Survey
* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
Binitarianism wikipedia , lookup
Holocaust theology wikipedia , lookup
God in Sikhism wikipedia , lookup
God the Father wikipedia , lookup
State (theology) wikipedia , lookup
Jews as the chosen people wikipedia , lookup
God the Father in Western art wikipedia , lookup
Thou shalt have no other gods before me wikipedia , lookup
Re-Imagining wikipedia , lookup
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! [email protected]