1 kings 13 and 14

Read 1 Kings 13 and 14 at Bible Gateway.

The Hebrew paragraph divisions:

1 Kin 13:1-10 {p} The man of God from Judah prophesied against Jeroboam’s altar in Bethel
1 Kin 13:11-20a {p} The old prophet lied to the man of God, and caused him to return with him
1 Kin 13:20b-32 {p} The man of God was killed by a lion on the way + the old prophet buried him in his own tomb
1 Kin 13:33-34 {p} After this Jeroboam did not repent, but continued to do evil in the Lord’s sight
1 Kin 14:1-4 {p} Jeroboam sent his wife to inquire of Abijah the prophet concerning his son, who was sick
1 Kin 14:5-20 {p} The Lord will cut off the house of Jeroboam / uproot the house of Israel because they forsook Him
1 Kin 14:21-24 {p} Rehoboam reigned in Judah / Judah did more evil than all their fathers before them
1 Kin 14:25-31 {p} Shishak king of Egypt took away the treasures/ Rehoboam died, his son reigned

There is a chiastic structure encompassing the reigns of Rehoboam and Jeroboam:

1 Kin 11:40-14:31

1a) 1 Kin 11:40-43 {s} Shishak king of Egypt/ Solomon’s acts written/ his death/ his son reigned in his place;

1b) 1 Kin 12:1-24 {p+s+p+s} Israel rebelled against Rehoboam/ Judah obeyed the LORD and did not fight them;

1) 1 Kin 12:1-21 {p+s+p} Israel rebelled against Rehoboam so that he reigned over Judah only;
2) 1 Kin 12:22-24 {s} They obeyed the word of the LORD and turned back from fighting their brother Israel;

1c) 1 Kin 12:25-13:24, The sin of the house of Jeroboam, in leading Israel to forsake the Lord;

1a) 1 Kin 12:25-30, Jeroboam’s sin to turn Israel from the Lord: two golden calves;
1b) 1 Kin 12:31, He made priests from every class of people;
1c) 1 Kin 12:32-33 {p} He ordained feasts from his own heart;
1d) 1 Kin 13:1-3, The word of the LORD against the altar at Bethel;
1e) 1 Kin 13:4-6, Withered hand + Jeroboam entreated the favor of the LORD;
1f) 1 Kin 13:7-10 {p} Refused Jeroboam’s invitation to eat bread and drink water;
central axis) 1 Kin 13:11-18, The old prophet’s deceit;
2f) 1 Kin 13:19-20a {p} Accepted the prophet’s invitation to eat bread and drink water;
2e) 1 Kin 13:20b-31, Lion + the old prophet entreated the favor of the LORD;
2d) 1 Kin 13:32 {p} The word of the LORD shall surely come to pass;
2c) 1 Kin 13:33a, Jeroboam did not turn from his evil way;
2b) 1 Kin 13:33b, He made priests of every class of people;
2a) 1 Kin 13:34 {p} Sin of the house of Jeroboam.

central axis) 1 Kin 14:1-4 {p} Jeroboam sent his wife to inquire of Abijah the prophet concerning his son, who was sick;

2c) 1 Kin 14:5-20 {p} The Lord will cut off the house of Jeroboam/ uproot the house of Israel because they forsook Him;

2b) 1 Kin 14:21-24 {p} Rehoboam reigned in Judah/ they disobeyed the word of the LORD and did evil;

1) 1 Kin 14:21, Rehoboam the son of Solomon reigned in Judah;
2) 1 Kin 14:22-24 {p} They disobeyed the word of the LORD and did the abominations of the nations before them;

2a) 1 Kin 14: 25-31 {p} Shishak king of Egypt/ Rehoboam’s acts written/ his death/ his son reigned in his place.

According to Ussher, Jeroboam became king in 975 BC, and Josiah became king in 641 BC. The Lord sent a prophet to prophesy against Jeroboam’s altars, something that would not occur for another 350 years, more or less (for Josiah did not do this act in the first year of his reign, but the book of the Law was not discovered until he had already been king 17 years). He is the God who knows the end from the beginning, and proclaims it!

I have been meditating on why the central axis of the entire record of the reigns of Rehoboam and Jeroboam, would be Jeroboam sending his wife to inquire of Abijah the prophet when his son became sick. To human logic it does not make sense. But then I asked myself, Jeroboam had forsaken the LORD, and His commandments, and was acting as high priest to the idols he had made (1 Kin 13:33), as well as king, as the nations had done since the Tower of Babel rebellion. So why did he not inquire, concerning his son, of the idols he had made? Why did he send to a prophet of Yehovah, the God of Israel, whom he had forsaken? Precisely because he knew that the idols he had made were false and could not answer him, while Yehovah, the God of Israel, was the true God who knows the end from the beginning. When the rubber meets the road, deep down men know who is God and who is not, and they contradict all their protestations to the contrary when their back is against the wall.