1 Kings 14:1-20
Jeroboam persevered in his sinful path, despite the solemn warning God gave him at Bethel. Now the LORD speaks a second time to him, through the illness of his son Abijah. We notice that the king does not dream of seeking help from his golden calf, which he recognises to be totally powerless. He turns to Ahijah, the prophet who had previously told him he would be king. Has he then turned on his tracks? Alas, not so! The deception he employs in complicity with his wife proves that there is no true humiliation in his heart. But how foolish to think that God can be deceived by a disguise! The queen finds herself unmasked when she has hardly crossed the threshold. Instead of acceptable words such as Jeroboam had previously heard from the mouth of the man of God, it is a frightening message that his unfortunate wife must now bring back to him, at the very moment that the young Abijah dies. We perhaps ask ourselves why the LORD did not justly allow this child to live, having found "some good thing" in him (v. 13). Precisely because He wanted to take him out of such bad surroundings and bring him into His presence – how incomparably better! (Isaiah 57:1-2).