In 1 Kings 11 we read that Solomon turned away from the LORD in his later years as king. Solomon married 700 women who were princesses and had 300 concubines. Most of Solomon’s wives were women of pagan nations, whom he married for political reasons. The problem was they brought with them the pagan worship of their nations. Solomon’s departure from worshiping the LORD went so far that he even worshiped Chemosh, a pagan god that required child sacrifice. Because of Solomon’s unfaithfulness, the LORD told him He would tear the nation out of his hands. But the Lord said for the sake of David, He wouldn’t do it until the time of Solomon’s son being king. He also planned to leave two of the tribes under the leadership of Solomon’s son. This split would create the nations of Israel and Judah. In the second portion of the chapter we’re told of adversaries the LORD raised up against Solomon, the chief of whom was Jeroboam. Jeroboam would become the first king of the Northern Kingdom of Israel.
In 1 Kings 12, the LORD’s plan to divide the Kingdom in two parts became a reality. When Solomon died and his son, Rehoboam, became king, the people of Israel asked him to lighten the tax burden and their service to him. If he did, they would remain faithful to him. But Rehoboam went to his advisers to see what his response ought to be. The older advisers suggested Rehoboam ease the burden as the people requested, but Rehoboam asked his younger advisers, who told him to tell the people he was going to increase it. This brought wrath from the people on Rehoboam, and Jeroboam became the king of ten of Israel’s tribes. King Rehoboam assembled his army against Jeroboam, but the LORD told him not to go to battle, because it was His will to give the Northern Kingdom to Jeroboam. Once Jeroboam established himself as king, he committed a grave sin before the LORD. He decided if the people went to the Temple in Jerusalem to worship the LORD, they would eventually turn their allegiance to Judah. Therefore, he set up two golden calves in the Northern Kingdom. He told the people these were the gods that brought the people out of Egypt. They worshiped the idols and the beginning of the end of the Northern Kingdom had started.
In 1 Kings 13, a prophet of the LORD told Jeroboam a descendant of David, Josiah by name, would one day sacrifice the priests of his gods on the altar where they sacrificed to those gods. Jeroboam stretched out his hand toward the prophet and it withered. Jeroboam asked the prophet to restore his hand, and he did. The prophet was told by the LORD not to eat or drink anything before he went home. Another prophet invited him to eat with him, but the prophet wouldn’t. Then the prophet who invited lied to him and said the LORD had told him it was okay. The prophet ate and as a result was killed on his way home. This seems extreme, and yet the prophet disobeyed the Lord’s command. The LORD required obedience of all His children, but especially the prophets in the Old Testament era. After this, Jeroboam did not turn from his evil ways, and he continued to lead Israel away from true worship of the LORD.
In the first portion of 1 Kings 14, we read about Jeroboam’s continued sinfulness. His young son, Abijah, became sick, so Jeroboam sent his wife to the prophet Ahijah to see what would happen. The prophecy was extremely unpleasant. Abijah would die the moment the wife returned to the city. He would be the only member of Jeroboam’s family to be buried. Those who died in the city would be eaten by dogs, and those who died in the country would be eaten by the birds. Nevertheless, Jeroboam continued his wicked ways until he died. In the second portion of the chapter, we read about King Rehoboam’s reign in Judah. Rehoboam also did what was evil in the LORD’s eyes. As we shall see, all the kings of the Northern Kingdom were evil, and only eight kings of Judah were good kings. When Rehoboam died, his son Abijam became king.
Matthew 2 records the coming of the wise men to pay homage to Jesus. When they entered Jerusalem and asked King Herod where the one who was born as King of the Jews would be found, Herod didn’t know. He had to ask his advisors. They told the wise men to go to Bethlehem. Herod pretended to want to worship the new king as well, but his motive was to eliminate Jesus, and thus eliminate any competition for his throne. The LORD warned the wise men to go home a different way once they had found Jesus, worshiped Him, and presented gifts to Him. Joseph received another dream, and this one instructed him to take his family to Egypt, to avoid Herod’s search for Jesus. When Herod realized the wise men had tricked him, he sent soldiers to kill all the male children in Bethlehem who were two years old or younger, in an attempt to kill Jesus.
Once Herod died, Joseph was informed in a dream to come back to Israel. Because Herod’s brother was ruling in his place, Joseph was guided to go to northern Israel and live in Nazareth. Matthew tells us this was to fulfill an Old Testament prophecy that said God’s son would be called a Nazarene. In Matthew’s gospel, we see time and again how God intervened in Jesus’ life, and how the actions of Jesus and his family fulfilled an Old Testament prophecy. This makes perfect sense given Matthew’s Jewish background.