Almost all of these kings do evil in the sight of God and in the book of I Kings we see exactly what that evil was that they did.
Jeroboam was one of the worst, but not "the" worst.
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What did Jeroboam do that was so evil in the sight of God?
He was king over Israel. But Jerusalem, where the people went to worship God, was in the kingdom of rival Judah, where Rehoboam, son of Solomon, was king. Jeroboam thought if the people went to worship in Jerusalem they would end up turning to Rehoboam to be their king and he thought when they did this they would kill him.
* Jeroboam set up 2 golden calves for the people to worship.
So to keep the people in his kingdom, he (Jeroboam) set up two golden calves for the people to worship and set these golden images of calves in the cities of Bethel and Dan which were in the areas of Israel where he was king.
So the people went to these two cities to worship God before these golden calves.
I Kings 12:27-30 (Jeroboam thought) If this people go up to do sacrifice in the house of the Lord at Jerusalem, then shall the heart of this people turn again unto their lord, even unto Rehoboam king of Judah, and they shall kill me, and go again to Rehoboam king of Judah.
Whereupon the king took counsel, and made two calves of gold, and said unto them, It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem: behold thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. And he set the one (golden calf) in Bethel, and the other (golden calf) put he in Dan. And this thing became a sin: for the people went to worship before the one, even unto Dan.
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* Another terrible thing done by Jeroboam:
He appointed priests who were not of the tribe of Levi. (I Kings 12:31)
No man in the Bible is titled as "Reverend" ... this is all made up by men to honor each other ... and such is very evil.
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First a minister must be called by God to do the work of the ministry. He cannot do this work by his own will, just because he wants to do this. He cannot learn the work of God by going to a college or seminary. He must be called by God and taught by God to be a minister to the New Testament church.
Ephesians 4:8;11-14 Wherefore HE saith, When HE (Jesus) ascended up on high, HE led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men ... And HE gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;
(These ministers, cited in Ephesians 4, to the New Testament church, were given "after" Jesus ascended into heaven, after the crucifixion and resurrection. These "gifts" of the ministry, did not include those apostles who walked with Jesus on this earth, though they were most certainly apostles, but these "ministers", cited in Ephesians 4, were given after Jesus ascended. Paul is an example of one of these New Testament apostles. The reason it is so important to know this is many churches today say Paul was the last apostle, when actually by the Bible, we see Paul was one of the first of those NT apostles given to the church after Jesus arose. We do have apostles and prophets in today's church, along with evangelists, pastors, and teachers.)
Ephesians 4:12-14 (These ministers were given) For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;
Ephesians 4:12-14 (These ministers were given) For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;
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He set feast days which were not appointed by God in the Holy Bible, but were according to Jeroboam's own will.
I Kings 12:32-33 And Jeroboam ordained a feast in the eighth month, on the fifteenth day of the month, like unto the feast that is in Judah, and he offered upon the altar. So did he in Bethel, sacrificing unto the calves that he had made: and he placed in Bethel the priests of the high places which he had made.
So he offered upon the altar which he had made in Bethel the fifteenth day of the eighth month, even in the month which he had devised of his own heart; and ordained a feast unto the children of Israel: and he offered upon the altar, and burnt incense.
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When you have a special day and make it into a religious day, you set up an idol which is not ordered by God.
There are no days set up as religious days by God in the New Testament Bible. We are to live to God every day, our bodies being the temple of the Holy Spirit today in the New Testament church.
There are no days set up as religious days by God in the New Testament Bible. We are to live to God every day, our bodies being the temple of the Holy Spirit today in the New Testament church.
Christmas and Easter and the day the Catholics call "Lent" are such days not set up by God as religious days. You will not find these in the New Testament church in the Bible.
If you do a search of the word "Christmas" you will find no such day in either the Old Testament Bible or in the New Testament Bible.
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The word, Easter, appears one time in the Bible: Acts 12:14 And when he had apprehended him, he put him in prison, and delivered him to four quaternions of soldiers to keep him; intending after Easter to bring him forth to the people.
(But the meaning of this in Acts 12:14 ... was ... intending after "passover" to bring him forth to the people.)
(But the meaning of this in Acts 12:14 ... was ... intending after "passover" to bring him forth to the people.)
From Unger's Bible Dictionary concerning Easter:
(Greek pascha, from Hebrew pesah)
"The Passover" , In the earlier English versions Easter had been frequently used as the translation of pascha. At the last revision Passover was substituted in all passages but this in Acts 12.
"The Passover" , In the earlier English versions Easter had been frequently used as the translation of pascha. At the last revision Passover was substituted in all passages but this in Acts 12.
(From Unger's Bible Dictionary)
The word "Easter" is of Saxon origin, Eastra, the goddess of spring, in whose honor sacrifices were offered about Passover time each year.
By the 8th century Anglo-Saxons had adopted the name to designate the celebration of Christ's resurrection.
(an addition by man to religion)
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The important fact for us in the New Testament church is there is no connection with this word Easter, and the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and certainly there is no instruction in the New Testament telling us to treat Easter as a religious holiday today, in fact there are no such things in the Holy Bible, New Testament, as religious holidays.
Easter is just another "Idol" set up by men in a religious context.
We are not commanded by God to celebrate such things as this, nor are we commanded by God to do this, and we are forbidden the "worship" of idols, as many do today with the religious things set up by the flesh of man.
We can, in the word "Easter", even see the pagan connection with the term, "goddess of spring."
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I believe it to be evil to observe all these religious things set up by humans when they are not in the New Testament Bible.
I just ignore these religious holidays set up by humans, which reminds me of these words of Joshua:
"But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." Joshua 24:15
(Do the Word of God.)
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These idols are idols because they have an attachment to religion.
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The prophet of God, Abijah, pronounces a penalty from God over king Jeroboam:
I Kings 14:1-20 At that time Abijah the son of Jeroboam fell sick.
And Jeroboam said to his wife, Arise, I pray thee, and disguise thyself, that thou be not known to be the wife of Jeroboam; and get thee to Shiloh: behold, there is Ahijah the prophet, which told me that I should be king over this people. And take with thee ten loaves, and cracknels, and a cruse of honey, and go to him: he shall tell thee what shall become of the child.
And Jeroboam's wife did so, and arose, and went to Shiloh, and came to the house of Ahijah. But Ahijah could not see; for his eyes were set by reason of his age.
And the Lord said unto Ahijah, Behold, the wife of Jeroboam cometh to ask a thing of thee for her son; for he is sick: thus and thus shalt thou say unto her: for it shall be, when she cometh in, that she shall feign herself to be another woman.
And it was so, when Ahijah heard the sound of her feet, as she came in at the door, that he said, Come in, thou wife of Jeroboam; why feignest thou thyself to be another? for I am sent to thee with heavy tidings.
Go, tell Jeroboam, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Forasmuch as I exalted thee from among the people, and made thee prince over my people Israel, And rent the kingdom away from the house of David, and gave it thee: and yet thou hast not been as my servant David, who kept MY
commandments, and who followed ME with all his heart, to do that only which was right in Mine eyes;
But hast done evil above all that were before thee: for thou hast gone and made thee other gods, and molten images, to provoke ME to anger, and hast cast ME behind thy back:
10 Therefore, behold, I will bring evil upon the house of Jeroboam, and will cut off from Jeroboam him that pisseth against the wall, and him that is shut up and left in Israel, and will take away the remnant of the house of Jeroboam, as a man taketh away dung, till it be all gone.
Him that dieth of Jeroboam in the city shall the dogs eat; and him that dieth in the field shall the fowls of the air eat: for the Lord hath spoken it.
12 Arise thou therefore, get thee to thine own house: and when thy feet enter into the city, the child shall die.
And all Israel shall mourn for him, and bury him: for he only of Jeroboam shall come to the grave, because in him there is found some good thing toward the Lord God of Israel in the house of Jeroboam.
(I believe this means only this child of the house of Jeroboam shall be saved in the resurrection from the dead.)
14 Moreover the Lord shall raise HIM up a king over Israel, who shall cut off the house of Jeroboam that day: but what? even now.
For the Lord shall smite Israel, as a reed is shaken in the water, and HE shall root up Israel out of this good land, which HE gave to their fathers, and shall scatter them beyond the river, because they have made their groves, provoking the Lord to anger.
And HE shall give Israel up because of the sins of Jeroboam, who did sin, and who made Israel to sin.
And they buried him; and all Israel mourned for him, according to the word of the Lord, which he spake by the hand of his servant Ahijah the prophet.
And the rest of the acts of Jeroboam, how he warred, and how he reigned, behold, they are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel.
And the days which Jeroboam reigned were two and twenty years (22-years): and he slept with his fathers, and Nadab his son reigned in his stead.
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What about Judah? How are they doing?
I Kings 14:21-24 And Rehoboam the son of Solomon reigned in Judah. Rehoboam was forty and one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city which the Lord did choose out of all the tribes of Israel, to put HIS name there. And his mother's name was Naamah an Ammonitess.
24 And there were also sodomites in the land: and they did according to all the abominations of the nations which the Lord cast out before the children of Israel.
sodomites / homosexuals:
What the New Testament Bible says about homosexuals & lesbians:
Romans 1:26-27 For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature:27 And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.
sodomites / homosexuals:
What the New Testament Bible says about homosexuals & lesbians:
Romans 1:26-27 For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature:27 And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.
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I Kings 14:25-31 And it came to pass in the fifth year of king Rehoboam, that Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem: And he took away the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the king's house; he even took away all: and he took away all the shields of gold which Solomon had made. And king Rehoboam made in their stead brasen shields, and committed them unto the hands of the chief of the guard, which kept the door of the king's house. And it was so, when the king went into the house of the Lord, that the guard bare them, and brought them back into the guard chamber.
29 Now the rest of the acts of Rehoboam, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?
And Rehoboam slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David. And his mother's name was Naamah an Ammonitess. And Abijam his son reigned in his stead.
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In the years between Solomon and Ahab, the following kings did good in the sight of God.
* Asa
* Jehoshaphat
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The following kings did evil in the sight of God.
* Jeroboam
* Rehoboam
* Abijam
* Nebat
* Baasha
* Nadab
* Zimri
* Elah
* Omri
* Ahab
Concerning Ahab: I Kings 16:33 And Ahab made a grove; and Ahab did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel that were before him.
And Ahab's wife was the exceedingly evil woman, Jezebel.
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