1 Kings 12:26-32 - Fear or faith in God

Scripture:

1 Kings 12:26-32
26 Jeroboam said in his heart, "Now the kingdom will return to the house of David.
27 "If this people go up to offer sacrifices in the house of the Lord at Jerusalem, then the heart of this people will return to their lord, even to Rehoboam king of Judah; and they will kill me and return to Rehoboam king of Judah."
28 So the king consulted, and made two golden calves, and he said to them, "It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem; behold your gods, O Israel, that brought you up from the land of Egypt."
29 He set one in Bethel, and the other he put in Dan.
30 Now this thing became a sin, for the people went to worship before the one as far as Dan.
31 And he made houses on high places, and made priests from among all the people who were not of the sons of Levi.
32 Jeroboam instituted a feast in the eighth month on the fifteenth day of the month, like the feast which is in Judah, and he went up to the altar; thus he did in Bethel, sacrificing to the calves which he had made. And he stationed in Bethel the priests of the high places which he had made.
NASU


Thoughts:

Jeroboam fears he will lose his throne and even his life if the people continue to worship the Lord in Jerusalem, which is now a part of the separate kingdom of Judah from his own, Israel (verses 26-27).  So, in a scene eerily similar to Aaron's sin long before him, he makes a golden calf, actually two, and presents them to Israel as the gods that brought them up out of Egypt (verse 28):

Exodus 32:3-4
3 Then all the people tore off the gold rings which were in their ears and brought them to Aaron. 4 He took this from their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool and made it into a molten calf; and they said, "This is your god, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt."
NASU

This is horrendous on many levels, the foremost being that it is taking the nation into idolatry.  These idols are being proclaimed as the gods who delivered them from Pharaoh, and yet this was clearly the work of the one true and living God.  But equally repulsive is the personal choice this represents for Jeroboam.  Recall that it was the Lord that established him as ruler of the kingdom of Israel as He told him:

1 Kings 11:37-38
37 'I will take you, and you shall reign over whatever you desire, and you shall be king over Israel.
38 'Then it will be, that if you listen to all that I command you and walk in My ways, and do what is right in My sight by observing My statutes and My commandments, as My servant David did, then I will be with you and build you an enduring house as I built for David, and I will give Israel to you.
NASU

God promised to secure Jeroboam's kingdom, if he would simply obey Him (11:38).  If Jeroboam only had faith in the Lord to believe this, he would not have needed to worry about the people turning away from under his leadership.  But tragically, he chooses the path of fear over faith.  Rather than trusting in God, his fear motivates him to contrive a religious system that will guarantee -- he believes -- his own self-protection, but will only lead to his downfall.


Prayer:

Lord, why are we so slow to believe the things that You say?  Why do we not believe that we can trust You, and instead resort to our own devices to try and protect ourselves?  Truly, it is foolish as is so evident in Jeroboam's life.

The only path to security is the same one that You prescribed for Jeroboam, that is to walk with You in Your ways.  Though I may lose all that I possess in this world, You promise to preserve me as a Christian, most importantly, eternally.  Help me to walk in faith with You, today.

Amen

Scripture quotations taken from the NASB.