Welcome! Today we continue our series called Broken Vessels, in which we have been learning by example how God uses people, fallible, broken people, to fulfill His good purposes. I want to start with a picture – the picture above. What is wrong with this picture? Take your time looking at it. We will come back to it.
Now, I want to talk about an incident late in Solomon’s life that sets the stage for the next 400 years or so. Fred has taught on Solomon the last few weeks, and we saw how Solomon, when he became old, allowed some of his many wives to turn his heart away from the Lord and towards the false gods that his wives followed, including Ashtoreth, Molech, and Chemosh. He actually built altars on high places and sacrificed offerings to these false gods. This brings us to I Kings 11:9
Now, I want to talk about an incident late in Solomon’s life that sets the stage for the next 400 years or so. Fred has taught on Solomon the last few weeks, and we saw how Solomon, when he became old, allowed some of his many wives to turn his heart away from the Lord and towards the false gods that his wives followed, including Ashtoreth, Molech, and Chemosh. He actually built altars on high places and sacrificed offerings to these false gods. This brings us to I Kings 11:9
The Lord became angry with Solomon because his heart had turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice. Although he had forbidden Solomon to follow other gods, Solomon did not keep the Lord's command. So the Lord said to Solomon, "Since this is your attitude and you have not kept my covenant and my decrees, which I commanded you, I will most certainly tear the kingdom away from you and give it to one of your subordinates. – I Kings 11:9-11
Nevertheless, for the sake of David your father, I will not do it during your lifetime. I will tear it out of the hand of your son. Yet I will not tear the whole kingdom from him, but will give him one tribe for the sake of David my servant and for the sake of Jerusalem, which I have chosen." – I Kings 11:12-13
The passage goes on to give a description of three people God raised up to give Solomon trouble. The first was Hadad the Edomite. Now the Edomites had been wiped out by David, but Hadad, at the time a boy, escaped with some officials by fleeing to Egypt. In Egypt, sort of like a reverse Joseph, Hadad pleased the Pharaoh, so much so that he give him a wife who was a sister of his own wife. Their firstborn son was raised in the royal palace, treated in every way as royalty. When Hadad learned that David and Joab the army commander had died, he decided to leave Egypt and try to regain his land. As king, Solomon was the one who had to now deal with Hadad and his men.
The second person who gave Solomon trouble was Rezon, who had previously been a slave of the king of Zobah. When David’s men destroyed Zobah’s men, Rezon became leader of a band of rebels who lived in what is now Syria. So Solomon had trouble from two outside forces, attacking from different directions.
But the third person who gave Solomon trouble was different. His name was Jeroboam, and he was one of Solomon’s own officials. Jeroboam really did not choose the path of rebelling against Solomon any more than David chose the path of rebelling against Saul. In both cases, a prophet called them out and declared them king. In Jeroboam’s case the prophet was Ahijah, and he told Jeroboam that he was to become king of ten of the tribes. Ahijah, speaking on behalf the Lord, told Jeroboam this:
If you do whatever I command you and walk in My ways and do what is right in My eyes by keeping My statutes and commands, as David My servant did, I will be with you. I will build you a dynasty as enduring as the one I built for David and will give Israel to you. - I Kings 11:39
Solomon eventually treated Jeroboam much like Saul treated David: he tried to kill him. As a result, Jeroboam fled to Egypt and stayed there until Solomon died. And when Solomon did die, his son Rehoboam succeeded him as king.
I want to read to you the account of Rehoboam’s first actions as king, because the consequences of these actions were huge and affected Israel and Judah for the next 400 years.
Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all the Israelites had gone there to make him king. When Jeroboam son of Nebat heard this (he was still in Egypt, where he had fled from King Solomon), he returned from Egypt. So they sent for Jeroboam, and he and the whole assembly of Israel went to Rehoboam and said to him: "Your father put a heavy yoke on us, but now lighten the harsh labor and the heavy yoke he put on us, and we will serve you." – I Kings 12:1-4
This is a serious situation. The people are not willing to follow Rehoboam unconditionally. They claim that Solomon was not easy on the people, and their condition is that Rehoboam “lighten the load.” Now earlier in Solomon’s life the Bible says that the people he made do forced labor were not Israelites, but peoples from the various conquered groups around them. I don’t know to what effect that may have changed, but one thing seems certain, that although Solomon had built many things and done much as king, it had come at a high price of taxation and “community service.” The people were weary of it, and basically what they were saying to Solomon was that they wanted less government, lower taxes. A few generations earlier, recall that the people wanted the opposite: more government, a strong king, even if these very things happened. In fact, they had been warned that these very things would happen, but still they wanted their king, their “big government.” Some things never change.
Notice where Rehoboam has gone – to Shechem; he did not have them come to Jerusalem. This is a sign of just how weak Rehoboam’s position was. Shechem was in the north – a city with a history; the place where Abraham worshiped (Gen. 12), where Jacob built an altar and purchased land (Gen. 33), and where Joseph was buried (Josh. 24). Presumably Reboboam chose it because it would bring to mind these historical events and that his being affirmed as king there would seal the event for history.
Rehoboam answered, "Go away for three days and then come back to me." So the people went away. Then King Rehoboam consulted the elders who had served his father Solomon during his lifetime. "How would you advise me to answer these people?" he asked. They replied, "If today you will be a servant to these people and serve them and give them a favorable answer, they will always be your servants." – I Kings 12:5-7
Wonderful advice for any leader! Leaders are not to “lord it over” those who are under them, but are to be servants to all. Jesus of course is our ultimate example of this. So did Rehoboam take this great advice?
But Rehoboam rejected the advice the elders gave him and consulted the young men who had grown up with him and were serving him. – I Kings 12:8
Notice the details of the wording. Did Rehoboam get a second opinion, and then, based on the two opinions, choose the one that seemed best to him? No. He rejected the first opinion before he even heard the second! We do this too. When someone tells us something we don’t want to hear, we reject it and then hunt for someone who will tell us what we do want to hear. One of Solomon’s own proverbs says that “Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed,” (Prov. 15:22), but finding people to tell us what we want to hear is not what Solomon meant. So Rehoboam went to the young men, hoping to hear more pleasing advice to his ears.
He asked them, "What is your advice? How should we answer these people who say to me, 'Lighten the yoke your father put on us'?" The young men who had grown up with him replied, "Tell these people who have said to you, 'Your father put a heavy yoke on us, but make our yoke lighter'-tell them, 'My little finger is thicker than my father's waist. My father laid on you a heavy yoke; I will make it even heavier. My father scourged you with whips; I will scourge you with scorpions.' " – I Kings 12:9-11
As we will see, this advice was more pleasing to Rehoboam’s ears. Why? I can think of a number of possible reasons. One was that Rehoboam was not his father and wasn’t a natural, charismatic leader. He felt inadequate, and hearing the people give conditions on him was something that he couldn’t picture having ever happened to his dad Solomon. It made him angry and resentful that he was being treated this way, and intimidation through fear seemed like the perfect way to both feel powerful and get even. Another possible reason was that he just didn’t care for the “common people;” having been raised as the king’s son, he didn’t really see them as equals or as people deserving of compassion. He and his friends (the young men who had grown up with him) may have become, over time, lovers of cruelty. All these things may have been true to various extents – and the actions of Solomon must take at least some of the blame. Did Rehoboam grow up learning to love the Lord above all else? He certainly didn’t learn that lesson from Dad. It’s unlikely he hardly saw Dad much, and then, the relationship would be more as king to subject rather than father to son. This is what happens if you choose to have a thousand wives. And it is what happens if you choose to put work or anything else so much above your family that you become more or less a stranger to them.
Three days later Jeroboam and all the people returned to Rehoboam, as the king had said, "Come back to me in three days." The king answered the people harshly. Rejecting the advice given him by the elders, he followed the advice of the young men and said, "My father made your yoke heavy; I will make it even heavier. My father scourged you with whips; I will scourge you with scorpions." So the king did not listen to the people, for this turn of events was from the Lord, to fulfill the word the Lord had spoken to Jeroboam son of Nebat through Ahijah the Shilonite. – I Kings 12:12-15
The passage goes on to give a description of three people God raised up to give Solomon trouble. The first was Hadad the Edomite. Now the Edomites had been wiped out by David, but Hadad, at the time a boy, escaped with some officials by fleeing to Egypt. In Egypt, sort of like a reverse Joseph, Hadad pleased the Pharaoh, so much so that he give him a wife who was a sister of his own wife. Their firstborn son was raised in the royal palace, treated in every way as royalty. When Hadad learned that David and Joab the army commander had died, he decided to leave Egypt and try to regain his land. As king, Solomon was the one who had to now deal with Hadad and his men.
The second person who gave Solomon trouble was Rezon, who had previously been a slave of the king of Zobah. When David’s men destroyed Zobah’s men, Rezon became leader of a band of rebels who lived in what is now Syria. So Solomon had trouble from two outside forces, attacking from different directions.
But the third person who gave Solomon trouble was different. His name was Jeroboam, and he was one of Solomon’s own officials. Jeroboam really did not choose the path of rebelling against Solomon any more than David chose the path of rebelling against Saul. In both cases, a prophet called them out and declared them king. In Jeroboam’s case the prophet was Ahijah, and he told Jeroboam that he was to become king of ten of the tribes. Ahijah, speaking on behalf the Lord, told Jeroboam this:
If you do whatever I command you and walk in My ways and do what is right in My eyes by keeping My statutes and commands, as David My servant did, I will be with you. I will build you a dynasty as enduring as the one I built for David and will give Israel to you. - I Kings 11:39
Solomon eventually treated Jeroboam much like Saul treated David: he tried to kill him. As a result, Jeroboam fled to Egypt and stayed there until Solomon died. And when Solomon did die, his son Rehoboam succeeded him as king.
I want to read to you the account of Rehoboam’s first actions as king, because the consequences of these actions were huge and affected Israel and Judah for the next 400 years.
Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all the Israelites had gone there to make him king. When Jeroboam son of Nebat heard this (he was still in Egypt, where he had fled from King Solomon), he returned from Egypt. So they sent for Jeroboam, and he and the whole assembly of Israel went to Rehoboam and said to him: "Your father put a heavy yoke on us, but now lighten the harsh labor and the heavy yoke he put on us, and we will serve you." – I Kings 12:1-4
This is a serious situation. The people are not willing to follow Rehoboam unconditionally. They claim that Solomon was not easy on the people, and their condition is that Rehoboam “lighten the load.” Now earlier in Solomon’s life the Bible says that the people he made do forced labor were not Israelites, but peoples from the various conquered groups around them. I don’t know to what effect that may have changed, but one thing seems certain, that although Solomon had built many things and done much as king, it had come at a high price of taxation and “community service.” The people were weary of it, and basically what they were saying to Solomon was that they wanted less government, lower taxes. A few generations earlier, recall that the people wanted the opposite: more government, a strong king, even if these very things happened. In fact, they had been warned that these very things would happen, but still they wanted their king, their “big government.” Some things never change.
Notice where Rehoboam has gone – to Shechem; he did not have them come to Jerusalem. This is a sign of just how weak Rehoboam’s position was. Shechem was in the north – a city with a history; the place where Abraham worshiped (Gen. 12), where Jacob built an altar and purchased land (Gen. 33), and where Joseph was buried (Josh. 24). Presumably Reboboam chose it because it would bring to mind these historical events and that his being affirmed as king there would seal the event for history.
Rehoboam answered, "Go away for three days and then come back to me." So the people went away. Then King Rehoboam consulted the elders who had served his father Solomon during his lifetime. "How would you advise me to answer these people?" he asked. They replied, "If today you will be a servant to these people and serve them and give them a favorable answer, they will always be your servants." – I Kings 12:5-7
Wonderful advice for any leader! Leaders are not to “lord it over” those who are under them, but are to be servants to all. Jesus of course is our ultimate example of this. So did Rehoboam take this great advice?
But Rehoboam rejected the advice the elders gave him and consulted the young men who had grown up with him and were serving him. – I Kings 12:8
Notice the details of the wording. Did Rehoboam get a second opinion, and then, based on the two opinions, choose the one that seemed best to him? No. He rejected the first opinion before he even heard the second! We do this too. When someone tells us something we don’t want to hear, we reject it and then hunt for someone who will tell us what we do want to hear. One of Solomon’s own proverbs says that “Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed,” (Prov. 15:22), but finding people to tell us what we want to hear is not what Solomon meant. So Rehoboam went to the young men, hoping to hear more pleasing advice to his ears.
He asked them, "What is your advice? How should we answer these people who say to me, 'Lighten the yoke your father put on us'?" The young men who had grown up with him replied, "Tell these people who have said to you, 'Your father put a heavy yoke on us, but make our yoke lighter'-tell them, 'My little finger is thicker than my father's waist. My father laid on you a heavy yoke; I will make it even heavier. My father scourged you with whips; I will scourge you with scorpions.' " – I Kings 12:9-11
As we will see, this advice was more pleasing to Rehoboam’s ears. Why? I can think of a number of possible reasons. One was that Rehoboam was not his father and wasn’t a natural, charismatic leader. He felt inadequate, and hearing the people give conditions on him was something that he couldn’t picture having ever happened to his dad Solomon. It made him angry and resentful that he was being treated this way, and intimidation through fear seemed like the perfect way to both feel powerful and get even. Another possible reason was that he just didn’t care for the “common people;” having been raised as the king’s son, he didn’t really see them as equals or as people deserving of compassion. He and his friends (the young men who had grown up with him) may have become, over time, lovers of cruelty. All these things may have been true to various extents – and the actions of Solomon must take at least some of the blame. Did Rehoboam grow up learning to love the Lord above all else? He certainly didn’t learn that lesson from Dad. It’s unlikely he hardly saw Dad much, and then, the relationship would be more as king to subject rather than father to son. This is what happens if you choose to have a thousand wives. And it is what happens if you choose to put work or anything else so much above your family that you become more or less a stranger to them.
Three days later Jeroboam and all the people returned to Rehoboam, as the king had said, "Come back to me in three days." The king answered the people harshly. Rejecting the advice given him by the elders, he followed the advice of the young men and said, "My father made your yoke heavy; I will make it even heavier. My father scourged you with whips; I will scourge you with scorpions." So the king did not listen to the people, for this turn of events was from the Lord, to fulfill the word the Lord had spoken to Jeroboam son of Nebat through Ahijah the Shilonite. – I Kings 12:12-15
When all Israel saw that the king refused to listen to them, they answered the king: "What share do we have in David, what part in Jesse's son? To your tents, O Israel! Look after your own house, O David!" So the Israelites went home. But as for the Israelites who were living in the towns of Judah, Rehoboam still ruled over them. – I Kings 12:16-17
This was a declaration of independence, not all that different from our Declaration of Independence made in 1776. Listen to this sentence from the Declaration and see how well it fits the situation here:
But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security. – Declaration of Independence
And Rehoboam did not say these words idly; he meant business:
King Rehoboam sent out Adoniram, who was in charge of forced labor, …
But just like our revolution could not happen without force, the same was true here.
…but all Israel stoned him to death. King Rehoboam, however, managed to get into his chariot and escape to Jerusalem. – I Kings 12:18-19
I think Solomon knew this was coming. Listen to what he wrote in Ecclesiastes 2:
I hated all the things I had toiled for under the sun, because I must leave them to the one who comes after me. And who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will have control over all the work into which I have poured my effort and skill under the sun. This too is meaningless. So my heart began to despair over all my toilsome labor under the sun. For a man may do his work with wisdom, knowledge and skill, and then he must leave all he owns to someone who has not worked for it. This too is meaningless and a great misfortune. – Eccl. 2:18-21
Now Ecclesiastes always requires careful interpretation. Was Solomon right? Is what you work for meaningless and a great misfortune? Not necessarily. Jesus corrected Solomon when He said,
"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. – Matt. 6:19-20
If anyone has ever truly labored for treasures on earth, Solomon has. He did not labor for wisdom in his children. He did not labor for his own heart, seeking after God. He did not labor to build and preserve his faith. And because he did not do these things, he was right. All his work ultimately was meaningless and it certainly was a great misfortune. After all his work at uniting and building and strengthening a united Israel, it has totally fallen apart with a dozen words by his own exceedingly foolish son.
When all the Israelites heard that Jeroboam had returned, they sent and called him to the assembly and made him king over all Israel. Only the tribe of Judah remained loyal to the house of David. – I Kings 12:20
So now, we have two kings, and two kingdoms. We have the kingdom of Judah, which apparently includes Benjamin, whether they had much say in it or not, led by Rehoboam, and we have the kingdom of Israel, consisting of the other tribes, led by Jeroboam. The likely year was around 930 BC. This split would persist on through the fall of Israel about 210 years later, and the fall of Judah, which occurred about 130 years after that.
When Rehoboam arrived in Jerusalem, he mustered the whole house of Judah and the tribe of Benjamin—a hundred and eighty thousand fighting men—to make war against the house of Israel and to regain the kingdom for Rehoboam son of Solomon. – I Kings 12:21
To be clear, this is a serious situation. Rehoboam wants to be king over all Israel, and he is not willing to take “no” for an answer. He is willing to begin a terrible civil war for this purpose. We tend to not think about it this way, but the American revolutionary war was also a civil war, at least from the perspective of the British. And again, the cause was similar. I am sure both King George and King Rehoboam thought, “How dare they declare their independence from me! I won’t allow it!”
But this word of God came to Shemaiah the man of God: "Say to Rehoboam son of Solomon king of Judah, to the whole house of Judah and Benjamin, and to the rest of the people, 'This is what the Lord says: Do not go up to fight against your brothers, the Israelites. Go home, every one of you, for this is My doing.'" So they obeyed the word of the Lord and went home again, as the Lord had ordered.- I Kings 12:22-24
I don’t want to be overly cynical here, but I think the fact that God tells Shemaiah not only to tell Rehoboam but also “the whole house of Judah and Benjamin and to the rest of the people” very important. I don’t know that Rehoboam would have listened to the prophet if he was the only one told. I doubt very much that the people of Judah and Benjamin were all that excited about going to war against their fellow Israelites. From their perspective, it didn’t matter much if Israel was united with them or not. But a common side effect of wars is dying, and that would be something they would rather avoid. The only person who wanted this war so badly was Rehoboam. And as a new, weak, and not much loved king, he would have had a hard time if he had tried to force the people to go to war after they heard the word of God from the prophet Shemaiah. And so, the war was averted.
We now turn our attention to Jeroboam in Israel.
Then Jeroboam fortified Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim and lived there. From there he went out and built up Peniel. Jeroboam thought to himself, "The kingdom will now likely revert to the house of David. If these people go up to offer sacrifices at the temple of the Lord in Jerusalem, they will again give their allegiance to their lord, Rehoboam king of Judah. They will kill me and return to King Rehoboam." – I Kings 12:25-27
This tells me two things about Jeroboam: he really wants to remain king, and he is smart. He has a good point here – when the people go sacrifice to God at the temple in Jerusalem, when they remember that the living Lord who brought them out of Egypt is there and not here, they are going to come to their senses. Who wants to be cut off from the Lord?
Now if you were Jeroboam and you came to this conclusion, what would you do? Perhaps you would try to forge a peace treaty with Rehoboam. Perhaps you would convince the people that you shouldn’t be king after all, and you just go quietly away. Perhaps – and this would be best – like David you plead your case before the Lord, doing nothing until you get a clear word from Him. Remember what the Lord promised him? If you do whatever I command you and walk in My ways and do what is right in My eyes by keeping My statutes and commands, as David My servant did, I will be with you. I will build you a dynasty as enduring as the one I built for David and will give Israel to you. - I Kings 11:3
So in a sense this is a no-brainer right? Wrong. Jereboam did something shocking for its evil and shocking for its brazenness. But what is perhaps most shocking is that the people went along with it:
After seeking advice, the king made two golden calves. He said to the people, "It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Here are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt." One he set up in Bethel, and the other in Dan. And this thing became a sin; the people went even as far as Dan to worship the one there. – I Kings 12:28-30
This sin belonged to all Israel, Jeroboam as well as his people. But it was also the fruit of Solomon, a leader who failed to lead his people to God. Were the people that ignorant about their past? A golden calf, of all things! Yes, they were that ignorant, that forgetful, that lost. As Jesus said, “like sheep without a shepherd.”
I have seen this over and over in my experiences with others who have some degree of exposure to Christianity, sometimes a lot of exposure. Never underestimate lostness. Just because a person goes to church their whole life, if they don’t have a living, saving faith, a real relationship with their Creator, don’t be surprised if they suddenly join the first cult that happens to knock on their door. Don’t be surprised if something they read on the internet “destroys” their faith. In reality, there wasn’t a faith to destroy; all there was was a human-empowered belief system to replace. There is no substitute and no permanent faking a relationship with Christ. Either you have been reborn or you haven’t. Either you have been sealed by the Holy Spirit or you haven’t. And these people, the Israelites, were lost.
Jeroboam built shrines on high places and appointed priests from all sorts of people, even though they were not Levites. He instituted a festival on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, like the festival held in Judah, and offered sacrifices on the altar. This he did in Bethel, sacrificing to the calves he had made. And at Bethel he also installed priests at the high places he had made. – I Kings 12:31-33
This is imitation Judaism, imitation “Yahweh-ism.” The priests were at the real temple, and they needed priests and Levites to perform sacrifices and maintain the new high places, so they made up their own. They probably even viewed themselves as superior to the closed-minded practices of their neighbors in Judah. After all, it was never really quite fair that who your parents were dictated whether you could be a priest or Levite or not. This was much better, much less discriminatory, much less bigoted.
By the word of the Lord a man of God came from Judah to Bethel, as Jeroboam was standing by the altar to make an offering. He cried out against the altar by the word of the Lord: "O altar, altar! This is what the Lord says: 'A son named Josiah will be born to the house of David. On you he will sacrifice the priests of the high places who now make offerings here, and human bones will be burned on you." That same day the man of God gave a sign: "This is the sign the Lord has declared: The altar will be split apart and the ashes on it will be poured out." – I Kings 13:1-3
Understand God was not really warning the altar; he was warning the people of Israel, and especially their king, Jeroboam, who was standing there.
When King Jeroboam heard what the man of God cried out against the altar at Bethel, he stretched out his hand from the altar and said, "Seize him!" But the hand he stretched out toward the man shriveled up, so that he could not pull it back. Also, the altar was split apart and its ashes poured out according to the sign given by the man of God by the word of the Lord. – I Kings 13:4-5
That had to be a powerful moment. The “Seize him” followed by a scream from the king as he watches his own hand shrivel up and at the same time a loud crack as the altar splits itself apart and the ashes pouring out from the crack.
Then the king said to the man of God, "Intercede with the Lord your God and pray for me that my hand may be restored." So the man of God interceded with the Lord, and the king's hand was restored and became as it was before. – I Kings 13:6
So did Jeroboam really repent? No. Despite seeing the power of the real God at work and knowing that your “pretend” religion angers the God who can unmake you in a moment, Jeroboam continued with his wicked ways.
Even after this, Jeroboam did not change his evil ways, but once more appointed priests for the high places from all sorts of people. Anyone who wanted to become a priest he consecrated for the high places. This was the sin of the house of Jeroboam that led to its downfall and to its destruction from the face of the earth.- I Kings 13:33-34
The fruit of Jeroboam, by the way lasted way beyond his tenure as king, which lasted 22 years. It even went way beyond the entire chain of kings of Israel, which went another 200 years. But before I explain this, I have a handout to give out. This is a chart of the kings of ancient Israel and Judah. I will refer to this chart repeatedly in the following weeks as we talk more about kings and prophets after Solomon. Notice that the top row contains Jeroboam, first king of the divided Israel, and Rehoboam, first king of the divided Judah. The kings of Israel go on down the left half of the paper, and the kings of Judah go down the right half. For now, I just want to point out the kings of Israel, the left half of the sheet of paper. Look at the one-word descriptions of them: Bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, extra bad, the worst, bad, bad mostly, bad mostly, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, and bad. An then what do you see? The fall of… what? Samaria, followed by the fall of all of the divided Israel.
Samaria is part of Israel. Samaria is where Jeroboam put up those golden calves and instituted his own priests for the high places. Do you understand the implications of this? Even after Israel is hauled off to captivity, when they came back, they still wanted to worship at the high places in Samaria. Do you remember the discussions Jesus had with the Samaritan woman at the well? It was about this!
If you remember the discussion in John 4, Jesus asks the woman for a drink of water at the well. She is shocked that a Jew would even associate with a Samaritan. He then tells her about living water and about never thirsting again, which she doesn’t really understand, he tells her the truth about her having had five husbands, which she does understand, and then the conversation turns to this:
"Sir," the woman said, "I can see that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem." – John 4:19-20
This was a declaration of independence, not all that different from our Declaration of Independence made in 1776. Listen to this sentence from the Declaration and see how well it fits the situation here:
But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security. – Declaration of Independence
And Rehoboam did not say these words idly; he meant business:
King Rehoboam sent out Adoniram, who was in charge of forced labor, …
But just like our revolution could not happen without force, the same was true here.
…but all Israel stoned him to death. King Rehoboam, however, managed to get into his chariot and escape to Jerusalem. – I Kings 12:18-19
I think Solomon knew this was coming. Listen to what he wrote in Ecclesiastes 2:
I hated all the things I had toiled for under the sun, because I must leave them to the one who comes after me. And who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will have control over all the work into which I have poured my effort and skill under the sun. This too is meaningless. So my heart began to despair over all my toilsome labor under the sun. For a man may do his work with wisdom, knowledge and skill, and then he must leave all he owns to someone who has not worked for it. This too is meaningless and a great misfortune. – Eccl. 2:18-21
Now Ecclesiastes always requires careful interpretation. Was Solomon right? Is what you work for meaningless and a great misfortune? Not necessarily. Jesus corrected Solomon when He said,
"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. – Matt. 6:19-20
If anyone has ever truly labored for treasures on earth, Solomon has. He did not labor for wisdom in his children. He did not labor for his own heart, seeking after God. He did not labor to build and preserve his faith. And because he did not do these things, he was right. All his work ultimately was meaningless and it certainly was a great misfortune. After all his work at uniting and building and strengthening a united Israel, it has totally fallen apart with a dozen words by his own exceedingly foolish son.
When all the Israelites heard that Jeroboam had returned, they sent and called him to the assembly and made him king over all Israel. Only the tribe of Judah remained loyal to the house of David. – I Kings 12:20
So now, we have two kings, and two kingdoms. We have the kingdom of Judah, which apparently includes Benjamin, whether they had much say in it or not, led by Rehoboam, and we have the kingdom of Israel, consisting of the other tribes, led by Jeroboam. The likely year was around 930 BC. This split would persist on through the fall of Israel about 210 years later, and the fall of Judah, which occurred about 130 years after that.
When Rehoboam arrived in Jerusalem, he mustered the whole house of Judah and the tribe of Benjamin—a hundred and eighty thousand fighting men—to make war against the house of Israel and to regain the kingdom for Rehoboam son of Solomon. – I Kings 12:21
To be clear, this is a serious situation. Rehoboam wants to be king over all Israel, and he is not willing to take “no” for an answer. He is willing to begin a terrible civil war for this purpose. We tend to not think about it this way, but the American revolutionary war was also a civil war, at least from the perspective of the British. And again, the cause was similar. I am sure both King George and King Rehoboam thought, “How dare they declare their independence from me! I won’t allow it!”
But this word of God came to Shemaiah the man of God: "Say to Rehoboam son of Solomon king of Judah, to the whole house of Judah and Benjamin, and to the rest of the people, 'This is what the Lord says: Do not go up to fight against your brothers, the Israelites. Go home, every one of you, for this is My doing.'" So they obeyed the word of the Lord and went home again, as the Lord had ordered.- I Kings 12:22-24
I don’t want to be overly cynical here, but I think the fact that God tells Shemaiah not only to tell Rehoboam but also “the whole house of Judah and Benjamin and to the rest of the people” very important. I don’t know that Rehoboam would have listened to the prophet if he was the only one told. I doubt very much that the people of Judah and Benjamin were all that excited about going to war against their fellow Israelites. From their perspective, it didn’t matter much if Israel was united with them or not. But a common side effect of wars is dying, and that would be something they would rather avoid. The only person who wanted this war so badly was Rehoboam. And as a new, weak, and not much loved king, he would have had a hard time if he had tried to force the people to go to war after they heard the word of God from the prophet Shemaiah. And so, the war was averted.
We now turn our attention to Jeroboam in Israel.
Then Jeroboam fortified Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim and lived there. From there he went out and built up Peniel. Jeroboam thought to himself, "The kingdom will now likely revert to the house of David. If these people go up to offer sacrifices at the temple of the Lord in Jerusalem, they will again give their allegiance to their lord, Rehoboam king of Judah. They will kill me and return to King Rehoboam." – I Kings 12:25-27
This tells me two things about Jeroboam: he really wants to remain king, and he is smart. He has a good point here – when the people go sacrifice to God at the temple in Jerusalem, when they remember that the living Lord who brought them out of Egypt is there and not here, they are going to come to their senses. Who wants to be cut off from the Lord?
Now if you were Jeroboam and you came to this conclusion, what would you do? Perhaps you would try to forge a peace treaty with Rehoboam. Perhaps you would convince the people that you shouldn’t be king after all, and you just go quietly away. Perhaps – and this would be best – like David you plead your case before the Lord, doing nothing until you get a clear word from Him. Remember what the Lord promised him? If you do whatever I command you and walk in My ways and do what is right in My eyes by keeping My statutes and commands, as David My servant did, I will be with you. I will build you a dynasty as enduring as the one I built for David and will give Israel to you. - I Kings 11:3
So in a sense this is a no-brainer right? Wrong. Jereboam did something shocking for its evil and shocking for its brazenness. But what is perhaps most shocking is that the people went along with it:
After seeking advice, the king made two golden calves. He said to the people, "It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Here are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt." One he set up in Bethel, and the other in Dan. And this thing became a sin; the people went even as far as Dan to worship the one there. – I Kings 12:28-30
This sin belonged to all Israel, Jeroboam as well as his people. But it was also the fruit of Solomon, a leader who failed to lead his people to God. Were the people that ignorant about their past? A golden calf, of all things! Yes, they were that ignorant, that forgetful, that lost. As Jesus said, “like sheep without a shepherd.”
I have seen this over and over in my experiences with others who have some degree of exposure to Christianity, sometimes a lot of exposure. Never underestimate lostness. Just because a person goes to church their whole life, if they don’t have a living, saving faith, a real relationship with their Creator, don’t be surprised if they suddenly join the first cult that happens to knock on their door. Don’t be surprised if something they read on the internet “destroys” their faith. In reality, there wasn’t a faith to destroy; all there was was a human-empowered belief system to replace. There is no substitute and no permanent faking a relationship with Christ. Either you have been reborn or you haven’t. Either you have been sealed by the Holy Spirit or you haven’t. And these people, the Israelites, were lost.
Jeroboam built shrines on high places and appointed priests from all sorts of people, even though they were not Levites. He instituted a festival on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, like the festival held in Judah, and offered sacrifices on the altar. This he did in Bethel, sacrificing to the calves he had made. And at Bethel he also installed priests at the high places he had made. – I Kings 12:31-33
This is imitation Judaism, imitation “Yahweh-ism.” The priests were at the real temple, and they needed priests and Levites to perform sacrifices and maintain the new high places, so they made up their own. They probably even viewed themselves as superior to the closed-minded practices of their neighbors in Judah. After all, it was never really quite fair that who your parents were dictated whether you could be a priest or Levite or not. This was much better, much less discriminatory, much less bigoted.
By the word of the Lord a man of God came from Judah to Bethel, as Jeroboam was standing by the altar to make an offering. He cried out against the altar by the word of the Lord: "O altar, altar! This is what the Lord says: 'A son named Josiah will be born to the house of David. On you he will sacrifice the priests of the high places who now make offerings here, and human bones will be burned on you." That same day the man of God gave a sign: "This is the sign the Lord has declared: The altar will be split apart and the ashes on it will be poured out." – I Kings 13:1-3
Understand God was not really warning the altar; he was warning the people of Israel, and especially their king, Jeroboam, who was standing there.
When King Jeroboam heard what the man of God cried out against the altar at Bethel, he stretched out his hand from the altar and said, "Seize him!" But the hand he stretched out toward the man shriveled up, so that he could not pull it back. Also, the altar was split apart and its ashes poured out according to the sign given by the man of God by the word of the Lord. – I Kings 13:4-5
That had to be a powerful moment. The “Seize him” followed by a scream from the king as he watches his own hand shrivel up and at the same time a loud crack as the altar splits itself apart and the ashes pouring out from the crack.
Then the king said to the man of God, "Intercede with the Lord your God and pray for me that my hand may be restored." So the man of God interceded with the Lord, and the king's hand was restored and became as it was before. – I Kings 13:6
So did Jeroboam really repent? No. Despite seeing the power of the real God at work and knowing that your “pretend” religion angers the God who can unmake you in a moment, Jeroboam continued with his wicked ways.
Even after this, Jeroboam did not change his evil ways, but once more appointed priests for the high places from all sorts of people. Anyone who wanted to become a priest he consecrated for the high places. This was the sin of the house of Jeroboam that led to its downfall and to its destruction from the face of the earth.- I Kings 13:33-34
The fruit of Jeroboam, by the way lasted way beyond his tenure as king, which lasted 22 years. It even went way beyond the entire chain of kings of Israel, which went another 200 years. But before I explain this, I have a handout to give out. This is a chart of the kings of ancient Israel and Judah. I will refer to this chart repeatedly in the following weeks as we talk more about kings and prophets after Solomon. Notice that the top row contains Jeroboam, first king of the divided Israel, and Rehoboam, first king of the divided Judah. The kings of Israel go on down the left half of the paper, and the kings of Judah go down the right half. For now, I just want to point out the kings of Israel, the left half of the sheet of paper. Look at the one-word descriptions of them: Bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, extra bad, the worst, bad, bad mostly, bad mostly, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, and bad. An then what do you see? The fall of… what? Samaria, followed by the fall of all of the divided Israel.
Samaria is part of Israel. Samaria is where Jeroboam put up those golden calves and instituted his own priests for the high places. Do you understand the implications of this? Even after Israel is hauled off to captivity, when they came back, they still wanted to worship at the high places in Samaria. Do you remember the discussions Jesus had with the Samaritan woman at the well? It was about this!
If you remember the discussion in John 4, Jesus asks the woman for a drink of water at the well. She is shocked that a Jew would even associate with a Samaritan. He then tells her about living water and about never thirsting again, which she doesn’t really understand, he tells her the truth about her having had five husbands, which she does understand, and then the conversation turns to this:
"Sir," the woman said, "I can see that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem." – John 4:19-20
Jesus declared, "Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth." – John 4:21-24
It gives you a greater perspective on this passage, doesn’t it? To see it through the results of Jeroboam’s sin? Through even further back, the result of Solomon’s sin? To see how even that was influenced by David’s sin?
It gives you a greater perspective on this passage, doesn’t it? To see it through the results of Jeroboam’s sin? Through even further back, the result of Solomon’s sin? To see how even that was influenced by David’s sin?
But the flip side is also true. Everyone of us is a part of a 2000-year-old legacy. There are chains of believers, fruit upon fruit, good fruit, the fruit of true worship of the Father in spirit and in truth, the fruit of the Holy Spirit. We are here to change the world, one person at a time, starting with those closest around us – our children, our brothers and sisters, each of us, and then those around us, working outward and outward. God has charts like the one I have given you, but good charts, charts of the work of faithful believers reaching out and changing lives through the power of Christ. This is what God does with broken vessels, vessels that are broken in spirit to His will, that are open to His leading, that are receptive to His transforming love.
As a recap here are some themes we touched on today. Perhaps God is speaking to you on one of these, if so, please respond to God in prayer as we pray in a moment.
1. How am I dealing with criticism? (Rehoboam complains about his father.)
2. Am I leading with a heavy hand? (Rehoboam’s harsh answer to the complaints.)
3. What am I working hardest for – treasures on earth or treasures in heaven? (The futility of Solomon’s efforts – seen in the immediate foolishness of Rehoboam)
4. Is Christ really my anchor, or am I trusting in something useless? (The lostness of the people listening to Jeroboam)
5. Are there areas of my life in rebellion I need to change so that they don’t produce what could be generations of wicked fruit? (Jeroboam’s sacrifices)
P.S. As for the picture, the painter is Gerbrand van den Eeckhout, painted in 1656, this picture is entitled, “Jeroboam’s Sacrifice at Bethel.”
As a recap here are some themes we touched on today. Perhaps God is speaking to you on one of these, if so, please respond to God in prayer as we pray in a moment.
1. How am I dealing with criticism? (Rehoboam complains about his father.)
2. Am I leading with a heavy hand? (Rehoboam’s harsh answer to the complaints.)
3. What am I working hardest for – treasures on earth or treasures in heaven? (The futility of Solomon’s efforts – seen in the immediate foolishness of Rehoboam)
4. Is Christ really my anchor, or am I trusting in something useless? (The lostness of the people listening to Jeroboam)
5. Are there areas of my life in rebellion I need to change so that they don’t produce what could be generations of wicked fruit? (Jeroboam’s sacrifices)
P.S. As for the picture, the painter is Gerbrand van den Eeckhout, painted in 1656, this picture is entitled, “Jeroboam’s Sacrifice at Bethel.”
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