What is the difference between the evil Jeroboam did and the "evil" God brought upon him?
In the King James Version Bible, 1 Kings 14:10 It says God shall bring evil upon the house of Jeroboam.
1 Kings 14:10
KJV - 10 Therefore, behold, I will bring evil upon the house of Jeroboam, and will cut off from Jeroboam him that pisseth against the wall, and him that is shut up and left in Israel, and will take away the remnant of the house of Jeroboam, as a man taketh away dung, till it be all gone.
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Asked November 04 2013
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Anthony Clinton
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Jeffrey Kranz
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The Hebrew word for "evil" in 1 Kings 14:10 (רָעָה, or ra'ah) does not necessarily mean "sin." It is used throughout the Bible to refer to bad/unpleasant/distressful things that happen. When God chose Jeroboam to rule the northern 10 tribes of Israel, He was prepared to establish Jeroboam’s bloodline the same way He’d done for David (1 Ki 11:38). Instead, King Jeroboam set up two golden calves and instituted a pagan priesthood—forever cementing his legacy as the one “who made Israel sin” (1 Ki 13:26). Jeroboam's evil is bad in the sense that it displeased God. It was sin. In return, God raises up Baasha as the new king of Israel: "And it came to pass, when he [Baasha] reigned, that he smote all the house of Jeroboam; he left not to Jeroboam any that breathed, until he had destroyed him, according unto the saying of the LORD, which he spake by his servant Ahijah the Shilonite: because of the sins of Jeroboam which he sinned, and which he made Israel sin, by his provocation wherewith he provoked the LORD God of Israel to anger." (1 Ki 15:29–30) God's "evil" was bad in that what happened to Jeroboam's family was disastrous. It was a calamity. But it was also just: Jeroboam had provoked the God who made him king. You can read more about how God felt about Israel's rebellion under Jeroboam in the book of Hosea. I've put together a brief overview here: http://overviewbible.com/hosea/
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