(this one is "what I didn't say on Sunday, I prepared for November 1st but due to changes in travel plans, I did not preach on November 1st. Since I wrote it, I figured I'd share)
The reading
1 Kings 12: 1-17, 25-29
Rehoboam went to
Shechem, for all Israel had come to Shechem to make him king. When Jeroboam son of Nebat heard of it (for
he was still in Egypt, where he had fled from King Solomon), then Jeroboam
returned from Egypt. And they sent and called him; and Jeroboam and all the
assembly of Israel came and said to Rehoboam, “Your father made our yoke heavy.
Now therefore lighten the hard service of your father and his heavy yoke that
he placed on us, and we will serve you.”
He said to them, “Go away for three days, then come again to me.” So the
people went away.
'
Then King Rehoboam took counsel with the older men who had
attended his father Solomon while he was still alive, saying, “How do you
advise me to answer this people?” They
answered him, “If you will be a servant to this people today and serve them,
and speak good words to them when you answer them, then they will be your
servants forever.” But he disregarded
the advice that the older men gave him, and consulted with the young men who
had grown up with him and now attended him.
He said to them, “What do you advise that we answer this people who have
said to me, ‘Lighten the yoke that your father put on us’?” The young men who
had grown up with him said to him, “Thus you should say to this people who
spoke to you, ‘Your father made our yoke heavy, but you must lighten it for
us’; thus you should say to them, ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s
loins. Now, whereas my father laid on
you a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke. My father disciplined you with
whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions.’
So Jeroboam and all
the people came to Rehoboam the third day, as the king had said, “Come to me
again the third day.” The king answered the people harshly. He disregarded the
advice that the older men had given him and spoke to them according to the
advice of the young men, “My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to
your yoke; my father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with
scorpions.” So the king did not listen
to the people, because it was a turn of affairs brought about by the Lord that
he might fulfill his word, which the Lord had spoken by Ahijah the Shilonite to
Jeroboam son of Nebat. When all Israel saw that the king would not listen to
them, the people answered the king, “What share do we have in David? We have no inheritance in the son of Jesse.
To your tents, O Israel!
Look now to your own house, O David.” So Israel went away to their
tents. But Rehoboam reigned over the Israelites who were living in the towns of
Judah. Then Jeroboam built Shechem in
the hill country of Ephraim, and resided there; he went out from there and
built Penuel. Then Jeroboam said to
himself, “Now the kingdom may well revert to the house of David. If this people continues to go up to offer sacrifices
in the house of the Lord at Jerusalem, the heart of this people will turn again
to their master, King Rehoboam of Judah; they will kill me and return to King
Rehoboam of Judah.” So the king took
counsel, and made two calves of gold. He said to the people “You have gone up
to Jerusalem long enough. Here are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out
of the land of Egypt.” He set one in
Bethel, and the other he put in Dan.
The message
Last week, we looked at King David uniting the kingdom and
tribes of Israel. That didn’t last long. The United Kingdom only has three
Kings, Saul, David and Solomon. After Solomon the kingdom is divided. Ten of
the tribes refuse to accept Solomon’s son Rehoboam as King. They break off, form the Northern Kingdom and
appoint Jeroboam as their first king.
Rehoboam serves as the king of the Southern Kingdom of Judah. The Kings
of Judah, who continue David’s line, have their share of failings but are known
to remain loyal to God. To help us understand this part of Biblical
history and what it can teach us about today, I am going to look at the cast of
Characters involved in this story.
First, there is Saul. After years of being led by Judges and
the cycle of disobedience, punishment, repentance, return to the Lord and
restoration that we looked at last week, the people of Israel cried out that
they wanted to be ruled by kings, just like their neighbors. God fulfills this
request and Saul is anointed as the first King of the United Kingdom of Israel.
Saul is impatient and fearful, which leads him to disobey God’s instructions.
He is punished and removed from power. Saul, along with his sons, are killed by
the Philistines.
David assumes the kingship of Israel. He has great victories
and success as well as failures. David’s reign falls apart due to the incident
with Bathsheba and Uriah, her husband.
David wants to have Bathsheba as another wife so he sends her husband
Uriah, a very faithful, dedicated and committed solider to die at the war
front. This abuse of his power and violation of the trust placed in him is
widely condemned. David repented and was
forgiven, but he, his family, and his kingdom suffered some very painful
consequences.
At the end of David’s life, his son Solomon takes over the
throne. For most of Solomon’s time as king things are well, victories are won
and the great temple in Jerusalem is completed.
Towards the end of his rule, Solomon starts to forget about God. He has
taken many foreign wives, begins to worship their pagan gods and becomes a
cruel, harsh leader whose ambitious empire building led to a great deal of
hardship and suffering. All the while,
Solomon accumulated great wealth. Despite
the warning of the prophets, Solomon does not repent or change. In the book of First Kings, we learn, The Lord was angry with Solomon because he
had shifted his allegiance away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared
to him on two occasions and had warned
him about this very thing so that he would not follow other gods. But he did
not obey the Lord’s command. So the Lord
said to Solomon, “Because you insist on doing these things and have not kept
the covenantal rules I gave you, I will surely tear the kingdom away from you
and give it to your servant.
Jeroboam is the servant who the Lord will give most of
Solomon’s kingdom to. He was the son of a widow. He was a very talented and
skillful worker.. Solomon recognized his abilities during a construction
project and promoted him to leader of the work crew of the tribe of Joseph. It
was at this time that the prophet Ahijah privately took Jeroboam aside and
informed him that he would be given ten of the tribes of Israel to lead as
king. He illustrated this prophecy by tearing his new robe into 12 pieces, and
then giving Jeroboam 10 of them.
Rehoboam, is the son of Solomon and the expected successor
to this father. The people make a simple request of him Your father made our yoke heavy, but you must
lighten it for us’; Rehoboam ignores
the advice of his senior leaders and instead takes some questionable advice
from a group of young friends: thus you
should say to them, ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s loins. Now, whereas my father laid on you a heavy
yoke, I will add to your yoke. My father disciplined you with whips, but I will
discipline you with scorpions.
Rehoboam’s arrogance, misunderstanding of the situation,
sense of entitlement and disrespect for the people leads to the actualization
of Ahijah’s prophesy. 10 of the tribes of Isreal leave. They eventually make
Jeroboam their king, leaving only Judah to
be led by the line of David and become the Southern kingdom. After the split, Rehobaom
goes to war against the 10 tribes of the Northern Kingdom. Jeroboam is not much better. He listens to
his advisors rather than to God. Jeroboam was afraid that he would lose his
kingdom or his life. He feared that the divided kingdom would re-unite. In
order to protect himself and his kingdom, he established a new pagan religion
for the northern kingdom of Israel.
The people of God are now divided. The people of Israel in the north and the
people of Judah in the south. Throughout all this time, the prophets like Samuel
and Ahijah keep warning, keep telling people what will happen, keep insisting
that the things the leaders are doing are wrong, keep reminding them that God
sees what they are doing, The prophets
status and role as God’s messengers leaves them in a complicated situation.
They speak good and bad news to the kings. They speak truth to power and
publically condemn or question the decisions of men who think they can do no
wrong. The voice of the prophets often go unheeded. Each kingdom is weakened by
division and war with each other. Each one slips further and further into pagan
worship, enters into bad agreements with their neighbors where they trade God’s
protection for the help of other empires. The people, motivated by fear,
forgetfulness, greed and sin, disregard God and break their promises. Each
kingdom is defeated by their neighbors (they are conquered by the Babylonians
and the Assyrians).
The ultimate defeat
is the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem by the Babylonians in 586 BC. (some years later, the Persians will defeat
the Bablyonians and Cyrus will allow the second temple to be built). Isreal will never be a kingdom again. They are
oppressed, ruled, defeated and conquered by one empire after another. At the
time of Jesus birth, they are a colony of the Roman Empire. As we look back on this history, we have to
wonder why God does not just completely walk away from a sinful, scared,
disobedient people. The answer is simply that God loves and cares us. During all of this time of defeat and
suffering, the prophets, along with confronting faithless leaders and abusive
people, announce 2 very important messages. 1 God has not forgotten the people
or his promises to them and 2: A messiah and savior would come to restore and
save them.
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