Robert Wurtz II
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 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. (1 Kings 14:2, 4–6 KJV)
Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. But evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. (2 Timothy 3:12–13 NKJV)
A Prophet (capital “P”) is a person whom (among other responsibilities) God reveals His mind and will to. At God’s discretion, He reveals information that is necessary for His purposes to be carried out in the earth. The key word is “necessary” and not to satisfy curiosity. This capacity for revelation is why prophets are often called seers. Some interpreted dreams or messages from God such as Daniel and Nebuchadnezzar’s dream or Belshazzar’s writing on the wall. In the case of Hosea, his whole life was a parable of the relationship between God and His people. Sometimes prophets did radical things to get the peoples’ attention — even eating dung cakes on one occasion. Indeed, in the Old Testament prophets were basically God’s prosecuting attorneys — calling people back to their responsibilities to Him. On some occasions, God granted prophets the power to heal the sick or even raise the dead. Prophets were the most persecuted people in the Old Testament. The role was not glamorous as it is often viewed today. Many prophets were brutally killed.
And what more shall I say? For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and Barak and Samson and Jephthah, also of David and Samuel and the prophets: who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, became valiant in battle, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. Women received their dead raised to life again. Others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection. Still others had trial of mockings and scourgings, yes, and of chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, were tempted, were slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented— of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, in dens and caves of the earth. (Hebrews 11:32–38 NKJV)
This makes the story of Jeroboam and his wife all the more troubling because many people misunderstood the purpose of a prophet. Their job was not to simply tell people the future. In modern times if a person can obtain secret information through clairvoyance they may well call the person a “prophet.” Some even feign (pretend to have) revelation by revealing information they received by human means. In other words, they were tipped off.
Moreover, prophets were not fortune tellers. With the exception of Balaam, prophets were single-minded in their devotion to God and refused to assist evil people in their madness. God told Ezekiel to tell the people, “For when you offer your gifts and make your sons pass through the fire, you defile yourselves with all your idols, even to this day. So shall I be inquired of by you, O house of Israel? As I live,” says the Lord GOD, “I will not be inquired of by you.” (Ezekiel 20:31 NKJV) The book of Ezekiel is almost a handbook on prophets and God’s use of the prophetic. He went on to say, And if the prophet be deceived when he hath spoken a thing, I the LORD have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand upon him, and will destroy him from the midst of my people Israel (Ezekiel 14:9 KJV). There is an arrogance that often attends the false prophet and he/she has no concept that it is not them playing the unsuspecting people — but God is actually playing the false prophet (if you will). God will break the teeth of the roaring lions who speak not of God — but their own imaginations (Psalm 58:6; Ezekiel 13:3).
“Woe unto them that seek deep to hide their counsel from the LORD, and their works are in the dark, and they say, Who seeth us? and who knoweth us?” (Isaiah 29:15 KJV)
When a person seeks to inquire of the Lord in a matter and their heart is not right with Him they are not fooling God — they are fooling themselves. This is what Jeroboam’s wife tried to do. Like Ananias and Sapphira they conspired together to deceive the man of God. What they did not know is that God had already revealed their scheme to the prophet before she showed up. He was waiting for her, 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? This is a sobering verse. God sees man’s attempt to deceive. And so it was that the prophet had a word from the Lord for her that she did not expect.
In the last days, evil men and imposters will wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. The Greek word for “imposters” (seducers in the KJV) is goetes and it generally means a sorcerer, enchanter, or a wizard. Simon the sorcerer comes to mind. He moved in the demonic in order to deceive the people. However, notice what 2 Timothy 3:13 says, they are deceiving and being deceived. They are deceiving others and do not realize that they are being deceived themselves. This is the difference between Abijah and a lot of people who feign the prophetic… they are deceiving and being deceived.
I have often wondered how Jeroboam’s wife felt when she heard the words, Come in, thou wife of Jeroboam. Can you imagine how she felt when God uncovered her scheme? The same holds true for Sapphira. What went through their minds when they realized that they had been discovered? They thought they had everyone fooled, but the only people they were fooling were themselves. That is a very sobering thing to realize. Had God not struck her and her husband dead they may have tried to make a liar out of Peter. They could have denied the whole thing — saved face and went on for years without anyone knowing the real truth about what happened.
A lot of people pretend to be prophets and are oblivious to the fact that they are completely deceived. They deceive people who have a habit of making decisions based on false discernment and who set their future hopes on “words” they receive from questionable sources. Some would-be prophets have “missed it” (given false words) and were never told or confronted about it… so they keep on in their false ways deceiving and being deceived. Most people are too nice to tell a person they were wrong in what they said. Few ever confront the person by telling them that their prophecy never came to pass. Anyone who purports to speak for the Lord ought to seriously ponder this fact.
Paul added, Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron (1 Timothy 4:1–2 KJV). The actual rendering of the text is “…some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; through the hypocrisy of men who speak lies.” What a terrible thing! Paul offers Timothy the solution, But you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them,and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. (2 Timothy 3:14–15 NKJV) Keep your mind and heart firmly rooted in the word of God and don’t be moved or discouraged by these people.
If there were ever a time when we needed true prophetic insight it is today. We are up to our ears in self-serving seers who darken counsel with words without knowledge (Job 38:2). There is so much deception and lying in the world that it is hard to know what the real truth is at times. God uncovered Jeroboam’s wife’s scheme. Is there any reason to think that God has changed? If there are deceivers in the world there must also be a means of discerning them. It existed in the Old Testament. It existed in the book of Acts. It must exist today.
I suggest that God will reveal things to us when we humble ourselves before Him with a single-minded devotion. When we cast off the pet sins and human ambitions that ensnare us (if so be that there are any) and inquire of the Lord from a pure heart — He will speak to us. He will bring the revelation that we need to fulfill His purposes in the earth. Not to exalt ourselves or feign spirituality — nor as a weapon with which to control people. The false have spoken. May the Lord be pleased to bring His revelation in this desperate hour.
“Where there is no prophetic vision the people cast off restraint, but blessed is he who keeps the law.” (Proverbs 29:18 ESV)
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