1 Kings 12-13: “Rehoboam’s Foolishness Splits
By
1.INTRO:
1.1.
In our last study, we looked at chapter 11 and we observed the tragic
demise of Solomon which occurred near the end of his life when he was led
astray to worship the many gods of his wives.
1.1.1. We observed what the
scriptures tell us caused this demise of Solomon: the many wives that he took to himself.
1.2.
In our study today, we are going to look at chapters 12-13.
1.2.1. In chapter 12, we see that
Solomon’s son Rehoboam is made king over
1.2.2. Then, we see the reign of
Jereboam begin in the northern kingdom while Rehoboam begins to reign in
1.2.3. Finally, we will see a young
prophet come and faithfully deliver a prophetic word of impending judgment upon
the altar of pagan worship which Jereboam sets up in the northern kingdom. However, this prophet is deceived by an old
and foolish backslidden prophet of the Lord, and this leads to the death of the
young prophet.
2.VS 12:1-5 - “1 Then Rehoboam went
to Shechem, for all
2.1.
We have seen in our previous studies in this book that because Solomon
was so obsessed with his building projects that he made many of his people
conscripts, and the foreigners in Israel, slave laborers. He also had levied heavy taxes upon the
people. It also appears that as time
went on that Solomon began to exact more and more from the people in order to
pay off the huge debt of his projects, probably even making slave laborers of
many native Israelites. Thus, there was
much resentment against Solomon throughout
2.1.
The people of Israel didn’t mind serving a king and even providing well
for his upkeep, they just wanted to have their king turn down the heat on them
a little bit and deal kindly with them, for under Solomon they had been
hard-pressed to the point of breaking.
2.2.
We saw in our last study also that Jereboam was a man whom king Solomon
had placed in authority in the northern kingdom. However, when Solomon began to turn away from
the Lord and serve other gods, Jereboam had begun to rebel against Solomon and
cause Solomon much trouble. Jereboam had
a following however he had to flee for his life from king Solomon, and he found
refuge in
2.3.
Rehoboam had great opportunity here to unite the nation of
3.VS 12:6-15 - “6 King Rehoboam
consulted with the elders who had served his father Solomon while he was still
alive, saying, “How do you counsel me to answer this people?” 7 Then
they spoke to him, saying, “If you will be a servant to this people today, and
will serve them and grant them their petition, and speak good words to them,
then they will be your servants forever.” 8 But he forsook the
counsel of the elders which they had given him, and consulted with the young
men who grew up with him and served him. 9 So he said to them, “What
counsel do you give that we may answer this people who have spoken to me,
saying, ‘Lighten the yoke which your father put on us’?” 10 The
young men who grew up with him spoke to him, saying, “Thus you shall say to
this people who spoke to you, saying, ‘Your father made our yoke heavy, now you
make it lighter for us!’ But you shall speak to them, ‘My little finger is
thicker than my father’s loins! 11 ‘Whereas my father loaded you
with a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke; my father disciplined you with
whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions.’ ” 12 Then Jeroboam
and all the people came to Rehoboam on the third day as the king had directed,
saying, “Return to me on the third day.” 13 The king answered the
people harshly, for he forsook the advice of the elders which they had given
him, 14 and he spoke to them according to the advice of the young
men, saying, “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.” 15
So the king did not listen to the people; for it was a turn of events from
the Lord, that He might establish
His word, which the Lord spoke
through Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat.” - Jereboam consulted with the elders of Israel
and they counseled him to grant the people’s request and lighten up on them,
however he rejected that good counsel and took the counsel of some of the
younger men he grew up with who counseled him to place his fist down even
harder upon the people to keep them in control
3.1.
The one thing that it does not mention that Rehoboam did here is pray
about this decision and consult the Lord.
If he had done that he would have gained true wisdom and his legacy in
life would not have been that of being the king who caused the split of
3.2.
Solomon, when he began his reign as king, prayed for wisdom from the
Lord to be able to properly carry out his responsibilities. However, when Rehoboam became king what a
foolish and far-reaching decision he made.
If only he had sought the counsel of the Lord!
3.3.
This story is also a lesson about who to go to for counsel. I have often been amazed at the people that
some will go to in order to get counsel.
People sometimes go to people for counsel whose lives are all
upside-down and in hideous shape. What
kind of counsel do you think you are going to get from someone who can’t even
wisely control their own life? If you
need counsel go to the most godly and wise people in your life.
3.4.
We see here that Rehoboam had not received the wisdom that his father
had received for administering the kingdom, plus he was not the diplomat that
Solomon was. Rehoboam rejects the
counsel of the elders to instead receive the counsel of a bunch of young
mavericks. He tells the people of
3.5.
But notice here that Rehoboam’s reply on this day was from the Lord
because it fulfilled the prophetic word that the prophet Ahijah had spoken to
Jereboam telling him that the northern 10 tribes would be given to him to reign
over. The Lord allowed Rehoboam to make
a foolish decision, one which Rehoboam lived the rest of his life to regret, so
that He could fulfill His word.
3.5.1. The Lord sometimes allows
His people to fall flat on their faces in order to teach them many
lessons. He always does this in love,
but many times it is very difficult to have to go through.
4.VS 12:16-17 - “16 When all
4.1.
The prophet Ahijah had announced to Jereboam that because of the Lord’s
promise to King David of an heir upon the throne that Rehoboam would reign over
1 tribe while the rest would break away.
Now, this promise is fulfilled in Rehoboam.
5.VS 12:18-20 - “18 Then King Rehoboam
sent Adoram, who was over the forced labor, and all
5.1.
It was very unwise for Rehoboam to send Adoram as an ambassador to the
northern tribes for Adoram was the man who had been over all of the forced
labor in
5.2.
This split of the northern tribes of
6.VS 12:21-24 - “21 Now when Rehoboam
had come to Jerusalem, he assembled all the house of Judah and the tribe of
Benjamin, 180,000 chosen men who were warriors, to fight against the house of
Israel to restore the kingdom to Rehoboam the son of Solomon. 22 But
the word of God came to Shemaiah the man of God, saying, 23 “Speak
to Rehoboam the son of Solomon, king of Judah, and to all the house of Judah
and Benjamin and to the rest of the people, saying, 24 ‘Thus says
the Lord, “You must not go up and
fight against your relatives the sons of Israel; return every man to his house,
for this thing has come from Me.” ’ ” So they listened to the word of the Lord, and returned and went their way
according to the word of the Lord.” - Rehoboam gathers an army together to go to
war against the northern kingdom and force them to come back, however he
finally repents of doing this when a prophet of the Lord tells him that he must
not go ahead with this plan
6.1.
Rehoboam was humbled at this time before the Lord, and for the next
three years he serves the Lord as a faithful king over the southern kingdom (2
Chron. 11:17). However, in the fourth
year he rebelled against the Lord and led
6.2.
Rehoboam reigned 12 more years after this.
6.3.
J. Vernon McGee’s commentary has the following chart describing all of
the kings of the divided kingdom that began at this time, as well as whether or
not they were a good king, and the prophets who served during their reign:
7.VS 12:25-33 - “25 Then Jeroboam
built Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim, and lived there. And he went out
from there and built Penuel. 26 Jeroboam said in his heart, “Now the
kingdom will return to the house of David. 27 “If this people go up
to offer sacrifices in the house of the Lord
at Jerusalem, then the heart of this people will return to their lord, even to
Rehoboam king of Judah; and they will kill me and return to Rehoboam king of
Judah.” 28 So the king consulted, and made two golden calves, and he
said to them, “It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem; behold your gods,
O Israel, that brought you up from the land of Egypt.” 29 He set one
in Bethel, and the other he put in Dan. 30 Now this thing became a
sin, for the people went to worship before the one as far as Dan. 31
And he made houses on high places, and made priests from among all the
people who were not of the sons of Levi. 32 Jeroboam instituted a
feast in the eighth month on the fifteenth day of the month, like the feast
which is in Judah, and he went up to the altar; thus he did in Bethel,
sacrificing to the calves which he had made. And he stationed in
7.1.
Jereboam had been promised by the prophet Ahijah that the Lord would
make his house an enduring house if he would be diligent to keep the Lord’s
commandments (1 Kings 11:28-39).
However, Jereboam did not keep this charge and revealed his own folly by
trying in his own power to keep his kingdom.
He was afraid that since Jerusalem was the place that the Jews were to
come seven times a year for feasts (Lev. 23) that the people in time might long
to again be part of the Davidic regime and try to return to serve the king of
Judah. Therefore, Jereboam decided that
he would establish his own religion in the northern kingdom and thereby provide
what the people wanted. He would build
his own idols and establish his own feasts and even make himself a priest to
offer sacrifices. The people wouldn’t
worship the idols that he made, they would worship the Lord through those
manmade idols. Jereboam knew that deep
down the people just wanted to be religious, they didn’t want to know and serve
the Lord with all of their hearts.
7.2.
Warren Wiersbe writes, “Jereboam’s “religion” incorporated elements
from the Law of Moses and from the pagan nations that the Jews had
conquered. His system was what is today
called “eclectic” (selective) or “syncretic” (combining many parts), but God
called it heresy and apostasy.”
7.3.
Jereboam’s plan worked just as he had hoped, however the one thing that
is most important in religion was missing from his plan, The Lord Himself. The Lord never recognizes the religions of
the world which men create. The Lord
establishes the way that man can come into relationship with Himself and all other
ways to Him are futile.
7.4.
Jereboam was thinking about Aaron and the calf that he made when he was
waiting for Moses to come down from
7.5.
These calves were located in
7.6.
Jereboam’s religious establishment caused the Jews in the northern
kingdom to make a choice in whether or not they were going to serve the Lord in
righteousness the way that He has proscribed that men must worship Him or just
do what is right in their own eyes and think good themselves for being
religious.
7.6.1. Today in our nation and
world there are many churches that cater to people’s whims, and religion has
been made so convenient for people.
People can go to churches where the service is guaranteed to last no
more than 40 minutes, with a sermon that has a positive message and does not
talk about sin or hell, and, is guaranteed to last no more than 20
minutes. The music is appealing the
building is big and beautiful inside and out, and the pastor is eloquent,
however the Lord does not dwell there and genuine conversions for Christ do not
occur there.
8.VS 13:1-5 - “1 Now behold, there
came a man of God from
8.1.
This is a very interesting story.
This man of God, a true prophet, comes to Bethel being led of the Lord
to pronounce an impending judgment upon the altar of pagan worship, and he even
promises a confirming sign of ‘the altar shall be split apart and the ashes
which are on it shall be poured out.’
However, king Jereboam heard this prophetic word and instead of
receiving it from the Lord and repenting of his sins, he instead seeks to kill
the messenger. However, when he sticks
out his hand saying, “Seize him!”, his hand freezes up and he cannot move
it. In other words his hand either
became immediately crippled or just frozen in space. Then, at that very moment the altar split as
the prophet had foretold would occur, and the ashes poured out from the altar.
8.2.
God warns Jereboam through this prophet. The Lord is good to people giving them every
chance to repent that they could ever need, as is done here with Jereboam. However, Jereboam’s heart is hardened to the
Lord and he refuses to heed the word and commandment of the Lord.
8.3.
The Lord’s grace is amazing here for the Lord did not have to heal
Jereboam’s hand, yet He did, and, Jereboam certainly did not deserve the Lord’s
healing of him.
8.4.
We must not forget that this is one of the amazing prophecies found in
our Bibles. Three hundred years before
this man Josiah was anointed as king over Judah the prophet Ahijah prophesied
of how when this man, whom he names specifically as being ‘Josiah,’
became king that he would sacrifice the priests on the high places and burn
their bones on the places. The
fulfillment of this prophesy is described in 2 Kings 23:15-18, “15 Furthermore,
the altar that was at Bethel and the high place which Jeroboam
the son of Nebat, who made Israel sin, had made, even that altar and the high
place he broke down. Then he demolished its stones, ground them to dust, and
burned the Asherah. 16 Now when Josiah turned, he saw the graves
that were there on the mountain, and he sent and took the bones from the
graves and burned them on the altar and defiled it according to the word
of the Lord which the man of God
proclaimed, who proclaimed these things. 17 Then he said, “What is
this monument that I see?” And the men of the city told him, “It is the grave
of the man of God who came from
9.VS 13:6 - “6 The king said to
the man of God, “Please entreat the Lord
your God, and pray for me, that my hand may be restored to me.” So the man of
God entreated the Lord, and the
king’s hand was restored to him, and it became as it was before.” - King Jereboam requests the prophet to pray
for the healing of his frozen hand and the prophet prays and Jereboam’s hand is
restored to him as it had been before
9.1.
Jereboam has now seen three miracles in a short period of time:
9.1.1. His hand was frozen.
9.1.2. The altar was split and the
ashes were poured out just as had been prophesied.
9.1.3. His hand was healed by the
Lord.
9.2.
In spite of seeing these three miracles in rapid succession and even
experiencing the grace of God in the healing he received, Jereboam just
hardened his heart harder towards the Lord.
9.3.
These altars built by Jereboam in
10.VS 13:7-10 - “7 Then the king said
to the man of God, “Come home with me and refresh yourself, and I will give you
a reward.” 8 But the man of God said to the king, “If you were to
give me half your house I would not go with you, nor would I eat bread or drink
water in this place. 9 “For so it was commanded me by the word of
the Lord, saying, ‘You shall eat
no bread, nor drink water, nor return by the way which you came.’ ” 10 So
he went another way and did not return by the way which he came to
10.1.
Many have questioned Jereboam’s motives for wanting the prophet to come
to his house at this time. Some have said
that failing to have the prophet killed he next tries to get him to come to his
house so that he can somehow get the prophet to recant the prophetic word of
judgment spoken against him.
10.2.
The prophet is obedient to the Lord’s command concerning his mission on
this day. He does not stop to eat or
drink but heads immediately out of town by a different way than that which he
came.
11.VS 13:11-24 - “11 Now an old prophet
was living in Bethel; and his sons came and told him all the deeds which the
man of God had done that day in Bethel; the words which he had spoken to the
king, these also they related to their father. 12 Their father said
to them, “Which way did he go?” Now his sons had seen the way which the man of
God who came from
11.1.
This is an odd story here. This
old prophet is a very unusual man? It
appears first of all that he is backslidden and not really fulfilling his own
calling. Plus, why does this old prophet
lie to Ahijah and attempt to get Ahijah to disobey the Lord’s command
concerning his mission?
11.2.
Ahijah was naďve or foolish in not seeking the Lord after the old
prophet told him that he had received a word from the Lord that contradicted
the word that Ahijah had received, he should have prayed about following this
counsel.
11.2.1.
The moral to this story is be careful of having others tell you what God’s
will is for your life. If someone tells
you what God’s will is for you, you better check it out and make sure that the
Lord speaks the same word to your heart before you follow that counsel. God will also speak to you and confirm a word
that someone else has for you if it truly is the Lord’s will for you.
11.2.2.
I remember one time when I was a young believer that a young guy told
this girl that the Lord had told him that he was to marry her. She told him, “Humm, that’s funny He
didn’t say anything to me about it?!”
11.3.
But also, why if this old man is backslidden and doing foolish things,
such as lying to Ahijah, does the Lord give him a prophetic word? I guess we could ask the same question of
Balaam’s donkey. The Lord can use anyone
for His purposes if He so chooses.
11.4.
This story reminds us of the fact that we have an adversary in the
Devil, and he is insidious in the manner in which he constantly attempts to
devour us. He can be such a subtle
deceiver of men and thus we must be always on guard for the snares he may lay
for us.
12.VS 13:25-32 - “25 And behold, men
passed by and saw the body thrown on the road, and the lion standing beside the
body; so they came and told it in the city where the old prophet lived. 26
Now when the prophet who brought him back from the way heard it, he
said, “It is the man of God, who disobeyed the command of the Lord; therefore the Lord has given him to the lion, which
has torn him and killed him, according to the word of the Lord which He spoke to him.” 27 Then
he spoke to his sons, saying, “Saddle the donkey for me.” And they saddled it.
28 He went and found his body thrown on the road with the donkey and
the lion standing beside the body; the lion had not eaten the body nor torn the
donkey. 29 So the prophet took up the body of the man of God and
laid it on the donkey and brought it back, and he came to the city of the old
prophet to mourn and to bury him. 30 He laid his body in his own
grave, and they mourned over him, saying, “Alas, my brother!” 31 After
he had buried him, he spoke to his sons, saying, “When I die, bury me in the
grave in which the man of God is buried; lay my bones beside his bones. 32
“For the thing shall surely come to pass which he cried by the word of
the Lord against the altar in
12.1.
Its miraculous that the donkey and lion stayed by the body of this man
for these days after the lion had killed the man, and also that the lion did
not eat the man.
12.2.
It seems that this old prophet felt remorse for causing Ahijah to
stumble and sin, rebelling against the Lord’s command concerning his mission,
and thus he retrieves the man’s body and places it in his own tomb with the
instructions he had given.
12.3.
God used the death of this prophet to confirm to Jereboam the importance
of obeying the Lord above all else.
13.VS 13:33-34 - “33 After this event
Jeroboam did not return from his evil way, but again he made priests of the
high places from among all the people; any who would, he ordained, to be priests
of the high places. 34 This event became sin to the house of
Jeroboam, even to blot it out and destroy it from off the face of
the earth.”
- Jereboam did not turn from his evil
ways after this time
13.1.
We see here that the sin which Jereboam led the northern kingdom in of
worshipping these golden calves in Bethel and Dan plagued the people and
brought about the Lord’s judgment such that the very house of Jereboam was
destroyed from off of the face of the earth.
13.2.
Jereboam would hire anyone who cared to be a priest in
14.CONCLUSIONS:
15.This study is really about
the importance of being cautious about the counsel you receive. Rehoboam made a senseless and foolish
decision because he followed the wrong counsel (that of the young mavericks
instead of the wise elders) and didn’t seek the Lord’s will in prayer. As a result of taking this counsel God’s
people split up into two nations.
Likewise, the prophet Ahijah from