Rehoboam

A while back, I had decided that I want to blog about the Judges and the Kings because nobody really talks about them in church.  However, they make up a majority of the Bible.  I blogged about the Judges, and now I will do the kings starting with Rehoboam.  I might even go chapter by chapter. 

Why skip Saul, David, and Solomon?  They seem to get more airwaves than the rest.  I may go back to them. 

And why go chapter by chapter when I didn't do that for Judges?  Because ages ago at Trevecca, we sang the Elijah oratorio by Mendelssohn, and there were people who didn't know Elijah's story.  It's one of the things that made me want to go into Christian education.  Because, what are we teaching in churches if not the core stories of the Bible?  We are raising Biblically illiterate people who feel good about themselves but aren't convicted of sin, and that needs to change.

And as always, I get caught up in my schedule.  Pray that I can be consistent with this.

In starting with Rehoboam, I will start with Deuteronomy 17:14-20 where Moses tells the people what to do if they decide they want a king.  God told them to pick a king that he chose who would not accumulate great wealth or many wives.  David and Solomon did just that.  They accumulated lots of riches, especially Solomon, and they both had many wives that lead to much trouble.

Then fast-forward to 1 Samuel 8, when the people ask for a king.  Samuel warns that he will take their sons and daughters and make them slaves and increase their taxes.  Then the people go ahead and appoint the most powerful looking guy they could find as king. 

Do you ever get what you wanted only to realize it's not what you wanted?  And did you ever get into a position only to realize you couldn't handle it?  I've done all of that.  So much that I still don't know what I want.  What I know I don't want is Rehoboam's position.

He is found in 1 Kings 12 and 2 Chronicles 10 and 11.  He became king in succession to his father Solomon.  Solomon's glorious reign had a price.  He had many slaves who built the temple and his palace, 1000 women, and he apparently made Jeroboam really mad who went to live in Egypt for a while.  When Solomon passed, Jeroboam came back and asked if he would ease the tax burden on the people.

Rehoboam asked his father's advisers who said yes, then the people will love you.  He asked his friends who said no, be even more imposing than your father and exert your prowess.  He followed his heart and took the latter advice.  Thus Jeroboam took ten of Israel's tribes and split them off to form a new kingdom, the northern kingdom of Israel, and he became king.  But because God promised that David will have someone on his throne forever, he preserved Judah and Benjamin for Rehoboam and his dynasty. 

Rehoboam tried to send Adoniram to calm things down, but they stoned him to death because he was the task master under King Solomon.  Then he tried to make war on the northern tribes, but Shemaiah  the prophet came and told him not to.  He finally listened, and now we have two kingdoms. 

Ironically, "Rehoboam" means may he expand.  He did not expand his kingdom, but one kingdom did become two.

And God did keep his promise.  When Solomon's 700 wives and 300 concubines led his heart astray to other gods, God said he would tear 10 tribes from his son.  He did that.  And God said that David would always have a son on his throne.  He did that by still letting Rehoboam have a kingdom.  And I think with much opposition, God finally humbled this young man's heart so that it would follow God.  He continues to do that to me, and I hope he does that for you.