Learning from 1 Kings – Rehoboam’s Mistake

1 Kings 12:12-15 – 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 you with scorpions.” 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.

Rehoboam made an egotistical decision that ended the unity of the Israelite nation for hundreds of years.  As a result, God’s chosen nation splintered into a northern kingdom called “Samaria” or “Israel,” and a southern kingdom called “Judah,” which actually included the tribes of Judah, Benjamin, Levi, and Simeon.  The Lord foretold this catastrophe, however, years before through a prophet.  It was a punishment for the disobedience of the leaders and the people during the later years of Solomon’s reign.

“Three days later” is a common occurrence in Scripture.  Prophetically, it points to God’s eternal time, moments in God’s Project of Salvation.

One explicit lesson of this passage is that our sins and mistakes are not only a cause of God’s judgment, but also are themselves often a judgment from the Lord for our previous disobedience.  This is a principle throughout the Bible.  (See Psalm 81:12; Ezekiel 20:25; Acts 7:42; Romans 1:24-28; 2 Thessalonians 2:10-11).  In each of these cases, the person put themselves in the situation by their own free will, choosing to disobey the Lord; but part of the punishment for their sin was the fact that they made even more bad decisions (worse sins or mistakes) after that.

Christians tend to think of every sin as a stand-alone event with its own consequences, an independent choice between blessings and curses like the ones we see in Deuteronomy 30:19, Joshua 24:15, Isaiah 1:18-20, or Ezekiel 18:20-24.  Indeed, we do make choices and our sins have consequences.  There are other passages, however, where the Bible shows a cumulative effect of sin or righteousness in our lives, as sinners plunge into worse and worse trouble (as in the passages above where God “gives them over”), and the faithful believers build on their track record of obedience.  An example of this principle is Ecclesiastes 7:26 (“The man who pleases God will escape her, but the sinner she will ensnare.”); see also Revelation 19:8.

Also explicit in this passage is the point that Rehoboam followed bad advice (from his youthful peers) and spurned the advice of the elders.  The elders encouraged humility and conciliation.  The young men thought it was better to seem aggressive, powerful, and authoritarian as a leader.  This appealed to Rehoboam’s fragile ego, but it alienated the people.  Rehoboam boasted that he was tougher than his father Solomon was and could govern more harshly.  He must have felt like an impressive person when he said this.  God had already prepared his replacement: Jeroboam.

Many people in the world think it is a sign of good leadership to be strongly authoritarian, to act superior to one’s subordinates, and to demand unquestioning submission all the time, even to arbitrary decisions by those in authority.  Jesus himself acknowledged that this was the way ancient cultures viewed authority, but He forbid us to bring this approach into the church or to act this way as ministers. (See Matthew 20:25; Mark 10:42; Luke 22:25).  The Apostle Paul avoided pride or ministering in a heavy-handed manner (see 2 Corinthians 1:24).  The early church considered it a problem when a pastor liked to “be first” or elevate himself over others (3 John 1:9).  Pride and selfishness contradict Christian love (1 Corinthians 13:4-5).   Authoritarianism is spiritual failure.

Abusive, self-promoting Christian leaders always talk about the dangers of “touching the Lord’s anointed,” (meaning them, of course), referring to David’s refusal to kill King Saul when he had the opportunity to do so on two occasions.  Every sect, cult, or hierarchical denomination relies on these David stories to foster blind submission to the leadership.  The Bible, however, affirms those who search the Scriptures to test teachings (Acts 17:11), and warns us to avoid certain types of preachers. Remember that David fled from Saul and refused to submit to him once he felt endangered.  Jeroboam’s revolt against Rehoboam in 1 Kings 12 was exactly what God had told him to do.  God sent a prophet to warn Rehoboam not to attack the separatists (1 Kings 12:22-24).  Jeroboam’s sin came later (1 Kings 12:26-31).  God had given him an opportunity to be the new David, to establish a new kingdom that would obey the Lord.