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A House Divided
First Kings 12:1-24 and Second Chronicles 10:1 to 11:4

A house divided DIG: Given Rehoboam’s character, what do you think would have been the best way the ten northern tribes and Jeroboam could have dealt with the situation? What would servant leadership have looked like in Rehoboam’s situation? In your congregation?

REFLECT: Rehoboam was arrogant and angry. Have you ever known someone like that? If so, how did you deal with him or her? What legacy would you like to leave behind in the world when you are gone? When you have big decisions to make in your life, who do you go to for advice?

Servant leadership is the best kind of leadership, modeled after Yeshua’s leadership.

Perhaps Rehoboam didn’t sense the depth of the northern dissatisfaction with Solomon’s policies. Maybe he assumed that since David and Solomon didn’t gain consensus support immediately, that he would have to win over those who doubted him. Whatever his mindset was, he didn’t handle the situation well. The people awaited him at Shechem, and there was not reason to believe that they were determined to reject Rehoboam.325

Rehoboam’s action: After taking, or being called to, the throne of Judah in Jerusalem, Rehoboam sought the endorsement by the northern tribes, who were already unhappy because of Solomon’s harsh rule. Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all Isra’el had gone there to make him king (First Kings 12:1; Second Chronicles 10:1). We are not explicitly told why he went to Shechem. That city does not appear in the narrative in relation to the kingship of either David or Solomon. It is, however, a name that strikes a number of chords with those who know the story of Isra’el prior to the monarchy. It seems likely, given the dialogue that follows, that this is significant. It is the place of real covenant renewal (Joshua 24:1-27) – a place where the Israelites, having entered the Land, first took stock of themselves and reflected upon their identity and direction. It is the place where Joseph’s bones are buried (Genesis 50:22-26). It is also the place where kingship first, if only briefly, intruded itself into the tribal life of Isra’el, a mortal being (and a wicked one at that) taking the place of God as ruler over God’s people (Judges 8:22-23 and 29). Thus, Shechem was an ideal place to which a prospective king might be invited if you wished to ask him (as the Israelties did) how his kingship was going to be conducted, so as to gauge the nature of their relationship.326

When Jeroboam, son of Nebat, heard of the assembly on what was friendly ground to him (he was still in Egypt, where he had fled from King Solomon), he returned from Egypt. Obviously he didn’t fear Rehoboam as he had Solomon. So they sent for Jeroboam, and he and the whole assembly of Isra’el 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.” The people were willing to serve Rehoboam only if he was willing to serve them. Rehoboam answered, “Go away for three days and then come back to me.” So the people went away (First Kings 12:2-5; Second Chronicles 10:2-5 NIV). The proposal for a three-day waiting period for Rehoboam’s decision reflects a well-known motif in which the third day becomes a day of special emphasis, decision, and finality (Exodus 19:10-16; Esther 4:15-16; Second Kings 20:8). Yeshua predicted His own resurrection on the third day, a prophecy that was gloriously fulfilled.327 But now, sectionalism, with all its force and fury, had backed Rehoboam into a corner.

How would he react?

Right and wrong advice: Then King Rehoboam consulted the elders who had served his father Solomon during his lifetime. Those elders, who had undoubtedly had the benefit of Solomon’s own wisdom (First Kings 10:8), and had little hope of or a desire for further advancement from his son – gave Rehoboam wise advice: that effective leadership is servant leadership (see the commentary on The Life of Christ, to see link click Kh – Jesus Washes His Disciples’ Feet).328 Those seasoned political veterans seemed to know exactly what the young king was facing. It was time to submit to the wishes of those he wished to lead.

“How would you advise me to answer these people?” he asked. They replied, “If today you will be kind and a servant to these people and serve them and give them a favorable answer, they will always be your servants.” Any politician could have given this advice. It was not exceptionally clever nor profound. Nor was it based on unique values of Torah. The concession they advised him to make was small, almost insignificant. It was a matter of words, not deeds. All he would have to do was to speak humbly and reassuringly. And even that, only for one day. Once he was crowned, he could do as he pleased. He would be their legal king, and all the powers that the Torah granted as a king would be his.329

But Rehoboam rejected the advice the elders gave him and consulted the young men who had grown up with him and were serving him various governmental offices. There is no evidence that the king sought out ADONAI in prayer or that he consulted the high priest or a prophet. We get the impression that his mind was already made up, but that he was willing to go through the motions in order to please the people. One of the marks of David’s leadership was that he was willing to humble himself and seek the mind of YHVH, and then pray for God’s blessing on his decisions. Leaders who try to impress people with their skills, but take no time seek God, only prove that they don’t know the most important thing in spiritual leadership: They are second in command (see Joshua 5:13-15).

The elders gave Rehoboam the best advice: be a servant leader. However, Rehoboam had already made up his mind, so he immediately rejected their advice and turned to his contemporaries, whom he knew would give him the answer that he wanted (Second Timothy 4:3). He had no intention of weighing the facts, seeking God’s will, and making the wisest choice.330 So, 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’?” They counseled the young king to intimidate the crowd by declaring that he was tougher than his father. The young men who had grown up with him replied, “These people have said to you, ‘Your father put a heavy yoke on us, but make our yoke lighter.’ Now tell them, ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s waist. This is a proverbial expression meaning, “My power will be greater than the power of my father.” 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’ (First Kings 12:6-11; Second Chronicles 10:6-11 NIV).” Their theory was that servant leadership would not work. Only a bully could handle a diverse kingdom. Tragically, then, Rehoboam chose slogans over wisdom and machismo over servanthood.331

The decision: 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 (plain leather) you with scorpions (metal embedded in the leather).” 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 (First Kings 12:12-15; Second Chronicles 10:12-15 NIV). Nothing occurred here because of “chance.” There is no “chance.” ADONAI is sovereign. Still, Rehoboam’s decision was his own. The text maintains the tension between God’s sovereignty and human responsibility that can be seen all throughout the Bible.

Isra’el breaks away: Without hesitation the people reject Rehoboam’s harsh authority over them. They deny any obligation to David’s dynasty and leave Rehoboam to rule Judah and Benjamin. When all Isra’el 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, Isra’el! Look after your own house, David!” So the Israelites went home. But as for the Israelites who were living in the towns of Judah, Rehoboam still ruled over them. Solomon’s first official decision brought him the reputation for great wisdom (First Kings 3:16-18), but his son’s first official decision told the nation that he was foolish and unwise. For centuries, the Jews considered the division of the nation the greatest tragedy in their history and measured every other calamity by it. One incredibly poor decision tore down in a few days what David and Solomon labored eighty years to build.

King Rehoboam made one final, futile attempt to maintain control over the north. He sent out Adoniram, who was in charge of forced labor (First Kings 4:6), in an obvious attempt to reestablish his authority over the Israelites, but Rehoboam once again miscalculates the northerners’ depth of anger and they stoned him to death. King Rehoboam, however, managed to get into his chariot and escape to Jerusalem. So Isra’el has been in rebellion against the house of David to this day. 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 (First Kings 12:16-20; Second Chronicles 10:16-19 NIV). Rehoboam had followed the wrong counsel, used the wrong approach, and chosen the wrong mediator. What else could he do? He could declare war!

Rehoboam’s plan for war averted: Persistent to the last, Rehoboam again tried to impose his will upon the ten northern tribes by force. When Rehoboam arrived in Jerusalem, he mustered all Judah and the tribe of Benjamin, and some other mysterious people – a hundred and eighty thousand able young men – to go to war against the northern tribes and to regain the kingdom for himself. But this word of God came to Shemaiah the man of God, or prophet, “Say to Rehoboam son of Solomon king of Judah, to all Judah and Benjamin, ‘This is what YHVH says: Do not go up to fight against your brothers, the Israelites. Go home, every one of you, for this is My doing.’ ” To Rehoboam’s credit, he called off the attack, obeyed the word of the LORD and turned back from marching against Jeroboam, as Ha’Shem had ordered (First Kings 12:21-24; Second Chronicles 11:1-4 NIV).

The plan of God was the most important factor, but there was another factor as well. It was wrong for Judah and Benjamin to fight against their brothers. It seems strange, yet family and national conflict appears repeatedly in the history of Isra’el. Abraham and Lot disagreed (Genesis 13), and Abraham reminded his nephew that they shouldn’t fight because they were brothers (Genesis 13:8). Jacob and Easu had a lifelong battle that their descendants continued for centuries (Genesis 27:41-46; Psalm 137:8; Obediah 10-13). Joseph’s brothers hated him (Genesis 37), and Aaron and Miriam criticized their brother Moses (Numbers 12). Sha’ul was David’s enemy and on many occasions tried to kill him. O, how good, how pleasant it is for brothers to live together in harmony (Psalm 133:1).

Frequently in the history of the TaNaKh we find a prophet confronting a king with: This is what YHVH says. Whenever a king, a priest, or even another prophet stepped out of line, a prophet would step forward and rebuke him, and if the prophet’s message was ignored, God’s hand of judgment would fall (see First Kings 13:21-22, 14:6-11, 16:1-4, 20:28ff, Second Kings 1:16 and 22:14-15). Isra’el was to be a people of God’s Word, and God’s Word must be held higher than even the word of the king.332