Scripture Daily

Context No. 1427 of 4322 · 1 Kings

Context · Reflection

1 Kings 14:1-5: in context

1At that time Abijah the son of Jeroboam became sick. 2Jeroboam said to his wife, “Please get up and disguise yourself, so that you won’t be recognized as Jeroboam’s wife. Go to Shiloh. Behold, Ahijah the prophet is there, who said that I would be king over this people. 3Take with you ten loaves of bread, some cakes, and a jar of honey, and go to him. He will tell you what will become of the child.” 4Jeroboam’s wife did so, and arose and went to Shiloh, and came to Ahijah’s house. Now Ahijah could not see, for his eyes were set by reason of his age. 5The LORD said to Ahijah, “Behold, Jeroboam’s wife is coming to inquire of you concerning her son, for he is sick. Tell her such and such; for it will be, when she comes in, that she will pretend to be another woman.”

Jeroboam's son has fallen sick, and the king wants to know what will become of him. But Jeroboam, who has led Israel into idolatry, cannot simply come to God's prophet openly. So he tells his wife to disguise herself, so she will not be recognized as the queen, and to go to the aged prophet Ahijah, whose eyes have grown dim with age, to inquire about the child. She sets out in disguise. But before she arrives, the LORD tells Ahijah exactly who is coming and why: behold, Jeroboam's wife is coming to ask about her son; she will pretend to be another woman.

The whole scheme is a study in the futility of trying to hide from God. Jeroboam thinks he has covered his tracks: a disguise so the prophet's household will not know the queen, and a blind prophet who could not see through the disguise anyway. But God has already told Ahijah everything, the disguise, the question, the pretense, before the woman even arrives. The blindness of the prophet's eyes makes no difference when God is the one who sees. It is a picture of how pointless it is to come before God in disguise, pretending to be other than we are. We do this in subtler ways than Jeroboam, approaching God with a false face, presenting the version of ourselves we would like to be seen as, hiding the parts we are ashamed of as though he could not see them. But there is no disguising ourselves before the God who knows us entirely, who tells the prophet who is coming before she knocks. He sees through every mask, knows the question behind the question, reads the pretense for what it is. And there is a mercy in that as well as a warning, for it means we can stop the exhausting pretense; there is no point wearing a disguise before the one who already knows us completely. The invitation is to come to God as we actually are, since he sees us anyway, rather than in a disguise that fools no one but ourselves.

Do I come to God in a kind of disguise, presenting a false face and hiding the parts of myself I am ashamed of, when he sees through every mask and knows me entirely, and can I stop the pretense and come to him as I actually am?

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