A Boy in a Land of Idols

From: Messages of God's Love: 1939

1 Kings 14:1-20¹At that time Abijah the son of Jeroboam fell sick. ²And Jeroboam said to his wife, Arise, I pray thee, and disguise thyself, that thou be not known to be the wife of Jeroboam; and get thee to Shiloh: behold, there is Ahijah the prophet, which told me that I should be king over this people. ³And take with thee ten loaves, and cracknels, and a cruse of honey, and go to him: he shall tell thee what shall become of the child. ⁴And Jeroboam's wife did so, and arose, and went to Shiloh, and came to the house of Ahijah. But Ahijah could not see; for his eyes were set by reason of his age. ⁵And the Lord said unto Ahijah, Behold, the wife of Jeroboam cometh to ask a thing of thee for her son; for he is sick: thus and thus shalt thou say unto her: for it shall be, when she cometh in, that she shall feign herself to be another woman. ⁶And it was so, when Ahijah heard the sound of her feet, as she came in at the door, that he said, Come in, thou wife of Jeroboam; why feignest thou thyself to be another? for I am sent to thee with heavy tidings. ⁷Go, tell Jeroboam, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Forasmuch as I exalted thee from among the people, and made thee prince over my people Israel, ⁸And rent the kingdom away from the house of David, and gave it thee: and yet thou hast not been as my servant David, who kept my commandments, and who followed me with all his heart, to do that only which was right in mine eyes; ⁹But 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: ¹⁰Therefore, 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. ¹¹Him 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. ¹²Arise thou therefore, get thee to thine own house: and when thy feet enter into the city, the child shall die. ¹³And all Israel shall mourn for him, and bury him: for he only of Jeroboam shall come to the grave, because in him there is found some good thing toward the Lord God of Israel in the house of Jeroboam. ¹⁴Moreover the Lord shall raise him up a king over Israel, who shall cut off the house of Jeroboam that day: but what? even now. ¹⁵For the Lord shall smite Israel, as a reed is shaken in the water, and he shall root up Israel out of this good land, which he gave to their fathers, and shall scatter them beyond the river, because they have made their groves, provoking the Lord to anger. ¹⁶And he shall give Israel up because of the sins of Jeroboam, who did sin, and who made Israel to sin. ¹⁷And Jeroboam's wife arose, and departed, and came to Tirzah: and when she came to the threshold of the door, the child died; ¹⁸And they buried him; and all Israel mourned for him, according to the word of the Lord, which he spake by the hand of his servant Ahijah the prophet. ¹⁹And the rest of the acts of Jeroboam, how he warred, and how he reigned, behold, they are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel. ²⁰And the days which Jeroboam reigned were two and twenty years: and he slept with his fathers, and Nadab his son reigned in his stead. (1 Kings 14:1‑20)

This boy must have lived in a palace for his father was Jeroboam, the king of Israel. He was the man whose coat had been torn by the prophet of God, and all his words had come true. Yet the king did not honor God and had set up gold calves for the people to worship, and he had many prophets who were not true. God had warned him of his sins, but it only made him angry. Once he put out his hand to take the man of God, and, God caused his hand to wither, and he could not move it. He begged the man of God to pray for him, then God healed his hand. Still he kept on his wicked ways (1 Kings 13:4-7⁴And it came to pass, when king Jeroboam heard the saying of the man of God, which had cried against the altar in Beth-el, that he put forth his hand from the altar, saying, Lay hold on him. And his hand, which he put forth against him, dried up, so that he could not pull it in again to him. ⁵The altar also was rent, and the ashes poured out from the altar, according to the sign which the man of God had given by the word of the Lord. ⁶And the king answered and said unto the man of God, Entreat now the face of the Lord thy God, and pray for me, that my hand may be restored me again. And the man of God besought the Lord, and the king's hand was restored him again, and became as it was before. ⁷And the king said unto the man of God, Come home with me, and refresh thyself, and I will give thee a reward. (1 Kings 13:4‑7)).

Yet in this bad king’s home there must have been someone who spoke of the Lord, for one of the king’s sons heard of Him, and, though only a child, yet he believed about the Lord.

One day that little boy became very sick. His father could not help him, even though he was a strong king, and he was afraid his boy would not get well. Did he go to pray to the gold calves to make his boy well? No, he knew they could do no good, but he wanted help from the man of God, the one who had told him he should be king.

But Jeroboam seemed to be ashamed to go to the prophet, because he had not obeyed his words, and he could not send a servant, for he had said all should pray to the gold calves. So he told his wife to go, but not to tell the prophet who she was.

The prophet was old and blind but God told him who was coming to him, and what to tell her. So when the queen came, he told her that God could not bless the king because of his great sins, and that trouble would come to him, but that God would take the little boy out of the evils.

The queen returned to the palace, and just then the child died. But this was not to punish the little boy, but to save him from the dreadful things done in that land of idols, and in the wars where his brothers were killed.

This story shows us that even if those around us do not honor God, He looks into each heart and is pleased if He sees even a child who believes in Him, and watches over that one.

This boy’s name was Abijah. The prophet’s name was Ahijah. They were the same except for one letter.

ML 02/12/1939

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