Week 3 – January 12-18, 2025: History Repeating

This week’s daily readings:

January 12-18, 2025

This week’s devotional:

History Repeating

by Sue Hersey

Scripture:

So on the advice of his counselors, the king made two gold calves. He said to the people, “It is too much trouble for you to worship in Jerusalem. Look, Israel, these are the gods who brought you out of Egypt!”

He placed these calf idols in Bethel and in Dan—at either end of his kingdom. But this became a great sin, for the people worshiped the idols, traveling as far north as Dan to worship the one there.

— 1 Kings 12:28-30 (NLT) 

Reflection:

Does this story seem familiar to you? The passage above describes one of the acts of Israel’s King Jeroboam after the northern kingdom split from southern Judah. At first read, you might think you’re in the wrong chapter and have slipped back hundreds of years in time to the book of Exodus where it says, “Then Aaron took the gold, melted it down, and molded it into the shape of a calf. When the people saw it, they exclaimed, ‘O Israel, these are the gods who brought you out of the land of Egypt!’” (Exodus 32:4).

Seriously, what was Jeroboam thinking?! Surely, he was familiar with Aaron’s almost identical act described in Exodus. He had to have known that worshipping idols was a major sin, forbidden in God’s Ten Commandments (also found in Exodus): “You must not make for yourself an idol of any kind or an image of anything in the heavens or on the earth or in the sea. You must not bow down to them or worship them, for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God who will not tolerate your affection for any other god.” (Exodus 20:4-5a)

There’s an old saying, often quoted, that says that if you don’t know your history, you’re doomed to repeat it. It seems even people who do know their history will often repeat failures from the past. Perhaps the common factor here is “people?” We might think that circumstances are different this time and what happened in the past couldn’t happen again. However, history does seem to have a pattern or come in cycles. That’s why that saying tells us we are “doomed.” It is written in Ecclesiastes 1:9, “History merely repeats itself. It has all been done before. Nothing under the sun is truly new.”

What King Jeroboam was trying to do was to keep Israel satisfied with living and staying in the northern territory and not wanting to venture south to worship in Jerusalem. It was a selfish, political maneuver to try and keep his kingdom intact. The people soon grew to like this new way of worship and this started them down the slippery slope to fully-entrenched idolatry. And, just like God promised in the Ten Commandments, this action would eventually bring punishment to Israel for generations to come. “I lay the sins of the parents upon their children; the entire family is affected—even children in the third and fourth generations of those who reject me,” says God (Exodus 20:5b). 

What can be learned from this story? What could have been handled differently? Well, if Jeroboam was so keen on retaining his kingdom, he’d have done better to lead the people toward God rather than away from him. It’s important to seek out Godly leaders, at least over our church, if not for our nation. And let’s not place all the blame on leaders. This story points out that Israel chose what was convenient for them over what they knew was right. Remember that worship is often an act of sacrifice. Let’s make an all-out effort to seek and worship the one true God.

Prayer:

Heavenly Father, we seek you today knowing that you have shown yourself in this Bible story. Help us to remember the stories from the past, to keep them stored in our hearts and be ready to draw upon them when making decisions. We really do worship you, the one true God! Don’t let us be fooled by the schemes of men simply because that path is easier. Holy Spirit, show us the road that should be taken and correct us when we veer off that road. Give us Godly leaders in our churches who we can go to for advice. And Father, forgive us when we go astray, in the name of your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen