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Jeroboam’s sin reproved. (1-10):
Vs. 1-3 …man of God went from Juday… Jeroboam was just ready to dedicate the altar of calf; but he could not do that because of God’s intervention. Josiah (v. 2)… the prophet spoke about Josiah in David’s line who would be born after about 300 years. …gave a sign the same day…(V.3) since the prophecy will be fulfilled only after 300 years, God gave a sign on the same day to confirm the heavenly message. And, it came to pass when the altar was torn down, and the ashes poured out from the altar. This is to show that God does not fall under any king and HE is the King of kings.
V. 4…his hand…withered.. Hand symbolizes authority, this action of God demonstrated the superiority of HIS Authority.
V. 6…pray for me…my hands may be restored… Jeroboam did not repent of his sin of idolatry but concerned about his well-being (healing of hand).
Vs. 7-9 …you shall not eat…nor drink… Eating drinking is a reference to hospitality. God is not against accepting hospitality of non-believers, but in such case this may amount to buy ONE’S LOYALTY. Also, eating with either king or with the prophet after a sacrifice is like going in peace with the sacrifice. In this case, it may be an attempt to reverse the curse on the altar.
The prophet deceived. (11-19):
The old prophet’s conduct proves that he was not really a godly man. When the change took place under Jeroboam, he preferred his ease and interest to his religion. He took a very bad method to bring the good prophet back. It was all a lie. Believers are most in danger of being drawn from their duty by believable pretenses of holiness. We may wonder that the wicked prophet went unpunished, while the holy man of God was suddenly and severely punished. What shall we make of this? The judgments of God are beyond our power to fathom; and there is a judgment to come. Nothing can excuse any act of wilful disobedience. This shows what they must expect who listens to the great deceiver. They that yield to him as a tempter will be terrified by him as a tormentor. Those whom he now fawns upon, he will afterwards fly upon; and whom he draws into sin, he will try to drive to despair. – Mathew Henry Concise Commentary.
V. 18…I too am a prophet as you are… The man of God from Judah should have honored the word of the LORD than the word of another prophet of the LORD. Prophet in Israel spoke out of human spirit, and he wanted to do a favor to his nation and king. Children of God should keep God above anything.
The disobedient prophet is slain (20-32):Why did God deal so harshly with the man of God from Judah, and not the prophet in Israel? God gave 2 messages to the man of God; one was to speak to the altar and another for himself. If he is not going to take God’s word for him seriously and escape, how can one expect the word to the altar to be true? The sin of the man of God would have brought doubt upon the prophecy he had just given and would have had a bearing on the God’s reliability.
V. 32… will surely come to pass… Now, after the death of the man of God from Judah, the prophet from Israel realized that God was serious in what he said to the man of God.
The disobedient prophet is slain, Jeroboam’s obstinacy. (33 & 34): Jeroboam did not turn from his evil way. He has ordained his own priestly order and made himself also the priest for the idols. So, God brought judgment upon the family of Jeroboam.
1 Kings 14: The Judgment on the house of Jeroboam, and his death.
Abijah being sick, his mother consults Ahijah. (1-9) God promised a house/dynasty to Jeroboam just like David. But he wanted to institute the worship system like David, which turned into a disastrous one for him and his family.
V. 2… Ahijah the prophet…who said of me that I should be king… Now Jeroboam might have thought that a prophet who said good things to him in the past may speak some good things about his son’s ailment. Also, he asked his wife to disguise herself may be to hide herself from people to keep his son’s sickness as a secret.
V. 3… take with you… Honoring prophet of God with food and offering is one thing; but Jeroboam’s action amounts to bribing the prophet of God.
Vs. 4-6: Even though prophet Ahijah was old and unable to see physically, but his spiritual eyes were appropriately opened by God. As they were expecting a good news from prophet, Ahijah said,”For I have been sent to you with bad news.” …
V. 8… you have not been as My servant David… His sin was brought up and thus he lost the promise of God about his family.
V. 9… more evil than all… He worshipped other gods as Solomon did.
Judgment confirmed by prophet Ahijah. (10-16):
V. 10…cut off from Jeroboam every male…take away the remnant… God is confirming what He has already said that his dynasty will come to an end due to unavailability of male descendants.
V. 11…dogs shall eat…birds of the air shall eat… A dishonorable end to his one king dynasty is unavoidable. None of them will be buried except his son Abijah (V.13) because in him there is found something good toward the Lord…Vs. 15:
Ahijah turns from the immediate situation to what will happen in the distant future. In the absence of a strong dynasty to rule Israel, this nation is destined to know only the instability of a reed … shaken (or “swaying”) in the water. Eventually the Israelites will suffer exile from the good land that he gave to their fathers to a land beyond the Euphrates River. The political instability of which Ahijah speaks is well described in the following account of the northern kingdom; the land beyond the Euphrates, it will turn out, is Assyria (2 Kings 17:1–6, 21–23 – ESV Study Bible