Chapter 162. 1 Kings 12.
WHILE Rehoboam, Solomon’s son reigned over the two tribes who had remained faithful to him, Jeroboam established himself over the rebellious ten tribes. God had decreed it so, as a punishment for Solomon’s sin of idolatry, and He promised Jeroboam He would be with him if he walked in His statutes and in obedience to His commandments. But hardly had Jeroboam sat upon the throne in Shechem, a town in Samaria, when a very wicked thought came to him. The great, beautiful temple built by Solomon was at Jerusalem where Rehoboam’s throne was. If the people continued to go there to worship it might not be long before they would return to the house of David, and perhaps kill him, their king. Why not build in their own land places of worship where the people could come and offer their sacrifices. God had said Jerusalem was the place He had chosen to put His name; there He would dwell, and there should the people offer their sacrifices and offerings, according to His holy requirements. All this Jeroboam forgot and set aside for fear of losing his earthly power, although it was God who gave it to him when he was still a servant of Solomon.
Acting upon this wicked thought suggested by Satan, Jeroboam had two golden calves made and placed, one in Bethel on the south border; the other in Dan on the north. Then he called the people together and said to them, “It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Behold thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.”
Instead of the priests and the Levites who had left the land to go to Jerusalem, Jeroboam ordained priests from the lowest of the people. He devised feast days of their own that the people might not miss the feasts of the Lord. The Israelites followed their king into idolatry, and they were soon as deeply in sin as the nations around them.
We wonder that a people who had received such favors from God, who knew Him to be the only true God, should fall so low as to worship golden calves, yet we see similar false worship all around us today. God has not left us in ignorance of how we should approach Him, or of what He wants from our hearts. “The true worshippers shall worship the Father (God) in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship Him,” (John 4:23,23But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. (John 4:23)) said the Lord Himself to a poor Samaritan woman who was boasting of worshipping on a mountain. Man has thought out some showy ways and means of approaching God. A great deal of pomp and ceremony and beautiful music is seen in the so called churches in our land, but God cannot accept such any more than Jeroboam’s sacrifices to the calves of gold. If there are but two or three gathered together in the name of the Lord alone, He has promised to be in the midst of them. How much more blessed to have the Lord’s presence, no matter what else is lacking, than the grandest service, and our own blessed Saviour left out! Truly, “Sweeter than honey and the honey comb” we shall find Christ, if we feed upon Him daily.
ML 09/03/1916