I Kings 12-14:20
Yesterday we read that the LORD declared that He would tear ten tribes away from Solomon’s son and give them to Jeroboam. Today, we see the fulfillment of that declaration.
Solomon is dead, and his son ascends to the throne, but before Rehoboam can establish himself, Jeroboam (the LORD’s chosen man, whom we met yesterday) leads a labor dispute, demanding better treatment. Rehoboam foolishly ignores the counsel of older men and takes the advice of his arrogant young friends, vowing to make the labor conditions even more harsh. And so, most of the nation follows Jeroboam into rebellion against Rehoboam and the House of David.
We should note that in tearing the kingdom away from Rehoboam, the LORD apparently does not actively do much of anything Himself. He simply leaves Rehoboam to his own devices, his own foolishness, and his own sin. The kingdom thus quite “naturally” falls away from him into Jeroboam’s waiting arms. Yet it is all nevertheless a turn of affairs brought about by the LORD. (I Kings 12:15) Once again we see the sovereignty of God being worked out via human actors who are responsible for their own (often bad) decisions.
In I Kings 12:21, we see that the tribes of Judah and Benjamin stick with Rehoboam: Judah because that is Rehoboam’s own tribe; and Benjamin presumably because Jerusalem, the capital, is in its territory. (We never really get an explicit explanation.) The LORD hands the other ten tribes to Jeroboam. Having received this free gift from the LORD, along with a promise to establish his kingdom, how does Jeroboam respond? He immediately turns from the LORD, trusting his own human political instincts, rather than God:
And Jeroboam said in his heart, “Now the kingdom will turn back to the house of David. If this people go up to offer sacrifices in the temple of the LORD at Jerusalem, then the heart of this people will turn again to their lord, to Rehoboam king of Judah, and they will kill me and return to Rehoboam king of Judah.” So the king took counsel and made two calves of gold. And he said to the people, “You have gone up to Jerusalem long enough. Behold your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.” And he set one in Bethel, and the other he put in Dan. Then this thing became a sin, for the people went as far as Dan to be before one. He also made temples on high places and appointed priests from among all the people, who were not of the Levites.
I Kings 12:26-28
Fool! How quickly Jeroboam squanders the blessing of the LORD!
Recall that the LORD’s promise to establish a dynasty for Jeroboam was conditioned on Jeroboam’s obedience. With Jeroboam in such obvious disobedience, the LORD’s promise is thus null and void, and He instead declares that He will cut off the house of Jeroboam.
Maybe we should pay attention, both as individuals and as a nation.
A few more things…
The nation is now divided into two kingdoms, never to be reunited (at least, not yet). The tribes of Judah and Benjamin form the southern kingdom, henceforth known as Judah, ruled by the House of David. The other ten tribes form the northern kingdom, henceforth generally known as Israel but sometimes called Ephraim, since that is the strongest tribe of the ten.
The books of I & II Kings present the history of both kingdoms, Judah and Israel, bouncing back and forth between the two in an almost leap-frog fashion, pegging the time frames of the reigns of the kings in one kingdom to those of the other kingdom. II Chronicles, on the other hand, focuses only on Judah and generally ignores the northern kingdom of Israel. As a result, we’ll get the history of Israel once in Kings, but we’ll get a double dose of the history of Judah, with II Chronicles often repeating what we read in Kings.
Spoiler alert! All the kings of Israel continue in Jeroboam’s sin of idolatry. Some of the kings of Judah manage to follow in the ways of David; some (like Rehoboam) do not.
Stay tuned…