There is a little recognized story, a story that some theologians use to side with Lucifer and Cain in their misunderstanding of God. A story with its background in 1 Kings ch. 11,12 and occupying chapter 13 that is redolent with meaning. Another dispute within God’s family : Adam & Eve “ this woman…,” Cain & Able; Jacob & Esau; Here within the Israelite family
IN 1870 a pastor by the name of Paul Geyser wrote a booklet about this story under the title THE SINS OF JEROBOAM. Sixty years later, 1930, dissenting German Christians reprinted the booklet when it became clear that the official church was willing to subject its-self to the dictates of the nationalist-socialist government of Adolf Hitler. They, the dissenting church recognized that the government had borrowed a page from the strategy of the first king of the 10 tribes of Israel in gathering both political and religious power into the hands of the state. The re-publication of Geyser’s booklet was not lost on the millions of Christians who supported Hitler. Feeling them selves the target of the booklet they called on the secret police to intervene thus it was placed on the list of harmful and unwanted writings. It’s a story with three fascinating scenes.
THE First Scene we’ll look at is in 1 Kings 12:25-33 & is the one that was hijacked by Hitler.
The prologue is in Chapter 11 & the first of 12. King Solomon did not continue following the Lord as he grew older so God through prophet Ahijah met Jeroboam, a servant of Solomon’s and tearing his own robe Ahijah gave 10 pieces of it to Jeroboam saying he would become the leader of ten tribes. Ahijah then shared with him the word of the Lord: “if you listen…walk in my ways and do what is right …by keeping My commandments. I will be with you”. In other words a separation of religious [ if you walk in My ways & keep My commandments ] and political powers. Jeroboam was entrusted with political powers but here he was specifically denied control of the religious domain. Rehoboam, King Solomon’s son by his Ammonite wife, became king and chose to continue and even increase the heavy burden of taxation garnered for royal privilege by his father. So the former servant, Jeroboam, stepped in & by promising less taxes took with him 10 of the 12 Hebrew tribes. Yet in his early inaugural moves as king he went for control also of religious expressions – ie. Church and state under the control of one – the vice of the classic ancient world and even now of many modern states.
Jeroboam in short order set up two alternative places and objects of worship – golden calfs in Bethel & Dan in place of the Sanctuary in Jerusalem – he also set up a new calendar of worship which “he alone devised” or “of his own choosing”12:32,33. He then set up a system of patronage that would make the new non Levitic priesthood subservient to his temporal power thus fully solidifying his power as supreme. We see this classic combinational state-church vice later imitated in church-state by the Roman religio-imperial system and then with Napoleon’s state-church after the French revolution.
In Scene Two 1 Kings 13:1-10 we see here Jeroboam officially assuming the plenary powers of king and priest on a religious day that might have been equivalent to our presidential inauguration. Jeroboam was going “up to the altar as high priest to offer incense – but at that moment was interrupted by an uninvited guest appearing from nowhere. A man of God from Judah, sent by God pronouncing that the new altar would be desecrated by the human bones of the priests Jeroboam had appointed and also a new line of kings would be inaugurated in place of Jeroboam’s linage. Then as Jeroboam stretched out his hand of religio-political power declaring “seize him” his arm & hand were immediately shriveled and the altar torn down by an unseen power. Suffering profound public humiliation Jeroboam took on the role of suppliant, asking the visitor to pray to his God for healing – and in God’s typical divine mercy – listened and gave mercy – as He had earlier listening to Cain in Ge 4, the Adversary in chaps 1&2 of Job and later in mercy to the demons who desired to be sent into the pigs in Mt 8. Jeroboam then in sudden sweetness, in a political move to decrease his public humiliation, invited the prophet of God to a royal lunch, which then would be broadcast on the evening newscast with the king giving a speech & toasting the man of God from Judah at the royal banquet in an attempt to blunt the impact of the prophets rebuke. Thus through diplomacy the kings respectability would be restored.
The Third Scene which will reinforce the totality & reliability of God’s instructions about the realities of life. A bottom line question to be answered here about the man of God from Judah is : – was the mission given to him in Judah received out of a feeling of duty/fear/necessity or had it begun and continues out of deep love/adoration/admiration & commitment to his freely chosen leader, his Creator God, who in love operates only in granted total freedom & in descriptions of realities not in demands, nor sentences, nor unnecessary RESTRICTIONS ? ——The duty/fear/necessity seems to be the more likely motivation here.
Enters The old prophet – the secondary human focus of scene three – while the prophet from Judah begins his return to Judah going by a different route.
An acceleration of the active fall of the man of God from Judah is noted here on his way back as he stopped to rest – rest under a tree. As any soldier knows, resting in enemy territory can be fatal. The rest here allowing an “old prophet” (of which 1 Kings chap 22 notes there were up to 400 false prophets in the active employment of the kings service) allowing him to catch up. The old prophet invited the man of God to come back and eat. As before, the man of God, like Eve, dallied & began a dialogue and the old prophet who in deception said vs. 18, “I too am a prophet, as you are (not revealing a prophet of whom) saying “that an angel” (again not revealing in whose employment the angel messenger was) “said to me ‘bring him back and feed him.” – instruction Directly contradicting the word that God had personally instructed the prophet from Judah. I think as you can see, it was again but a repeat of the test given in Gen 2:17 – “thou shalt not eat of the tree…,” – taken & failed in Ge 3: 1-4. The test revealed what was in Eve’s heart. God had warned / instructed / revealed – Eve dallied and discuss leading to her being deceived. The man of God here in 1 Kings 13 pondered instead of moving immediately away from temptation, dallied, discuss & was deceived and went with the old prophet. Excessive Hunger? Not likely. – He was likely less than 2-3 days total on his mission. And like Eve / the Israelites with manna in the desert in Ex 16 / & like Christ later in the wilderness of temptation – he, the prophet from Judah, was being tested. “Tested in all points – here in each noted case – involving food – like as We” Heb 4:15. – And do we have a willingness to dally & discuss? The prophet from Judah revealed a lack of conviction / trust / love / & full commitment in & to His Creator thus like Eve caught by deceit.
As OT scholar D. W. van Winkle quite appropriately stated “ the man of God should have recognized the assurance of the old prophet to be false since it encouraged him to violate the commandment of God.” (Comments on 1 Kings XIII p. 31-43). At the least, since it was a direct contradiction of God’s word to him, he should have taken to his knees in prayer. His problem – a lack of tenacious faith, & when & if needed – negligence of asking God – while putting his belief in action. – As also should have the Israelites with the Gibeonites in Josh 9.
Later Christ in the wilderness of temptation revealed commitment & faith – due to His constant prayer and trust Christ nailed, passed His test and not after just a few days of hunger – but 40 without food or ? water [see. Ex 34:28-35] Then it was, that Satan appeared to Christ – not as an old prophet but as a beautiful angel from heaven, claiming that he had a commission from God to declare the Savior’s fast at an end. “If thou be the Son of God, he said to Christ, “ command that these stones be made bread” Mt 4:3. But in Satan’s insinuation of distrust, Christ recognized the enemy whose power He had come to earth to resist. He would not dally, not accept the challenge, nor be moved by the temptation nor enter into dialogue . He stood firmly to the affirmative. He said only the words of God had given Him in Dt 8:3: ”Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God” Dt 8:3. Christ stood by – and only by – each, only & every word of God, and He prevailed.”
Mirror images / metaphors revealed by a God in whom there is no shadow of turning. When He says something – it is reality – because He deals in revealing realities. Though they may appear to us as threats or punishments or as incomprehensible meaningless instructions of a tyrant, offensive to our sense of justice – but they are but a revealing of realities, road signs given in love to warn of dangers unseen & direct us to benefits unknown. We see here in this prophet from Judah again a distrust, a distrust in every word of God which Prov 30:5,6 had warned about & again we by Jesus in Mt 4:4. A distrust like Abraham’s being told by God he would become a great nation through his wife Sarah, yet in disbelief & lack of trust he took Hagar to bed and through Ishmael trouble is still rolling through our world.
What about the finality of the mission? We see the lion who killed the man of God from Judah after he had left the old man with whom he had eaten – the lion standing on one side of the prophets lifeless body and his donkey on the other? To disobey God even in that which we consider the least is the start of a deadly fall. I climbed Mt Hood on Oregon USA a number of times in winter and saw a number of deadly falls from seeming small faults – they count! We do not know of this man of God’s potential repentance on his shortened and aborted journey back to Judah so we might be able to speak to him in heaven.
Alexander Solzhenitsyn summarized much of the reality of this scene – while not speaking of this event – but in his address to Harvard grads in 1978. “Truth eludes us a soon as our concentration on truth begins to flag. All the while leaving the illusion that we are continuing to preserve it”. Yes, the prophet from Judah’s concentration flagging as he rested under the oak tree, in enemy territory with his shield of faith leaning against the trunk and his sword of the Spirit on the ground by his side.
On WHAT or WHO is your concentrated focus? Jesus, The Creator, the Atoning Sacrifice, the One who saves you from sin – from doing harm thus ultimately being harmed, the One who says ; “I am the way the truth & the life.”? Who says: “I came to give you life and life more abundantly? On whom is your concentration? We need a faith, a concentration, that can endure weariness, delay and hunger. We need a quickness to turn from sin.
The final take away lesson from “the man of God from Judah” in scene 3 is found in Eph 6 : 1-18: Here 1-14: “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand – not rest under a tree but stand – stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities and comic powers over this present darkness, against spiritual forces of evil in heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, too stand firm.” What ever God – in whom there is no shade of turning has said – it is for your best good. Yes, the devil is still going around as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour 1 Pe 5:8.
We are on Enemy territory Eph 6 is telling us! We can Stand with-in the armor – because we are motivated by what is recorded in Gal 5:6: “The only thing that counts is faith expressing its-self through love.”
Soon – as the crowning act in this great drama of deception – Lucifer, Satan, the great dragon the ancient serpent, the Devil, the adversary – not as a serpent this time, nor an old prophet, nor as an angel messenger – as in Christ’s wilderness temptations – but in dazzling brightness will appear in the assumed personage of Christ [Rev 12:7-9; 2 Cor 11:14 ], and will then claim to have changed the Day the LORD established for relationship with Him in Genesis 2:1-3 so we could get to know each other {Mt 7:21-23} and affirmed as such through out scripture, —- to a day, – like Jeroboam’s places, objects & times of worship – of ours ? or of his (Lucifer’s, Satan’s) own Choosing– (yes, in reality it was not Constantine’s political State -Church in 312 AD, nor later the Roman Catholic’s Church -State’s Laodicean council of AD 363-4 that made a new day for worshipful relationship of their own choosing) – but the continuing behind the scenes choice of the Adversary himself – desiring worship on the day of his own choosing 1 Kings 12:33, 2 Cor 11:14-15, Isa 14:12-14, Dan 7:25 – & we?.
Continuing in Eph 6: “Stand therefore having fastened on the belt of truth – that’s His Word – , and having put on the breastplate – ( the breastplate is what protects your heart) – “ the breastplate of righteousness” ( in Hebrew & in English righteousness is defined as acting in accord with divine law )1 – That’s why Rev 22:14 says “Happy are those who do His Commandments” (pleural ) – note James 2:10 warns if you ignore one piece of advice you will eventually fall in all, as we saw here in the prophet from Judah & I repeatedly on Mt Hood. Why? Because they who do them “will have the have the right…. to go through the gates into the city.”
– —- You want to stand and then have the right? – Put on the full “breastplate of righteousness —- in a faith that’s expressing it’s self through love”!
WHAT WILL BE – metaphorically HAS BEEN – & what metaphorically HAS BEEN – WILL BE
1 Strong’s & Webster’s Dictionaries
LIFE EXCOGITATIONS 