And Jehovah will smite Israel, as a reed is shaken in the water, and he will root up Israel out of this good land which he gave to their fathers, and will scatter them beyond the river, because they have made their Asherahs, provoking Jehovah to anger.
Ahijah's message to Jeroboam's wife does not stop with the king's family. It reaches the whole nation, and it raises two hard questions: why does a whole people suffer for a king's idolatry, and is a scattering like this ever undone?
The judgment is not vague trouble. It is removal from land God Himself had given them. One commentator names the river they would be driven past:
The Lord would shake Israel so hard that He would uproot them from the land He had given to their fathers. He would scatter them beyond the river (Euphrates), because Israel's idolatry had provoked His fierce anger. He would give Israel up because of the sins of Jeroboam, who made Israel sin. This message of God's unsparing anger and vengeance against Jeroboam's sin stood in sharp contrast to Ahijah's first message to Jeroboam.
That first message had held out a lasting house to Jeroboam, but only on one condition. It also kept David's line in view:
The LORD still speaks of "David my servant," who "may always have a lamp before Me in Jerusalem, the city where I have chosen to put My name." In the middle of all the evil, the house of David is not forgotten. There will be affliction, "but not forever." Jeroboam also has the chance of a house "as I built for David," on the condition of obedience. But ambitious Jeroboam did not keep the statutes and commandments of the Lord.
It would be easy to read the verse as a whole nation punished for one man's crime. But the people had a share in the sin themselves:
But the people must face judgment too (vv. 15, 16). Not only had the king led them astray; they had sinned themselves, for "they have made their Asherim, provoking the LORD to anger." God judges them by the principle set out in Romans 5:12: "Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned."
Centuries later the sentence fell. The record names both the leader and the people who followed him:
"Jeroboam drove Israel from following the LORD and made them commit great sin." But on the other hand, "the people of Israel walked" (so they were guilty themselves) "in all the sins that Jeroboam did; they did not depart from them." And Assyria carried Israel away.
The word behind "Asherim" is often translated "groves," which sounds like trees. One dictionary shows why that reading fails:
The word 'grove' suggests a row of trees. But that cannot be the meaning, since people set up groves 'under every green tree.' … One passage speaks of planting groves; another of making them; another of building them. They are always linked with idols and images.
Israel already had clear orders about these objects:
They were to have nothing to do with the impure and abominable idolatries of these nations. He called His people to holiness. Moreover, they were to destroy their altars, their images and their groves. The word groves is "asherah." … It flourished among all the ancient nations, but the Canaanites used it most of all. When Israel later fell in with these abominations, the judgment fell upon them.
Assyria carried out the sentence. One writer notes what never followed it:
The others (that is, Israel) were carried away into captivity to Assyria, and were never as a people restored to the land.
Their exile was not just Assyrian policy. Commentators point out that God Himself moved those kings, and that the same place appears in a promise of return:
Their sins and idolatry caused all the disasters that came upon them. The word "therefore" in verse 18 sums it all up — "Therefore the LORD was very angry with Israel and removed them out of his sight." … Notice, it was God who stirred up the spirit of these kings; so they carried Israel away to Assyria. This is one of the places mentioned in Zechariah 10:10, from which they will be brought back in a future day.
- Gift. The land was given to their fathers; idolatry cost them the very inheritance God had handed them.
- Guilt. Jeroboam led the nation into sin. But the people made the Asherim themselves, so judgment reached them too.
- Groves. The "Asherim" were not trees but idol objects, planted, made and built — and Israel had orders to destroy them.
- Gone. The word came true to the letter: Assyria carried Israel away, and as a people they never returned to the land.
- Gathered. The scattering is real but not final; commentators point to a future day when God brings them back from the places He sent them.
And he will give Israel up because of the sins of Jeroboam, wherewith he has sinned, and made Israel to sin.
Ahijah's last word to Jeroboam's wife gives the reason a whole nation will lose its land. The blame falls on the king who taught his people to sin — so how far does one man's sin reach?
The message moves from one household to a whole people. One writer describes what "give Israel up" will look like, and contrasts it with Ahijah's first message to Jeroboam.
The Lord would shake Israel so hard that He would uproot them from the land He had given to their fathers. He would scatter them beyond the river (Euphrates), because Israel's idolatry had provoked His fierce anger. Israel would be given up because of the sins of Jeroboam who made Israel sin. God's unsparing anger and vengeance against Jeroboam's sin stood in great contrast to Ahijah's first message to him.
Earlier in the same message God compared Jeroboam with David. One writer asks what that comparison shows, and what Jeroboam had done with God Himself.
Could David have spoken like this of himself? No — neither he nor any other man. But God had disciplined him as a son whom one acknowledges, and the discipline had borne fruit. … But to Jeroboam He says: "But you have done evil above all who were before you and have gone and made for yourself other gods and metal images, provoking me to anger, and have cast me behind your back." Jeroboam had done without God, had despised Him as a useless object. And is it any different today? Man does without God as with a quantity that counts for nothing. He banishes Him from his life, casting Him behind his back so that he sees Him no more.
The phrase "made Israel to sin" became Jeroboam's lasting name in Scripture. One writer notes how often it returns, and weighs it against ordinary personal sin.
Jeroboam stands out prominently in the Old Testament as the great division maker. Under him the great mass of God's people, ten of the twelve tribes, broke away from God's centre at that time. Like a death knell, these sad words with which the Spirit marks out this man are repeated again and again, "Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin."… Personal sins are bad enough, but to turn away God's people from the centre which He has set up — what could be worse?
That name was not fixed in advance. God sent Jeroboam messengers, and one writer weighs what God offered him against what he chose.
It would have been well for Jeroboam if he too had listened to God's messengers. The God of Israel could have blessed him and his descendants (one of whom, his son Abijah, seems to have shown great promise), and he would never have deserved that terrible description, the man "that made Israel to sin." But the promises of God were not enough for this man. He reasoned on a purely human level.
Blaming Jeroboam does not leave the nation innocent. One writer points to the idols the people made for themselves.
But God must judge the people too. It is not only because the king had led them astray, but because they had themselves sinned: "they have made their Asherim, provoking the LORD to anger." God judges them by the principle set out in Romans 5:12: "Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned."
The chapter opens with one sick child and closes with a scattered nation. One writer traces how far Jeroboam's disobedience spread.
Jeroboam was to learn that his disobedience to God did not only affect himself. It affected his whole family while he was living, and the welfare of his family after he died. It also affected the nation he ruled, both while he ruled and for many years afterward. This is surely a striking illustration of the truth that none of us lives to himself and none of us dies to himself. Our influence is a far more serious matter than we generally think.
- Offer. God could have blessed Jeroboam and his descendants. God's promises were not enough for him, and he reasoned on a human level.
- Refusal. One phrase names his sin: he cast God behind his back. He treated Him as a useless object, as people still do today.
- Spread. What one man refused, a nation copied. Scripture marks him out as the great division maker, who turned God's people away from the centre God had set up.
- Shared guilt. The people were not only victims. They made their own idols, and God judged them because they themselves sinned.
- Reach. The ruin touched his household, his family after his death, and the nation for years. None of us lives to himself, and our influence is more serious than we think.