Reader’s Guide: “The Word for Today” Friday, November 23, 2012 Read – 1 Kings 13 & 14 Chapter 13 relates a rather strange story about a confrontation between a prophet of God and Jereboam. The story takes a long look forward to the coming of one of David’s descendants, Josiah, who will bring the terrible situation that has emerged to an end. Josiah will destroy the altars of Jereboam. Of course, Jereboam is not pleased with the words of this prophet and seeks to kill him. Stretching out his hand in defiance, Jereboam comes to realize that his hand is now permanently outstretched. He has to plead with the very prophet he desires to harm to have his arm restored. The story is laced with irony. Like other stories we have encountered, this story is marked with what we might think of as magic. The prophet is fooled by another prophet to disobey God and pays the price with his life – only to have his grave become a place of great desire. It is difficult to follow this story and to understand its full meaning. Perhaps we can take comfort in the fact that it is really not a very important story amid the stories in the Bible. Chapter 14 tells us the story of God’s judgment of Jereboam and the kingdoms that will follow in his footsteps. We will be hearing the story of the Northern Kingdom interwoven with stories of the Southern Kingdom as we move forward. The story of the Northern Kingdom will not be a good story to hear. Meanwhile the narrator returns to the story of Rehoboam in the south. Stripped of most of his kingdom, Rehoboam appears vulnerable and weak. The king of Egypt comes and takes many of the treasures of his father away. Perhaps “Solomon in all his glory” was not such a good thing after all.