The kingdom had split between Jeroboam and Rehoboam after the death of Solomon. Ten tribes went to Jeroboam – now known as Israel or Samaria. He was the leader of the party of the people. In Solomon’s final years he used forced labor to build his magnificent monuments and the people resented him. As well, he had strayed from the faith and married women who led him into the worship of other gods. Jeroboam had created a rebellion and Solomon wanted him dead. You might say Solomon had a bumper sticker on his chariot that read: “Not Jeroboam. Not ever.”

Jeroboam kept the people from going to Jerusalem so he would not lose them. He made religion convenient for them by building local shrines. He used their resentment of the elites to bind them to him. Worship at Jerusalem was time consuming, expensive and difficult. Worship at the shrines was easy and not demanding. People love convenience – almost at the expense of everything else. However, the “sin of the house of Jeroboam” was not idol worship. It was allowing outsiders to become priests. It was opening up the ranks to non-professionals.

Rehoboam as the son of the King represented the party of the elites who were out of touch with the people. He and his advisors demanded loyalty but lost the majority of the people who were dissatisfied with them. Instead of serving them and winning their support, Rehoboam chose to follow the insiders. “My father laid on you a heavy yoke; I will make it even heavier. My father scourged you with whips; I will scourge you with scorpions.”

150 years later – mostly bad kings and a few good ones – and both kingdoms are under pressure from stronger enemies. They are both weakened by fraud, deceit, greed, hypocrisy and the leaders selling their office and influence. Israel – also known as Samaria – falls first followed by Judah 120 years later. Samaria never returns and what we now know as Israel is really one tribe – Judah.

2. All of us would like to be prophets at times – to be angry and have an excuse. To point our fingers at the sins of others. To speak for God. But no one can be a prophet until three conditions are met:

First, God compels them. There are no volunteer prophets. All of them are doing something else and few of them agree easily. Moses. Jeremiah. Amos. There were many who wanted to be career prophets and live as part of the court. It was an easy life – that of a false prophet.

Second, they are willing to become illustrations of their message, not just critics. They are not off to the side. They bear the message in their lives and often in their bodies. They were not in it for the prestige or the lifestyle.

Go naked – Weep – Lay down in the dust – Leave home – Marry a prostitute – Wear a yoke – Sit in ashes – Go into exile.

The prophets took on themselves the punishments of the people. They were not pundits or opinion writers.

Third, they see beyond their own critical message to hope. They are not cynics or optimists. No person is a prophet until they see beyond God’s punishment through to hope. Doom is near term but hope is always promised after a time.

Three things I want to notice in this first chapter:

First, God moves against sin in his time.

He gets up and comes to earth. He walks. The mountains melt.

He tears the city apart.

He stands ready – like an earthmover.

He is poised against Jerusalem ready to strike.

This is not an old man who sits and observes us as natural laws play themselves out. This is an aggressive God – not just tossing thunderbolts from the throne.

He literally digs down to the base of the city and dismantles it. He does not just take a swipe and knock off the tops. He gets his fingers under the base and lifts.

Perhaps something similar is happening in our own culture. The very foundations are being lifted and destroyed. It is not simply an erosion but a slow earthquake.

Trust in officials and authorities. “The wicked freely strut about when what is vile is honored among men.” Psalm 12:28

Truth has been discarded. “Truth has perished; it has vanished from their lips.” Jeremiah 7:28. “They followed worthless idols and became worthless themselves.” Jeremiah 2:5

The rule of law is overcome by personal power and influence. “Woe to those who plan iniquity, to those who plot evil on their beds! At morning’s light they carry it out because it is in their power to do it.” Micah 2:1

Stewardship has been driven out by greed. “From the least to the greatest, all are greedy for gain; prophets and priests alike, all practice deceit.” Jeremiah 6:13

Second, religion had become completely personal and detached from public accountability.Ahaz kept the rituals he liked while discarding the worship of God. He revered what pleased him. He created his own religion from pieces. He literally nailed shut the doors of the Temple and set up altars at every street corner.

Robert Bellah describes “Sheilaism” in “Habits of the Heart”:

Sheila Larson is a young nurse who has received a good deal of therapy and describes her faith as “Sheilaism.” This suggests the logical possibility of more than 235 million American religions, one for each of us. “I believe in God,” Sheila says. “I am not a religious fanatic. [Notice at once that in our culture any strong statement of belief seems to imply fanaticism so you have to offset that.] I can’t remember the last time I went to church. My faith has carried me a long way. It’s Sheilaism. Just my own little voice.” Sheila’s faith has some tenets beyond belief in God, though not many. In defining what she calls “my own Sheilaism,” she said: “It’s just try to love yourself and be gentle with yourself. You know, I guess, take care of each other. I think God would want us to take care of each other.” Like many others, Sheila would be willing to endorse few more specific points.

I am glad that Sheila does have at least a second point besides taking care of herself and loving others and I suspect that that is a remnant of something she learned somewhere else earlier on.

But the case of Sheila is not confined to people who haven’t been to church in a long time. On the basis of our interviews, and a great deal of other data, I think we can say that many people sitting in the pews of Protestant and even Catholic churches are Sheilaists who feel that religion is essentially a private matter and that there is no particular constraint on them placed by the historic church, or even by the Bible and the tradition. We quote in Habits of the Heart a recent Gallup poll, which indicated that 80 percent of Americans agreed with the statement that “an individual should arrive at his or her own religious beliefs independent of any churches or synagogues.” Now, again, that isn’t the way it really happens. But just the notion that religious belief ought to be a purely internal thing, and then you go to the church or synagogue of your choice, shows how deeply ingrained a kind of religious privatism is, which turns the church into something like the Kiwanis Club or some other kind of voluntary association that you go to or not if you feel comfortable with it-but which has no organic claim upon you.

The prophets were for sale. The priests had abandoned their calling and all the people followed their examples. As in the time of Jeroboam, it was more convenient and less demanding. They too discovered their own version of Sheilaism designed around their own needs and personal preferences. There was a church on every corner.

It begs the question of us.

Do we come to worship and obey or to have our needs met? Do we take the parts we like and ignore the others? Have we traded devotion for convenience?

Have we also created a customized belief that makes us the center and God the one who is there to serve us?

Have we continued to observe the rituals but the reality is no longer there? The doors to the heart are nailed shut.

Third, and finally, one of the key themes of this chapter is the power and the responsibility of influence. God holds us responsible for those who look to us. People looked to their rulers and leaders for examples and their behavior became the standard for the people. All of us have a circle of influence. There are people who look to us for examples, guidance, encouragement and strength. We bear that responsibility and I pray that we will be like those who did right in the eyes of the Lord.

What is our hope then?

We can be a community that resists – a remnant.

We can re-create trust by having integrity.

We can re-establish the value of truth by practicing it.

We can encourage the power of law by observing it.

We can return to stewardship by avoiding greed.

This is our hope and our prayer. We are salt and light and increasingly a minority but that may be the salvation of the church.