Divided • 1 Kings 12:6-19
By Emily Beth Crews
Have you considered how the decisions you make – perhaps this very day – will have an impact on generations to come?
We studied last week about King Solomon making an unwise decision to marry women with whom the Lord told him not to associate. God told Solomon, “I will not tear away the entire kingdom; I will leave your son one tribe for my servant David’s sake and for the sake of my chosen city Jerusalem” (1 Kings 11:13, NET).
Solomon had over 1,000 women (wives and concubines), but he had only one son mentioned in Scripture, Rehoboam (1 Chron 3:10). It is wise to consider that perhaps Solomon’s sin bore many consequences. Not only did he have just one son, most of the kingdom was taken from this son and his son was considered a fool.
Scripture clearly reveals to us through Solomon’s example, “Sin is a bad way of building up a family” (Hosea 4:10), and “The character of each king set the direction for the nation” (Lifeway). Our character and choices matter on earth and in eternity.
Experience Speaks (1 Kings 12:6-7). Rehoboam was forty years old when he took the throne after Solomon’s death. However, his age was no giver of wisdom. “Wisdom does not go by age, nor is it the multitude of years nor the advantage of education that reaches it” (Matthew Henry).
Representatives from different tribes went before Rehoboam and asked, “Your father made us work too hard. Now if you lighten the demands he made and don’t make us work as hard, we will serve you” (1 Kings 12:4).
Rehoboam “consulted with the older advisers who had served his father Solomon” (v. 6). These men had experience interacting with the tribes and Rehoboam seems to have started down the path of wisdom on this matter for a moment
The advisers responded and encouraged the king to first be a servant to the people, grant their request, speak kind words to them, and then the people will be his servants (v. 7).
“Note, the way to rule is to serve, to do good, and stoop to do it, to become all things to all men and so win their hearts” (Henry). This model is counterintuitive because kings are typically the ones served, but God’s pattern was servant leadership.
Arrogance Reigns (1 Kings 12:8-15). Sadly, we learn Rehoboam rejected their advice and moved on to consult his younger advisers who were around his same age. They encouraged him to respond harshly, impose stricter demands, and punish the people more fiercely than his father. Rehoboam did just that when he met with the people again: “The king responded to the people harshly… he refused to listen to the people” (v. 13, 15).
While we see Rehoboam’s unwise, arrogant character on display in these verses, we read, “…because the Lord was instigating this turn of events so that he might bring to pass the prophetic announcement he had made” (v. 15). Proverbs 21:1 says, “The king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord like channels of water; he turns it wherever he wants” (NET).
“God serves his own wise and righteous purposes by the imprudence and iniquities of men, and snares sinners in the work of their own hands. Those that lose the kingdom of heaven throw it away, as Rehoboam did his, by their own willfulness and folly” (Henry).
Division Ensues (1 Kings 12:16-19). Rehoboam’s decision to respond to the people this way led to division and rebellion. The people were initially willing to be ruled, but not to be governed unjustly.
Rehoboam sent for Adoniram, a supervisor of the work crews of the people, to help implement his decrees. As soon as the people saw Adoniram, they stoned him to death. Rehoboam managed to escape into Jerusalem and we read, “So Israel has been in rebellion against the Davidic dynasty to this very day” (v. 19).
Going forward, the name Israel would refer to the ten northern tribes, and Judah would refer to the southern tribes of Benjamin and Judah. This was an incredible division that took place because of the wickedness within Rehoboam’s heart.
While God did not make Rehoboam unwise and sinful, He allowed him to make the decisions his heart wanted him to make. As we were encouraged to remember last week, “The heart is deceitfully wicked above all” (Jeremiah 17:9). Left to our own devices, we could be the Solomon and Rehoboam of our day if we do not “keep our hearts with all diligence” (Proverbs 4:23).
Emily Beth Crews currently resides in Montana but was born and raised in Mississippi. She is the daughter of regular contributor, Laura Lee Leathers.
