Abijah 1
The next portion of the story about Rehoboam and Jeroboam is
interesting,
thought provoking,
full of insight,
and again, punctuated by prophets.
The stories (because lots happens and it is told in two places from 2 different points of view) can be found in 1 Kings 14 and 2 Chronicles 12. Go ahead...I'll wait while you get your Bible and read those passages.
[ silent musical interlude ]
Done, good!
So, Jeroboam has a son named Abijah.
and
Rehoboam has a son named...what? Really??? ABIJAH? No, that can't be right. Let me check...
OK, in KINGS it is Abijah, but in Chronicles it is Abijam ? Hmmmmm ~ lets check some commentators to see if we can get info on this:
hhhhhmmmmmmm (read-read-read-read)
OK! The commentators say (a couple of them) that likely the real and original name was in fact Abijah, but because he was such a sinful scoundrel "sacred history" changed it to Abijam. You see Abijah means father or worshipper of Yah (God) while Abijam means father or worshipper of the sea.
Still, both Jeroboam and Rehoboam named sons Abijah?? Wow! As if it isn't hard enough on us 'get-confused-by-sound-alikes' American/English speakers...Jeroboam/Rehoboam ~ then the crown prince in both kingdoms is Abijah? OK ... anyway ~
So the story in I Kings 14 begins with "At that time Abijah the son of Jeroboam became sick."
Now lest you think that Jeroboam, in all his sinFULL set up golden calves and bring in serious idol worship, had forgotten about God and the prophet, Ahijah . . .
{which means brother or worshiper of Yah ~ as if names weren't similar/confusing enough...although maybe that is the real reason his son was named a sound-alike name like Abijah...don't know...but anyway...}
. . . when Abijah gets sick, Jeroboam tells his wife to disguise herself and go to Shiloh to the prophet "Ahijah who spoke to me that I would be king over this people" (I Kings 14:2), take him some cakes and honey, and Ahijah will tell her what will happen to the boy. While she is on the way, God has a chat with Ahijah, so even though Ahijah is by this time quite blind, he calls her out: "Come in, wife of Jeroboam, why do you pretend to be another woman?"
This story sounds crazy...super-spiritualized 'fiction'...you know ~ one of those stories that we accept as part of what may have happened to those people in the Bible, but would never happen in REAL life. I am related to and am very close friends with a number of people who are quite prophetic. So...this story doesn't sound far fetched to me at all. God is likely to tell any of them anything at any particular time with quite detailed and specific accuracy. The technical term is 'word of knowledge'. For example, when my children were young they would say, "we don't even bother trying to lie to my dad...he ALWAYS know. It isn't even worth it." And he did! I have heard him say, "Wow, on Monday you were at ... say ... Albertsons at 10:12 wearing a blue striped T-shirt and you said......" He KNEW accurate detail because God would tell him. When you know people who are prophetic, like this, you know a couple of things. 1) Don't bother lying...not worth the air it takes. 2) They know, not because they are 'magical' or because they have ookie-spookie abilities, but because they have a gifting and an intimate relationship with God and He TELLS them.
What this story re-enforces for me is that for Jeroboam it was not that there was no God, it was not that he had not heard, or not remembered, or even not believed that first 'rip the cloak' word that Ahijah had given to him. He simply looked at it like 'forture telling'. He wanted to know 'what would happen', not what God thought and what God would do, and why. That is the difference between ESP, fortune telling, new-age stuff and REAL prophetic words and events. Prophecy is NOT foretelling the future -- prophecy is hearing God's perspective on something/someone/some event. A prophetic event happens when GOD SPEAKS. God IS REAL. He has emotions, and perspectives. God did speak then, and he does speak now. When Jeroboam sent his wife, he wanted a "fortune teller" event: what will happen to the boy? He got more than he planned for ~
interesting,
thought provoking,
full of insight,
and again, punctuated by prophets.
The stories (because lots happens and it is told in two places from 2 different points of view) can be found in 1 Kings 14 and 2 Chronicles 12. Go ahead...I'll wait while you get your Bible and read those passages.
[ silent musical interlude ]
Done, good!
So, Jeroboam has a son named Abijah.
and
Rehoboam has a son named...what? Really??? ABIJAH? No, that can't be right. Let me check...
OK, in KINGS it is Abijah, but in Chronicles it is Abijam ? Hmmmmm ~ lets check some commentators to see if we can get info on this:
hhhhhmmmmmmm (read-read-read-read)
OK! The commentators say (a couple of them) that likely the real and original name was in fact Abijah, but because he was such a sinful scoundrel "sacred history" changed it to Abijam. You see Abijah means father or worshipper of Yah (God) while Abijam means father or worshipper of the sea.
Still, both Jeroboam and Rehoboam named sons Abijah?? Wow! As if it isn't hard enough on us 'get-confused-by-sound-alikes' American/English speakers...Jeroboam/Rehoboam ~ then the crown prince in both kingdoms is Abijah? OK ... anyway ~
So the story in I Kings 14 begins with "At that time Abijah the son of Jeroboam became sick."
Now lest you think that Jeroboam, in all his sinFULL set up golden calves and bring in serious idol worship, had forgotten about God and the prophet, Ahijah . . .
{which means brother or worshiper of Yah ~ as if names weren't similar/confusing enough...although maybe that is the real reason his son was named a sound-alike name like Abijah...don't know...but anyway...}
. . . when Abijah gets sick, Jeroboam tells his wife to disguise herself and go to Shiloh to the prophet "Ahijah who spoke to me that I would be king over this people" (I Kings 14:2), take him some cakes and honey, and Ahijah will tell her what will happen to the boy. While she is on the way, God has a chat with Ahijah, so even though Ahijah is by this time quite blind, he calls her out: "Come in, wife of Jeroboam, why do you pretend to be another woman?"
This story sounds crazy...super-spiritualized 'fiction'...you know ~ one of those stories that we accept as part of what may have happened to those people in the Bible, but would never happen in REAL life. I am related to and am very close friends with a number of people who are quite prophetic. So...this story doesn't sound far fetched to me at all. God is likely to tell any of them anything at any particular time with quite detailed and specific accuracy. The technical term is 'word of knowledge'. For example, when my children were young they would say, "we don't even bother trying to lie to my dad...he ALWAYS know. It isn't even worth it." And he did! I have heard him say, "Wow, on Monday you were at ... say ... Albertsons at 10:12 wearing a blue striped T-shirt and you said......" He KNEW accurate detail because God would tell him. When you know people who are prophetic, like this, you know a couple of things. 1) Don't bother lying...not worth the air it takes. 2) They know, not because they are 'magical' or because they have ookie-spookie abilities, but because they have a gifting and an intimate relationship with God and He TELLS them.
What this story re-enforces for me is that for Jeroboam it was not that there was no God, it was not that he had not heard, or not remembered, or even not believed that first 'rip the cloak' word that Ahijah had given to him. He simply looked at it like 'forture telling'. He wanted to know 'what would happen', not what God thought and what God would do, and why. That is the difference between ESP, fortune telling, new-age stuff and REAL prophetic words and events. Prophecy is NOT foretelling the future -- prophecy is hearing God's perspective on something/someone/some event. A prophetic event happens when GOD SPEAKS. God IS REAL. He has emotions, and perspectives. God did speak then, and he does speak now. When Jeroboam sent his wife, he wanted a "fortune teller" event: what will happen to the boy? He got more than he planned for ~
Love this post! I love that you clarify what prophesy is and isn't. It is simply God speaking to His children. I also like that you point out that what Abijah has is a gift of the Spirit called word of knowledge. God's gifts are amazing and for a purpose.
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