Playing Religion

1 Kings 14:1–3 (ESV) At that time Abijah the son of Jeroboam fell sick. 2 And Jeroboam said to his wife, “Arise, and disguise yourself, that it not be known that you are the wife of Jeroboam, and go to Shiloh. Behold, Ahijah the prophet is there, who said of me that I should be king over this people. 3 Take with you ten loaves, some cakes, and a jar of honey, and go to him. He will tell you what shall happen to the child.”

Jeroboam is not a good king. He has already disobeyed God's voice in erecting idols for Israel to worship, and he has refused to repent after hearing the prophetic warning in 1 Kings 13. But something happens here that shakes him to his core. His child and rightful heir to the throne is sick. So Jeroboam comes up with a plan. He has his wife disguise herself to go to the prophet Ahijah (who anointed Jeroboam king) and plead for help for her son. 

Why not go as she was? Because Jeroboam knows he has dismissed obedience to the Lord who gave him the throne. So he has to hide and play religious games, trying to rig the system through deception and trickery. He does not want to repent, he simply wants God to bless his life in spite of his clear disobedience. 

This is a sad revelation of many who play religion. They actually think they can fool God with pretense, denying His omniscience. It is a warning to those who think their high position in life is some kind of sign that their piety in the eyes of others is enough to garner favor with the Lord. This is not so and the prophet Ahijah is NOT fooled:

1 Kings 14:6 (ESV) But when Ahijah heard the sound of her feet, as she came in at the door, he said, “Come in, wife of Jeroboam. Why do you pretend to be another? For I am charged with unbearable news for you.

Ahijah announces tremendous judgment upon Jeroboam's dynasty:

1 Kings 14:9–10 (ESV) you have done evil above all who were before you and have gone and made for yourself other gods and metal images, provoking me to anger, and have cast me behind your back, 10 therefore behold, I will bring harm upon the house of Jeroboam and will cut off from Jeroboam every male, both bond and free in Israel, and will burn up the house of Jeroboam, as a man burns up dung until it is all gone.

Ahijah continues speaking further judgment but note what he says about the boy:

1 Kings 14:12–15 (ESV) Arise, therefore, go to your house. When your feet enter the city, the child shall die. 13 And all Israel shall mourn for him and bury him, for he only of Jeroboam shall come to the grave, because in him there is found something pleasing to the LORD, the God of Israel, in the house of Jeroboam. 14 Moreover, the LORD will raise up for himself a king over Israel who shall cut off the house of Jeroboam today.

It is interesting that the only thing pleasing to the Lord was the son about to die as a judgment from the Lord. But it speaks to a Biblical truth that troubles Americans: Sometimes the death of the innocent is sparing them the judgment of the wicked. 

The prophecy of judgment continues and extends past Jeroboam and into the future of the entire nation:

1 Kings 14:15 (ESV) (And henceforth) the LORD will strike Israel as a reed is shaken in the water, and root up Israel out of this good land that he gave to their fathers and scatter them beyond the Euphrates, because they have made their Asherim, provoking the LORD to anger.

Here we have the first mention of the exile that is still decades away but the Lord knows exactly what is going to happen even here. It reveals the sad reality of national spiritual deterioration - humans are incapable of reversing course. The sin of Jeroboam would be replicated and compounded in successive kings until the demise of the Northern Kingdom. 

The reality is a nation (or a person) in decline is only saved by spiritual awakening in the hearts of men and women by the grace of God. America needs this now. May it come soon, in Jesus' Name.

Amen.