Jeroboam
Solomon
is dead. His son, Rehoboam, desires to have
an official coronation as king. He goes
to Shechem, and while in Shechem he meets up with people who are led by
Jeroboam. If you’d like more information
on the back story between Solomon and Jeroboam, see 1 Kings 11:26-40. Either way, by popular demand Jeroboam is
sought out by the people to come and confront Rehoboam in the early days of his
leadership.
When
Jeroboam comes forth, we can hear something in their complaint. Solomon had pressed the people hard. He had worked them, pressed hard for
resources through taxation, and demanded much of the people in general. Apparently all was not well with Solomon’s
time and place as king over the land.
Advice
Rehoboam
tells the people to come back to him in three days after he has been able to
seek out the advice of some counselors.
The people agree, and Rehoboam goes first to seek after the counselors
of his father. They give him some sage,
wise advice. They tell him that if he
speaks softly to them and grants them a few places in their life where their burdens
might be eased, then there is no reason that the people wouldn’t be willing to
serve him forever.
The
elders in their wisdom know what people need in a leader. It isn’t that they are any smarter; they just
have more experience through which they can see life. They know in the end what is really important
and what truly brings satisfaction. They
know what it is like to make a few critical mistakes and have to recover from
them. They desire to pass along what
they have learned to others so that they don’t have to make the same
mistakes. Solomon’s advisors tell
Rehoboam to give the people a break.
Solomon had worked them hard in his building campaign. It was time to give them rest.
Then
Rehoboam goes to his friends. He goes to
the people that grew up with him. He
goes to the people that he’s known most of his life. He goes to people who think just like he
thinks. They tell Rehoboam to press them
even harder. They tell Rehoboam to stand
up for what he desires and to stand firm against the people. Essentially, they are telling Rehoboam that
if he gives an inch now, he’ll be giving a mile throughout the rest of his
reign. They tell Rehoboam to stand
strong in the beginning.
Isn’t
this an interesting conundrum that Rehoboam has gotten himself into? The elder sages advise Rehoboam to lighten
the load. Sure, his reign might not be
as glorious as his father’s reign with respect to a legacy of building left
behind. But they tell Rehoboam that his
reign would be long and that the people would serve him the whole time. The elders try and get Rehoboam to see the
full length of the course ahead of him.
Yet the
younger advisors do the opposite. They
try to get Rehoboam to think about the present.
They put Rehoboam into the now, not the long haul. They convince Rehoboam that in order to have
a long and memorable rule he must go through might, not peace.
We know
how it ends, don’t we? Rehoboam chooses
the counsel of the people who thinks as he thinks. How often do we get burned by bad advice
because we listen to people who tell us what we really want to hear? How often do things go poorly in life because
we ignore the sage advice of truth and instead listen to the advice that sounds
good for the short term? Yes, Rehoboam
chooses to follow the counsel of the younger advisors that he had grown up
with. As we read further, we see that it
does indeed go poorly for him.
The Country is Torn
“To your tents,
Oh Israel!” This is the cry that goes up
around the Hebrew people when Rehoboam follows the advice given by the younger
advisors. The country is split in two. Judah (and the smaller Simeon contained
within Judah) fall to David’s line. The
rest become Israel and are led by a separate genealogical lineage.
What is
really interesting is the reason why this happens. Verse 15 of this chapter tells us that this
moment was done to fulfill what God had said earlier to Jeroboam. We’re not told about this event in
Chronicles, but if we turn to 1 Kings 11:29-39 we can see the answer.
You see,
Solomon had let in the worship of foreign gods through his many wives and his
political treaties – but primarily through his many wives. God is pretty clear about it, actually. God says of Solomon that he did not walk in
the statutes of the Lord as David had done.
Thus, he was going to take the kingdom out of Solomon’s hand. One generation after David and things have
already gone awry.
Of
course, we know that the northern kingdom has their sinful behavior. None of their kings turn back to God once the
split occurs. Their idolatry grows by
leaps and bounds until they are taken into captivity under Assyria. The kingdom of Judah is better. Most of their kings rebel, but there are a
few who repent and turn back to God.
They remain a nation for almost 150 years longer than the northern
kingdom. But they too go into captivity. All of them eventually turn from God and
follow the ways of the false gods and the selfish desires of the human heart.
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