Download 81 -THE DIVIDED KINGDOM - PART I (aka "Rehoboam and

81 -THE DIVIDED KINGDOM - PART I (aka "Rehoboam and Jeroboam") I Kings 12-15:8; II Chronicles 10-13 June 2
We learned in the previous entry that, even though God had promised King David that his
descendants would always rule Israel, Solomon's spiritual adultery prompted God to
change his plan. Out of respect for David's heart, God didn't carry this out in Solomon's
lifetime, but waited for the next heir. Once Rehoboam replaced his father on the throne,
the stage was set for the prophecy (about the kingdom being torn out of the hands of
David's ancestors) to be fulfilled. (I Kings 11 has all the details if your memory needs
refreshing.) This entry, which covers two days of reading, will cover subjects such as
LEADERSHIP STYLES, IDOLATRY, HUMILITY, and the IMPORTANCE OF
FOLLOWING GOD'S WORD.
Please note that since I am following F. LaGard Smith's order, I will be jumping back
and forth between the Kings and Chronicles texts frequently and I normally won't refer
to the specific passage unless it affects the meaning.
Well, there are some amazing lessons in this story, some for the future and some which
have a startling resemblance to events at the beginning of this millennium…
hmmmmm….
Firstly, we see a leadership changeover about to happen. Rehoboam was taking over from
his dad, without the pomp and circumstance of the previous handover. No doubt this was
because Solomon had not planned ahead the way David had, seeing as how Solomon had
been busy sorting out the meaning of life and all <smile>. The people had gone to a
designated place to make Rehoboam king, so at least there wasn't much worry about rival
brothers claiming the throne. So far so good…
When we look at the handover ceremony and the events that followed, we can make
several interesting observations:
1) The Hebrews had obviously become fed up with Solomon's leadership over the years.
He had done everything that God had warned them a king would do back in the Law of
Moses, like take their crops for his table, make them pay taxes so he could buy lots of
horses, and shipwreck their religion by marrying foreign wives and committing idolatry.
2) The people had persevered with Solomon's demands out of respect for David and even
gratitude for Solomon (and maybe fear of speaking up?), but they weren't at all keen to
see it dragged on under another monarch. So they finally made themselves heard.
3) The "speaking up" part, however, wasn't done with a pure motive, since it was
orchestrated by Jeroboam, who was Solomon's enemy. You can see the machinations
rising…
4) Rehoboam's lack of wisdom and spirituality caused him to reject the temperate
wisdom from the older men, who had rightly urged him on to "servant leadership".
5) The lack of spirituality among Rehoboam’s contemporaries and "advisors" spurred
them to give terrible advice to their friend, "Lead in a way that benefits you cause they
have to do what you say anyway." Oh well…
6) Jeroboam was waiting in the wings to cause chaos and an uprising, and he knew that if
he tore it down, they would come - or something like that…
7) So what happened when all of the twelve tribes except for Judah followed Jeroboam?
Did Rehoboam get humble? NOOOOOOOOO. He wanted to go and attack them!
Fortunately, he did listen to advice this time, since he otherwise would have been going
against a prophecy of God, and that's never a good thing. <smile>
8) After the chaos, Jeroboam's lack of pure motivation (did he urge the crowd to speak up
out of a belief in servant leadership and because he wanted to make their lives better or
because of hurt ego and desire for revenge and power?) was made all too clear when he
fashioned golden calves and called them the gods of Israel, placing them at Dan and
Bethel, leading the people into the worst idolatry they had known as a nation! IN FACT,
even though Rehoboam's attitude was pathetic, and he was a lousy leader himself for the
most part, the Hebrews as a nation fared much better under his family's reign (known
after the split as the nation of Judah) than under the reign of Jeroboam and those that
followed him in the nation of Israel in the divided kingdom. You could even say that,
after the dust settled, the instigators ended up falling away, because Judaism as had been
practiced since Moses disappeared among the nation of Israel, but it did carry on, at least
most of the time, in the nation of Judah.
You know what they say about history - those who don't learn from it are doomed to
repeat it!!!!!! So please, everyone, let's learn the lessons (me included, of course)!!!
That's all I'll say about that - I am taking the 5th Amendment (see, there is still some
American left in me!)
Well, on with our journey. Jeroboam reaped what he sowed, so to speak, because no
sooner than he had set up unauthorized worship in Dan and Bethel, a prophet came out of
nowhere, known only as "the man of God", with a message of doom. While the evil king
was sacrificing at the altar, the man of God foretold of Josiah, who would be born many
generations down from Rehoboam, and how Josiah would sacrifice the bones of
idolatrous priests on the same illegal altar. (No fair cheating and looking up II Kings
23:15-16 to see if it happens!) Needless to say, Jeroboam wasn't happy about such a
prophecy! His response is right out of an old "B-grade" movie - he pointed at the prophet
and shouted, "Seize him!" However, God has a way of making defiant rulers regret such
hubris (in the future, we'll see more defiant kings, like Uzziah, Nebuchadnazzar and
Herod, to name a few!!) and Jeroboam's outstretched hand immediately shriveled! What a
picture! The altar also split apart and ashes poured out of it! Wow! I have a friend who
would say to stubborn, unrepentant people, "I don't really want to be sitting next to you
right now cause in the Old Testament, God used to do scary things to people who are
acting like you are!" Showing amazing grace and forgiveness to an undeserving sinful
leader, the man of God prays to God on behalf of the afflicted despot and his hand is
restored to health. I have an old note in my bible next to the part where Jeroboam asks the
prophet to pray for his hand. (He didn't think to pray that he should repent for building an
idolatrous altar!) My note reads, "Jeroboam's focus on his hand when he should have
been quaking in fear of breaking the Laws of the God of Israel reminds me of the joke
about the guy whose arm was torn off in a traffic accident. As he bemoans the fact that
his BMW has been totalled, someone points out that he should be more worried that his
left arm has been torn off. He then shouts in dismay, 'Oh no - My Rolex, my Rolex!'"
Even more stupefying than the fact that Jeroboam had the gall to ask the prophet to pray
for his hand after threatening to kill him is the fact that the king turned around and invited
the man of God to dinner! (I guess his mother had taught him to have manners!) The
righteous man refused, wisely, on the grounds that God had told him not to eat with
anyone. (Protection against being poisoned, perhaps?) But then another prophet gave him
a different message, telling him that an angel of God had sent a message that the man of
God was to disregard the earlier message and come and eat with his family after all, since
he, too, was a prophet. And the bible says that this was a lie! So then, the poor guy, who
had already had a long and emotional day, went for dinner, thinking that God was
blessing him for being courageous and obedient, and of all things, he got cursed by the
weird prophet! (…who then saddled the man of God's donkey... what's with these
whackos and their good manners???) When the man of God was travelling home, he was
killed by a lion, a visual aid to all who would take lightly the word of God, which calls to
mind the admonition of Paul in Galatians 1:8-9 to not listen to another gospel even if it
comes from a so-called angel of God. As if this story isn't filled with enough incongruity,
the lying prophet buried the man of God and asked to be buried in the same grave in the
future. So, besides getting a good reminder about obeying the word of God, we have also
learned that hospitality doesn't always equal sincerity! <smile>
Incidentally, the priests and Levites, along with "those from every tribe of Israel who set
their hearts on seeking the Lord", fled from Israel to Judah. That is an interesting point to
note, because when the Israelites were carried off into captivity by the Assyrians, they
intermarried and were later not seen as real Jews. However, those who had been in the
nation of Judah didn't intermarry, for the most part, (you can read about that later when
we get to the time of Ezra and Nehemiah) and they preserved their heritage until the time
of Jesus. The Samaritans mentioned in the New Testament were descendants of the
"impure" nation of Israel who had melded with the Assyrians. (See John 4 for more
insight on this topic.)
After establishing his throne, Jeroboam, who had added to his evils by appointing priests
from anyone who wanted to be one, became alarmed over the illness of his son. He
remembered the prophet, Ahijah, who had told him good news back in his younger years.
(Ahijah was the person who had told Jeroboam that he would take the kingdom away
from Solomon's heir.) So he sent his wife to inquire about the son's health from the
prophet, and he told his wife to disguise herself. Now my question is, why would you go
to a prophet who is dumb enough to be tricked by a disguise? Oh well…Sure enough,
Ahijah wasn't fooled and he gave Jeroboam's wife bad news instead. His bottom line
message: If you had loved me and followed me with all your heart the way David had,
you could have been exalted, but now I will cut off every male from your house and
disgrace your descendants in death. On top of that, your son will die and he is the only
person in your household that is worth burying! Wow, what a strong rebuke!
Over in the nation of Judah, Rehoboam became over confident and then he, too,
abandoned the law of the Lord. He set up high places and even male temple prostitutes!
Gross! So God sent the Egyptian ruler to attack Judah. Fortunately, Rehoboam and the
other leaders humbled themselves and repented. So God didn't allow Egypt to wipe them
out, but to just take their gold. The bible records, "Indeed, there was some good in
Judah". Rehoboam's son, Abijah, succeeded him on the throne. He, like his father, spent
years in civil war with Jeroboam. Infighting and bitterness - it goes on forever. Abijah
tried to fight on the basis of sticking to the Law of the Lord. He didn't follow God
completely, but was better than the rest, so God allowed them to be victorious over their
northern neighbours. In addition, God reveals a sweet side to his nature when he keeps
his promise to the house of David in spite of Abijah’s eventual weakening obedience out
of sheer love for David and gratitude for David’s obedient heart. A friend of mine taught
this as a lesson once, to motivate us all to be righteous if for no other reason than to
protect our children one day! Let's learn the lessons of history, and strive for unity!
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