The Divine Stroke: The End of an Idolater Text: 2 Chronicles 13:20
Introduction: The Unavoidable God
We live in an age that believes it can negotiate with reality. Our generation thinks it can redefine the family, redefine gender, redefine justice, and redefine worship, and then send God the memo with our updated terms and conditions. We have convinced ourselves that God is a celestial constitutional monarch, a figurehead who reigns but does not rule, and who will certainly not interfere with the autonomous decisions of sovereign man. We think we can build our kingdoms, our political systems, and our worship centers on foundations of our own devising, and that God will simply have to accommodate Himself to our architectural plans.
The story of Jeroboam is God's eternal refutation of this delusion. Jeroboam was a pragmatist. He was a political innovator. He looked at the inconvenient demands of true worship, centered in Jerusalem, and saw a threat to his power. So he did what all aspiring tyrants do: he offered the people a more convenient religion. He gave them golden calves at Dan and Bethel and said, "Behold your gods, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt!" He created a state church, with a state-approved liturgy, a state-appointed priesthood, and a state-sanctioned idolatry. It was a brilliant political move. It was also an act of high treason against the God of Heaven.
The conflict in 2 Chronicles 13 is not merely a border dispute between the northern and southern kingdoms. It is a holy war. It is a clash between the covenant of God, established with David, and the cult of man, established by Jeroboam. It is a contest between the God who is and the gods who are not. And in our text, we see the final verdict rendered. When a man dedicates his life to fighting God, he must not be surprised when God finally decides to fight back. And when God strikes, no one can stand.
The Text
Now Jeroboam did not again recover power in the days of Abijah; and Yahweh smote him and he died.
(2 Chronicles 13:20 LSB)
The Wages of Rebellion (v. 20a)
The verse begins with the political and military consequences of Jeroboam's defeat.
"Now Jeroboam did not again recover power in the days of Abijah..." (2 Chronicles 13:20a)
Just before this, Jeroboam had commanded a vast army, 800,000 men, against Abijah's 400,000. He had superior numbers and a clever military ambush. From a purely human standpoint, he should have won decisively. But Judah "cried out to Yahweh, and the priests blew the trumpets" (v. 14), and "God routed Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah" (v. 15). Five hundred thousand men of Israel fell that day. It was a catastrophic defeat.
Our text tells us the result was not temporary. This wasn't just a lost battle from which Jeroboam could regroup and rebuild. His power was broken. The strength that he had built on a foundation of rebellion and idolatry was revealed to be a house of cards. This is the nature of all power that sets itself up in opposition to God. It may appear formidable. It may have vast armies, impressive institutions, and the full-throated support of the populace. But because it is not grounded in the covenant faithfulness of God, it has no ultimate substance. It is a bubble waiting for a pin.
Jeroboam's entire kingdom was an exercise in what we might call anti-covenant. God had made a covenant with David, promising him a throne forever (2 Samuel 7). Jeroboam's kingdom was a direct rejection of that promise. God had established His worship in Jerusalem. Jeroboam established his counterfeit worship in Dan and Bethel. Because he built his house in defiance of God's house, God simply blew on it, and it collapsed. All the king's horses and all the king's men could not put Jeroboam's power back together again.
The Divine Execution (v. 20b)
The second clause of the verse moves from the political consequences to the ultimate, personal cause. It is one of the most stark and terrifying statements in all of Scripture.
"...and Yahweh smote him..." (2 Chronicles 13:20b)
The historian does not equivocate. He does not say that Jeroboam succumbed to a long illness, or that he died of a broken heart, or that he was felled by a sudden malady. The text attributes his death directly to the hand of God. The Hebrew is blunt: Yahweh struck him. This was not a random act of nature. This was a personal, intentional, and judicial act of the sovereign God.
This is what our modern, sentimental age cannot stomach. We want a God who is all Hallmark card and no hammer. We want a God of blessings, but not a God of curses. But the covenant has two sides. The same God who promises abundant life for obedience promises death and destruction for rebellion. Jeroboam had spent his entire reign provoking the Lord to anger. He had led an entire nation into apostasy. He is forever memorialized in Scripture as "Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin." He had sown the wind of idolatry, and now, personally, he was reaping the whirlwind of divine judgment.
God is patient. He had given Jeroboam over two decades to repent. He had sent prophets to warn him (1 Kings 13). He had afflicted his family (1 Kings 14). But Jeroboam hardened his heart. He loved his counterfeit kingdom more than he feared the living God. And so, the time for warnings passed, and the time for judgment arrived. When God says, "Vengeance is Mine, I will repay," He is not making an idle threat. The stroke that fell on Jeroboam is a testimony to the fact that there is a point of no return. There is a line that, once crossed, invites not mercy, but wrath. God is not mocked.
The Final Invoice (v. 20c)
The result of the divine stroke is simple and final.
"...and he died." (2 Chronicles 13:20c)
And so it ends. The great political strategist, the man who split a kingdom, the religious innovator, the man who defied the God of Israel, died. All his schemes, all his ambitions, all his golden calves, could not save him from this final appointment. He died under the judgment of God. He went from his counterfeit throne in Israel to the supreme court of the universe, to stand before the Judge whose authority he had denied.
This is the ultimate end of every life lived in rebellion against God. Death is the final, non-negotiable reality. For the believer, death has been defanged. It is a doorway into the presence of Christ. But for the unrepentant idolater, for the man who builds his life on anything other than Christ, death is the beginning of the judgment he has spent his life trying to evade. Jeroboam's death was not a tragedy; it was an execution. It was the final payment on an invoice that had been accumulating for twenty-two years.
Conclusion: The Tale of Two Kings
The story of Jeroboam is not just a historical curiosity. It is a perpetual warning. Jeroboam's essential sin was the desire for a religion he could control, a god who would serve his political interests. And that temptation is with us always.
Every time we prioritize political expediency over biblical faithfulness, we are setting up a golden calf. Every time we adjust the hard teachings of Scripture to make them more palatable to the surrounding culture, we are building an altar at Dan or Bethel. Every time we look for spiritual security in our own efforts, our own institutions, or our own leaders instead of in the finished work of Jesus Christ, we are committing the sin of Jeroboam.
The world is still divided into two kingdoms. There is the kingdom of this world, which, like Jeroboam's, is built on the pride and rebellion of man. It has its own idols, its own priesthoods of experts and influencers, and its own liturgies of self-worship. And there is the kingdom of our God and of His Christ. This kingdom is built on the covenant promise of the Father to the Son. Its king is Jesus, the true heir of David. Its worship is not in a place made with hands, but in spirit and in truth.
The story of Jeroboam reminds us that God takes this division with deadly seriousness. He will not tolerate rivals. He will not share His glory with idols. And in the end, He will strike down all opposition. The same divine stroke that fell on Jeroboam fell upon Jesus at the cross. The full force of God's wrath against idolatry, against rebellion, against all our self-made religions, was absorbed by Him. He was "smitten by God, and afflicted" (Isaiah 53:4) so that we, who have all played the part of Jeroboam, might be forgiven.
Therefore, the choice before us is the same choice that was before Israel. Will we worship at the feet of the golden calves of this age, which promise much but deliver only death? Or will we bow the knee to David's greater Son, the Lord Jesus Christ? One king ends with "Yahweh smote him and he died." The other King was also smitten and died, but on the third day, He rose again, victorious over sin and death. All other kingdoms will fail. All other kings will fall. But of His kingdom, there will be no end.