One Year Bible, Tuesday, June 14th "Jeroboam Turns to the Idolatry" "Saul is Accepted by the Believers in Jerusalem. Peter Raises A Woman from the Dead!"
Shemaiah’s Prophecy
Rehoboam amassed an army of 180,000 to take back the kingdom from the Israelites. Shemaiah, the prophet, told Rehoboam not to do it. It was the Lord's doing to separate the kingdom and it would not be wise for him to try and exert his will. Rehoboam obeyed the Lord and they went back home.
Rehoboam intended to make war against the seceding tribes of Israel, but God spoke through a prophet and stopped him. To his credit – or perhaps due to a lack of courage – Rehoboam listened to God’s word through Shemaiah the man of God. - Guzik
Jeroboam Makes Gold Calves
Meanwhile Jeroboam, fearful of the Davidic dynasty growing, creates his own system of worship. He was afraid they would go to Jerusalem to offer sacrifices and then be influenced by the people there to join King Rehoboam, so he instituted his own religious festivals. On the advice of his advisors, he built two gold calves for the people to worship. He placed these idols at both ends of the land and people traveled to go worship there.
He ordained people outside the tribe of Levi to offer the sacrifices. You can see Jeroboam had strayed from the Lord's decrees in many ways. He violated in the Law in the worst ways with various forms of idolatry making a mockery of the priesthood and sacrificial system given by the covenant given by Moses.
The fact of the divided kingdom did not mean that the northern tribes were exempt from their covenant obligations. They were under the Law of Moses as much as the southern tribes, but Jeroboam feared the political implications of yearly trips down to the capital city of the southern kingdom of Judah.
A Prophet Denounces Jeroboam
God raised up a prophet to come and confront Jeroboam in the sins listed above. He told him that Josiah, from the tribe of Judah, would replace him. Incensed by what the prophet had said pointed at the man and told his men to seize him. Right away Jeroboam's hand became parylzed. The king asked the man to pray for him and when the man did, his hand was healed. Grateful for the healing prayer, he invited the man back to his palace to eat, but he man refused knowing God had commanded him not to eat when he was there. So he returned to Judah by another way.
Another older prophet heard this story and caught up with the man of God. He offered him food and drink, which he refused. But the man lied to him, telling him God told him to feed him. After he bought the lie and ate, the Lord told the older prophet that the man had disobeyed and would face the consequences. Sure enough when the man went down the road, he was killed by a lion.
I have to admit this is an unsual story. To me it seemed unfair that this man of God did evrerything God had told him and only ate because he thought the old prophet was telling him the truth. It seems like a cruel fate for the man. Honestly I don't think there is a good answer to this dilemma. but here are some different viewpoints from different commentators.
"No matter how natural and seductive this enticement was, it was the duty of the man of God to resist it. He had a word from God to guide his actions, and should receive no other word accept through dramatic and direct confirmation by God’s Spirit. His failure at this point ended his usefulness as a man of God. - Guzik
“When we have received a direct command fresh from the lips of Christ, we must act on it, and not be turned aside by a different suggestion, made to us through the lips of professing Christians… Deal with God at first-hand.” (Meyer)
“God never contradicts Himself in His dealings with His servants. Let us be true to His commands, refusing to be deflected from the path of obedience, even by an angel from heaven.” (Morgan)
I think the key lesson is just because someone says they are speaking a word "from the Lord", we need to test it. Does it contradict something in God's word or a direct commandment from God? God's Word will never contradict itself though human beings will, especially when the Word of God is misinterpreted.
When Saul returned to the church, they were obviously very skeptical of him. Who wouldn't they be? But Barnabas told of his conversion story and how he was preaching and healing in the name of Jesus. Saul preached the gospel and debated with many people, including many Greek speaking Jews proving that Jesus was the Messiah. When men came after him. the believers sent him back to Tarsus to protect him. He had come under their graces, and they fully accepted him as one of their own.
Peter Heals Aeneas and Raises Dorcas
He met a man named Aeneas who was parylyzed and was bedridden for 8 years. Peter told him to pick up his mat and walk and he did. Importantly he said, "Jesus heals you!" Many people saw this and turned to the Lord. Then he met a woman named Tabitha who had died. The believers heard about what he was doing and asked them to please come!
Peter shooed all the people out of the house to pray over her. He said, "Tabitha get up!", and she opened her eyes and saw Peter and sat up. This news spread and many more came to the Lord. As you can see Peter was quite the powerful apostle as he ministered in the power of the Holy Spirit.
It may very well be that the expectation was that Peter would merely comfort these Christian widows and others in their grief over Dorcas’ death. Yet Peter sensed a specific leading to do just as he had seen Jesus do as recorded in Mark 5:38-43 – he put them all out, in the anticipation that God would do for Tabitha what He did for the daughter of the ruler of the synagogue. - Guzik
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