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‘After this thing Jeroboam returned not from his evil way.’
1Ki_13:33
Jeroboam saw four or five miracles together, and yet turned not from his evil way.
I. He had two warnings—the rent altar, and the withered hand. We have had many more—nay, many more than two all of us have neglected. We have been ill and vowed to do better on recovery. But with the danger, all the good resolutions have vanished.
But Jeroboam had not only a warning in his withered hand, he had another in the destruction of his altar. And we, too, have had warnings enough in others as well as in ourselves.
II. But notice again, all the warnings Jeroboam had were not in anger.—One was in mercy. His withered hand was made whole at the prayer of the prophet. And he had some good feelings still, for he offered hospitality and a reward to the man of God from Judah. If Jeroboam had only obeyed the words of the prophet, that would have been his true reward—the crown and glory of his journey.
III. See what Jeroboam’s sin was, and what the message was.—His sin was in diverting his people from worshipping at Jerusalem, to worship the golden calves at Dan and Beth-el. Worldly men would have called it a clever device. The Holy Spirit called it a sin. Eighteen times we read these fearful words: ‘who made Israel to sin.’
IV. His sin, even so far as this world was concerned, was a miserable failure.—He lost the next world, and he did not even gain this. So it is very often with those who break God’s commandments. It very often happens that from those who do not seek God’s kingdom first, the very things which they do seek first, and for which they give that up, are taken away. And in the old prophet’s death that evening Jeroboam had a more fearful warning still. That was the worst sign of all. How suddenly Jeroboam was destroyed! Like Pharaoh and Balaam. To have so many chances, and yet to miss them all! Think, then, when you are tempted to take counsel how you may please yourselves even at the risk or certainty of breaking God’s law—think and fear, lest your own end should be like that of Jeroboam, ‘who made Israel to sin.’
Dr. J. Mason Neale.
Illustrations(1) ‘Experience should have taught Jeroboam. He had the warning of Solomon’s example. Prophecy and promise ought to have held him to a right course. He had the distinct utterance of Ahijah to guide him. His own observation should have told him that every promise of God is conditional. But all was in vain. Jeroboam descends to history with the infamous character of being emphatically the man “that made Israel to sin.” ’
(2) ‘The cause of Jeroboam’s conduct was not weakness of character, but rather, on the contrary, the obstinacy with which he pursued what his soul desired, and which was the mainspring of all his actions, i.e. the resolve to keep himself on the throne at any cost and under all circumstances, and not to come under the dominion of the hated house of David and Judah again. The petition to have his hand restored was only the effect of momentary fright; when this passed, instead of listening to the man of God, he tried to bribe him and win him over, and the whole transaction left no trace behind it. He is a type of those usurpers who have no other aim in life than to gratify their ambition and love of power, and whose apparently good and noble actions are only the fruit of this passion.’