Lesson 288: JEROBOAM AND THE MAN OF GOD

I Kings 12

Full Lesson HERE

INTRODUCTION. When the ten northern tribes of Israel rebelled against the high

taxes and harsh rule of Solomon's son Rehoboam, they chose Jeroboam from the

tribe of Ephraim as their king. Jeroboam soon turned to idolatry as a means to prevent his subjects from returning to Jerusalem to worship, for the city and temple were

located in the southern kingdom. He corrupted the worship of God with his golden

calves, shrines in high places, priests who were not Levites, and unlawful feast days.

As Jeroboam stood by the altar at Bethel to burn incense during his unlawful feast, a

man of God from Judah spoke against the altar. He prophesied that a descendant of

David by the name of Josiah would one day pollute and destroy the altar. To prove the prophecy was true he gave a sign the same day–the altar split and the ashes poured out. When Jeroboam in anger put forth his hand against the prophet, his hand

withered. When he saw the altar split, he repented and entreated the man of God to

heal his hand. When his hand was restored, Jeroboam invited the man of God to

come home with him, promising to reward him. The man of God refused saying that

the Lord had forbidden him to eat or drink in that place and had commanded him to

return to Judah by a different route.