have Jeroboam killed by he flees to Egypt and stays there until Solomon dies.
- then Jeroboam starts to screw up. He makes a bunch of golden calf idols for them to worship and appoints priests who were not Levites.
- then there's some weird story about a couple prophets. At the beginning, a prophet from Judah tells Jeroboam to repent and that the Lord will bring disaster upon him in his current state.
- Jeroboam's wife goes to visit the prophet Ahijah and he tells her that God will destroy the house of Jeroboam, kill all the males and burn everything because of his great sin.
Jeroboam was quite foolish to do what he did. I guess the biggest thing I got was from the background on Solomon. The "missionary dating" thought has crossed my mind and I think it's pretty clear that we shouldn't let love for a woman take priority over love for God. The most important thing I should look for is that she follows God wholeheartedly. Everything else is gravy.
So I had to go back a bit to get some background on the situation. It seems like we're skipping over a bunch of prominent characters like David and Solomon, but I guess according to the reading guide I'm following, they come in later when we hit the books of Psalms and Proverbs respectively.
In chapter 11, it states that Solomon loved many foreign women on top of Pharaoh's daughter. He had 700 wives and 300 concubines. Of the 700 were many women from Moab, Ammon, Edom, Sidon and the Hittites. God told the Israelites clearly they were not to intermarry with those nations because it would lead them worship pagan gods. But Solomon didn't listen and sure enough they led his heart away from God. So God got really mad at him and decided to take the kingdom of Israel away from him and hand it over to one of his servants. But because David was faithful to God, he would let Solomon's son, Rehoboam, remain king over Judah.
- Jeroboam was one of Solomon's officials. A prophet named Ahijah told him that he would be made king over 10 tribes of Israel.
- Solomon tries to have Jeroboam killed by he flees to Egypt and stays there until Solomon dies.
- then Jeroboam starts to screw up. He makes a bunch of golden calf idols for them to worship and appoints priests who were not Levites.
- then there's some weird story about a couple prophets. At the beginning, a prophet from Judah tells Jeroboam to repent and that the Lord will bring disaster upon him in his current state.
- Jeroboam's wife goes to visit the prophet Ahijah and he tells her that God will destroy the house of Jeroboam, kill all the males and burn everything because of his great sin.
Jeroboam was quite foolish to do what he did. I guess the biggest thing I got was from the background on Solomon. The "missionary dating" thought has crossed my mind and I think it's pretty clear that we shouldn't let love for a woman take priority over love for God. The most important thing I should look for is that she follows God wholeheartedly. Everything else is gravy.
Labels: Bible Characters
posted by Matt at 3:26 PM
1 Comments:
Hey, this is lining up with the study I'm doing right now! There's definately some solid lessons here. I especially agree with your 'missionary dating' comment.
"Flirt and convert" -- definately not the way to go.
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