I Kings 12:26,28,30

I Kings 12:26,28,30 And Jeroboam said in his heart, Now shall the kingdom return to the house of David: Whereupon the king … 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. And this thing became a sin ... Jeroboam stole away the hearts of the people in the ten northern tribes that was known as Israel. Only the tribes of Judah and Benjamin remained loyal to Solomon’s son, Rehoboam. But Jeroboam was nervous. He knew that the people went down to Jerusalem every year to worship at the Temple of God. He knew that they would see the majesty and power of Solomon’s son and Jeroboam was afraid that they would eventually boot him out as their king. So he devised a wicked plan. Jeroboam made two golden calves and set them up in the north of Israel for his people to worship so that they would not go down to Jerusalem. Jeroboam’s evil plan worked. Israel remained loyal to him. But it had sad consequences: His people began to worship Rehoboam’s golden calf idols and turned their backs on the true God of their fathers. Rehoboam had his kingdom all right, but the country began to go downhill fast. Evil and wickedness became common. The northern kingdom of Israel fell into evil times! Jeroboam had put his politics above God. Not a smart move and certainly not good results. Hey, God is all important. Put Him first - in everything!

I Kings 11:43

I Kings 11:43 And Solomon slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David his father: and Rehoboam his son reigned in his stead. Solomon had a clever advisor, Jeroboam. But as Solomon grew older, he began to mistrust Jeroboam. And for good reasons. Jeroboam was a mighty man ruling over Solomon’s region north of Jerusalem. Jeroboam liked to schmooze with the leaders and pushed himself to the front rather than Solomon. This didn’t go very well for Solomon. When Jeroboam was going out of Jerusalem one day, the prophet Ahijah caught his new robe and yanked it off of Jeroboam. Ahijah tore the robe into twelve pieces and gave ten pieces back to Jeroboam saying, “Thus saith the Lord, I will rip the kingdom from Solomon and give ten of the twelve tribes to you, Jeroboam.” And after Solomon’s death, that is exactly what happened. Solomon’s son, Rehoboam, was foolish taking advice from his younger friends and not from Solomon’s older advisors. The ten northern tribes of Israel rebelled against Rehoboam and asked Jeroboam to be their king instead of Rehoboam, Solomon’s heir. Ahijah’s prophecy came true. So what is our lesson from all of this? When you have assistants, be sure that they are loyal to you. Solomon failed in this area. And be careful who you get your advice from. Rehoboam, Solomon’s son failed in this area.

I Kings 11:4,5

I Kings 11:4,5 For 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. For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. When Solomon made peace with a neighboring country, he married the daughter of the king in order to seal the treaty. But after he had foolishly married so many wives, these pagan wives drew Solomon’s heart away from the true God of Solomon’s heritage. When Solomon grew old, his foreign wives wore him down and convinced him to go along with their pagan idol worship. What a tragedy! Solomon was so wise, wrote so many Proverbs and did so much for God! But he blew it right at the end of his life. What a warning for us. We must “finish well”. Don’t stop before life’s race is over. Run your race right up to the end!