Address—C. Hendricks
DISCLAIMER: The following has been auto-transcribed. We hope it will help you to find the section of this audio file you are looking for.
Read a verse to start with in Romans 15.
And verse 4.
For whatsoever things were written aforetime.
Were written for our learning.
That we, through patience and comfort of the scriptures, might have hope.
So here we have New Testament documentation for the fact that what's what was written in the Old Testament before time.
Was written for our learning. We learned principles and we're going to look at a portion of scripture this afternoon that that teaches these wonderful truths. Turn back with me to 1St Kings chapter.
13.
1 Kings 13. We'll read a few verses there.
Before we go on.
1 Kings 13 One Behold, there came a man of God out of Judah, by the word of the Lord.
Unto Bethel and Jeroboam stood by the altar to burn incense.
And he cried against the altar in the word of the Lord, and said, O altar, altar.
Thus saith the Lord, Behold, a child shall be born unto the House of David Josiah by name.
And upon thee shall he offer the priests of the high places that burn incense upon thee, and men's bones shall be burnt upon thee.
And he gave a sign the same day, saying, This is the sign which the Lord had spoken. Behold, the altar shall be rent.
And the ashes that are upon it shall be poured out.
And it came to pass when King Jeroboam heard the saying of the man of God which had cried against the altar in Bethel.
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.
The altar also was rent in the ashes poured out from the altar, according to the sign which the man of God had given by the word of the Lord.
And 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.
And the king said unto the man of God, Come home with me and refresh thyself, and I will give thee a reward.
And the man of God said unto the King, If thou wilt give me half thine house, I will not go in with thee. Neither will I eat bread nor drink water in this place. For so was it charged me by the word of the Lord, saying, Eat no bread, nor drink water, nor turn again by the same way that thou camest. So he went another way.
And returned not by the way, that he came to Bethel.
Now we'll come back to this passage, but turn to 2nd Kings 23.
You'll notice in the second verse of the 13th chapter, Josiah was named.
Way before he was born.
And in the 23rd of.
Second Kings, we have Josiah.
Who is carrying out a cleaning up of the idolatry that the Children of Israel had fallen into Children of Judah?
And it says.
In verse 13 and the high places that were before Jerusalem, which were on the right hand of the Mount of corruption.
Which Solomon the king of Israel had builded for Ashtaroth, the abomination of the Zidonians, and Fort Chimash, the abomination of the Moabites, and Fort Milcombe, the abomination of the children of Ammon, did the king defile.
That's King Josiah, and he break in pieces the images and cut down the Groves and fill their places with the bones of men.
Moreover, the altar that was at Bethel and the High Place, which Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, had made both that altar and the High place, He break down and burn the high place, and stamped it small to powder, and burned the Grove.
And as Josiah turned himself, he spied the sepulchre that were there in the mount, and sent and took the bones out of the sepulchres, and burned them upon the altar, and polluted it according to the word of the Lord, which the man of God proclaimed who proclaimed these words.
Now we stop there and go back to this later.
00:05:02
In order to understand really what we've read in First Kings 13.
We'll have to back up to the 10th chapter and get a little history.
First Kings, chapter 10.
And we'll start with verse 23. So King Solomon.
Exceeded all the kings of the earth for riches and for wisdom.
And all the earth sought to Solomon to hear his wisdom, which God had put in his heart.
And they brought every man his present vessels of silver, vessels of gold, and garments and armor and spices, horses and mules, a rate year by year. And Solomon gathered together Chariots and horsemen, and he had 1400 Chariots and 12,000 horsemen, whom he bestowed in the cities for Chariots, and with the king at Jerusalem. And the king made silver to be in Jerusalem as stones, and Cedars made he to be as the Sycamore trees.
That are in the veil for abundance. And Solomon had horses brought out of Egypt and linen yarn.
The King's merchants received the linen yarn at a price, and a chariot came up and went out of Egypt for 600 shekels of silver, and in our horse for 150. And so for all the kings of the Hittites, and for the kings of Syria did they bring them out by their names.
Well, in Deuteronomy we read that the king.
Was not to multiply horses.
Not to multiply silver and gold.
Not to multiply wives. Solomon did all these things.
It's beautiful to read of the beginning of Solomon. It's very sad to read at his end.
But his beginning was wonderful.
And then he rose to a height that the nation of Israel has never exceeded.
It was the very height. It speaks of the Millennium, in fact.
Is what beautiful to look at? Solomon is a type of Christ in his millennial reign, but when you look at him as a person.
And how he had initially asked the Lord not for for fame, or for wealth, or for power over his enemies, but for wisdom, that he might lead his people in a right way. One beautiful how he began. And God gave him wisdom, and he gave him all the other things besides.
And now in the 11TH chapter it says, But King Solomon loved many strange women.
Together with the daughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, and Hittites of the nations. Concerning which the Lord said unto the children of Israel, You shall not go into them, neither shall they come in unto you, for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods. Solomon clave unto these in love.
And he had 700 wives, princesses and 300 concubines. And his wives turned away his heart.
For it came to pass when Solomon was old.
I used to be in the same meeting where Eric Smith was.
And I enjoyed a visit with him this last winter in Montreal. Two days we visited him, there was number response.
From him we sang and read and prayed with him, but there was no response on Saturday and again on Lord's Day.
But just as I was leaving, I took him by the hand that held him, and he squeezed my hand.
So I knew that he was conscious of our presence there. Just how much he took in, I don't know, but that's the last I ever saw of dear Brother Smith, and he died 2 days short of 103.
Is with the Lord now. He is to say to us, I heard him say it more than once, Pray for this old man that he doesn't die a wicked old man.
And other brothers quoted him as saying, Pray for this old man, that he doesn't die a foolish old man.
And he probably said both of those statements. Well, he didn't thank the Lord, but we can't say that for Solomon.
The way he ended his pathway was very sad. It wasn't like David, his father.
Instead, we read Let's read on here.
It says in verse 4 it came to pass when Solomon was old that his wives turned away his heart.
After other gods. And his heart was not perfect with the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father. You might think of David's sin with Bathsheba, and how can the scriptures say it was perfect with the Lord his God? Because he never turned away from Jehovah, he never turned away from the true God, and he always submitted to God's government and his chastening of him when he did fail.
00:10:11
And he failed in a moral sense, but Solomon failed in a much more serious sense than that. He went a *******.
After other gods, he was not true to the Lord his God as David was.
As was David his father. For Solomon went after Ashtarath verse 5, the goddess of the Zidonians, and after Milkum the abomination of the Ammonites. And Solomon did evil in the sight of the Lord, and went not fully after the Lord, as did David his father.
Then did Solomon build in high place for Chimash the abomination of Moab, in the hill that is before Jerusalem, right there where God had said his name, the divine center. He builds this abomination in the high place for Chimash, the abomination of Moab.
And for Moloch, the abomination of the children of Ammon. And likewise did he for all his strange wives, which burn incense, and sacrificed unto their gods.
And the Lord was angry with Solomon.
Because his wives, his heart was turned from the Lord God of Israel, which had.
Appeared unto him twice.
And had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods.
But he kept not that which the Lord.
Commanded.
Wherefore the Lord said unto Solomon, For as much as this is done of thee, and thou hast not kept my covenant in my statutes which I have commanded thee, I will surely rend the Kingdom from thee, and will give it to thy servant. I want you to notice, it's very important that we notice that this division that we're about to read of that happened in Israel. 10 tribes were taken away from the House of David and given to Solomon's servant Jeroboam.
And only two remained at the divine center.
It was because of failure there.
Failure at Jerusalem, failure at the divine center that the chastening hand of God fell with such.
Force and fury upon the House of David. It was sin there in Solomon and in his.
Uh, subjects.
I will surely rend the Kingdom from thee, and will give it to thy servant.
That was standing in thy days. Verse 12. I will not do it for David thy father's sake.
But I will rend it out of the hand of thy son.
We have just read in this chapter he had 700 wives, 300 concubines, but there's only one son recorded being the son of Solomon Rehoboam.
Just one. He had some daughters.
Now if someone knows that he had other sons, I'd like to know. I don't know of any.
I will not rend it away all the Kingdom, verse 13.
But will give one tribe to thy son, for David my servant's sake, and for Jerusalem's sake, which I have chosen. Notice how he emphasizes that he had chosen God, had chosen Jerusalem. That was the place of his choice. And it was right there, right there at Jerusalem, where Solomon erected some of this, these abominations to these false gods.
And then we read in verse 14, We're not going to read all these verses for time's sake. The Lord stood up an adversary unto Solomon, Hey, dad, the Edomite. And again in verse 23, God stirred him up. Another adversary reason, the son of Eliada, which fled from his Lord, had a dear king of Zobah, and he gathered men unto him and became captain over a band, when David slew them of Zobah, and they went to Damascus.
Built therein and reigned in Damascus. And he was an adversary to Israel all the days of Solomon, beside the mischief that Heydad did, and he abhorred Israel and reigned over Syria.
Why do I read those verses? Well, of course they're part of the Scriptures, but it's to show that when Solomon.
Had his heart turned away from the true God by his wives when he was old?
That God then raised up these adversaries to afflict.
The House of David.
We often look at the second cause of things, but we must always go back to God.
When these troubles come.
00:15:02
Now we read about Jeroboam in verse 26 and Jeroboam the son of Nebat and Ephrathite of Zarida, Solomon servant whose mother's name was Zarua, a widow woman, even he lifted up his hand against the king.
And this was the cause that he lifted up his hand against the king Solomon built Millow and repaired the breaches of the city of David, his father. And the man Jeroboam was a mighty man of valor. And Solomon, seeing the young man that he was industrious, he made him ruler over all the charge of the House of Joseph.
And it came to pass at that time, when Jeroboam went out of Jerusalem, that the prophet Ahijah, the Shiloh knight, found him in the way.
And he had clad himself with a new garment, and they too were alone in the field. And a hydra caught the new garment that was on him and rented in 12 pieces.
And he said to Jeroboam, Take the 10 pieces. For thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel, Behold, I will rend the Kingdom.
Out of the hand of Solomon, and will give 10 tribes to thee.
But he shall have one tribe for my servant David's sake. These are instructions to Jeroboam, and he's telling him these things. He shall have one tribe for my servant David's sake and for Jerusalem's sake, the city which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel. He tells Jeroboam. I've chosen that city. That's where I have placed my name.
And yet he was going to give 10 of the tribes to Jeremiah.
And then he tells him why he was doing this. Verse 33. Because that they have forsaken me.
And have worshiped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zidonians, Chimash the God of the Moabites, and Milcom the God of the children of Ammon. And have not walked in my ways to do that which is right in mine eyes, and to keep my statutes and my judgments, as did David his father. Now notice they have forsaken me, it says in the previous chapter or earlier it says that Solomon had forsaken him and his wives had turned away his heart. And he's the one.
Did this, but here it says they that is those at Jerusalem, those at the divine center followed Solomon in this departure.
And they're held to it, how solemn it is.
But then he tells him verse 34 Howbeit, I will not take the whole Kingdom out of his hand, but I will make him Prince all the days of his life for David, my servants sake, whom I chose because he kept my commandments and my statutes. But I will take the Kingdom out of his sons hand and will give it unto thee even 10 tribes. So this is all instruction given to Jeroboam. And he tells Jeroboam why I'm why he was doing this, because those.
Jerusalem had turned away from the true God.
And had gone into idolatry.
And then he says in verse 37.
And I will take thee notice the end of verse 36, which Jerusalem which I have chosen me to put my name there.
Even though he was disciplining Jerusalem, even though in his government he was taking 10 tribes and giving it to Jeroboam, Solomon's servant, still Jerusalem was still the place where he had said his name.
And I will take thee, and thou shalt reign according to all that thy soul desireth. That is Jeroboam.
And shall be king over Israel now from this point on, that is from the time of the division of the 10 tribes from the 2, the 10 tribes are called often called Israel in Scripture, and the 2 tribes Judah, Judah and Benjamin.
Sometimes the 10 tribes are called Ephraim, which was the which was the lead tribe, but it's sometimes called Israel. And here it says thou shalt be king over Israel. That's the 10 tribes. And it shall be if thou wilt hearken unto all that I command thee, and wilt walk in my ways and do that that is right in my sight, to keep my statutes and my commandments as David my servant did. Now this is what he promises to Jeroboam, if you will walk in my ways, if you will be.
Obedient to me #1 he says, I will be with thee.
And #2 I will build the assure house and #3 and I will give Israel the 10 tribes unto thee 3 things that he absolutely promised him if he walked in obedience. But Jeroboam did not have a heart to walk in obedience to the Lord. And you read the expression over and over again in historical books. Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin.
No, he did not have a heart to follow the Lord, and so these blessings that were held out to him, he never enjoyed them.
00:20:08
Notice verse 39. Such an important verse for our consciences.
And I will, for this afflict the seed of David.
But not forever.
There's going to be a healing of that division. It hasn't taken place yet. It's still in the future, but the 10 tribes and the two will end up as 12 again. There's a day coming when that will.
Come to pass, but during the time when the 10 are taken and given to Jeroboam, Solomon's servant.
Who did not follow the Lord? And you never read of a godly king in the 10 tribes?
But there were godly kings in the 2 tribes.
And he says, I will, for this afflict the seed of David.
But not forever. So it's an affliction, these divisions that God brings in, sends.
It's from him.
Are the affliction on us?
We feel that so keenly. I trust we do.
And the evil, the reason for it, was right there.
At the divine center.
Did Solomon submit to all this?
Very sad to read the end of Solomon.
He tried to stop the government of God. That's impossible. None of us can stop the government of God.
Solomon sought therefore, to kill Jeroboam.
If I can just kill Jeroboam, he's the one that God said would get to 10 tribes, I'll stop the whole thing.
And Jeroboam arose and fled into Egypt unto Shishak, king of Egypt, and was in Egypt until the death of Solomon.
And the rest of the acts of Solomon and all that he did in his wisdom, are they not written in the book of the Acts of Solomon? And the time that Solomon reigned in Jerusalem was over all Israel was 40 years.
And Solomon slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David his father, and Rehoboam his son, reigned in his stead.
Is that a sad ending?
He began so well.
He rose to the very zenith of power and glory and fame.
He had everything pleasure.
And he wrote the song, he wrote the book of Ecclesiastes to say that it's all vanity and vexation of spirit.
He tried it all.
But he.
In a way, he ended up as a fool.
Very sad. Now we read of Jeroboam.
And Rehoboam went to Shechem.
For all Israel were come to Shechem to make him king.
And it came to pass when Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who was yet in Egypt, heard of it, for he was fled from the presence of King Solomon, and Jeroboam dwelt in Egypt that they sent and called him.
And Jeroboam and all the congregation of Israel came and spake unto Rehoboam, saying, Thy Father made our yoke grievous. Now Jeroboam becomes the spokesman of the 10 tribes.
Of Ephraim, Israel.
And he's back now from Egypt.
And now he's the the spokesman, and he says to the to Rebond, thy father made our yoke grievous. Thy father Solomon made our yoke grievous. Now therefore make thou the grievous service, service of thy father and his heavy yoke which he put upon us lighter.
And we will serve thee.
And he said unto them, Depart for yet three days, then come again to me, And the people departed.
And King Rehoboam consulted with the old men.
That stood before Solomon his father, while he yet lived, and said, How do ye advise that I may answer this people?
These were those that were contemporary with Solomon.
Rehoboam's father and they give some very good advice.
They spake unto him, saying, If thou will be a servant unto this people this day, and will serve them, and answer them, and speak good words to them, then they they will be thy servants forever.
Good advice.
But he forsook the counsel of the old men which they had given him, and consulted with the young men that were grown up with him, and which stood before him now. These were Rehoboam's contemporaries.
And he listens to their counsel.
And he said unto them, What counsel give ye, that we may answer this people who have spoken to me, saying, Make the yoke which thy Father did put upon us lighter?
And the young men that were grown up with him spake unto him, saying, Thus shalt thou speak unto this people that spake unto thee, saying, Thy Father made our yoke heavy, but make thou wit lighter unto us. Thus shalt thou say unto them, My little finger.
00:25:14
Shall be thicker than my father's loins.
And now, whereas my father did laid you with a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke. My father hath chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions.
So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam the third day, as the king had appointed, saying, Come to me again the third day. And the king answered the people roughly, and forsook the old man's counsel that they gave him, and spake to them after the counsel of the young men, saying, My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to your yoke. My father chastise you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions.
Wherefore the king hearkened not unto the people.
For the cause was from the Lord. There's one passage in Chronicles I think it is. It says of the Lord that's wrong.
It's if you're reading Mr. Darby's, it's always It was from the Lord. Division is never of God.
So the enemy.
But it's from God. That is, God in his government sends it.
And we have to take it as from him.
So this is correct.
The cause was from the Lord, that he might perform his saying, which the Lord spake by Ahijah the Shilonite unto Jeroboam the son of Nebat.
Now what should the 10 tribes have done?
Ria Bond spoke very harshly to them. He acted upon the bad counsel of the young men and didn't upon the good counsel of the old men. But should they have submitted anyway? Yes, they should have. They should have submitted.
They should have submitted to the authority of Rehoboth. He was the king.
But it was from God that he.
Dealt so hardly with them it gave them an excuse for rebellion.
And even though it seemed like a good excuse, rebellion is never right.
And notice what they say.
So when all Israel saw verse 16 that the king hearkened not unto them, the people answered the king saying.
What portion have we in, David?
They don't say what portion have we in Rehoboam or what portion have we in Solomon, who was the instigator of all that idolatry that's brought all this upon us? What portion have we in David? They disassociate themselves. They cut themselves off from David.
The very source of their blessing.
What portion of we and David neither have we inheritance in the son of Jesse?
So when one rebels against authority, it often ends up that they.
Cut themselves off from their own blessings. And that's what the 10 tribes did here to your tent. So Israel now see to thine own house, David.
Well, David was the one that followed the Lord.
David was the one that had a true and purpose heart.
And yet they disassociate themselves from the House of David.
So Israel departed under their tents.
But As for the children of Israel, which dwelt in the cities of Judah, Rehoboam reigned over them.
Then King Rehoboam, that Solomon's son sent Adoram who was over the tribute and all Israel stoned him with stones.
That he died.
Therefore King Rehobold made speed to get him up to his chariot to flee to Jerusalem. So Israel rebelled. Against whom?
Not rainbow against the House of David. Unto this day there is solemn.
That they rebelled against the House of David unto this day. And it came to pass, when all Israel heard that Jeroboam was come again, that they sent and called him under the congregation, and made him king over all Israel. There was none that followed the House of David, but the tribe of Judah only.
And when Rehoboam was come to Jerusalem, he assembled all the House of Judah with the tribe of Benjamin, and 104 score 1000 chosen men which were warriors to fight against the House of Israel, to bring the Kingdom again to Reuben the son of Solomon.
But the word of God came unto Shemaya the man of God, saying, Speak unto Rehoboth the son of Solomon, king of Judah, and unto all the House of Judah and Benjamin, and to the remnant of the people, saying, Thus saith the Lord, Ye shall not go up.
00:30:04
Nor fight against your brethren, the children of Israel. Return every man to his house.
For this thing is from me.
Now the beauty about this is to see that Rehoboth submits to this. He says, well, I'm only going to have two tribes. I've lost 10 tribes.
I submit to that.
I doubt to that. And so we read. They hearkened therefore to the word of the Lord, and returned to depart according to the word of the Lord.
He could have blamed himself for not listening to the advice of the old men, but that was from God.
That he should act as he acted.
But it was of the enemy.
That Israel said.
What portion have we and David or inheritance in the son of Jesse dear tent so Israel.
And they separated.
Well.
Let's read on. They hearkened, therefore to the word of the Lord. Return to depart according to the word of the Lord. Verse 25. Now Jeroboam built Shechem.
In Mount Ephraim.
And dwelt therein and went out from fence and built Penuel.
Now remember what God had said to Jeroboam, that if you build him a sure house and he would give the 10 tribes to him.
Those were the promises of God if Jeroboam was.
Obedient, but he had no faith. He wasn't a man of faith. He was an evil king.
And he led the children of Israel, the 10 tribes.
Into a terrible situation.
So what does he reason?
Verse 26, Jeroboam said in his heart.
Now shall the Kingdom return to the House of David.
If these people go up to do sacrifice in the House of the Lord at Jerusalem, then shall the heart of this people turn again unto their Lord.
Even at a rebond king of Judah, and they shall kill me and go again to Rehoboam, king of Judah. Now God had told him they would not do that.
If he had walked in obedience.
He would give Israel to him and he would make him a sure house and he would establish him.
But he starts to reason upon this. He had no faith in the word of God, and now he starts to plan how he's going to prevent this from happening.
Whereupon the King took counsel, And who did he take counsel with?
By those that had followed in rebellion against the House of David.
Very poor ones to take counsel of those that were not at the divine center, those that had walked away from the divine center and were in a state of rebellion. But he took counsel, and he made two calves of gold and said unto them, It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem.
Behold thy gods of Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. That goes way back to the time when Aaron made a God and they worshipped it. When Moses was up on the mountain. When he and Joshua came down, they found the children of Israel into idolatry. Now. Now he makes 2 gods.
2 golden calves.
And he puts them in two places. He set the one in Bethel.
And the other put he in Dan death. Thou means the House of God. It now had become a House of idols.
And Dan means God will judge, and surely he will.
Jeroboam, he will judge what you have done.
He violated the divine principle that does only one place, and that was at Jerusalem, by setting up two places, Dan at the northern part of the line of the land and battle at the southern part, so that.
They were easy to reach. They wouldn't have to make that long trip if they lived in the northern part all the way down to Jerusalem. And if they did start, they would have to go by Bethel, and again they would have another place that they could worship. He provided to for everything, according to human wisdom, to prevent the 10 tribes from going to Jerusalem. And he set the one in Bethel and the other put He and Dan, and the thing became a sin.
For the people went to worship before the one, even unto Dan, that's the northern part. And he made an House of high places, and made priests of the lowest of the people, which were not of the sons of Levi. And Jeroboam ordained a feast in the eighth month.
The Feast of Tabernacles is in the seventh month, but he made it in the eighth month, on the 15th day of the month, like under that feast that is in Judah.
You offered upon the altar, So did he, and Bethel, sacrificing unto the calves that he had made, and he placed in Bethel the priests of the high places which he had made.
So he offered upon the altar which he had made in Bethel the 15th day of the 8th month, even in the month which he had devised of his own heart.
00:35:06
And ordained A feast under the children of Israel. And he offered upon the altar, and burnt incense.
Is there that which answers to that? Today in Christendom, there certainly is.
There's not just one table, there's hundreds.
And it says in Hosea it says that Ephraim hath multiplied altars unto sin. That was just one that God had established and set up at Jerusalem at the divine center that he had multiplied. They had multiplied altars.
And Jeroboam was the beginning of this departure.
Now we come to the portion that we started with.
I won't reread those verses, but just.
Start at verse 7. I read some of it.
The man of God had healed. He had asked the Lord to heal the king, Jeroboam. Remember, Jeroboam was very angry when the man of God out of Judah came down and pronounced judgment against that altar that he had set up at Bethel. And he says lay hold on him, and his hand, his arm was.
Withered, he couldn't pull it in again. He said pray to the Lord for me that my hand arm might be healed. And he did that. He acted in grace.
The man of God pronounced judgment faithfully against that altar, and now he acts in grace, and then Jeroboam wants to reward him. So the king said unto the man of God, verse 7, Come home with me and refresh thyself, and I'll give thee a reward.
And the man of God said unto the King, If thou will give me half thine house, I will not go in with thee. Neither will I eat bread nor drink water in this place, for so was it charged me by the word of the Lord.
Now this is a very important principle to get a hold of that once we have the word of the Lord for something. And he went down there from Judah to that idolatrous center at Bethel, and was charged by the word of the Lord not to have any fellowship in that place. He was to deliver his, his sentence of judgment, and then he was to depart another way so that no one would think that he had he had dallied there and had had fellowship in that place.
For soul was it charged me by the word of the Lord, saying, Eat no bread, nor drink water, nor turn again by the same way that thou camest. So he went another way.
And return not by the way, that he came to Bethel, so he faithfully withstands.
The offer of the King Jeroboam. Picture of the religious world.
Who had LED Israel into gross idolatry?
And he faithfully withstands that and has no fellowship in that place.
He said you can give me half your Kingdom, but I will not eat bread, drink water in this place.
And he was faithful.
The man of God out of Judah.
Had to come from the place where God had said his name to witness against this evil.
Now in verse 11.
Now they are dwelt in old Prophet in Bethel, in the very place where all this idolatry had been set up.
And his sons came and told him all the works that the man of God had done that day in Bethel.
The words which he had spoken.
Unto the King, then they told also to their father.
And their father said unto them, What way went he? For his sons had seen what way the man of God went, which came from Judah. And they said unto his son, Saddle me the ***. So they saddled him the *** and he rode thereon, and went after the man of God, and found him sitting under an oak.
And he said unto him, Art thou the man of God, that camest from Judah? And he said, I am.
Then he said unto him, Come home with me and eat bread.
And he said, I may not return with thee, nor go in with thee, neither will I eat bread nor drink water with thee in this place.
For it was said to me by the word of the Lord.
Thou shalt eat no bread, nor drink water there, nor turn again to go by the way that thou camest. So again he very faithfully.
Tells this.
This fellow prophet, this brother.
And I believe that both of these men will see, as we look through the incident, both of these men were truly the Lords.
The man of God out of Judah.
And the old Prophet Bethel, the old Prophet Bethel was dwelling in a place of evil. He was not witnessing against it. He was by his being there and living there, he was in complicity with it.
And so he was not, he was not a sanctified meat for the masters use vessel to be used by God against that evil. He was in fellowship with it. You cannot witness against the evil that you're in fellowship with. Lot in Sodom is a good example of that. He sat in the gate when he told his sons in law about the judgment that was coming, they, they thought he mocked and they did not listen to him.
00:40:22
Because his testimony was such.
So, so far, this man of God out of Judah has been faithful to his.
Testimony to his charge.
And now he hears another very, very, very subtle plea from this old prophet, verse 18. After all, he was an older man than the man of God out of Judah, probably a younger man. But this old prophet, he'd been in the way a long time. And now he speaks with a, a measure of authority. And he said unto him, I'm a prophet also.
As thou art.
And an Angel spake unto me by the word of the Lord. He uses the very same language that the old man of God out of Judah used, the word of the Lord. He said, An Angel spake to me by the word of the Lord. It reminds me of Galatians, one which says, If an Angel from heaven preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached, let him be accursed.
And he said it a second time, the apostle. So here this man of this old prophet of Bethel, he says to him, An Angel, spake unto me by the word of the Lord, saying, Bring him back with thee.
Into thine house, that he may eat bread and drink water.
But he lied unto him. He was probably.
Quite upset that God could not use him.
To testify against that evil that was there.
So the man of God out of Judah comes down to witness against it.
You may have been jealous.
But he tries to ensnare the man of God out of Judah into a compromise which would have nullified his testimony against the evil at Bethel.
All he tried to get him to do was to get him to eat there and drink there.
And so he tells him this lie. He says, An Angel spoke to me by the word of the Lord.
Verse 19 sad to read it. So he, the man of God out of Judah, went back with him, and he'd eat bread in the house and drank water.
Now here is their drinking and eating.
He does the very thing that he fully refused to do with, Jeroboam said. You can give me half your Kingdom. I won't do it.
But now, under the subtle plea of an old prophet, he submits, he succumbs to that temptation.
And now he cried.
Verse 21.
Verse 20 came to pass as they sat at the table, that the word of the Lord came unto the prophet that brought him back.
And he cried unto the man of God that came from Judah, saying, Thus saith the Lord, For as much as thou hast disobeyed the mouth of the Lord.
And has not kept the commandment which the Lord thy God commanded thee, but camest back and hast eaten bread and drunk water, in the place of the which the Lord did say to thee, Eat no bread and drink no water.
Thy carcass shall not come unto the sepulcher of thy fathers.
And it came to pass.
After he had eaten bread.
And after he had drunk that he saddled for him the *** to it for the Prophet, whom he had brought back.
And when he was gone, a lion met him by the way, and slew him.
And his carcass was cast in the way, and the *** stood by it, and the lion also stood by the carcass.
So the old prophet of Bethel succeeded.
And deceiving the man of God out of Judah, he lied to him.
Said that God spoke to him by an Angel, by the word of the Lord. You should come back now once we have got the word of the Lord, Once we have it, we're not to allow any after any after events, any after messages from anyone else.
To change us. And that's what the man of God did. So what did he do? He nullified his testimony against that place by eating and drinking there.
He put his stamp of approval on the very place that.
Was.
To be judged by God.
And he nullified his testimony.
And he loses it. He's killed by the lion. The enemy had succeeded in deceiving him.
00:45:06
How sad.
And when he was gone, a lion met him, by the way, verse 24 and slew him.
And his carcass was cast in the way, and the *** stood by it. The lion also stood by the carcass.
And behold, men passed by and saw the carcass cast in the way, and the lion standing by the carcass, and they came and told it in the city.
Where the old prophet dwelt.
And when the prophet that brought him back from the way heard thereof, he said, it is the man of God.
Who was disobedient unto the word of the Lord? Now God used this old prophet to pronounce judgment on the man of God.
Condemning himself in doing so, condemning the position, the false position that he was in.
God used him.
To pronounce judgment on the man of God.
And he knew who it was.
And so it says.
Verse 25, No. Verse 26 And when the prophet that brought him back from the way heard thereof, he said.
It is the man of God who was disobedient unto the word of the Lord.
Therefore the Lord hath delivered him unto the lion.
Which have torn him and slain him, according to the word of the Lord. Which he spake unto him. And he spake to his son, saying, Saddle me the ***. And they saddled him. And he went and found his carcass cast in the way, and the *** and the lion standing by the carcass. The lion had not eaten the carcass nor torn the ***. That lion was sent there for one purpose, to kill the man of God. That's all. He didn't kill the ***. He didn't destroy the man of God. He just killed him.
And the prophet took up the carcass of the man of God, verse 29, and laid it upon the ***.
And brought it back. And the old prophet came to the city to mourn and to bury him.
And he said he laid his carcass in his own grave and they mourned over him, saying, alas.
My brother.
He resisted the overtures of the world in Jeroboam with all its rewards that he would have given faithfully resisted that, but under the in seductive lie and and influence of a fellow prophet, a brother, he succumbed.
And ruined his testimony.
Alas, my brother, the old prophet said.
And it came to pass after he had buried him, that he spake to his son, saying, When I am dead, then bury me in the sepulcher wherein the man of God is buried. Lay my bones beside his bones.
For the saying which he cried by the word of the Lord against the altar in Bethel.
And against all the houses of the high places which are in the cities of Samaria shall surely come to pass.
So the old prophet has to acknowledge that that judgment that had been pronounced by the man of God was correct and of God.
And he was a part of the evil that was going to be judged.
Now, did Jeroboam profit from this?
Did he profit at all? Not a bit of it.
After this thing, verse 33, Jeroboam returned, not from his evil way, but made again of the lowest of the people, priests of the high places.
Whosoever would, he consecrated him, and he became one of the priests of the high places, And this thing became sin under the House of Jeroboam, even to cut it off and to destroy it.
From off the face of the earth.
The way the wicked shall be destroyed.
The way the righteous should be maintained.
And so it happened to the House of Jeroboam.
But let's just complete the story by turning back to 2nd.
Kings 23.
We'll read a few more verses past where we stopped.
I'll read verse 16 again.
And as Josiah turned himself, he spied the sepulchers that were there in the mount, and sent and took the bones out of the sepulchers, and burned them upon the altar, and polluted it according to the word of the Lord, which the man of God proclaimed, who proclaimed these words. So he exhumed, he took out these bones of these false prophets and priests, and he burned them upon the altar, just according to the saying of the man of God.
And then he said, verse 17. What title is that that I see?
And the men of the city told him, It is the sepulchre of the man of God, which came from Judah, and proclaimed these things that thou hast done against the altar of Bethel.
00:50:02
And he said let him alone.
That no man move his bones.
So they let his bones alone with the bones of the prophet that came out of Samaria.
The old profited, the old prophet of Bethel had had told his sons that when I die you put me in that same sepulcher, and there they are.
And this convinces me that they were both the Lords because they do not partake of the judgment that came upon the false prophets and priests. They were exhumed and their bones were burned on the altar a a a significant act that they would come under the judgment of God in a future day in hell.
But not so the man of God out of Judah and the old prophet of Bethel. They both failed.
The old prophet of Bethel failed by dwelling in complicity with a place that was established in rank rebellion against God and in wickedness.
And the man of God out of Judah failed in not remaining separate from.
Fellowship with that place, when he yielded to the promptings, the lies, the entreaties of a fellow prophet.
How often we can resist the world's overtures to go with them and to have fellowship where they go and say, no, we can't do that, and then we will have fellowship at a place that the Lord has pronounced judgment again.
It's a solemn thing.
But the beauty of this is they were both real prophets and so they don't partake of the judgment that came upon the false prophets. Their bones remained in the ground to await the resurrection day when they will be taken to glory.
True Men.
But.
They failed.
Both of them in separation.
From that which was.
Evil.
That which Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, that's a formula that is repeated over and over and over again. And he established a false center at Dan and at Bethel. He denied the principle that there's only one center by setting up two. And he instituted idolatry far even worse than what had been done.
By Solomon in Jerusalem.
So and he didn't profit.
Didn't profit by that. He got worse and worse and worse.
And.
He did not profit by the warnings.
Well, many wonderful lessons in these portions of the Old Testament they were.
These things were written for our learning.
That we, through comfort of the scriptures, might have hope.