Today, I am reading and commenting on  1 Kings 15-17.

I find it interesting that the passage does not tells us that Abijah, son of Rehoboam, did evil in the eyes of the Lord.  Instead it tells us that he committed all of the sins of his father and was not fully devoted to the Lord.  I find this interesting because it seems to be in contrast to what it says about the kings of Israel, the Northern Kingdom.  Of each of those kings it says some variation of. “he did evil in the eyes of the Lord.”  This suggests to me that Abijah at least tried to serve the Lord, but allowed himself to be led into sin by his desires.  Later, it describes Omri as doing evil in the eyes of the Lord AND sinning more than all of those before him.  It then describes Omri’s son Ahab as doing more evil than any of those before him.  The passage explains saying this about Ahab by saying that he not only committed the sins of Jeroboam (worshiping the calf idols Jeroboam had made and appointing non-Levites as priests), but he began to worship and serve Baal.  So, we have Abijah, who ruled in Jerusalem was not fully devoted to the Lord, but was not quite as bad as the kings of the Northern Kingdom, who followed the sins of Jeroboam.  Then we have Ahab, who went beyond the sins of Jeroboam to fully embrace the worship of pagan gods.  This suggests that those who followed the cult established by Jeroboam followed the worship practices established by Moses, but directed them at the idols made by Jeroboam rather than at God.  However, it also tells us that as we fail to follow one of the commands which God has given us will lead us to move further and further away from Him.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  1 Kings 15-17.

In Israel, the Northern Kingdom, king after king fails to establish a truly stable government.  Jeroboam turned over the throne to his son, who was overthrown by Baasha after reigning for two years.  Baasha ruled in a similar manner to Jeroboam, including encouraging his people to worship the golden calves which Jeroboam had installed.  After Baasha’s death, his son ruled for a little over two years before being overthrown by Zimri, who killed all of Baasha’s family.  However, Zimri was unable to hold the throne and killed himself rather than be killed by Omri.  Omri, we are told, followed the ways of Jeroboam but sinned more than those who preceded him.  Nevertheless, his son, Ahab, was able to rule after him and turn the throne over to his son, the grandson of Omri.  Ahab married a princess of Sidon, Jezebel, and, at her instigation, made Baal worship the official religion of Israel, the Northern Kingdom.

In response to Ahab’s reign, God raised up the prophet Elijah.  God sent Elijah to Ahab to tell him that it would not rain until Elijah said otherwise.  As James writes, “Elijah was a human being, even as we are. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years.” James wrote that to remind us of the power of prayer.  While we are often called upon to pray for healing, or other good things, for those who are suffering, sometimes, like Elijah, we are called upon to pray that people receive the consequences of their sin.  We need to remember that while the Holy Spirit healed many through Peter, He also struck down Ananias and Saphira through Peter.  So, let us remember that God calls us to pray for redemption of sinners, and sometimes that means praying for them to reach the end of their rope.

I, also, want to point out that during the drought which Elijah prayed upon Israel and the surrounding region, God sent Elijah to a widow of Sidon.  Because that woman provided a meal to Elijah in faith, God provided for that woman for the duration of the drought.  Today, I noticed for the first time, that this widow was from Sidon, just as Jezebel, who led Ahab into Baal worship, was from Sidon.  Jezebel, a woman from Sidon, led many in Israel to abandon worship of God, and God sent Elijah to a woman from Sidon to care for her through the drought which resulted.  I am not sure of the significance of the connection between Jezebel being from Sidon and the widow being from Sidon, but I hope to look into that more in future years.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  1 Kings 15-17.

The story of Elijah and the widow at Zarephath contains a wonderful lesson for us about how God will provide for our needs.  I usually seek something else in this passage to write about because this story is talked about so often.    Of course, this story contains a powerful lesson on how God provides, which is the reason it gets talked about so much.  And today, the power of this story struck me to write about it.  The story illustrates both Elijah’s faith and the widow’s faith.  When Elijah arrived in Zarephath, the widow was about to make one last meal for her son and for herself.  Yet when Elijah asked her to make him some bread, with the promise that if she did her oil and flour would not run out, she took him at his word and did so.  The power of this story really hit me when I read this phrase “For the jar of flour was not used up and the jug of oil did not run dry, in keeping with the word of the Lord spoken by Elijah.”

Which brings us to Elijah’s faith, he had the faith to make that promise to the widow, believing that God could and would make it true.  Now Elijah had reason to have that faith, having just spent some period of time in the Kerith Ravine being supplied with food by ravens.  Nevertheless, that was just between him and God, now he needed to take the risk of telling someone else that they could rely on God.  Not really much of a risk, but isn’t it one which we often find hard to take?  So, we often focus on the widow’s faith and God rewarding her for it.  She was willing to give of the last little bit she had to someone in need, and , as a result, God provided for her.  But think about Elijah, he had to ask for help from someone in almost as desperate need, if not more desperate need, than himself, and he had to trust that God would provide for them because he certainly was unable to do so.  Think about this, the widow was provided for because Elijah asked her to give him some assistance.  Do we have the faith to ask someone to help us?  Do we have the faith to believe that God will provide for the needs of someone because they helped us?  Please note that the widow from whom Elijah requested aid was not even one of the people of God.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  1 Kings 15-17.

We learn something about Rehoboam and his son by reading between the lines when the passage discusses Asa, Rehoboam’s grandson, taking the throne.  It tells us that Asa brought into the Temple the articles which had been dedicated to God by his father.  While this does not directly tell us anything about Rehoboam, it seems unlikely that Asa’s father would have dedicated items to the Lord, if his father before him had not worshiped the Lord along with the other gods he worshiped.  This fact does not redeem Rehoboam, since God does not accept worship if the worshiper also worships other gods, but it explains how the early kings of Judah were different from the kings of Israel.  This helps explain how Judah managed to have some righteous kings while the kings of Israel became ever more wicked.  In this passage we see the effects of having an unrighteous government, as kingship changed hands by violent overthrow in Israel as often as it passed peacefully from one king to the next.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on 1 Kings 15-17.

The writer of this passage tells us that Rehoboam’s grandson Asa was the king of Judah after David to do what was pleasing in God’s sight.  The passage lets us know what he did right, and how he fell short of ideal.  King Asa got rid of the shrine prostitutes throughout the entire territory which he controlled and destroyed the idols made by his predecessors.  He even deposed his grandmother from the role of Queen Mother and tore down the Asherah pole she had built (which Asa subsequently destroyed).  King Asa is considered to have done what is right in God’s sight despite taking the silver and gold out of the Temple treasuries to buy an alliance with the king of Aram against the king of Israel.  A later king of Judah did something similar and was condemned by a prophet for doing so.  King Asa’s heart remained faithful to the Lord his entire life…the passage says “completely faithful”.

Meanwhile, Israel was ruled by a succession of kings who each did what “was evil in the Lord’s sight.”  Until we get to Omri, and then his son Ahab, about each of whom we are told that they did more evil than any of their predecessors.  King Ahab went so far as to introduce Baal worship.  This suggests that before Ahab the kings encouraged worship practices similar to those practiced in the Temple in Jerusalem, but before the golden calves which Jeroboam had made.  Ahab’s actions resulted in God sending Elijah to him to announce a famine, which gives rise in tomorrow’s passage to one of my favorite stories in the Bible.