Year 3, Day 311: 2 Chronicles 11

Rehoboam Listens

 Of course Rehoboam is angered by the reaction of the people.  I don’t think anyone in leadership would take well the reality that 5/6 of their kingdom has gone into rebellion.  I completely understand why Rehoboam would want to lash out in reaction.  Add to this natural tendency that Rehoboam clearly had a controlling personality since he had the gall to tell people that he was going to make their yoke even more unbearable when they had come to him to ask for a easing of their burden.  It should be no surprise to any of us that Rehoboam tries to rally the nation under his leadership.

However, to his credit he actually listens to a prophet of God.  Shemaiah comes to Rehoboam and tells him that the rupture of the land was actually God’s plan.  I’d like to stop and look at this from two perspectives.

First, imagine hearing this message as Rehoboam.  Not only does this message immediately cause him to change his plans – not something that is easy for a controlling personality to do – but it also immediately tells him that the will of God is not with him.  It immediately should bring the truth into his mind that his father must not have been obedient to God.  He would know with certainly that the promise that God gave to David was already made void by the sinfulness of the kingly line.  The only two kings on record after David at this point are Solomon and Rehoboam!  The kingdom is already split after two kings!  I can’t imagine the amount of conviction that must have been necessarily laid upon Rehoboam’s heart as he heard this message.

Let’s give Rehoboam some credit here, though.  As difficult as the message must have been for him to hear, he does at least listen to the message.  He calls off the assault onto the northern kingdom.  He lets it go.  Instead of focusing upon vengeance, he turns and focuses on building up the defenses of Judah.  In this moment we see Rehoboam grow up a good bit.  He goes from being a brash young king listening to bad advisors and becomes a king capable of being humbled by God and at least temporarily setting himself on a decent path afterwards.

Second, imagine hearing this message from God as Shemaiah.  Imagine being the one who is asked to bring this message to the brash young king.  Imagine being the one that God picks to tell the king that he has messed up and his father had messed up before him.  Talk about potentially putting your neck out for God!  But this is exactly what Sehmaiah does.  He takes the message given to him by God and goes to Rehoboam with it.  He acts courageously as he goes forth with God’s message.

To Jerusalem

The priests and the Levites who were living in the northern kingdom now come south to Judah and present themselves for service.  We hear in Chronicles that this is because Jeroboam and his sons had thrown them out of the land.  Jeroboam and his sons stop the worship of God in Israel and instead erect statues of goats and calves for them to worship.  Now we see the extent of the sin among the people.  In one bold and swift move the northern kingdom has not only abandoned the Davidic line of kings but they have also abandoned the official worship of God.

I give much credit to the priests and the Levites who were living in the northern kingdom as these religious changes were being made.  They were not afraid to abandon ship.  They were not afraid to give up life and home to stay with God.  Many of them likely left the land and cities that had been in their family for generations, probably since the Hebrew people first took the Promised Land.  These priests and Levites give up all that they have in this world so that they can stay in relationship with God.

Unfortunately, there is a dark end to this story.  The Bible tells us that they only made a difference as a large scale movement in Judah for three years.  For three years they help Rehoboam make the land secure.  I don’t want to get ahead of myself, but we’ll talk about this point more tomorrow.  In the first verse of 2 Chronicles 12 we hear that once Rehoboam’s borders were secure and his authority was established, then he and the people of Judah also turn from the ways of the Lord.

Solomon’s Sin Continued

In the last third of this chapter, we hear about Rehoboam’s marriages.  Yes, that’s right.  We hear that Rehoboam continues in the practice of David and especially Solomon.  Rehoboam is said to have a total of 18 wives and 60 concubines.  This is more than David but far less than Solomon.  Of course, Rehoboam’s kingdom was greatly reduced in scope and he would have fewer countries seeking to establish peace with him through marriage.  This would explain the greatly diminished harem as compared to Solomon.

Remember that God had told the Hebrew people to not accumulate wives.  In fact, it is clear that God’s design is that a man should have one wife.  We’ve already seen that Solomon’s policy of having a large harem and ignoring God’s ways has led the country into religious strife.  It shouldn’t be any surprise that this is the last topic about which the chronicler speaks before telling us about his rebellion in other areas.  Blatant disobedience to God in one area of our life commonly leads to blatant disobedience to God in other areas of life as well.

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