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Jeroboam did not Trust God and Made two Golden Calves

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(I Kings 13:2)

He cried out against the altar by the word of the LORD: "O altar, altar! This is what the LORD says: 'A son named Josiah will be born to the house of David. On you he will sacrifice the priests of the high places who now make offerings here, and human bones will be burned on you.'"

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Israel was one nation until the time of King David and King Solomon.
But when King Solomon's son Rehoboam became the king, Israel was divided into the Southern and Northern kingdoms.

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The Southern kingdom was called Judah and the Northern kingdom was called Israel.
The first king of the Northern Israel was Jeroboam.

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Jeroboam was a servant of King Solomon.
Solomon forgot the grace of God and he went away from God so God divided Israel into two. Then, God raised Jeroboam as the king of Israel.

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God promised Jeroboam through the Prophet Ahijah. Let us read it loud:
"Jeroboam, I will choose you and you will rule over all that your heart wants.
You will be king over Israel."

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"If you do whatever is right in MY eyes, I will be with you. Do whatever I command you. Keep my statues and commands, as David MY servant did, I will be with you. I will build you a dynasty as enduring as the one I built for David. I will give Israel to you."

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Jeroboam became the king of Israel by the grace of God but soon, he got worried. The people had to go to the temple in Jerusalem to offer sacrifices to God but Jerusalem was now in the Southern part of Judah so Jeroboam did not like his people to go there.

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Looking at his people Jeroboam thought, 'What if they will come and go through Jerusalem and follow Rehoboam? Since Rehoboam is King David's grandson, people might follow him. What will I do if they betray and kill me?' Jeroboam was so worried.

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Jeroboam called his servants.
Then he said to them, "I don't want my people to go to Jerusalem.
Look for a way so that they can offer sacrifices in Northern Israel."

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The plan of Jeroboam and the servants was this. They were going to make two golden calves and place them in Bethel and Dan. Then, they were going to order the people to offer sacrifices in those places where they put the two golden calves. Following the order of Jeroboam, two golden calves were placed in Bethel and Dan.

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Jeroboam gathered the people and said,
"Going to Jerusalem to offer sacrifices is such a hard thing. From now on, you don't have to go to Jerusalem. The god who led you out of Egypt is here."
Jeroboam told the people that the golden calves were their gods.

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From that time, the people of Israel offered sacrifices to the two calves placed in Bethel and Dan. Because of Jeroboam, the people of Israel did not serve God anymore.  They committed a great sin of worshiping the golden calf idols.

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The sins of Jeroboam did not end there.  He also built many shrines where the people could worship. God ordered that only the Levites could become priests but Jeroboam did not follow this order. Jeroboam appointed anyone as priests even though they were not Levites.

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Jeroboam became a king only by the grace of God.
God made Jeroboam the king of Israel but he repaid God's grace by worshipping false idols.

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Jeroboam went away from God so God was going to punish him.
Jeroboam's wife came to the Prophet Ahijah so God told the punishment to her.
Let us read it together.

'I raised you up from among the people and made you a leader over my people Israel. I tore the kingdom away from the house of David and gave it to you, but you have not been like my servant David, who kept my commands and followed me with all his heart, doing only what was right in my eyes.

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'You have done more evil than all who lived before you. You have betrayed me and you have made for yourself other gods, idols made of metal; you have made me very angry. Because of this, I am going to bring disaster on the house of Jeroboam. Slave or free, I will kill every man from Jeroboam's family. I will burn up the house of Jeroboam as one burns garbage.'

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The prophecy of Ahijah came true. Jeroboam's son, Nadab became the king of Israel but after 2 years, his servant Baasha plotted against him so the house of Jeroboam was destroyed. Baasha killed all of the people of Jeroboam's family. Jeroboam's family ended up in disaster.

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God rules all the universe and God is the owner of this world.

Jeroboam did not believe the power of our Almighty God. He tried to keep his kingship by his own power so he did the things which God hates so much and because of that, he ended up in disaster. God is the owner of all the universe and God is our King so we should trust His words and we should live by following our God's will.