«　WEEK 11　DAY 1　»

　　Deut. 12:5-7 But to the place which Jehovah your God will choose out of all your tribes to put His name, to His habitation, shall you seek, and there shall you go. And there you shall bring your burnt offerings and your sacrifices... And there you shall eat before Jehovah your God, and you and your households shall rejoice in all your undertakings, in which Jehovah your God has blessed you.

　　Jeroboam made two calves of gold, putting one in Bethel and the other in Dan, in order to distract his people from worshipping God in Jerusalem (1 Kings 12:25-30). God had ordained that His people come together three times a year in Jerusalem. Jeroboam was afraid that the ten tribes would return to their rightful king if they went to worship God in Jerusalem. Thus, he set up two worship centers, saying that it was not convenient to travel to Jerusalem. The excuse of convenience also is used to justify today’s denominations. Jeroboam’s apostasy broke God’s ordination of having one unique worship center in the holy land for keeping the unity, the oneness, of the children of Israel (Deut. 12:2-18). This became a great sin and caused the people to worship idols. (Life-study of 1 & 2 Kings, p. 54)

　　Apostasy means to be distracted from the right track in following God... Whenever someone uses the worship of God as a cloak to take a devilish way, he has fallen into apostasy... Although those in Catholicism worship God in name, they are actually worshipping idols. The Roman Catholic Church does exactly the same thing Jeroboam did when he set up the idols and said, “Behold your gods, O Israel” (1 Kings 12:28). Jeroboam seemed to be saying, “This is the God you must worship.” In reality that was not God; it was a golden calf. Hence, apostasy is worshipping God in a way that is false and devilish. Today’s Christianity is filled with apostasy. Apostasy is universal. Many who claim to be worshipping God are in fact worshipping idols. (Life-study of Genesis, p. 1321)

　　Jeroboam built a temple at the high places and appointed priests from among the common people who were not of the tribe of Levi (1 Kings 12:31). Whereas God had ordained that the tribe of Levi would be the priests, Jeroboam appointed common people to be priests. Jeroboam ordained a feast in the eighth month, on the fifteenth day of the month, like the feast that was in Judah (v. 32a), doing what he had devised in his own heart. He might have told the people that it was not necessary for them to go to Jerusalem in order to have a feast. Jeroboam offered sacrifices on the altar at Bethel to the calves that he had made, and he placed in Bethel the priests of the high places (vv. 32b-33a). In his apostasy Jeroboam ordained a feast for the children of Israel, and, although he was not a priest, he went up to the altar to burn incense (v. 33b). The apostasy of Jeroboam in the above five items could be considered a type of the apostasy of today’s Christianity.

　　First Kings 13:1-32 is a record of God’s judgment on the altar at Bethel made by Jeroboam. This judgment was carried out by a man of God from Judah (vv. 1-10). This man of God was then deceived by an old prophet to take the way against God’s commandment and was torn apart by a lion (vv. 11-32).

　　In 14:1-18 we have Ahijah’s prophecy concerning the tragic ending of Jeroboam. Jeroboam sent his wife in disguise to see Ahijah the prophet in Shiloh, hoping to get some good news concerning his son Abijah (vv. 1-5). Instead of giving good news, Ahijah the prophet, in a prophecy from God, told the wife of Jeroboam that because of Jeroboam’s evils in his apostasy, God would destroy Jeroboam and his whole family as a man sweeps dung until it is all gone (vv. 6-18). Jeroboam’s... life was ended by the severe punishment of God (vv. 19-20a). (Life-study of 1 & 2 Kings, pp. 54-55)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of 1 & 2 Kings, msg. 8; Life-study of Deuteronomy, msgs. 10-11