Elisha the Baldhead, the Two She Bears, and the Forty-Two Boys - Part 3
In the Kingdom of God, there is no separation of church and state.
In the Kingdom of God, there is no separation of church and state. Religion and governance are one and the same thing. So it was in ancient Israel. Under the leadership of King David and his son Solomon, it appeared as though the plan was working. But when David’s grandson Rehoboam decided to rule and act like a jerk, the plan started to unravel. The Kingdom of God entered a period of permanent civil war.
Rehoboam’s immature and authoritarian leadership were insufferable (2 Chronicles 10), so the rebellion by the northern kingdoms led by Jeroboam was understandable. It had even been prophesied by the prophet Ahijah to Jeroboam that God would allow him to be made king of a divided nation because of the worship of foreign gods tolerated by king Solomon. Solomon liked his ladies more than his God. And there had to be consequences for that.
But the politics of this divided nation were tricky. How was Jeroboam to unify and lead his kingdom when the one true center of worship was in Jerusalem? The minds and hearts of the people would perpetually be subject to the influence of the house of David, who after all, was prophesied to rule forever. It was king David’s offspring who were the God ordained legitimate royal lineage. This presented an untenable leadership challenge for anyone.
If you were Jeroboam, allowed that commission by God and handed that set of problems, what would you do? Make no mistake about it, that wasn’t any easy governance problem to address.
Jeroboam decided to construct an alternative worship center to Jerusalem. He chooses Bethel as the location, which was a strategic choice. Bethel was a crossroads and a major trading center located only 11 miles north of Jerusalem. The name Bethel means “house of God” after all, and is only mentioned more frequently by Jerusalem in the Bible. Abraham built an altar to the Lord there, and it is also the location where Jacob had his dream about angels ascending and descending from heaven.
Solid choice Jeroboam.
Now on to designing the worship center. Are we going to copy the worship of that found in Jerusalem? That means the house of David is setting our agenda. Are we going to take that risk? In my opinion, Jeroboam allows fear to make his decision for him. Fear of losing control to his rivals and allowing them to set the tone. Fear of having a weakened political office. Jeroboam is at constant war with the house of David over the border of the divided nation. In his mind, he has to give the people something distinct to fight for.
Jeroboam decides to make the center of worship at his brand new worship center golden calves. He sets them in place with this declaration:
28 So the king took counsel and made two calves of gold. And he said to the people, “You have gone up to Jerusalem long enough. Behold your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.” (1 Kings 12:28)
Compare that declaration with the one made by Aaron after constructing a golden calf to worship. Aaron being another man “allowed” into office by God because of the weakness of Moses:
4 And he received the gold from their hand and fashioned it with a graving tool and made a golden calf. And they said, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!” (Exodus 32:4)
Guess he didn’t read how that turned out.
But in his defense, Jeroboam was in between a rock and a hard place, and he chose the route of compromise. Egypt, the home of the golden calves, was still the superpower and the cool kids on the world landscape. The sales pitch might look something like, “Let’s be like them, people will like being associated with the prestige of Egypt”. “We’ll distinguish ourselves, setting us up to be more sophisticated than those backward southerners”. “Plus, it might make Egypt like us and leave us alone”.
And Egypt is a big threat, eventually going after Rehoboam and cleaning his clock.
To be clear, liberalism as a check to authoritarianism like that displayed by Rehoboam is a good and Godly thing. Liberalism as a counterbalance to excessively rigid laws and punishments is a good thing. But progressive liberalism which functions as an argument justifying disloyalty to God crosses the line. Disloyalty to the God who established himself to properly be worshiped at Jerusalem is a death sentence. You chose the wrong risk.
You chose the fear of man over the fear of God. You also succumbed to the temptation of the esteem in the eyes of men over the esteem of God. And it cost you. Maybe not immediately, but eventually.
You see, if God’s identity is obfuscated by liberalism, then his kingdom plans and principles will become obfuscated as well. And the rescue plan would become compromised. The evil of the world order described in our first installment of this series would eventually take over Israel.
God’s response was to raise up and greatly empower men who chose the fear of God over the fear of man. They were the prophets. Men who chose the esteem of God over the esteem of men. They valued loyalty over popularity. And those qualities are only made manifest when they are tested. And tested they were.
The rescue plan would not change, it would not become obfuscated by the deceitful spin of men, and it would not fail. God raised up men and gave them supernatural power to make sure of it. The kings might have had political power, but the prophets had divine power.
Two things become abundantly clear at the end of this installment. One, Bethel from this point forward becomes an object of scorn to the prophets. Bethel represents compromising loyalty to the one true God.
Two, Jerusalem is solidified as a unique and special city among all the cities of the earth. One day, the ultimate blessing will arrive at that city bringing to fruition the great rescue plan of the ages. Make no mistake about it, that city, that piece of land, is unique and special forever. And loyalty to God means loyalty to his chosen capital city. Everything else is compromise. In the Kingdom of God there is no separation of church and state.
Matthew 23: 37 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! 38 See, your house is left to you desolate. 39 For I tell you, you will not see me again, until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’”