The hearts of the people had been captured and drawn to a false god.
Jeroboam had created a form of idol worship which so twisted and skewed the Scriptures, that it was difficult for those in Israel to see its evil. It still claimed to worship Yahweh, yet it blended Truth with the worship of the world. Its centers of worship — Bethel and Dan — were strategically chosen, and the teachers of Israel were craftily pushed aside. The new worship fit nicely into the minds of many in Israel and did not cause any issue; only a remnant fled to Judah. It would seem as though Jeroboam had assured himself the earthly kingdom and set himself up to leave a lasting and powerful legacy for his children and descendants; but that notion is utterly false. This final article will look deeper into the lasting effects of Jeroboam’s apostasy. It will show how his worship shaped future generations and how it impacted him and his family.
Hybrid Worship
The generations to come after Jeroboam would have an extremely difficult time if they tried to follow the Truth. The fallen king had so cunningly worked his system that he convinced many in Israel that his method was an acceptable way to worship the true God. Note the emphasis that Jeroboam put upon his religion when he presented it to the people — he didn’t introduce it as a new form of worship or a new god (despite the fact that it was!). Instead, he was much more underhanded:
“Whereupon the king took counsel, and made two calves of gold, and said unto them, It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem: behold thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt” (1Kgs 12:28).
Jeroboam tried to tell the people that these calves were the gods who had brought them forth out of Egypt! He wasn’t trying to replace Yahweh — that would make his intentions too transparent. Instead, he was using the calves as representatives, saying that they were images to help the people set their minds upon the true God. This understanding is reinforced when we realize that Jeroboam’s words are actually a quote from another incident in Israel’s past:
“And Aaron said unto them, Break off the golden earrings, which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them unto me… And he received them at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf: and they said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt” (Exod 32:2, 4).
The situation was almost exactly the same — a golden calf had been made, a nervous new leader had created it to win the people, and that new leader had just come out of Egypt. Yet in the case from Exodus, notice that Aaron wasn’t seeking to create a new god, but rather to give the people a visible representation of the God whom they were following:
“And when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation, and said, Tomorrow is a feast to the Lord” (Exod 32:5).
They were going to use this calf in their worship of Yahweh! Aaron was not replacing the God of Israel, but trying to add his own ideas to how He should be worshipped. It was the exact same situation with Jeroboam. He had not sought to start a new religion, but wanted to twist God’s way of worship so that it was easier for him.
A Confused Generation
Once Jeroboam passed from the scene, his apostasy lived on. Without the Levites, there was almost no one to carry the Truth to the new generation, and so only Jeroboam’s false interpretation of the law continued. As a result, the people of Israel totally lost all sense of who Yahweh was. They had no idea what His character was and no idea how He wanted to be worshipped. Hence, when we read prophets like Hosea, who testified to Israel many generations after Jeroboam’s death, we see the people’s lack of knowledge to be a consistent theme:
“Hear the word of the Lord, ye children of Israel: for the Lord hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land” (Hos 4:1).
Again, a few verses later:
“My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children” (Hos 4:6).
Jeroboam had created a nation which was utterly bleak in their understanding of Yahweh’s purpose and which had no concept of God manifestation — because they had no idea who God actually was. They could not possibly serve Him correctly, because they didn’t know what it was that He wanted. They didn’t realize that He sought for steadfast love (Hos 6:6) — for their whole heart, rather than just part of it. They had no understanding. God’s law was foreign to them:
“I have written to him the great things of my law, but they were counted as a strange thing” (Hos 8:12).
Thus, not knowing the character that Yahweh sought to develop within them, and not knowing His plan, future generations would continue to worship at the calves of Bethel and Dan — still believing that they were worshipping the God who had delivered them from Egypt. As time passed, they would not only worship the calves, but would do homage to the idols of other lands. They would bow down to these idols and in the same day try to offer sacrifices to the God of Heaven.
“Israel shall cry unto me, My God, we know thee. Israel hath cast off the thing that is good: the enemy shall pursue him. They have set up kings, but Israel would cry out to God saying “My God, we know thee.” They would approach Him with sincere hearts, truly believing that they knew who He was, truly believing that they were worshipping Him according to His commands, yet “of their silver and their gold have they made them idols.” And thus, when they did try to worship Him, God refused to hear a nation drunken with idolatry.not by me: they have made princes, and I knew it not: of their silver and their gold have they made them idols, that they may be cut off” (Hos 8:2-4).
“They shall go with their flocks and with their herds to seek the Lord; but they shall not find him; he hath withdrawn himself from them” (Hos 5:6).
They would bring their flocks and their herds to God, presumably to sacrifice them, yet they would not find the Lord. He had hidden Himself from them because they were not looking for Him earnestly — they had not set aside their other gods; they were trying to worship Him in addition to the others. The prophet Amos shows us how Yahweh felt about this hybrid worship:
“I hate, I despise your feast days, and I will not smell in your solemn assemblies. Though ye offer me burnt offerings and your meat offerings, I will not accept them: neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat beasts… Have ye offered unto me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel? But ye have born the tabernacle of your Moloch and Chiun your images, the star of your god, which ye made to yourselves” (Amos 5:21-22, 25-26).
God hated Israel’s worship. When they offered sacrifices to Him, He didn’t want them. When they would celebrate their feasts, He despised their celebrations. Yahweh was disgusted with the combined idol worship that had started with Jeroboam — the one who originally had so much potential for good. Jeroboam had buried the Truth — he made it that much more difficult for his children, or his children’s children to have any opportunity of salvation. He created generations which knew nothing of God, which were destroyed because of their lack of knowledge. He spawned a people who sincerely believed that they were pleasing God — yet God hated their worship. Eventually, this apostasy and false worship made Israel so disgusting in the sight of Yahweh that He destroyed the nation and carried them into captivity.
“For the children of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did; they departed not from them; until the Lord removed Israel out of his sight, as he had said by all his servants the prophets. So was Israel carried away out of their own land to Assyria until this day” (2Kgs 17:22-23).
Israel never left Jeroboam’s sin. The only remedy was to tear apart the leprous house. Impact upon Jeroboam
This worship not only led to the destruction of the nation, but also to the swift destruction of Jeroboam himself and his entire family. The man who had been hand-picked by God to be a savior to Israel, was now hand-picked by God to be an example of how Yahweh feels about apostasy.
“But hast done evil above all that were before thee: for thou hast gone and made thee other gods, and molten images, to provoke me to anger, and hast cast me behind thy back. Therefore, behold, I will bring evil upon the house of Jeroboam, and will cut off from Jeroboam him that pisseth against the wall, and him that is shut up and left in Israel, and will take away the remnant of the house of Jeroboam, as a man taketh away dung, till it be all gone. Him that dieth of Jeroboam in the city shall the dogs eat; and him that dieth in the field shall the fowls of the air eat: for the Lord hath spoken it” (1Kgs 14:9-11).
His house would be treated as dung. All of his family would be cut off and decimated. The punishment was severe and astonishing, but God was showing us the passion with which He despises falsehood about Himself. Jeroboam’s calves led to the fall of the nation, and also to the swift collapse of his entire monarchy. Thus, the legacy of Jeroboam was complete desolation for his family and a darkening of the Truth to all of Israel for the rest of the nation’s existence. Jeroboam’s legacy is that he destroyed his loved ones, and made Israel to sin — for generations.
A Motivation
One man had an incredible amount of potential. He was a type of Christ. He grew up in the reign of Solomon — he saw the temple being built. He was hand picked by the Father to deliver the nation. Instead, he destroyed it.
Jeroboam was a man just like us. He knew the Truth and started off his reign with great zeal and fervor, but was confronted by an urgent decision — would he forsake God, or lose everything he had? He chose to forsake God, and became known as “Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin” — the one who would later be cursed by the Father.
By looking into Jeroboam’s apostasy, we can have a better understanding of how our God feels about false worship. He abhors it. Even though people may be sincere, if they don’t know who God is, if they don’t know His plan, they can’t worship in spirit and truth. Without an understanding of the Word of God, they can’t have true faith (Romans 10:17). Without true faith, they can’t please God (Hebrews 11:6). When we recognize this, it should be a powerful motivator to encourage us to go out to fallen Christianity and any other false religion of the world and help them understand the Scriptures! We have one of the greatest treasures that one can be given — a knowledge of the character and intention of God. Let us share that with those who are lost in falsehood. Let us preach at every opportunity. Let us give hope to those who are dying.
This is the legacy that Jeroboam leaves for us. While he destroyed his family, ruined his nation, and threw out his potential, his story still gives us a lesson and an impetus for change. May we break our silence and share the Word with all of those who are floundering in apostasy today.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One