This is such a great video of explaining a crucial chunk of the books of Kings, from the great video “Bible Project”.  https://youtu.be/bVFW3wbi9pk 

It does get SO confusing in the Old Testament, like with the names… and who is listening to God and who is drifting.  Israel, the people, were in trouble, they were split, they were on their way to EXILE.

What I have grown to understand is that MANY kings came after King Solomon, the son of King David, however many of them sputtered and failed…  They failed in listening to the Lord. The Lord then sent prophets, MANY prophets, to challenge Israel to listen to God. The kings often failed to listen. 

We might think it’s good to be “king for a day” but wouldn’t you rather be the Lord’s servant FOREVER? We can learn from these troubled examples, like Jeroboam, one of 20 plus kings in each of Israel and Judah, not listening, not holding up the examples of following God.

Even though David and Solomon had flaws, like we all do, David was known to the Lord as His cherished son, because he “followed me with all his heart, doing only what was right in my eyes.” We can recover from our failings by listening again to the Lord. No wonder David wrote “He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.” Psalm 23

We must listen and try to follow Him over our fail-able fallible hearts or our pocketbooks or our powerplays. Often we see the mighty that fall… We don’t have to strive for worldly wonders, we don’t always have to win to have won. 

God fulfills His Promise thru Jesus, we already know the end of the book. We know Who the REAL King is… let’s follow Him right into God’s Grace for forever life.  

Let us recognize that we will live good life by listening, not being as “king for a day” but striving to be the Lord’s servant FOREVER…

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.

Amen 

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1Kings 14:1-16

At that time Abijah son of Jeroboam became ill, and Jeroboam said to his wife, “Go, disguise yourself, so you won’t be recognized as the wife of Jeroboam. Then go to Shiloh. Ahijah the prophet is there—the one who told me I would be king over this people. Take ten loaves of bread with you, some cakes and a jar of honey, and go to him. He will tell you what will happen to the boy.” So Jeroboam’s wife did what he said and went to Ahijah’s house in Shiloh.

Now Ahijah could not see; his sight was gone because of his age. But the Lord had told Ahijah, “Jeroboam’s wife is coming to ask you about her son, for he is ill, and you are to give her such and such an answer. When she arrives, she will pretend to be someone else.”

So when Ahijah heard the sound of her footsteps at the door, he said, “Come in, wife of Jeroboam. Why this pretense? I have been sent to you with bad news. Go, tell Jeroboam that this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘I raised you up from among the people and appointed you ruler over my people Israel. I tore the kingdom away from the house of David and gave it to you, but you have not been like my servant David, who kept my commands and followed me with all his heart, doing only what was right in my eyes. You have done more evil than all who lived before you. You have made for yourself other gods, idols made of metal; you have aroused my anger and turned your back on me.

“‘Because of this, I am going to bring disaster on the house of Jeroboam. I will cut off from Jeroboam every last male in Israel—slave or free. I will burn up the house of Jeroboam as one burns dung, until it is all gone. Dogs will eat those belonging to Jeroboam who die in the city, and the birds will feed on those who die in the country. The Lord has spoken!’

“As for you, go back home. When you set foot in your city, the boy will die. All Israel will mourn for him and bury him. He is the only one belonging to Jeroboam who will be buried, because he is the only one in the house of Jeroboam in whom the Lord, the God of Israel, has found anything good.

“The Lord will raise up for himself a king over Israel who will cut off the family of Jeroboam. Even now this is beginning to happen. And the Lord will strike Israel, so that it will be like a reed swaying in the water. He will uproot Israel from this good land that he gave to their ancestors and scatter them beyond the Euphrates River, because they aroused the Lord’s anger by making Asherah poles. And he will give Israel up because of the sins Jeroboam has committed and has caused Israel to commit.”