A Meal in Disguise

Jeroboam’s offering for Ahijah the Prophet from 1 Kings 14

2900 years ago, King Jeroboam, the first king of Northern Israel, asked his wife to disguise herself to go meet Prophet Ahijah with food as offering in order to enquire about his son who was very ill. But the Lord spoke to Prophet Ahijah and unveiled the disguise of the queen and foretold the prophet that the child won't get better but instead will die. As if that is not bad enough, the whole house of Jeroboam would perish. After receiving this awful prophecy, the queen went back home to see this prophecy fulfilled just as it was foretold. 

Wait a minute here.... is that it? It hurts the ears of a 21st century Christian to hear a story like this. We will either brush through this story like another doom filled dark story or simply ignore it thinking, 'Good that we are in the post Jesus times.. the Old Testament is full of dark stories'. NO. Every story in the Bible, EVERY SINGLE ONE is there to reveal the character of God. It is placed there to give us an understanding of how Holiness works. Oh, that sounds even darker now....How does a 'doom to the entire household' story possibly reveal the holiness of God? IT DOES. 

The story is not placed there to paint an evil color on a king who lived thousands of years ago, it is there for us to learn from it. It is there to shine light on our sin and to pave a way in front of us, for us to walk in the path God wants us to walk. 

Let's understand the story as it should be understood. As always, there are many angles and here is one. 

Meet Jeroboam:-

King Jeroboam son of Nebat and Zeruah, from the tribe of Ephraim, was not born into royalty. But a government official in King Solomon's reign was in charge of the entire labor forces of the tribes of Joseph. He climbed up the ladder by working hard and in good standing. He was mentioned in 1 Kings chapters 11 -14 and in 2 Chronicles chapters 9-13. 

King Solomon left the ways of the Lord and started following other gods. So the Lord became angry with Solomon and told him that his kingdom would be torn away and given to one of his subordinates. For the sake of King David, one tribe would stay with his descendants, but other than that, all the other tribes would be torn away and given to others. (Refer 1 Kings 11: 9-13). And Jeroboam would be chosen to become the recipient.

The Kingship Prophecy for Jeroboam by Prophet Ahijah:- 

After becoming the person in-charge for the labor force of King Solomon, one day Jeroboam was going out of Jerusalem. He was met with Prophet Ahijah of Shiloh and was delivered a life changing prophecy. 

1 Kings 11:31-32 says,

'This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘See, I am going to tear the kingdom out of Solomon’s hand and give you ten tribes. But for the sake of my servant David and the city of Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, he will have one tribe.' ' 

This is because King Solomon didn't follow the Lord but turned to other gods and fell into idolatry. 

1 Kings 11: 38,39 says, 

'If you(Jeroboam) do whatever I command you and walk in obedience to me(Lord) and do what is right in my eyes by obeying my decrees and commands, as David my servant did, I will be with you. I will build you a dynasty as enduring as the one I built for David and will give Israel to you. I will humble David’s descendants because of this, but not forever.’'

He must have felt like he won the lottery at that time. What an honor! Not only did God give him the kingdom he was also given a conditional promise which sounds very similar to the one King Solomon received earlier in his reign. I say it is a conditional promise because there is a 'IF -THEN' condition in the promise. IF Jeroboam does whatever the Lord commands him and walks in obedience THEN the Lord will build him a dynasty similar to that of Davids. 

Maybe because of this prophecy, or for another reason unknown, Jeroboam rebelled against the King. So, King Solomon tried to kill Jeroboam. But Jeroboam fled to Egypt, to Shishak the king, and stayed there until Solomon’s death. And Solomon's son Rehoboam succeeded him as king. 

Pause:- grace for the house of David:- 

In the midst of what sounds like a grave punishment for David's descendants, God provides grace at the end. 

In verse 39 it says, 'David's descendants will be humbled because of this but NOT FOREVER'. 

This grace is given in-spite of them leaving God and following other gods. 

Psalms 145:8 says,

'The Lord is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love.'

Similarly, Jesus died for us all WHILE we were still sinners. He didn't ask us to repent and then come to him if He had to die for us, instead He died for us while we were still rejecting Him. 

Romans 5:8 says, 

'While we were still sinners, Christ died for us'.

Jeroboam 'the Labor in-charge' to 'King' Jeroboam:-

After Rehoboam's succession, Jeroboam came back from Egypt. He didn't come back with an intent to be subject to the king this time but with an agenda. As now he has the knowledge of Prophecy by Ahijah. Jeroboam, along with the entire assembly of Israel, joined forces against King Rehoboam. They went up to Rehoboam and said to him, 'Your father put a heavy yoke on us, but now lighten the harsh labor and the heavy yoke he put on us, and we will serve you.' (1 Kings 12:4). But Rehoboam will fall for the ill advice he would get from his peers and will in-turn want to increase the burden instead of decreasing it as they have requested. Thus Rehoboam did not listen to his people's honest request and this will paved a way for the prophecy to be fulfilled. 

Rehoboam woudnt’t stop there, he will send out the new labor in-charge named Adoniram to enforce this heavier burden. Frustrated by the power hungry king's actions the Israelites stoned Adoniram to death and will start a rebellion. This rebellion end up in making Jeroboam their new king, leaving Rehoboam to rule the two tribes, Judah and Benjamin, as they only will remain loyal to the house of David. 

Thus the Labor in-charge Jeroboam will become King Jeroboam for the ten northern tribes of Israel.

Later in history, those ten northern tribes would be referred to as Ephraim or Israel and the southern kingdom would be referred to as Judah. 

The reign of King Jeroboam and his fall to idolatry:

Now that Jeroboam is a king just like he was prophesied by prophet Ahijah, you would think he would keep the conditional promise in mind, but NO. Though the Northern kingdom was formed in the hill country of Ephraim, their temple(built by King Solomon) was still at Jerusalem. And the Israelites had to go to Jerusalem to offer sacrifices according to the law. This will make Jeroboam in-secured with the newly acquired power and would try to take control of things on his own. He forgot that the power and privilege he now had was only because of the grace of God and not because of his own might. 

Pause: How about us?

Let's use this opportunity to meditate on how we, as the children of God often forget that every privilege and blessing that we have is from the Lord. Though we tell ourselves that we have submitted our lives to Jesus and sing songs like ' All to Jesus, I surrender...', time and time again we have tried to steer the wheel for ourselves. When push comes to shove, we want to take control back from God. Not just control, but we also take the credit from God. 

The Bible explicitly warns us against such practices. From stories like this or from verses in the Bible like 'Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.' (Proverbs 3:5) Warnings are all around us. We have to be very cautious and not heed into our flesh nature so easily. We should learn to fight our flesh hoping one day, it will come naturally to us and we don't have to fight so hard.

Every privilege and blessing that we have is from the Lord

Ok, back to our story. 1 Kings 12: 26, 27 says, 

Jeroboam thought to himself, “The kingdom will now likely revert to the house of David. If these people go up to offer sacrifices at the temple of the Lord in Jerusalem, they will again give their allegiance to their lord, Rehoboam king of Judah. They will kill me and return to King Rehoboam.”

So, what is his solution for maintaining his control over his subjects? Build two golden calves! Seriously, what is up with these people and golden calves? Why do they always end up building golden calves like it's their go-to instant god?The calf apparently was a very famous ‘god’ in their surrounding cultures. After seeking advise, Jeroboam said to the people, ' it's too much for you to go up to Jerusalem for worship, here are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt'. 

Wait a minute here, the golden calves brought them out of Egypt? You would think no one would believe him, but no, they would. So he set up one god in Bethel and another in Dan. And this became a sin, the people came to worship the gods he made. 

He won't stop there, he built shrines on high places and appointed priests from all sorts of people, even though they were not Levites. He instituted a festival on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, like the festival held in Judah, and offered sacrifices on the altar for the calves. 

Lord didn't appoint any festivals on the eighth month, He appointed on the 1st, 3rd and 7th months. There were no feasts appointed by God in the eight months. Jeroboam altered the design God created for His people, to center their lives around His holiness, into some spectacle, all to hold on to his power. 

But even after all this, God will still give Jeroboam a chance to change. In 1 Kings 13, we can learn that God sent a man of God to warn Jeroboam of his idolatry and for steering God's people away from Him. He would even perform a sign from God to prove His point. But this won't make a dent in Jeroboam's heart. He kept on falling into the pit , farther and farther, and dragged more people with him. 

This is when Jeroboam's son will fall sick and he would ask his wife to disguise herself and go enquire about his son to Prophet Ahijah. She had to disguise herself because Jeroboam knew well that the prophet is probably furious about the actions of the king and would refuse outrightly to pray for his son. But in his desperation and from his confidence of prophet Ahijah being the man of God, he would send his wife with food. 

1 Kings 14:3 says, 

'Take with you ten loaves, some cakes, and a jar of honey, and go to him. He will tell you what shall happen to the child.'

Hint: Our recipe today is going to revolve around this food basket. 

1 Kings 14:7-10 says, 

'Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: “Because I exalted you from among the people and made you leader over my people Israel and tore the kingdom away from the house of David and gave it to you, and yet you have not been like my servant David, who kept my commandments and followed me with all his heart, doing only that which was right in my eyes, but you have done evil above all who were before you and have gone and made for yourself other gods and metal images, provoking me to anger, and have cast me behind your back, therefore behold, I will bring harm upon the house of Jeroboam and will cut off from Jeroboam every male, both bond and free in Israel, and will burn up the house of Jeroboam, as a man burns up dung until it is all gone.

Ouch....'But you have done evil above all who were before you'. 

What did he do? He committed Idolatry and steered God's people away from Him through false truths and deception. 

What about us-now?

Golden calves represent self sustainability. God is the one who sustains us. The minute we try to take control from him, it will surely end in sin and death. We might not have a physical golden calf in our home today, but do we refuse to let go of the steering wheel? If yes, then we too have idols and might be taking others down with us as well. God won't tolerate it. He alone is worthy of worship. When you are trying this recipe, meditate on this one thing and ask God to help you give the steering wheel back to Him. His ways are always perfect. 

On to our recipe now, 

1 Kings 14:3 says, 

'Take with you ten loaves, some cakes, and a jar of honey, and go to him. He will tell you what shall happen to the child.'

So what do we have here in this menu basket? 

Bread, cakes and honey = Honey Cheesecake with breadcrumb crust. 

Notes:

1. I wanted to include the bread in this cheesecake so I tried making a bread crumb crust instead of a traditional graham cracker crust, and it turned out to be the best crust I have ever tried. 

2. This is a no hassle cheesecake recipe. You don't need any additional techniques like water bath or cranking the door open for the cake to cool down for just the right amount of time and all that. Simply follow the recipe and the cheesecake comes out creamy and without cracks every single time. 

Honey Cheesecake recipe: 

Ingredients:

Bread Crumb Crust: 

3 toasted white bread 

4 Tbsp of brown sugar

1 Tbsp of honey 

2 Tbsp of Melted butter 

1 cardamom pod (optional) 

Cheesecake:

16 oz cream cheese 

6 Tbsp of white sugar

2 Tbsp of honey 

⅓ cups of sour cream

1 pinch of salt

2 eggs 

Method: 

1. Preheat the oven to 325 F. 

2. In a food processor, combine everything listed under the bread crumb crust ingredient list and pulse it till it turns into fine crumbs. 

3. Take a springform pan, and press the crumbs with medium pressure using your hand, into the bottom and partly up the sides to make a compact crust. Do not pack with force as it can make the crust too dense.

4. Bake the crumb crust for 7 minutes at 325 F. 

5. Meanwhile, in a mixer, cream the cream cheese,  which is at room temperature, and make sure not to over mix it as it will become fluffy. We are looking for creamy consistency. 

6. Add in the honey, sugar, sour cream, salt and mix it until everything is well combined. 

7. Now, add one egg at a time(the eggs have to be at room temperature) and combine everything to a silky consistency. 

8. Pour the batter into the springform pan To insure against leaks, place pan on a cookie sheet that’s been lined with foil.and bake it for 70 minutes at 325 F. 

9. Edges will slightly puff and will turn slightly golden brown. The center should spring back to the touch but will still be jiggly. Don't over-bake.

10. Remove from the oven and let it cool for 10 minutes. Use a knife to gently loosen the crust from the inside of the springform pan to prevent cracks.

11. Let the cheesecake cool for another 1-2 hours or until near room temperature. After that, let it  cool overnight in the fridge for at least 6 hours.

12.  I served it with fresh strawberries and a swirl of honey on the top. It goes perfectly well with a cup of coffee.