(2 Chronicles 11)
UNTIL the days of Rehoboam the people of Israel had been united in one kingdom; with the commencement of his reign they were divided. Does the story of this division afford any light as to the terrible divisions that have scattered the people of God in our day? We believe it does.
First we may inquire, What was the root of this division? The actual division took place in the days of Rehoboam but to discover its root we must go back to the days of Solomon. So with every division among the people of God, the true cause is often far removed from the actual division. The tenth chapter of the First Book of Kings, verses 26 to 29, together with chapter eleven, will bring before us the root of this great division in Israel. All is traced back to loss of devotedness to God, and departure from the Word of God. In order to seize the true character of this failure we must remember that the law of Moses gave very definite instructions for the King. In Deuteronomy 17:14-20, the King is warned against worldliness on the one hand, and disobedience to the Word on the other. The king was not to multiply horses; he was not to cause the people to return to Egypt, for the Lord had said, “Ye shall henceforth return no more that way.” He was not to multiply wives to himself, nor greatly multiply to himself silver and gold. On the other hand he was to write a copy of the law and “read therein all the days of his life,” to learn the fear of the Lord, and to keep all the words of the law.
Turning to the tenth and eleventh chapters of the First Book of Kings we find that in every particular King Solomon breaks down. He multiplies horses, he causes the people to return to Egypt; he multiplies wives to himself, and greatly multiplies silver and gold. Moreover, while much is written of Solomon’s riches, wisdom, and magnificence, we are never told that he read the law of the Lord. Thus at length the Lord has to say to him “thou hast not kept my covenant and my statutes which I have commanded thee” (1 Kings 11:11).
Here then we discover the root of division in Israel and, may we not say, the root of all divisions that have taken place among the people of God. First, unjudged worldliness that robs the people of true devotedness, and second disobedience to the Word of God.
Because of these things God tells Solomon that the kingdom will be rent in twain. We must remember, however, that the division will not be simply because of the failure of the King, but also on account of the failure of the people. When the prophet Ahijah tells Jeroboam that the Kingdom is going to be divided, he says nothing about the failure of Solomon, but speaks only of the failure of the people. The division will come says the Lord “because they have forsaken Me; and have worshipped Ashtoreth... and have not walked in my ways, to do that which is right in mine eyes, and keep my statutes and my judgments” (1 Kings 11:31-33).
Here again we find the root of division to be worldliness that turns aside to other gods, and disobedience to the Word of God, but now connected with the people. The folly and failure of the leaders however great would not necessarily cause division were it not for the low condition of the people of God generally. “This is done of thee” condemns the individual; “they have forsaken Me,” reveals the low condition of the people, that is behind the failure of the leaders (cf. verses 11 and 33).
Such was the root of division, but how was the division actually brought about. The history is given in 1 Kings 12 and 2 Chronicles 10. King Solomon dies and his son Rehoboam comes to the throne. Immediately a crisis arises. There had been a long history of harsh actions, and grievous bondage, during the preceding years, and now a portion of the people rise up in protest. How is this met by the leader of the day? Rehoboam is counseled by the old men, who are rich in experience, that all will be well if he will “be kind to this people, and please them, and speak good words to them” (2 Chron. 10:7). Does not this carry our thoughts to Romans 15:1 to 4? In the first verse of this passage we have the “kindness” that bears “the infirmities of the weak” rather than putting grievous yokes upon them; in verses 2 and 3 we have the pleasing one another for “good to edification,” rather than pleasing ourselves; and in verse 4 we have the “good words” of Scripture for our comfort and hope.
Such is the spiritual advice of the old men; very different however is the counsel of nature, as given by the “young men”. They advise Rehoboam to take a course which appears highly commendable to nature as taking a strong line, and as maintaining authority and the majesty of the kingdom. Alas Rehoboam follows advice of nature. He assumes an overbearing and unreasonable attitude and threatens the protesters with violent and extreme discipline (1 Kings 12:12-15). The violence of the King is met by the violence of the people who stone the King’s officer, and, in result, division is consummated (1 Kings 12:16-19).
However to judge of the division simply by the folly of Rehoboam would have been to entirely miss the mind of God. People of that day, looking at the bare facts of the case, might have concluded that the division was wholly owing to the folly of Rehoboam. They might have argued, “Had it not been that Rehoboam took such an overbearing and unreasonable attitude, threatening to bring us all into bondage by exercising a violent discipline upon the people of God, there would have been no division.” But however reasonable such arguments might appear to the natural mind they would have been false. It was true that Rehoboam’s folly was the immediate cause of the division, but the word of God in judgment had gone forth long before the violent words of the King, and the mighty hand of God in discipline was behind the feeble hand of the King. The holy government of God was rending the kingdom, and behind the discipline of God was the low condition of the people.
The division having taken place, the further history of Rehoboam is exceedingly instructive, warning us of the snares to avoid, and instructing us as to the course to take, in the presence of divisions.
Rehoboam at once sets to work to bring the people of God together again, and, using the methods suited to the dispensation, he gathers together an army for this purpose. There is no question that it was in accord with God’s thoughts that the people should be one. They had been one in the commencement of God’s ways with them, and in the day to come they will be one according to the word of the prophet, “I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel; and one King shall be king to them all: and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all” (Ezek. 37:22). It might thus appear that Rehoboam was justified in his efforts to end the division and unite the people of God.
However he has to learn, and all Israel with him, that in spite of the division the ten tribes are still their “brethren,” and they are not to “go up nor fight against” them. Moreover Shemaiah, the man of God, tells Rehoboam why they must desist. It is because God says “This thing is done of Me.” God had rebuked Solomon for his worldliness and disobedience to the Word of God, and said to him, “Forasmuch as this is done of thee... I will rend the kingdom from thee.” Now that the blow has fallen, God can say to Rehoboam “This thing is done of Me.” To seek to undo the evil of Solomon may be right; to ignore the governmental acts of God is certainly wrong. (cf. 1 Kings 11:11 and 2 Chron. 11:4). Rehoboam and those with him have to learn, as indeed we all have to learn in the divisions that our own, folly has brought about, that the government of God cannot be lightly ignored.
Very wisely Rehoboam, and the two tribes desisted from their efforts, as we read, they “obeyed the words of the Lord” (2 Chron. 11:4 ff). They accept the humiliation and sorrow of the division and bow under the chastening hand of the Lord.
Henceforth Rehoboam remains within the restricted sphere that the division has brought about, for we read that “he dwelt in Jerusalem.” Does this however mean that he settles down to a life of quiet ease and inaction? Does he no longer concern himself with the interests of the people of God? Far from it, for at once we read he becomes a builder; he “built cities for defense in Judah” (vv. 5-10). As we might say in our day, he “strengthened the things that remained.” Moreover he provided “store of victual, and of oil, and of wine” (v. 11). He provided food for the people of God.
What was the result? Judah became a refuge for the people of God: as we read “the priests and the Levites that were in all Israel resorted to him out of all their coasts,” and “out of all the tribes of Israel such as set their hearts to seek the Lord God of Israel came to Rehoboam.” “So they strengthened the kingdom of Judah” (vv. 13, 16, 17).
For three years this prosperity continued; then alas! Rehoboam forsook the law of the Lord (2 Chron. 12:1) and disaster speedily followed. Had he only continued in obedience who can say how much further prosperity might have been known?
Has this no voice for us in the presence of the divisions amongst the people of God in our day? Have not great efforts been put forth to end the divisions among the people of God, ending too often in adding to the confusion. Would it not be our wisdom to recognize the governmental hand of God upon us because of our worldliness and departure from the Word; to bow under the chastening hand of God; to accept the reproach and sorrow of division; to remain, in quiet obedience to the Word, on God’s ground for His people, seeking to strengthen the things that remain, and feed the people of God? And would not those who in devotedness and faithfulness to the Word, resolutely acted in this way, become a refuge for the distressed people of God from every quarter?