The Ways of Jeroboams Descendants
(1 Kings 15:33ampsim34, 16:1ampsim14)
While the 20 kings of Davids dynasty were reigning in Judah for 344 years, in Israel, there were 19 coups with 9 changes of dynasties over 208 years. In short, all of Jeroboams descendants were put to judgment for walking in the ways of Jeroboam no matter how long they reigned. The same applies to those who dont understand the Word and walk in their own way. Following up on the last weeks theme, lets see the way of Jeroboams descendants.
1. They walk in the way of Jeroboam. Jeroboams way is that of the his father, the devil that of urging his people to worship the golden calves instead of God, building his own sanctuaries and appointing priests from all sorts of people. Three times in todays passage, his son Baasha is said to have walked in the ways of Jeroboam, which is evil in the eyes of the LORD, driving his descendants to commit sins and enraging God. Thus they walked in the ways of their father, the devil as the people in the world did.
2. They were far from Gods rebuke. As Baasha walked in the ways of Jeroboam, the Word came to Jehu son of Hanani, who had been imprisoned for rebuking Asa, king of Judah. God let Jehu rebuke Baasha as his father did Asa. The devil father is not the object of our fear but the rebuking of the Lord. God lifted up Baasha of the tribe of Issachar from the dust and made him leader of his people. Yet Baasha forgot Gods grace. Like Jeroboam, Baasha had no one around him to rebuke him. That was a trap. Both Jeroboam and Baasha were not in the structure of good rebuking. So they were far from Gods rebuke because they worshiped their golden calves, not God. So it is with us. People who hold power and money tend to rebuke others who envy them, thinking that theyve achieved everything. Such is the result of our Jeroboam life. We face problems every day. Our life is full of wars. What matters is whether we belong to the structure of good rebuking or not, which precedes our truthful worship. We need to humbly accept Gods rebuke all our life because we are not perfect.
3. They brought Gods judgment on their descendants. The kings who hate being rebuked, forgetting the grace of God which made them a king, bring up their successors to walk in their evil ways. Jeroboam sires Jeroboam the son and Jeroboam the grandson, making his genealogy continue to fall by the same sins and be ruled by their devil father. That is the worst part of the judgment. None of the Jeroboams in the world who enjoy their sovereign power can get out of this trap. What about David? Did he have any worldly pleasure at the end of his life? He had to face Absaloms rebellion and, on top of it, the treason of Adonijah his fourth son. We are to cross another Jordan whenever we make our watershed repentance. Thats the way of our Christian life. The topic of sin seems trivial because we dont know the virtue of repentance, the supreme human emotion. We keep grumbling because we dont understand that we are 100% sinners. Baasha is an impressive king who came to his throne starting from the bottom. However, in the eyes of the Lord, he was nothing but another evil king who enraged him through his evil ways. Nevertheless, we envy him because of his so called success. Remember! In spite of ourselves, we are driving our descendants to Gods judgment by crying sucess and money every day.
4. They walked in the toxic way that led to treason. Like Nadab, Elah was killed after reigning two years, fulfilling Jehus prophecy. He was drunk at the most critical moment, when his kingdom was hanging by a hair. This shows how depraved and negligent he was as a king. He was killed drunk by his right-hand man, not knowing where he should be. Thus the history of Israel was dotted with continuous rebellions. And God let the evil catch the evil. Zimri, after being enthroned by potting against Elah, exterminated his family for fear of future troubles. Nevertheless, his reign ended up the shortest of all Israel kings, just seven days. Notice the kings of Israel offered sacrifice in their high places, not for God but for their prosperity, which enraged the Lord. So God took trouble to visit them and rebuke them. However, they didnt accept His rebuke. All they knew was rebuking others, making their sins permeate all Israel. Their depravity was as infectious as that of the Kennedys. Jeroboams descendants belonged to the Josephites, one of the united 10 tribes of Israel. The Josephites continued to bother and ignore the Judahites because Joesph had saved Israel from famine. They didnt leave the ways of Jeroboam, relying on their own power. They wouldnt accept any rebuke because of their self-sufficiency. They wanted to drink up their bitterness in wine. This made a vicious circle of their sins. No matter how cool they might seem, they stampeded into Gods judgment. We need to check if we also run their way. If so, we need to shift our tracks from the way of Jeroboam to David. In order to receive Gods rebuke well, we need to do our daily QT. May God bless us to receive the rebuke of others around us so that we teach our children how to receive good rebuke well!
He did evil in the eyes of the LORD, walking in the ways of Jeroboam and in his sin, which he had caused Israel to commit. (1Kgs15:33)
