Read 1 Kings 11 and 12
The Word of God deals in facts, not theories. Man has been put on trial in every possible way. The results of these trials have been constant failures.
“Whatsoever things were written afore-time, were written for our learning.”
Scripture is also written for our admonition, drawing examples and warnings from the records of the past, as also instruction and stimulus for faith today.
A kingdom was given to Jeroboam by the appointment and power of God, and was lost by his own efforts to retain it. The call to the kingdom was of God, and the power to sustain in it was from Him also. God in His gifts has calculated for circumstances. He may use them to prove whether man will confide in Him. But to be swayed in our judgment by circumstances, is to put them above God, and thus forget that He is almighty.
King Solomon in the latter part of his reign “did evil in the sight of the Lord.” Solomon went after gods, and the Lord was angry with him,
“Because his heart was turned away from the Lord God of Israel, which had appeared unto him twice.”
Therefore the Lord promised to take ten of the twelve tribes away from Solomon's son and give them to Jeroboam to reign over. An absolute promise of God was given to Jeroboam,
“I will give ten tribes to thee.”
What God promises He is able to perform, and,
“Hath He said, and shall He not do it?”
Solomon's son, Rehoboam, in the exercise of his own will, provokes the people to rebellion. Thus the word of the Lord was fulfilled. Jeroboam reigned over the ten tribes of Israel after they had unanimously chosen him. God forbids Solomon's son, king of Judah, to fight against him, and commands every man to return to his own house, saying,
“This thing is from Me.”
If Jeroboam reflected on his elevation, and the manner of it, he could see that it was manifestly of God, and, because of God, the maintenance of the position was secured. What cause for gratitude and thanksgiving! What ground for confidence! Yet it is when in the most favorable circumstances that the heart of man is betrayed.
“Jeroboam said in his heart, Now shall the kingdom return to the house of David; if this people go up to do sacrifice in the house of the Lord at Jerusalem, then shall the heart of this people turn again unto their lord, even unto Rehoboam, king of Judah, and they shall kill me and go again to Rehoboam, king of Judah.”
Now this reasoning of Jeroboam would have been consistent in a man whose advancement had been the result of his own wisdom and strength. Forethought is eminently useful in worldly matters. What a man can attain unto, he may be deprived of. Weighing things well in such matters is consistent with the principles of the carnal heart, but Jeroboam owed his kingdom to God. He was chosen of God, called of God, set up in the mighty power of God, and possession of the throne promised to him and his seed after him, so long as he walked in the fear of God. What manifest unbelief is evidenced when he says,
“Now shall this kingdom return to the house of David.”
Circumstances touching his security harass his mind. The thoughts of his heart take the place of the testimony of God by the prophet. He reasons about matters which were only intelligible to faith, and the result is blind infidelity. He really contradicts God's faithfulness.
His place and his throne were from God and the security of both depended upon God. Circumstances, propitious or otherwise, had nothing to do with God's promise. Seeing the kingdom, and his life in danger, he takes counsel of others, and “made two calves of gold.” His ruin is accomplished by the very means he took to secure his safety. Lacking faith in God for the present, leads to the denial of His power in the past. Momentous warning! Referring to the golden calves he says,
“Behold thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt; and he set the one in Bethel, and the other put he in Dan.”
But his iniquity does not end here. He imitates the order of worship as practiced in Judah, but ordains priests of the lowest of the people which were not of the sons of Levi.
None but sons of Levi could be priests of God then, but Jeroboam sets up a false god with his own false priesthood. Nor is that all, for he orders a feast on the fifteenth day of the eighth month—a day which he devised in his own heart. What a terrible picture this is of the baseness of man. Jeroboam disowns God's care and perverts His worship. Then God pronounces judgment (chapter 13) on Jeroboam's altar by a branch of the house of David, but it works no repentance in him. Judgment is finally pronounced upon Jeroboam, and upon the ten tribes for the “sin of Jeroboam, who made Israel to sin.”
May we who are Christians profit by this solemn account of the sin of Jeroboam, and the judgment of God which followed. God has blessed us abundantly, and promised to “never leave us, nor forsake us.” O, for grace to walk by faith and not by sight! Faith will reckon upon God, take all from God, and count on Him in all circumstances. He is above circumstances, and is the God of circumstances. Not a sparrow falls to the ground without Him, and no single thing can happen to the child of God without His allowing it. If and when we walk by sight, and take things out of His hand we will only bring trouble to ourselves. The man of this world may do the same thing, and use the same expediencies with a great degree of success, for he knows not God as his Father. When the Christian leaves God out, and stoops to human planning and scheming, he will surely miss the Lord's blessing and guidance in the path, bringing sorrow to himself.