Why this story matters

(commentary on 1 Kings 13)

(Page 3 of 3)

The fates of Jeroboam and the Old Prophet

Jeroboam is quite an interesting character. King Solomon was supposed to have been succeeded on the throne by his son Rehoboam, and upon Solomon's death, all of Israel gathered to crown him king. But some of the people, led by Jeroboam, tried to stop the proceedings by getting the crowd against Rehoboam. They used a classic negative political campaign tactic suggesting that Rehoboam would continue the, high-taxing ways of his father. Rehoboam then made the political blunder of his life. He responded by telling the people basically, if they thought Solomon was tough on them, they ain’t seen nothin’ yet. Not surprisingly, the people make Jeroboam king instead. So Jeroboam began to rule over all Israel, except for Judah which remained faithful to the line of King David and Solomon. They kept Rehoboam as their king (1 Kings 12:1-16).

One of Jeroboam’s first acts as king has important implications for this story. He was afraid that if the people came to worship in Jerusalem, they might change their mind and reject him in favor of Rehoboam. So he devised a way to allow the people to worship elsewhere. He had two golden calves manufactured and placed at opposite ends of the kingdom. Then, in order to get the people to worship the calves, he told them that they were the gods that brought them successfully out of Egypt. Yahweh's chosen people demonstrate their inveterate gullibility and superstition once again and make sacrifices to the calves.

But this is just the beginning of Jeroboam's wickedness. In fact, it becomes so pervasive during his reign that, at one point, Yahweh, speaking through his prophet Abijah, states, “You have done more evil than all who lived before you” (1 Kings 14:9) That's an astonishing statement, considering all who went before him. He must have been really, really evil. And yet, we are told that Jeroboam reigned for 22 years, “and then rested with his fathers” (1 Kings 14:20). The contrast between this benign end and the horrific fate of the man of God is puzzling at best.

And as for the lying old prophet, there is no mention of any punishment for him either, even though his blatant lie caused the problem in the first place. He also never acknowledged his ‘sin’. Presumably he died peacefully of old age. We're certainly not told he received any form of punishment.

Conclusion

This questionable sense of justice has not gone unnoticed by Christian commentators. Adam Clarke puts the traditional spin on it by saying that this wasn’t cruelty to the man of God, but was in fact mercy to the others. The man of God was ready to meet his maker in the afterlife but the other two needed time to repent: “If this was severity to the man of God, it was mercy to the others, neither of whom was prepared to meet his judge.” Mind you, if Yahweh decided to take the life of his prophet because he was a good man and "prepared to meet his judge" why would he have him killed in such a brutal way? John Gill, in his commentary, had this to say about the mauling of the man from Judah: “The judgments of God are unfathomable.” I couldn’t have put it better myself.
 

END OF COMMENTARY

 

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