1 Kings 14:1-31 Comments by Stephen Ricker
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Jeroboam Rejected and Rehoboam Becomes King
Comments for Study 12

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Memory Verse: 14
Questions
Introduction
Outline

MAPS OF ISRAEL AND JUDAH
A MAP OF THE DIVISION OF CANAAN
A MAP OF JERUSALEM AND THE TEMPLE
OLD TESTAMENT BOOKS TIMELINE
A LIST OF ISRAEL'S KINGS AND PROPHETS
A TIMELINE OF ISRAEL'S HISTORY

I. Jeroboam Tries to Sneak a Message From God (14:1-5)

>1. What happened in Jeroboam's household? (1)

* 1 Kings 14:1 "At that time Abijah son of Jeroboam became ill"

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>Where did he send his wife? (2)

* 1 Kings 14:2 "and Jeroboam said to his wife, "Go, disguise yourself, so you won't be recognized as the wife of Jeroboam. Then go to Shiloh. Ahijah the prophet is there--the one who told me I would be king over this people."

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>Why there and why in disguise? (11:29; Jos. 18:1; Jud. 18:31; and 1 Sam. 1:3, 3:21, 4:4)

* 1 Kings 11:29 "About that time Jeroboam was going out of Jerusalem, and Ahijah the prophet of Shiloh met him on the way, wearing a new cloak. The two of them were alone out in the country,"

* Joshua 18:1 "The whole assembly of the Israelites gathered at Shiloh and set up the Tent of Meeting there. The country was brought under their control,"

* Judges 18:31 "They continued to use the idols Micah had made, all the time the house of God was in Shiloh."

* 1 Samuel 1:3 "Year after year this man went up from his town to worship and sacrifice to the LORD Almighty at Shiloh, where Hophni and Phinehas, the two sons of Eli, were priests of the LORD."

* 1 Samuel 3:21 "The LORD continued to appear at Shiloh, and there he revealed himself to Samuel through his word."

* 1 Samuel 4:4 "So the people sent men to Shiloh, and they brought back the ark of the covenant of the LORD Almighty, who is enthroned between the cherubim. And Eli's two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God."

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>2. What did Jeroboam want? (3-4)

* 1 Kings 14:3-4 "Take ten loaves of bread with you, some cakes and a jar of honey, and go to him. He will tell you what will happen to the boy." So Jeroboam's wife did what he said and went to Ahijah's house in Shiloh. Now Ahijah could not see; his sight was gone because of his age."

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>Why didn't he go to one of the gold calves he had set up?

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>What did the Lord tell his prophet Ahijah before she arrived? (5)

* 1 Kings 14:5 "But the LORD had told Ahijah, "Jeroboam's wife is coming to ask you about her son, for he is ill, and you are to give her such and such an answer. When she arrives, she will pretend to be someone else."

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>What can be learned about the Lord?

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II. Judgment Pronounced Against Israel (14:6-20)

>3. Why did Ahijah greet her before she arrived? (6)

* 1 Kings 14:6 "So when Ahijah heard the sound of her footsteps at the door, he said, "Come in, wife of Jeroboam. Why this pretense? I have been sent to you with bad news."

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>What did he tell her? (7-9)

* 1 Kings 14:7-9 "Go, tell Jeroboam that this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: 'I raised you up from among the people and made you a leader over my people Israel. I tore the kingdom away from the house of David and gave it to you, but you have not been like my servant David, who kept my commands and followed me with all his heart, doing only what was right in my eyes. You have done more evil than all who lived before you. You have made for yourself other gods, idols made of metal; you have provoked me to anger and thrust me behind your back."

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>4. What was sure to happen? (10-11)

* 1 Kings 14:10-11 "'Because of this, I am going to bring disaster on the house of Jeroboam. I will cut off from Jeroboam every last male in Israel--slave or free. I will burn up the house of Jeroboam as one burns dung, until it is all gone. Dogs will eat those belonging to Jeroboam who die in the city, and the birds of the air will feed on those who die in the country. The LORD has spoken!'"

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>What will happen to the boy? (12)

* 1 Kings 14:12 "As for you, go back home. When you set foot in your city, the boy will die."

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>Why?

* 1 Kings 14:13 "All Israel will mourn for him and bury him. He is the only one belonging to Jeroboam who will be buried, because he is the only one in the house of Jeroboam in whom the LORD, the God of Israel, has found anything good."

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>How did the Lord honor the boy, the only one to be found with anything good?

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>5. What will happen to Jeroboam?

* 1 Kings 14:14 ""The LORD will raise up for himself a king over Israel who will cut off the family of Jeroboam. This is the day! What? Yes, even now."

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>To Israel (the northern ten tribes)?

* 1 Kings 14:15-16 "And the LORD will strike Israel, so that it will be like a reed swaying in the water. He will uproot Israel from this good land that he gave to their forefathers and scatter them beyond the River, because they provoked the LORD to anger by making Asherah poles. And he will give Israel up because of the sins Jeroboam has committed and has caused Israel to commit."

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>6. Did the prophet's words come true? (17-18)

* 1 Kings 14:17-18 "Then Jeroboam's wife got up and left and went to Tirzah. As soon as she stepped over the threshold of the house, the boy died. They buried him, and all Israel mourned for him, as the LORD had said through his servant the prophet Ahijah."

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>Why weren't all the events of Jeroboam's reign recorded here? (19)

* 1 Kings 14:19 "The other events of Jeroboam's reign, his wars and how he ruled, are written in the book of the annals of the kings of Israel."

* See 2 Chron. 9:29-13:22 for the other events in Jeroboam's reign.

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>Who succeeded him?

* 1 Kings 14:20 "He reigned for twenty-two years and then rested with his fathers. And Nadab his son succeeded him as king."

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III. Judah Did Evil During Rehoboam's Reign (14:21-31)

>7. Who was Rehoboam? (21)

* 1 Kings 14:21 "Rehoboam son of Solomon was king in Judah. He was forty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city the LORD had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel in which to put his Name. His mother's name was Naamah; she was an Ammonite."

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* Israel did not calculated a king's ascension and reign as other nations. After Israel and Judah split Judah kept calculating to "old way" and Israel switched and started calculating the way other nations did around them. Read The Mysterious Numbers of the Hebrew Kings by Edwin Richard Thiele for more understanding on how Israel and Judah calculated the dates of their king's ascension and reign.

>What kind of lives did Judah live? (22)

* 1 Kings 14:22 "Judah did evil in the eyes of the LORD. By the sins they committed they stirred up his jealous anger more than their fathers had done."

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>How did they compare to the Gentiles? (23-24)

* 1 Kings 14:23-24 "They also set up for themselves high places, sacred stones and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every spreading tree. There were even male shrine prostitutes in the land; the people engaged in all the detestable practices of the nations the LORD had driven out before the Israelites."

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>Where they worse than them? (Rom. 9:4-5; Matt. 11:20-24)

* Romans 9:4-5 "the people of Israel. Theirs is the adoption as sons; theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises. Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of Christ, who is God over all, forever praised! Amen."

* Matthew 11:20-24 "Then Jesus began to denounce the cities in which most of his miracles had been performed, because they did not repent. "Woe to you, Korazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! If the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I tell you, it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you. And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted up to the skies? No, you will go down to the depths. If the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Sodom, it would have remained to this day. But I tell you that it will be more bearable for Sodom on the day of judgment than for you."

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>What should we do who have been given more than they? (Heb. 6:4-8)

* Hebrews 6:4-8 "It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age, if they fall away, to be brought back to repentance, because to their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace. Land that drinks in the rain often falling on it and that produces a crop useful to those for whom it is farmed receives the blessing of God. But land that produces thorns and thistles is worthless and is in danger of being cursed. In the end it will be burned."

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>8. What happened to Judah? (25-26)

* 1 Kings 14:25-26 "In the fifth year of King Rehoboam, Shishak king of Egypt attacked Jerusalem. He carried off the treasures of the temple of the LORD and the treasures of the royal palace. He took everything, including all the gold shields Solomon had made."

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>How did Rehoboam respond? (27)

* 1 Kings 14:27 "So King Rehoboam made bronze shields to replace them and assigned these to the commanders of the guard on duty at the entrance to the royal palace."

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>What must have he thought when he went to the Lord's temple after that? (28)

* 1 Kings 14:28 "Whenever the king went to the LORD's temple, the guards bore the shields, and afterward they returned them to the guardroom."

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>9. How was it between the northern tribes and the southern tribes? (29-32)

* 1 Kings 14:29-31 "As for the other events of Rehoboam's reign, and all he did, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Judah? There was continual warfare between Rehoboam and Jeroboam. And Rehoboam rested with his fathers and was buried with them in the City of David. His mother's name was Naamah; she was an Ammonite. And Abijah his son succeeded him as king."

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