Please read this passage before reading this homily.
The prophet Ahijah, King Solomon, and Jeroboam were like the prophet Samuel, King Saul, and David. David and Jeroboam, each in his own way was and high and important figure, one with Saul and the other with Solomon. Each in his own way was anointed king by a prophet and each had to escape the clutches of the king whom he would eventually succeed.
Jeroboam, once a high figure on Solomon’s team became disaffected with his boss and became a threat to the unity of the kingdom. In today’s reading, the prophet Ahijah invests Jeroboam with a share in his prophetic garb as a sign that he would be robed as king in the future. Jeroboam would become king of the northern ten tribes, and Solomon’s son would continue the royal line of David as king, but only of Judah and Benjamin.
To recap, David was praised for his military and religious spirit, but he was a flawed individual as was shown by the affair with Bethsheba. Solomon was praised for his wisdom and his great building projects but blamed for worshipping false gods and for the heavy burden of taxation imposed on his citizens. Jeroboam was also flawed; he was a able administrator and a champion of the poorer people, but in the end he turned his people away from God and making two golden calves as representations of god for worship.
Our nation’s founders were all flawed human beings. Even the moist heroic figures of our nation were not perfect people. They were slaveholders, had family problems, and were at times overly ambitious.
We are flawed. We have many good qualities, but we also have many bad qualities. If we were walking down the street with the prophet and our archrival, what word would the prophet have for us. For what would the prophet commend us; for what would the prophet discipline us?
Although in one sense, each story tells of a king deposed, in another and truer sense, each story is about God’ faithfulness and compassion. God chooses us, walks with us, and treats us with compassion even when we fail to live up to our duties. The humanness of many characters of the Bible enables us to see I many deep ways the vastness of God’s generosity and compassion.