CXXXII - Israel Becomes Divided

In the last post which was dedicated entirely to I Kings chapter 11, we saw a powerful and successful king Solomon all but squander his kingship.  This was due solely to the fact that Solomon had allowed himself to be influenced by his foreign wives and gave his heart over to pagan worship.  There is no other reason mentioned.  God has been very clear on this subject and how this was the worst mistake a king of Israel could make.  This was number one of the Ten Commandments.
 
The chapter went on to tell us how Jeroboam, an Ephraimite, had been called (and anointed) by the prophet Ahijah to be the next king of Israel.  All of Israel, that is, except for the tribes of Judah and Benjamin.  {God keeps his promise in the Davidic covenent to keep David's descendants on the throne in Jerusalem.}  The nation Israel has now come to a crucial crossroad in its very existance as a nation.  It has experienced military victory and superiority, thus peace through strength.  As a nation it has experienced prosperity beyond measure (although the wealth had not been properly shared with the citizenry).  In the last verse of chapter 11, it states, rather unceremoniously, that Solomon died. 
Solomon's death caused his son Rehoboam to assume the throne.  His death also caused Jeroboam, who had been anointed king of Israel by the prophet Ahijah, to return from Egypt to lead the Israelites in rebellion against the throne.  If ever a country needed a great leader, Israel needed one now.  They needed a leader of such caliber as Abraham Lincoln.  Instead, they had Rehoboam.

Chapter 12:1-24  -  Rehoboam's Foolish Decision

Rehoboam's metal is going to be tested early.  Verse 1 tells that immediately upon the death of Solomon, Rehoboam went to Shechem, where he would be officially crowned king of Israel.  But also, immediately upon the death of Solomon, Jeroboam returned from Egypt where he had been hiding from Solomon who had vowed to kill Jeroboam after he heard that Ahijah had anointed Jeroboam to be Solomon's successor to the throne.  {Although Jeroboam did not turn out to be a very good leader, God had provided him with all the qualities needed.  Example:  He had a very charismatic personality, like David.  Therefore, people were inclined to follow his lead.}  This was evidenced in the third verse.  All of the leaders of the tribes rallied around Jeroboam to seek some justice.  {They were not actually seeking justice per se, but rather, they were seeking relief.  We saw in recent chapters that Solomon had drafted all able-bodied men into BOTH military service and labor to crew his extensive building projects.}  This had gotten out of hand to the point where rebellion was imminent.  But I'm impressed with the way Jeroboam handled this:  (vs 4) He led a representative assembly to Rehoboam and asked that the harsh labor be relaxed.  This was a chance for Rehoboam to rise to the occassion and unify this father's kingdom.  Jeroboam and the assembly honored Rehoboam's position as king.  That should have spoken volumes to Rehoboam and humbled him, but it didn't put a dent in his swollen ego.  So Rehoboam actually did the right thing by sending the assembly away for three days.  He wanted time to think about their request and how he might respond.  But then (vss 6-->) he consulted coucil with the elders who served as advisors to his father.  Their advise was for Rehobaom to grant their wishes and these people would serve Rehoboam with loyalty his entire reign.  But he didn't like their advise.  He sought council from a group of his young associates.  Their advice was just the opposite.  They advised Rehoboam to multiply their burden, rather than lighten it.  Rehoboam liked this advice very much.  {I never thought much of a person who keeps seeking advice until he hears what he always wanted to hear in the first place.  All that does is slow things up.}  Did Rehoboam actually think this was a good thing to do as king?  If so, where did he learn such tactics?  Had Solomon resorted to this type of despotic-like rule in his latter years?  Although those are rhetorical questions, they're good food for thought.  Read his words carefully in vss 10-11.

Vss 12--> Jeroboam and the assembly of representatives returned to Rehoboam at the appointed time and he told them as the young advisors said.  This was not received well by Jeroboam or any other representative of the ten tribes of Israel.  In verse 16 they responded as one might suspect:  They said they had no more part in David's kingdom.  Thus, Israel was divided.  And it could be blamed on Rehoboam's ego and poor judgement.

In verse 18 Rehoboam acted like things had not changed.  He sent out his captain of labor to make regularly scheduled work assignments and the Israelites stoned him to death.  Suddenly the situation became real to Rehoboam and he escaped to Jerusalem out of fear of his subjects.  Vss 20-->  All of Israel heard what had happened and they crowned Jeroboam king of Israel.  Rehoboam gathered an army from the men of Judah and Benjamin to wage war against the rest of Israel, but God (through the prophet Shemaiah) changed Rehoboam's mind and he sent all the men home.  War was averted, but the nation was divided.

This very occurrence begins the two kingdoms and their respective kings as shown in post CXXXI.  {LEADERS MATTER.  It matters who we elect as our leaders.  This should never be taken lightly.  Had Rehoboam taken the advice of the elders, Israel could have flourished for centuries.  Instead (as we shall see in our study) Israel is anything BUT the nation to lead the world to God.

As for the remainder of chapter 12:  How sad, but predictable.  These verses tell of Jeroboam fortifying Shechem as the city from which he would rule Israel.  But, as was their custom, the people of Israel continued to go to Jerusalem at least three times a year to worship and sacrifice.  Jeroboam saw this as a threat, fearful that the people would become re-attached to the kingdom of David in Jerusalem.  So he did the worst thing a king of Israel could possibly do:  He built structures in Bethel and Dan for the Israelite people to worship instead of going to the Temple in Jerusalem.  He made a golden calf for each of these "high places" to be objects to which the people would make sacrifices.  {Will they never learn about golden calves?  Remember Aaron made one when Moses was on Mt. Sinai.  God was VERY angry.}  But Jeroboam didn't stop at that.  He built shrines in more high places.  He appointed priests who were not even Levites.  Also, he decided to make the fifteenth day of every eighth month a religious festival day.  I guess the three festivals God had appointed would be totally disregarded for all of Israel under Jeroboam's reign.  Jeroboam was flirting with disaster.  Didn't he have any advisors to point out to him the error of his ways?  Single-handedly, he was leading a generation of people away from God's favor.  Leaders matter.

Next Post:  I Kings 13  -  God indirectly speaks to Jeroboam