Focus Chapters:
- Ecclesiastes 11:7-10
- Ecclesiastes 12
- 1 Kings 12:1-20
- 2 Chronicles 10
- 1 Kings 12:21-24
- 2 Chronicles 11:1-4
- 1 Kings 12:25-33
- 2 Chronicles 11:5-17
Standout Verse(s):
THE ACTION
2 Chronicles 11:15 NLT
Jeroboam appointed his own priests to serve at the pagan shrines, where they worshiped the goat and calf idols he had made.
THE REACTION
2 Chronicles 11:14, 16 NLT
The Levites even abandoned their pasturelands and property and moved to Judah and Jerusalem, because Jeroboam and his sons would not allow them to serve the Lord as priests.
From all the tribes of Israel, those who sincerely wanted to worship the Lord, the God of Israel, followed the Levites to Jerusalem, where they could offer sacrifices to the Lord, the God of their ancestors.
Observation (s):
- Jeroboam took a stance that went against what God had ordained, bringing idolatry into Israel.
Jeroboam appointed his own priests to serve at the pagan shrines, where they worshiped the goat and calf idols he had made.
- The Levites, Jeroboam’s subjects, sided with what was ordained by God and left behind all they owned to be in a place that allowed them to stick with that stance.
The Levites even abandoned their pasturelands and property and moved to Judah and Jerusalem, because Jeroboam and his sons would not allow them to serve the Lord as priests.
- Other Israelites who desired to stand with God, followed suit after the Levites.
From all the tribes of Israel, those who sincerely wanted to worship the Lord, the God of Israel, followed the Levites to Jerusalem, where they could offer sacrifices to the Lord, the God of their ancestors.
Application:
How badly do you desire to follow the Lord’s ordinances?
The Levites and some Israelites left behind their homes and lands to go to Jerusalem where they could do as the Lord had instructed. These were men whom, according to the split of the nation of Israel, would have been Jeroboam’s subjects. However, when Jeroboam chose to take the path of the ungodly, introducing idolatry into Israel out of fear, these men of God departed from his kingdom. They chose to forsake their king and pasturelands and properties, moving instead to Judah and Jerusalem where the citizens still chose to be led by God.
Will you take a stance today? Will you choose to follow God’s ordinances? What are you willing to forsake to follow Christ?
