by David Scott Robertson
(1 Ki 11:38 NIV) If you [Jeroboam] do whatever I [God, speaking to Jeroboam through the prophet Ahijah] command you and walk in my ways and do what is right in my eyes by keeping my statutes and commands, as David my servant did, I will be with you. I will build you a dynasty as enduring as the one I built for David and will give Israel to you.
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David, the son of Jesse, is well documented in Old Testament scripture as one of the Bible’s brightest personalities. He set a high benchmark for doing that which was right in the sight of the great God Jehovah.. God commended him for it and not only rewarded David with an unparalleled reign of success, but even promised David an enduring dynasty, ultimately fulfilled through Jesus Christ, the Messiah.
God promoted this young psalmist from the sheepfolds of his father Jesse all the way to the king’s throne governing the twelve tribes of Israel, God’s chosen people. God loved David and David loved God, with his whole heart.
Interestingly, there’s another personality who was offered basically the same deal as David was by God--a young man by the name of Jeroboam. In the verse we opened with, God extends the invitation to Jeroboam to build him a lasting dynasty if only he would stay faithful to God’s statutes and commands like David did.
Unfortunately – tragically - Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, allowed the power of his office to so thoroughly corrupt him that he became as high a benchmark of evil as David was of good.
“When he [God] tore Israel away from the house of David, they made Jeroboam son of Nebat their king. Jeroboam enticed Israel away from following the LORD and caused them to commit a great sin. The Israelites persisted in all the sins of Jeroboam and did not turn away from them until the LORD removed them from his presence, as he had warned through all his servants the prophets. So the people of Israel were taken from their homeland into exile in Assyria, and they are still there” (2 Kings 17:21-23).
The scriptures painstakingly list the kings whom God disqualified one by one because they were thoroughly corrupted by Jeroboam’s poor example and heinous sins:
1. King Omri - (1 Ki 16:26 NIV) He walked in all the ways of Jeroboam son of Nebat and in his sin, which he had caused Israel to commit, so that they provoked the LORD, the God of Israel, to anger by their worthless idols.
2. King Ahab - (1 Ki 21:22 NIV) I will make your house like that of Jeroboam son of Nebat and that of Baasha son of Ahijah, because you have provoked me to anger and have caused Israel to sin.'
3. King Ahaziah - (1 Ki 22:52 NIV) He did evil in the eyes of the LORD, because he walked in the ways of his father and mother and in the ways of Jeroboam son of Nebat, who caused Israel to sin.
(1 Ki 22:53 NIV) He served and worshiped Baal and provoked the LORD, the God of Israel, to anger, just as his father had done.
4. King Joram - (2 Ki 3:3 NIV) Nevertheless he clung to the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, which he had caused Israel to commit; he did not turn away from them.
5. King Jehu - (2 Ki 10:29 NIV) However, he did not turn away from the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, which he had caused Israel to commit--the worship of the golden calves at Bethel and Dan.
6. King Jehoash - (2 Ki 13:11 NIV) He did evil in the eyes of the LORD and did not turn away from any of the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, which he had caused Israel to commit; he continued in them.
7. King Zechariah - (2 Ki 15:9 NIV) He did evil in the eyes of the LORD, as his fathers had done. He did not turn away from the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, which he had caused Israel to commit.
8. King Pekahiah - (2 Ki 15:24 NIV) Pekahiah did evil in the eyes of the LORD. He did not turn away from the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, which he had caused Israel to commit.
Think of it! Eight kings corrupted by the poor example of one guy! Eight governments that were morally corrupt! Eight administrations that operated independently from godly wisdom. Eight kings who followed the trend of evil rather than using their power and position to blaze a new trail for good.
Those who followed in the footsteps of David enjoyed a generational blessing while, conversely, those who imitated the ways of Jeroboam suffered a generational curse.
What shocks me to sober thinking is how profoundly enduring our bad example can be. Our poor choices and compromise can manifest generations later in a child, grandson, or any number of other persons we influence.
A probable epitaph inscribed by the finger of God on the tombstone of Jeroboam might have read: “Turn from the sins of Jeroboam, Son of Nebat.”
Instead, if God were to inscribe a saying on our tombstone may it read: “And [fill in your name] loved God.”
DSR
6/5/05