Theological Commentary: Click Here
This is an
interesting chapter in which we have an unnamed prophet stumble, another
prophet lies, and a king refuse to repent.
As I said yesterday, it doesn’t take long for human civilization to
begin its downward spiral.
To start, I’m
going to talk about the prophet who gets mauled by a lion. In one respect, I think this is the least
offensive story. Here is a man who
listened to God for the most part and God sustained him. This is a prophet who went on a journey
without food or water and God absolutely kept him from his need. He prophesied against the worship of false
gods happening within the reign of Jeroboam and again God sustained his
prophecy. His only error was believing a
lie. Granted, it is an error that leads to
God’s judgment and the death of the prophet.
I honestly
can’t fault the prophet too much for being human. Certainly, he chose poorly and met the
consequences for his action. However, I
have been in his shoes. I have heard
Christians speak as though they have a message from God. In some cases, the message even seems
legitimate! In can be hard to
discern. I can’t fault the prophet for
being confused by the lie when a man comes and tells him that God gave him a change
in plan.
On the other
hand, I often don’t hear a direct command from God. What makes life difficult is that I am
constantly discerning God’s will from among the voices of people around
me. This prophet who dies was responding
to a direct charge from God – at least as far as we know. While I can’t fault the prophet for being
confused, the reality is that he is still disobedient to God’s charge to
him. He is guilty, although certainly
understandably so. He meets the
righteous consequence of his disobedience.
Now we turn
to Jeroboam. Jeroboam experiences his
hand withering into disfunction and then being restored by a prophet of
God. In my book, that is enough to
convince me that God is the one I should be worshiping. However, that is not the case with
Jeroboam. In spite of seeing his hand
wither and his alter being torn apart supernaturally, he refuses to
change. Jeroboam lifts up new priests
and appoints them over the worship of the foreign gods in the high places. In his quest to do what is right in his own
eyes, he ignores the warning signs of God.
Jeroboam is more concerned with pleasing himself than paying attention
to what God is trying to say to him.
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