The Dangers of Success: Lessons from Jeroboam and Aaron

What do Moses, Aaron, Gideon, Samson, Solomon, Elijah, David, the Hebrew Nation, cj, and countless others have in common? When successful, at peace in rest and comfort, a relaxed spirit allowed Satan an opening. Success can lead to a sense of self-righteousness and pride. This happens if one is not careful to remember the One Who brought the success. We can say all day long that: “Every good and perfect gift is from above. Coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights. Who does not change like shifting shadows.” But if we allow our own feelings to interfere, and we say, “Look what I have done!” We crack the door open for the devouring lion. There is much to be proud of. We can say, “Look at what Elohim chose to do through me.”

Success has another ugly head, the one that defies Elohim to maintain its power. We can look at many stories in Scripture to find this to be true. Today, I want us to look at Jeroboam. He was the first King of Israel after the Kingdom was split in two. It was taken from Solomon’s son, Rehoboam. In fact modern Israel is only one of the tribes of Israel, Judah. Jeroboam, in a move to keep his new found Kingship made some terrible decisions. 1 Kings 12:25-33 Tells the story, we will look at parts of it here.

“Nevertheless Jeroboam said to himself, “Now the kingship will return to the house of David. For if these people continue going up to offer sacrifices in the house of Adonai in Jerusalem, their hearts will turn back to their lord, Rehoboam king of Judah. Then they will kill me.”

Jeroboam found that his success was in jeopardy. He feared an awakening of the heart to Yahweh which would bring about a reunification of the Kingdom. If the people sought Adonai Elohim they would desire His ways over mans. So to establish his rule he made some changes.

“After seeking advice, the king made two calves of gold. He then said to the people, “You have been going up to Jerusalem long enough! Here are your gods, Israel, who brought you out of the land of Egypt!’ He placed one in Beit-El [Bethel] and the other in Dan. The affair became a sin, for the people went to worship before the one [in Beit-El and] all the way to Dan [to worship the other]. He also set up temples on the high places and made priests from among all the people, even though they were not descended from Levi.”

Does this at all ring a bell? Look at what Aaron did at Mt. Sinai while Moses was on the mountain. “When the people saw that Moses was taking a long time to come down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said to him, “Get busy; and make us gods to go ahead of us; because this Moses, the man that brought us up from the land of Egypt — we don’t know what has become of him.” Aaron said to them, “Have your wives, sons and daughters strip off their gold earrings; and bring them to me.” The people stripped off their gold earrings and brought them to Aaron. He received what they gave him, melted it down, and made it into the shape of a calf. They said, “Israel! Here is your god, who brought you up from the land of Egypt!” On seeing this, Aaron built an altar in front of it and proclaimed, “Tomorrow is to be a feast for Adonai.” We are a fickle people.

Coincidentally, Jeroboam, like Aaron instituted his own feast days. “Jeroboam instituted a festival. In the eighth month, on the fifteenth day of the month, similar to the festival held in Jerusalem. He went up to the altar in Beit-El to sacrifice to the calves he had made. He placed in Beit-El the priests he had appointed for the high places. He went up to the altar which he had set up in Beit-El on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, in the month which he had chosen on his own, and instituted a festival for the people of Israel; he went up to the altar to burn incense.”

Sadly mans tradition of creating his own feasts to celebrate and honor Elohim has continued. The church today ignores His appointed feast days. They essentially call Elohim a liar. “Yahweh said, ‘And this day shall be unto you for a memorial; and you shall keep [it] a feast to Yahweh throughout your generations; you shall keep it a feast by an ordinance forever.’” Apparently, forever means, just until I change My mind, except, He is the same yesterday, today and forever. Or they will argue that the Feasts are for Israel. Yet again they ignore two things. First, that the gentiles are grafted into Israel. Second, that the feasts were to be celebrated by those who would join themselves to Israel. Instead, the church has said, “We will celebrate Christmas and Easter. We will call Sunday holy. God will like it because we said so.”

You know who else has this mindset? Yahoshua talks about this in Matthew 15:9 “And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.” Isaiah wrote something similar, “Therefore the Lord said: “These people draw near to Me with their mouths and honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me. Their worship of Me is but rules taught by men.” Ezekiel writes, “Her priests do violence to My Torah and profane My holy things. They do not distinguish between the holy and the common. They teach that there is no difference between the unclean and the clean. And they shut their eyes to the keeping of My Sabbaths, so that I am profaned among them.”

What would happen if the church today began to seek Yahweh as His word describes. Isaiah says in 58:13-14 “If you turn back your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on My holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight and the holy day of Yahweh honorable; if you honor it, not going your own ways, or seeking your own pleasure, or talking idly; then you shall take delight in Yahweh, and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth, I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father, for the mouth of Yahweh has spoken.” Imagine seeking after Elohim as He desires us to, it sounds pretty awesome to me. This is the way of the Rabbi.

Do you think Satan has a hand in the western church? In that he is influencing it to stray just enough off course that they dishonor Elohim. All the while thinking that they are worshiping Him. It’s been done before. Ecclesiastes tells us that there is nothing new under the sun. Paul thought he was doing the will of Yahweh when he was persecuting the followers of Yahoshua. Then he came face to face with Him. He realized then he was fighting the very Elohim he was trying to protect. The Sabbath is important to Elohim. Throughout the Torah and the Prophets He declares it. To the point that Elohim exiled the nation. So why would we think any different today.

Jeremiah writes in chapter 7, ⁸ Look! You are relying on deceitful words that can’t do you any good. ⁹ First you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, offer to Ba‘al and go after other gods that you haven’t known. ¹⁰ Then you come and stand before Me in this house that bears My name and say, ‘We are saved’ — so that you can go on doing these abominations! ¹¹ Do you regard this house, which bears My name, as a cave for bandits? I can see for Myself what’s going on,” says Adonai.

The western church has been so successful that pride has crept in. No one wants to admit that they are wrong. They have fallen in love with their traditions that they ignore Elohim’s Feast Days. This is a dangerous practice. And we should be asking the questions. What did Yahoshua mean when He said, “If you love Me, OBEY My commandments”? What are we doing? Who are we honoring? What is truth?

This is the way of the Rabbi,
You are loved,
cj