Lesson 287 - Junior

Memory Verse

 "A soft answer turneth away wrath: but grievous words stir up anger” (Proverbs 15:1).

Notes

Rehoboam Crowned

After the death of King Solomon it was natural that his son should become king. All Israel gathered at Shechem on the great coronation day to honour Rehoboam as the new king of Israel on his father's throne. Nothing is told us about Rehoboam prior to this time. He perhaps never did anything worth recording while he was growing up.

We are, however, given an account of Jeroboam, an industrious young man who had bravely fought for Israel and had won the affection of the people. He had had to flee to Egypt because of Solomon's jealousy. When he heard that Solomon was dead, and that Rehoboam was to be crowned, he returned for the ceremonies. A prophet had told Jeroboam before his exile that he would be given ten tribes of Israel to rule, and he no doubt wondered now how the prophecy would be fulfilled.

The People Burdened

After Solomon had turned from the Lord and worshipped idols he had become greedy for worldly gain. He had taxed the people very heavily, and had required many of them to be in his army and labour camps. It has been a hard life for the Children of Israel, and they had suffered under their cruel taskmasters.

Jeroboam, on behalf of the Israelites, now asked Rehoboam how he was going to conduct his affairs. Would he be kind to the people and lift the heavy yoke that the people had to carry? Rehoboam asked for three days in which to think up an answer.

During those three days Rehoboam called in some advisers. They were older men who had perhaps been members of his father's cabinet. They were wise men and had had many years of experience, and understood the needs of the people. Rehoboam was young, and it was a good move on his part to ask advice of such men of experience. These men told him that if he would be kind to the people and speak good words to them, they would willingly be his subjects and do good to him. If he was to be their king, it was his duty to help his people.

Jesus gave some instructions for successful leadership. He said: "He that is greatest among you shall be your servant. And whosoever shalt exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted” [MAT:23:11-12]). At another time Jesus said: "He that is greatest among you, let him be as the younger; and he that is chief, as he that doth serve” [LUK:22:26]).

Think what a successful king Rehoboam could have been if he had served his people as God had ordained! In David's last song, he sang: "The God of Israel said, the Rock of Israel spake to me, He that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God” [2SM:23:3]).

All this good advice was wasted on Rehoboam. He called for some of his young friends and asked them what they thought. They were mean and did not love the people. They told Rehoboam to make the yoke twice as heavy, and to punish the people even more severely than Rehoboam's father had done.

Disappointed People

When Jeroboam returned after three days to hear the decision of Rehoboam, this is what he heard: "My father made your yoke heavy, and I will add to your yoke: my father also chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions.” What cruel words! Think of the people's disappointment! They had hoped that the new king would bring them a happy and peaceful life, and now they heard this!

But God had plans for His people. They were not going to suffer all that cruelty. Solomon would be punished for his sins by Jeroboam's ruling ten of the tribes of Israel, instead of Rehoboam. The people could not feel that they owed any allegiance to Rehoboam when he cared so little for them, so they deserted. Only the tribes of Judah and Benjamin remained loyal to Rehoboam.

Of course, Rehoboam was not happy about the division, so he organized a great big army -– 180,000 men -– and was going right out to conquer the rebellious tribes. But God was watching, and sent a Prophet to tell Rehoboam that it was His will that Israel and Judah be separate. There must be no war. Rehoboam obeyed, and there was peace in the land.

From this time on we shall hear about two nations, Judah and Israel, instead of just Israel. The history of the following years will tell of many wars fought between the two. They continued to have separate kings until they were all carried away into the Assyrian and Babylonian captivities, many centuries later. At the time of our lesson Jeroboam is the king of Israel, and Rehoboam is the king of Judah.

God's Promises to Jeroboam

God had made wonderful promises to Jeroboam: "I will be with thee, and build thee a sure house, as I built for David, and will give Israel unto thee” [1KG:11:38]). We know of the blessings that attended David's reign because he obeyed God. Now God was willing to do like things for Jeroboam, if he kept the commandments.

We, too, have the promises of God in His Word, but they are all conditioned upon our obedience to God. His rules of conduct are very plainly given in the Bible, and if we follow them we can expect to enjoy the blessings.

Thus far Jeroboam had fulfilled the will of God. If he had continued to ask His guidance, he would have enjoyed a long and peaceful reign. But soon he began to worry about how he would keep the loyalty of the people. God had given him the throne, and surely God could have kept it for him. But rather than trust God, he began to plan his own way to rule, and he found himself in trouble.

Much of our trouble comes to us in the same way. We want to plan our own lives, rather than carefully follow God's plan for us, and then we suffer. The Lord knows better than we do what is good for us; we could save ourselves much grief if we would in everything ask the Lord's direction.

Jeroboam's Sin

The seat of Rehoboam's government was in Jerusalem; and Jeroboam reasoned with himself that if the Israelites went to Jerusalem to the Temple to worship they might again become followers of Rehoboam, and desert Jeroboam. He thought he could keep the people from Rehoboam by setting up altars of worship near at hand so that the people would not have to go to Jerusalem. He made two golden calves and set them up to be worshiped. He told the Israelites, "Behold thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.”

Do you remember what happened to the Israelites once before when they worshiped a golden calf? The sword killed Three thousand men in one day, and Israel suffered plagues afterward. God said that He is a jealous God and wants us to worship Him, and Him alone.

Anyone knows that the image of a calf could never have brought Israel out of Egypt where they were slaves. Not even a living calf could have done it. What good could these two golden calves do for Israel now? In addition to that, Jeroboam made priests of unworthy men; and he changed the date of a sacred feast day. These were things that God had appointed, and man had no right to change them. Jeroboam's doings were sin in the sight of God, and his bad reputation followed him for centuries afterward. Almost every time his name is mentioned, these words are added: "Who made Israel to sin.” That was the memorial Jeroboam left to himself -– he made Israel to sin.

We may not have influence over a whole kingdom of people as Jeroboam had, but no one can commit sin without influencing someone. No man lives entirely for himself; and if he causes another to sin, God's judgment will surely strike him.

Rehoboam's Sin

Rehoboam, too, turned to idolatry. Right there within the shadow of God's holy Temple, he built altars to the worship of idols. Under every green tree, wherever the people wished, were images of heathen gods.

God did not let that sin go unpunished. About five years after Rehoboam became king, Shishak, the king of Egypt, came with 1,200 chariots, 60,000 horsemen, and people without number to fight against Judah. They walked right into the land and conquered even the fenced cities. But when the Egyptian armies began moving toward the city of Jerusalem, Rehoboam decided it was time to do something. But what could he do?

There was a Prophet of God in Judah, and he came to tell Rehoboam the words of the Lord: "Ye have forsaken me, and therefore have I also left you in the hand of Shishak.” That was the secret of the trouble that had come upon Rehoboam and Judah: they had forsaken God. The natural thing to do now to get out of trouble would be to return to God.

Rehoboam and his princes humbled themselves before the Lord and said, "The LORD is righteous.” When God saw it, He immediately gave them relief. He said that King Shishak would not destroy them, but they would have to pay tribute to him. For a while things went well in Judah, but throughout Rehoboam's reign of 17 years there was war between Jeroboam and Rehoboam. When Rehoboam died, Abijah, his son, became king of Judah.

Questions

1. Name Solomon's son who became king after him.

2. Why had God threatened to take away part of Israel from Solomon's house?

3. Why was not all the kingdom taken from him?

4. How did Rehoboam plan to treat the people in his kingdom?

5. What were God's instructions to rulers and those who wanted to be great?

6. What tribes were given to Rehoboam to rule?

7. Who was given the other ten tribes?

8. How can anyone benefit by God's blessings?

9. What was Jeroboam's sin?

10. What memorial did Jeroboam leave to himself?