Jeroboam’s wife

Jeroboam’s Wife

Robert Wurtz II

 

And Jeroboam said to his wife, get up and disguise yourself so that you won’t be recognized as the wife of Jeroboam; and go to Shiloh: behold, Ahijah the prophet is there, who told me that I would 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 bad because of his age. And the LORD said to Ahijah, Behold, the wife of Jeroboam is coming to ask something of you for her son; for he is sick: thus and thus shall you say to her: for it will be, when she comes in, that she shall pretend to be another woman. 

 

And it was so, when Ahijah heard the sound of her feet, as she went into the door, that he said, “Come in, Jeroboam’s wife; why do you pretend to be someone else? For I am sent to you with heavy tidings” (1 Kings 14:2, 4–6).

 

But evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. (2 Timothy 3:13 NKJV)

 

Jeroboam came up from Egypt, and because king Rehoboam foolishly listened to his young advisors, the kingdom was divided, and Jeroboam became the northern tribes’ first king. Being the politician he was, Jeroboam sought to secure his throne by keeping the people from returning to Jerusalem to worship God. Instead, he made two golden calves and placed them in Dan and Bethel. As did Aaron centuries before, he told the people, “these are the gods that brought you up from the land of Egypt” (Exodus 32:8). 

 

So God sent a man of God to cry against the altars Jeroboam built. The prophet angered Jeroboam, who stretched out his hand and said, “seize him!” Immediately Jeroboam’s arm became paralyzed, and the man of God prayed that God would relent and heal Jeroboam’s dead arm. Despite being healed, Jeroboam continued to do more wickedness than all who lived before him. He cast God behind his back; therefore, God planned to burn up the house of Jeroboam like a man burns up dung until it’s all gone (1 Kings 14:10). That was God’s estimate of Jeroboam and his family, with the lone exception of the child that was sick. God told Jeroboam’s wife that when her feet entered the city that her child would die. Why? Because in this child, God found something good, so He took him from Jeroboam and gave the child a decent burial (1 Kings 14:13). 

 

These details make the story of Jeroboam and his wife all the more troubling because they treated Ahija not as a prophet of God but like a fortune-teller. Understand that a prophet’s job was more than predicting the future. They were speaking on God’s behalf. 

 

In modern times, people are fascinated and impressed if a person can obtain secret information about people. It makes no difference if it’s demonic insight, clairvoyance, or God revealing it, so long as they can peer into the unknown. But the source of information is more important than the information itself. Saul visited the witch at Endor because God wasn’t speaking to him. Is it any surprise that God rejected him as king? There are many “Saul’s” in the world today. Today just about anyone can be called a “prophet.” But again, prophets were not fortune tellers. They did not exist to assist evil people or help them navigate their own schemes. Nor did they prophesy to tell people what they wanted to hear. 

 

When God Refuses to Speak

 

Sometimes, people try to engage the prophetic while living in rebellion, not realizing that this is dangerous. 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). 

 

When a person inquires of the Lord, and their heart is not right, they are not fooling God; they are fooling themselves. This is what Jeroboam’s wife tried to do. Like Ananias and Sapphira, Jeroboam and his wife tried to deceive the man of God. But God 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 went into the door, that he said, “Come in, Jeroboam’s wife; why do you pretend to be someone else?” This is a sobering verse. God sees man’s attempt to deceive and gave the prophet a shocking word for Jereboam and his wife. 

 

The Desire to Inquire

 

There is nothing wrong with inquiring of the Lord regarding issues in our lives. I encourage everyone to do this and have written many articles along this topic. However, this does not mean we look for people who prophesy over folks to have them give us a “word.” Morever, many answers we seek can be found by reading God’s word. Sadly, people often don’t want to hear God’s word. They fail to understand that the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit’s inspired word agree. God has already answered many of our questions if we would search His word. However, this requires time and effort.  

 

And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, “This is the way; walk ye in it,” when ye turn to the right hand and when ye turn to the left (Isaiah 30:21).

 

Laziness is a primary cause of deception. We should seek God for ourselves and not depend on others to hear from God for us. Jeroboam refused to obey the written word of God but wanted a prophetic word instead. What made him think that the prophet would say something contrary to what God has already revealed? 

 

We don’t need a bunch of “prophets” these days saying, “thus says the Lord” if and when the Lord hasn’t spoken (Jeremiah 14:14, 23:16-21, 27:15, 28:15, 29:31, Ezekiel 13:2-7, 22:28, Matthew 7:15-20, Matthew 24:4-11, 1 Timothy 4:1–2, 2 Peter 2:1–3, 1 John 4:1, and Jude 1:3–4 et. al.). But the demand is great for them, as it was in the days of Israel’s apostacy, so I suppose they will remain in business. Dry up the demand and we may well see these deceivers out of business. Yet Paul gave Timothy the antidote for the deception and false prophecies of our times. “But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:14–17 ESV).