1 Kings 14:1-20

Jim Butler

1 Kings 14:1–20 records the prophecy of Ahijah the Shilonite delivered to Jeroboam's wife in disguise — a passage that functions as a programmatic text for the entire Northern Kingdom. The sermon traces three movements: the occasion of the prophecy (the sick child prompting a hypocritical resort to God's prophet), the content of the prophecy (divine provision scorned, royal rebellion catalogued, and sweeping judgment announced on Jeroboam's house and the northern tribes), and the fulfillment of the prophecy in 1 Kings 15 and 2 Kings 17. A recurring application runs throughout: like Jeroboam, men seek God's word only in crisis while rejecting its rule over the whole of life, and no disguise — literal or spiritual — can hide a soul from the searching power of God's word.