Reheboam

Date: 1/8/99
Speaker: David Meiklejohn
Text: 1 Kings 11 v 28-35

1 Kings 11 v 28-35

And the man Jeroboam was a mighty man of valour: and Solomon seeing the young man that he was industrious, he made him ruler over all the charge of the house of Joseph.
And it came to pass at that time when Jeroboam went out of Jerusalem, that the prophet Ahijah the Shilonite found him in the way; and he had clad himself with a new garment; and they two were alone in the field:
And Ahijah caught the new garment that was on him, and rent it in twelve pieces:
And he said to Jeroboam, Take thee ten pieces: for thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel, Behold, I will rend the kingdom out of the hand of Solomon, and will give ten tribes to thee:
(But he shall have one tribe for my servant David's sake, and for Jerusalem's sake, the city which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel:)
Because that they have forsaken me, and have worshipped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zidonians, Chemosh the god of the Moabites, and Milcom the god of the children of Ammon, and have not walked in my ways, to do that which is right in mine eyes, and to keep my statutes and my judgments, as did David his father.
Howbeit I will not take the whole kingdom out of his hand: but I will make him prince all the days of his life for David my servant's sake, whom I chose, because he kept my commandments and my statutes:
But I will take the kingdom out of his son's hand, and will give it unto thee, even ten tribes.

Background

Israel wanted a king. This wasn't what God wanted, but He allowed it, showing His permissive will. The first king was Saul, a tall and strong man who started off well, but was weak and turned away from God. The next was David. He had failures, but overall was a very good king and a faithful follower of his Lord. He was a man after God's own heart. Then there was Solomon, David's son. Solomon was a very god king to start with. He asked for wisdom and was granted it and he ruled well. He built the temple, but he turned away from God's things and tried to live life his own way.

The Split

Only three kings, and the nation is split because of its disobedience.

Leadership means that people will follow you, in sin as well as in doing good. Solomon was head of a nation. He had been given a great deal of responsibility as well as a great privilege. As he turned from God, so did Israel. People follow people, and we need to be aware of this. Whether we are leaders by position, by nature or by example, others will follow what we do. They will hook up to us like carriages on a train, and where the train goes, they will go.
What God entrusts to us, He can also take away. Job realised this when he said that God gives and God takes away. He knew that what he had wasn't his by right, and if God took it away, he couldn't complain. God entrusts us with many things: money, talent, people, service. How do we treat the things he has given us? Do we take them for granted or do we treasure them and see them as a responsibility? If we mistreat the gifts of God, He may even take them away from us. This isn't the only reason He removes gifts though. He may do it to test us, or to help us stop relying on an ability and start relying on Him.
Others suffer the consequences of our sins. Imagine Reheboam's position. He has been placed in very difficult circumstances because of the disobedience of others. There are no victimless crimes: our sins always affect us, and they always affect others as well. We see babies born addicted to drugs because of the actions of their parents. We need to think of others when we take action. The flipside is also true, though. When we are obedient, we receive the blessing, and so do those around us.

1 Kings 12 v 1-4

And Rehoboam went to Shechem: for all Israel were come to Shechem to make him king.
And it came to pass, when Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who was yet in Egypt, heard of it, (for he was fled from the presence of king Solomon, and Jeroboam dwelt in Egypt;)
That they sent and called him. And Jeroboam and all the congregation of Israel came, and spake unto Rehoboam, saying,
Thy father made our yoke grievous: now therefore make thou the grievous service of thy father, and his heavy yoke which he put upon us, lighter, and we will serve thee.

We can inherit the problems of those who came before us. I joined a project at my work, and inherited a whole set of code that had problems. I didn't create the problems, but it was up to me to fix them. I would be assessed on how I handled someone else's problems. We shouldn't moan and complain in these situations, but take the opportunity to make things better. If we do our best, God will add His blessings.

1 Kings 12 v 5-17

And he said unto them, Depart yet for three days, then come again to me. And the people departed.
And king Rehoboam consulted with the old men, that stood before Solomon his father while he yet lived, and said, How do ye advise that I may answer this people?
And they spake unto him, saying, If thou wilt be a servant unto this people this day, and wilt serve them, and answer them, and speak good words to them, then they will be thy servants for ever.
But he forsook the counsel of the old men, which they had given him, and consulted with the young men that were grown up with him, and which stood before him:
And he said unto them, What counsel give ye that we may answer this people, who have spoken to me, saying, Make the yoke which thy father did put upon us lighter?
And the young men that were grown up with him spake unto him, saying, Thus shalt thou speak unto this people that spake unto thee, saying, Thy father made our yoke heavy, but make thou it lighter unto us; thus shalt thou say unto them, My little finger shall be thicker than my father's loins.
And now whereas my father did lade you with a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke: my father hath chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions.
So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam the third day, as the king had appointed, saying, Come to me again the third day.
And the king answered the people roughly, and forsook the old men's counsel that they gave him;
And spake to them after the counsel of the young men, saying, My father made your yoke heavy, and I will add to your yoke: my father also chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions.
Wherefore the king hearkened not unto the people; for the cause was from the LORD, that he might perform his saying, which the LORD spake by Ahijah the Shilonite unto Jeroboam the son of Nebat.
So when all Israel saw that the king hearkened not unto them, the people answered the king, saying, What portion have we in David? neither have we inheritance in the son of Jesse: to your tents, O Israel: now see to thine own house, David. So Israel departed unto their tents.
But as for the children of Israel which dwelt in the cities of Judah, Rehoboam reigned over them.

There are always two voices when decisions are required. Just like in the cartoons where there is a little angel and a little demon perched on the shoulders of the character, we have to choose between the voice of God and the voice of the old nature. Its not always easy to tell them apart. Reheboam made the mistake of choosing the wrong advice to follow. He took the advice of his young friends. Often, it is the older, more experienced who give us the better advice.

To lead, we need to serve. This was the advice of the older men. Reheboam, should be a servant of the people rather than a tyrant ruler. This idea pervades Jesus' teaching. If we are to lead effectively, we must learn to be servants to those we lead. We must not Lord it over them but be lowly and humble, an example to them.

1 Kings 12 v 21-24

And when Rehoboam was come to Jerusalem, he assembled all the house of Judah, with the tribe of Benjamin, an hundred and fourscore thousand chosen men, which were warriors, to fight against the house of Israel, to bring the kingdom again to Rehoboam the son of Solomon.
But the word of God came unto Shemaiah the man of God, saying,
Speak unto Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, king of Judah, and unto all the house of Judah and Benjamin, and to the remnant of the people, saying,
Thus saith the LORD, Ye shall not go up, nor fight against your brethren the children of Israel: return every man to his house; for this thing is from me. They hearkened therefore to the word of the LORD, and returned to depart, according to the word of the LORD.

Division is sad, and it's happened all through history. The church has been divided over many issues, yet there is only one Heaven, where we will live together in harmony. What are the things that divide?

doctrine - this can be a serious reason for splitting, but often it is such minor things that people get upset about and disagree over
personality - people clash. There are those we get on with and those we don't. Should we separate from the people we don't like, or learn to live with them and love them?
disobedience - often someone being in the wrong is the complaint of the other party. Yet how often is there an argument where one side is perfectly right and the other totally wrong? When people learn to see their own faults they can start getting on better with others

What was Reheboam's response? To go out and fight. Why? It was God who had taken away from him, and He had been merciful, leaving Reheboam with something. Our response to loss is one of the things that can really build us up as Christians.

Unity is important. We need to strive for it. Not by trying to convince everyone else to agree with us, but to see ourselves with a touch of reality, and learn to differentiate the trivial from the important. One day all Christians will live together. Let's start trying to do so now.

Next - Jereboam