[Biblemat] S:> Why Israel Failed: They Adapted God's Commands

[Ethan R. Longhenry]

http://www.deusvitae.com/faith/outlines/index.html

                       Why Israel Failed:
                  They Adapted God's Commands

I. Introduction
   A. Recognition of Israel's failure
      1. Israel in the flesh, overall, a failure
      2. They did not keep their obligation in the covenant
      3. God first punished them, exiled them, and then entirely 
         destroyed their religious system in 70CE 
         (cf. Matthew 24:1-36)
      4. Parable of the Vineyard shows what happens 
         (Matthew 21:33-44, Mark 12:1-11)-- original occupants 
         (Israel) removed, new inhabitants (Christians) enter
      5. Failure of Israel due to many reasons together-- perhaps 
         a few failures could be endured, but the combination 
         caused downfall
      6. Nevertheless, we can learn from each instance of failure
   B. 1 Corinthians 10:6
      1. Failure of Israel is designed to be a lesson for us
      2. We must learn so that we may not fall into the same 
         temptations!
   C. Many failures can be listed
      1. In the wilderness, Egypt never left them
      2. When conquering the land, they did not fully conquer
      3. They did what was right in their own eyes
      4. They rejected God's form of government
   E. Let us continue to examine failures of Israel

II. The Kings 
   A. One of the great failures of Israel was the rejection of 
      God's form of government and the establishment of kings 
      (1 Samuel 8)
      1. As opposed to being directly governed by God, the people 
         now had the intermediary of the king
      2. If the king followed God, well and good...
      3. ...but what if the king did not?  
   B. The kings, being men, did disobey God and His direct 
      commands at times
      1. Saul did not thoroughly destroy the Amalekites, despite 
         God's command (1 Samuel 15)
      2. David committed adultery with Bathsheba and killed Uriah 
         the Hittite (2 Samuel 11-12)
      3. Solomon married foreign women and served their gods 
         (1 Kings 11)
   C. They did have to suffer consequences for their misdeeds
      1. The kingdom was taken from Saul and would be given 
         to David (1 Samuel 15:26-28)
      2. David suffered the loss of the child and some of his other 
         children (2 Samuel 12:9-12)
      3. 10 tribes were taken from Solomon and given to another 
         (1 Kings 11:9-12)
   D. Considering what will come, however, these sins are not 
      nearly that presumptuous and their consequences not as severe

III. The Sins of Jeroboam
   A. The sins of the previous kings are not like the sins of 
      Jeroboam son of Nebat
   B. While the kings before him directly disobeyed God, they at 
      least did not to change His commands!
   C. Jeroboam was given the ten tribes taken away from Solomon 
      (1 Kings 12:20)
      1. This was from God (1 Kings 11:26-39, 12:23-24)
      2. Jeroboam, then, was given the authority over the Kingdom 
         of Israel by God Himself
   D. It is manifest by what he does, however, that he does not 
      really trust in God
   E. 1 Kings 12:26: "said in his heart"
      1. While David also thought to himself, he consulted a prophet 
         and modified his intention when God through the prophet 
         redirected him (1 Chronicles 17)
      2. David also thought in honor of God, ashamed that he had a 
         house of cedar and God did not
      3. As we will see, however, Jeroboam has no concern about 
         what God wants or expects in his reasoning
      4. What Jeroboam is going to do is not from God
   F. 1 Kings 12:26-27
      1. Jeroboam's motivation is concern that the kingdom will 
         return to Rehoboam
      2. All the events regarding going up to the Temple 
      3. A fear understandable in human terms
      4. But it shows little trust that God would preserve his 
         kingdom!
   G. 1 Kings 12:28-31
      1. Result: Jeroboam builds two temples, one in Bethel to the 
         south and one to Dan in the north
      2. Builds, installs two golden calves to represent YHWH, 
         echoing the golden calf of Exodus 32:1-4
      3. God did not command any temples to be built save in 
         Jerusalem, where the Ark remained (1 Kings 9:1-3)
      4. God not only did not command Israel to build an image of 
         Him, He expressly forbade it (Exodus 20:3-5)
      5. The Israelites in the wilderness committed a great sin 
         by making one (Exodus 32:7-10, 21, 31)
      6. Jeroboam did it anyway, incurring sin
  H. 1 Kings 12:31-33
      1. Not content to just change the location and object of 
         worship, Jeroboam makes other changes
       2. Priests are installed of other tribes than Levi, against 
          the command of God (Numbers 3:12)
      3. The Feast of Tabernacles, which God had established on 
         the fifteenth day of the seventh month (Leviticus 23:34), 
         Jeroboam moves to the fifteenth day of the eighth month
      4. On that day he himself, an Ephraimite (1 Kings 11:26), 
         goes up and offers sacrifice on the altar he made!

IV. Consequences
   A. Jeroboam faced consequences for his actions
   B. The eventual destruction of the Kingdom of Israel and the 
      altars Jeroboam built are prophesied (1 Kings 13:1-3)
   C. His own son Abijah died of illness, and the destruction of 
      Jeroboam's house was prophesied (1 Kings 14:1-20)
   D. Nadab the son of Jeroboam rules two years and is brought 
      down by Baasha, who also destroys the whole house of Jeroboam 
      as predicted by the prophets (1 Kings 15:25-31)
   E. The temples remain, however, and every king of Israel is said 
      to "walk in the way of Jeroboam son of Nebat who made Israel 
      sin"
   F. The Israelites are cast into exile because of following in 
      this sin (2 Kings 17:21-23)
   G. Nothing good, then, and much evil came from Jeroboam's deeds!

V. Application
   A. We have seen how the sins of Jeroboam were severe and 
      long-lasting, and their consequences were severe and 
      long-lasting
   B. We ought not walk in them!
   C. We must not, as Jeroboam did, reason in our own minds without 
      faith!
      1. Proverbs 14:10: the way that seems right to man is death!
      2. James 1:5-8: need to not doubt God but to have faith
      3. If we reason in our minds and do not trust that God is on 
         our side, we will end up reasoning ourselves into sin!
   D. We must not think that we can change God's commands and be 
      fine!
      1. How many times have people made small modifications to 
         God's plan and assume that all is well?
      2. Jeroboam did not change everything-- he added a couple 
         more places, put in a statue, opened up the priesthood,
         changed a date
      3. Such are little compared to many of the changes we see 
         around us!
      4. How often is it tempting to try to mentally modify a 
         command because it is inconvenient to us?
      5. How often do we try to minimize the value of a command to 
         justify not doing it?
      6. Do we really think we will avoid the same fate as 
         Jeroboam and Israel?
   E. Just because a belief system calls itself right does not 
      make it right!
      1. Remember: Jeroboam made two golden calves and called 
         them YHWH!
      2. If you asked Jeroboam, he would say that he believed that 
         YHWH was God; in fact, he might have said that YHWH was 
         the only God!
      3. They would consider themselves just as much following 
         YHWH as Judah to the south!
      4. Nevertheless, God did not see it that way!
      5. How many today would claim and profess to be Christians 
         but do not do everything God says as God says to do it 
         (cf. 1 John 2:4-6)?
      6. Do we think that we can change the Lord's Supper from 
         Sunday to Saturday, or add instrumental music, or some 
         other such thing, and still be fine in God's eyes?  
      7. Consider what Jeroboam did and the consequences of it!
   F. Just because something has been done for years does not 
      make it right!
      1. Jeroboam's calves stayed in place for about 200 years
      2. The Kingdom of Israel always went to those temples and 
         worshiped those statues
      3. Was it somehow more right under Jeroboam II than 
         Jeroboam I?  
      4. By no means!
      5. Likewise, just because a given practice has been done 
         in churches or by people for a long period of time does 
         not make the practice right!

VI. Conclusion
   A. We have seen that the path of the apostasy and exile of the 
      Kingdom of Israel was paved by Jeroboam the son of Nebat
      1. For political purposes he changed the location and 
         object of worship
      2. He also modified the priesthood and a festival
      3. For this he was condemned with his whole house and 
         nation
   B. Let us not walk in the same path!
   C. Let us make sure that we are following God's will as God 
      has established it, and that we are not modifying it
   D. Let us obey Him as He has decreed
   E. Songbook/invitation

Ethan R. Longhenry/ disciple_of_iesus at hotmail.com
Evangelist, church of Christ in Norwalk, Ohio
 (http://www.norwalkchurch.org)
Website: http://www.deusvitae.com
AIM: Deus Vitae / ICQ#: 28317056
MSN Messenger ID: deusvitae at hotmail.com
Yahoo! Messenger ID: discipuliiesus

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