Chapter 162. 1 Kings 12. Rehoboam.
AFTER Solomon’s death, Rehoboam, his son, went to Shechem to be made king. Jeroboam heard of this, and came from Egypt where they sent for him.
Then he and all Israel went to meet the new king, and said to him, “Thy father made our yoke grievous: now, therefore make thou the grievous service of thy father, and his heavy yoke which he put upon us, lighter, and we will serve thee.” Rehoboam told the people to return in three days, and he would give them an answer. Meanwhile he consulted with the old men who had served his father. They said, “Speak good words to them, then they will be thy servants forever.” But Rehoboam did not attend to this good advice of the old men. He called his own friends, foolish, self-willed young men, and asked them what he should do. The young men’s advice was that the laws should be more strict now than in his father’s time; that his father had chastised them with whips, but he would chastise them with scorpions.
Rehoboam had not learned wisdom from his wise father, who had said, “A soft answer turneth away wrath, but grievous words stir up anger.” When Jerohoam and all the people came the third day, the king answered them roughly as the young men had advised. “My father made your yoke heavy,” he said, “and I will add to your yoke: my father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions.” This unkind answer made Jeroboam and the people very angry, and they said, “What portion have we in David?” They all returned to their tents, determined not to obey Rehoboam. Only the people who lived in the cities of Judah continued with him. When he sent one of his men, Adoram, to collect the tribute from the tribes, the people stoned him and he died. Then Rehoboam was afraid, and got into his chariot, and fled to Jerusalem. There he called together those who had remained faithful to the house of David. He counted one hundred and eighty thousand warriors, and with these he hoped to subdue the rest of Israel. But God sent him word by Shemaiah, a man of God, not to go to fight against his brethren, the house of Israel. It was God, the prophet said, who had allowed it because of the sin of Solomon, his father. The people obeyed the prophet, and did not go against Israel.
Rehoboam lived in Jerusalem. He built many cities, and fenced them about, and brought arms and shields into them, that they might be ready for defense against enemies. The priests and the Levites who had been scattered among the whole kingdom before it was divided, left their cities and houses and possessions, and came to live in Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, for Jeroboam would not allow them to sacrifice unto the Lord. For three years Rehoboam walked in the fear of God, and lived in peace through God’s blessing. But after that he, like his father, took many wives, and was drawn away from the Lord, who sent against him Shishak, king of Egypt. The prophet Shemaiah went to Jerusalem to see the king, and said to him, “Thus saith the Lord, Ye have forsaken Me, therefore have I also left you in the hand of Shishak.” When the king and the people heard that, they acknowledged that God was just in punishing them thus, and humbled themselves before Him, confessing their sin.
God is ever pleased to see repentance, He tells us, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:77But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. (1 John 1:7).) God wants His children to confess to Him every wrong act, or word, or even thought. If we don’t, the conscience becomes hardened and we get further and further away from Him, until we hardly care whether we please Him or not.
God, according to His faithfulness and promise, forgave Rehoboam and the people, and said He would not let Shishak destroy them. But that they might not forget Him again, God said they should be servants to the king of Egypt, they would feel what a different thing it was to be servants of the king of Egypt, or the Lord’s servants. So Shishak came up against Jerusalem and took away the treasures of the house of the Lord and of the king’s house. All the shields of gold Solomon had made were carried to Egypt. In their place Rehoboam Made shields of brass and gave them to the guard that stood by the king’s house for safe keeping.
Rehoboam, like many Christians nowadays, did not learn very well the lesson the Lord was seeking to teach him. He fell into many evils and often forsook the Lord. He was forty-one years old when he began to reign, and for seventeen years was king in Jerusalem. At his death, his favorite son, Abijah, reigned in his place.
ML 07/30/1916