The kingdom is divided, and we now follow separately the adventures of kings of Israel (the Northern Kingdom) and the kings of Judah (the Southern Kingdom, David’s dynasty).

Jeroboam, first king of “Israel” starts off badly:

Jeroboam made a fort at Shechem in the hills of Ephraim, and made that his headquarters. He also built a fort at Penuel. But then Jeroboam thought, “It won’t be long before the kingdom is reunited under David. As soon as these people resume worship at The Temple of GOD in Jerusalem, they’ll start thinking of Rehoboam king of Judah as their ruler. They’ll then kill me and go back to King Rehoboam.” So the king came up with a plan: He made two golden calves. Then he announced, “It’s too much trouble for you to go to Jerusalem to worship. Look at these—the gods who brought you out of Egypt!” He put one calf in Bethel; the other he placed in Dan. This was blatant sin. Think of it—people traveling all the way to Dan to worship a calf! (1 Kings 12.25 – 30, MSG)

Keep this in mind. We’ll read again and again about the Northern kings, “He did not turn away from the sin of Jeroboam.” The golden calves stay in place until the end of the Northern Kingdom.

Chapter 13 is a strange one that I won’t begin to try to explain. It starts simply enough: God sends a “holy man from Judah” to warn Jeroboam:

And then this happened: Just as Jeroboam was at the Altar, about to make an offering, a holy man came from Judah by GOD’s command and preached (these were GOD’s orders) to the Altar: “Altar, Altar! GOD’s message! ‘A son will be born into David’s family named Josiah. The priests from the shrines who are making offerings on you, he will sacrifice—on you! Human bones burned on you!’ ” At the same time he announced a sign: “This is the proof GOD gives—the Altar will split into pieces and the holy offerings spill into the dirt.” When the king heard the message the holy man preached against the Altar at Bethel, he reached out to grab him, yelling, “Arrest him!” But his arm was paralyzed and hung useless. At the same time the Altar broke apart and the holy offerings all spilled into the dirt—the very sign the holy man had announced by GOD’s command. The king pleaded with the holy man, “Help me! Pray to your GOD for the healing of my arm.” The holy man prayed for him and the king’s arm was healed—as good as new! (1 Kings 13.1 – 6, MSG)

A warning which Jeroboam ignores. The rest of the chapter involves the holy man declaring he’s not supposed to eat or drink until he gets back home to Judah. An “old prophet” lies to him, telling him that God changed his mind. The holy man eats with the old prophet and is subsequently slain by a lion. After which the old prophet, remorseful(?), fetches the body of the holy man and buries him in his own family tomb. (You can read the whole story in 1 Kings 13.)

Weird. Part of the lesson may be related to Tuesday’s Ewellogy about God appearing to Solomon only “twice.” God had already appeared to the holy man. That should have been enough for him to refuse to listen to the old prophet.

At any rate, the holy man did his job, warning Jeroboam with the result that:

After this happened, Jeroboam kept right on doing evil, recruiting priests for the forbidden shrines indiscriminately—anyone who wanted to could be a priest at one of the local shrines. (1 Kings 13.33, MSG)

Sometimes we’re called to speak truth with no expectation of its “effectiveness.” I heard Billy Graham say on the radio something like, “I don’t pay any attention to statistics. I don’t know how many people actually came to Christ as a result of my preaching. I do know that no one in New York City or Los Angeles or London or any of the great cities where I preached will be able to stand before God and say, ‘I didn’t have a chance.’ They did have a chance. I told them!”

And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.” And he said, “Go, and say to this people: “‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand; keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’ Make the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy, and blind their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.” Then I said, “How long, O Lord?” And he said: “Until cities lie waste without inhabitant, and houses without people, and the land is a desolate waste, and the LORD removes people far away, and the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land.” (Isaiah 6.8 – 12, ESV)