By Jeremy Kimble, TGC.
Many years ago, I saw the second installment of Tolkien’s trilogy, The Two Towers, in the theater. I ran into a friend there who was excited to watch the film. When I asked him what he thought of the first movie, Fellowship of the Ring, he informed me he hadn’t yet seen it. I then asked if he had read the books. Again, he said no.
At this point, I informed my friend of the obvious: “You’re going to be really confused.” He assured me it would be fine. After the movie was done, I asked him what he thought. Shocker, the plot perplexed him.
Have you ever been similarly confused while reading the Bible? This can happen even if we’ve read the Bible from cover to cover. One such perplexing story is 1 Kings 13. We need to seek clarity as this narrative has implications for our lives as Christians today. Specifically, we learn that the word of the Lord must be rightly heard, taught, and obeyed.
The Story
I encourage you first to slowly read 1 Kings 13, as I’ll only be offering highlights of the narrative. We are now in the era just beyond Solomon’s life, and Israel is split into the northern and southern kingdoms. This story takes place in the northern kingdom of Israel.
Reminiscent of Israel’s fall in Exodus 32, Jeroboam constructs two golden calves to be worshiped and erects an altar where sacrifices can be offered (12:25–33). So the king of Israel, who should be a model of true worship, ironically leads the people into idolatry. This is especially bad because as goes the king, so go the people.