Today’s passage: 1 Kings 13:11-34

Helpful thoughts:

• The fact that this old prophet was living in Bethel (The center of this new false worship) and had been living well without any struggle with the locals or with King Jeroboam should itself have served as a bad sign.
  • Since the old prophet’s sons were at the altar and saw the whole exchange between the man of God and King Jeroboam, it is safe to assume the family was involved in the wicked sacrifices.  Perhaps they had even been appointed priests.
  • The old prophet was either purposefully deceiving the people of Israel, or he was testing the man of God in his own way to see if the Lord had truly sent him…maybe both?
• God’s revealed word never contradicts itself.  God’s will never contradicts His word.
• A donkey does not stand next to a lion.  They run.  A lion does not stand next to a corpse or a donkey.  They kill and eat.  This was a supernatural sight, given to prove God’s sovereign judgment.
  • The animals were the only obedient participants in this account.

Questions to consider:

1. Is everyone who claims to be a pastor, preacher, servant of God, really someone we should be listening to? (Matthew 7:15-20)  How else could we know for sure? (Acts 17:11)
2. In the end, what did the old prophet conclude?  What was the result of his conclusion?  Did it change anything?  What does verse 33 indicate the people wanted to do?
3. What does God rightfully expect people to do in response to His word and commands?  Does God turn a blind eye or minimize sin?  How does the cross prove this to be true?  How is God’s mercy tied to His justice?

Today’s passage: 1 Kings 13:1-10

Helpful thoughts:

• Bethel was one of the two locations (The other being Dan) where Jeroboam had set up the altars with the golden calves for worship.
• This prophecy was fulfilled over three hundred years later! (2 Kings 23:15-20)
• The man of God reveals extra instructions he had received directly from God.  This information will be essential to understanding the next passage.

Questions to consider:

1. Given the prophecy and the immediate signs that were given, what would have been the right response of King Jeroboam and the northern ten tribes?  How should their worship have changed?
2. How does God’s prophecy show that He already knew they would not repent?  Had they repented, would there have been an altar to destroy three hundred years later?  Is there anything the Lord does not know?
3. How does God’s eternal omniscience, sovereignty, justice, mercy and grace all work together when we consider Christ’s all-sufficient sacrifice for us on the cross?  Is there any sin that God missed in your life that Christ did not pay for?  (Hebrews 10:10)

Today’s passage: 1 Kings 12:16-33

Helpful thoughts:

• Israel (The northern 10 tribes) came to that announcement prepared to abandon the king.
• Adoram was the man who represented the very things for which Israel left Rehoboam’s rule.  The king was either being very foolish, or he was using Adoram as a litmus test to feel out just how serious Israel was about seceding.  Either way, he learned just how serious they were and he fled.
• The tribe of Benjamin was split between the two kingdoms.
• God had just given Jeroboam a kingdom, evidently he did not trust God to preserve it for him.

Questions to consider:

1. Where have we seen the idea of the golden calf before (Exodus 32:4)?  What was Jeroboam’s motivation for making these calves, replacing the feasts, and making priests from every tribe?  What was the real purpose for the creation of this new false religion?
2. Why was this new religious practice destructive, even though it was initially patterned after the real thing?  Once man decided it could be altered, who was now in control?
3. How was the history of Israel (And now the kingdom of Judah) trending?  Are things getting better or worse?  Were the problems from without or from within?  Is there a man among the twelve tribes that can right all these wrongs?  What are the repeated failings of all Israel supposed to help us to see?  What kind of Messiah do we need?

Today’s passage: 1 Kings 12:1-15

Helpful thoughts:

• When Solomon died, the northern 10 tribes called on Jeroboam to represent them before the new king.
• The elders had seen the rise and the fall of Solomon.  Rehoboam rejected their counsel before he even asked his peers.  It seems he asked them because he knew they would say what he wanted to hear.
• There is a huge contrast between the wisdom of Solomon and the foolishness of Rehoboam.  However, there may have been little difference at all in their appetite for personal gain.  Life lessons are taught…and caught.
  • Rehoboam was about to experience the vanity and striving after the wind his father had warned about.

Questions to consider:

1. When we speak of a “turn of events” or a “turn of affairs” are we usually speaking of an ordered plan or of chance happenings?  From whose perspective would these events appear to be chance?  What were they from God’s perspective? (Proverbs 16:33)
2. What is the irony for the counselors who grew up with Rehoboam?  They wanted to prosper with him, what did their counsel result in?  What did their greed bring about?
3. How can this passage serve to humble us as parents, given the fact that Solomon himself wrote the proverb, “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.”?  When a child grows up and loves Jesus, whose grace ultimately made that happen?  What is our role as parents?

Today’s passage: 1 Kings 11:9-43

Helpful thoughts:

• The Lord had spoken to Solomon twice before.  Both times, Solomon was told that if he followed the Lord, his throne would continue to be established.  The third time Solomon heard from the Lord, it was to tell him the throne would be taken away.
• Jeroboam is told exactly why the kingdom would be taken away from Solomon’s son and given a similar promise should he walk in the Lord’s commands.  Try to keep this in mind as we read into the next chapter.
• Solomon saw Jeroboam as guilty of treason against his own throne.  In truth, Solomon was guilty of treason against God.

Questions to consider:

1. In what ways does this chapter compare with many of the accounts during the period of the judges?  When did things seem to be going so well?  What happened that made things go poorly?  How did God respond to Solomon’s rebellion? (Hebrews 12:3-11)  How does it seem Solomon often responded to God’s discipline?
2. What is wisdom if it is not coupled with worship and submission?  How did Solomon view his own pursuit of wisdom (Ecclesiates 1:12-18)?
3. Whose strength, love, and grace will ensure that you finish the race that is set before you?  Whose power enables you to run the race?  (Ephesians 2:8-10, Philippians 1:6)

Today’s passage: 1 Kings 11:1-8

Helpful thoughts:

• Kings married multiple wives often in the ancient near east in order to ratify treaties.
  • God forbade this practice in Deuteronomy 17:17.  The reason?  So the king’s heart would not turn away from the Lord.
  • God also told Israel to marry within their nation (and faith), for the same reason.
• David was not without sin.  However, he was also not without repentance.  (Psalm 51)
  • Repentance is a change in heart and mind which leads to a change in actions.
  • Solomon did repent (See Ecclesiastes).  But, the consequences of our sin goes farther than we can control.
• The Temple was not the only place of worship that Solomon built in his lifetime.
  • A customary form of worship for Chemosh was child sacrifice, giving human children as a burnt offering.

Questions to consider:

1. What did the people of Israel see their king doing in all of these other temples and high places?  What would the knowledge of King Solomon, who had built and dedicated the Temple to the Lord, worshiping all of these false gods with all of these different wives do for the purity of heart for the nation of Israel?
2. Thinking politically as a king with several allies in the region, what might have convinced Solomon, in his own mind, that what he was doing was appropriate and dignified?  In what ways had Israel received a king that helped them to be just like all the other nations? (1 Samuel 8:19-20)
3. What does becoming like all the other nations result in?  What had God called Israel to be among the rest of the world?  What has Christ called us to be? (Matthew 5:13-16)

Today’s passage: 1 Kings 10:14-29

Helpful thoughts:

• 666 talents of gold is about 25 tons.  This was the annual income.
  • Don’t read too much into that number…that there were 666 talents has nothing to do with the mark of the beast.
  • The gold could have been brought in through trade, taxes from other lands, or probably both.
  • Israel had so much gold, silver was no longer valuable.  But, they could still use it to buy from other nations.
• God gave Solomon everything He had promised (1 Kings 3:10-13).
• This was the height of Israel as a nation.  Yet, the appearance of Solomon’s wealth failed to compare with the lilies of the field in God’s creation (Matthew 6:28-30).

Questions to consider:

1. Imagine being an exiled Jew during the captivity, or returning from captivity and seeing Jerusalem gutted and destroyed.  Would hearing of all this wealth make you excited or saddened at what had become of it all?
2. What did God call Solomon to do with all of this blessing (1 Kings 3:14)?  Why does it seem harder to continue to rely on the Lord when we have so much earthly treasure and respect? (Proverbs 30:7-9)
3. How does this passage contribute to Jesus’ teaching on anxiety in Matthew 6?  What would all this wealth and power make you feel and think about yourself?  How much power would you think you possess?  How much control of your situation might you believe you have?  How do those ideas contribute to anxiety?  What then did Jesus say was the way out of anxiety?

Today’s passage: 1 Kings 10:1-13

Helpful thoughts:

• About the queen of Sheba:
  • Sheba was in southwestern Arabia.
  • A retinue is a group of assistants or advisors.
  • The queen brought questions to test Solomon out first, but then shared with him her whole heart.
• Everything that the queen of Sheba saw and heard took her breath away.
  • The passage serves as an independent verification of the wisdom and wealth of Solomon.
  • The passage also shows that even a foreigner could see, the Lord has loved Israel.
• Many riches were exchanged on this occasion.  We aren’t even told what the queen left with, only that she was given everything she asked.

Questions to consider:

1. Whom did the queen credit for all the wonderful things she heard and saw in verse 9?  In what ways did her views fall short?  Did she see the Lord as the one true God or just as Israel’s God?  Did she exalt the Lord more or Solomon?
2. In what ways did the queen’s views (Being a foreigner and NOT a follower of the Lord) end up being more respectful and accurate than how Israel saw the Lord’s blessings on their nation?
3. How does this passage inform our understanding of Matthew 12:42?  (Be encouraged to keep studying the Word and seeking Jesus.  It’s worth it!)