Fear No Fear

(All scripture from Lexham English Bible, Copyright 2012 Logos Bible Software)

Solomon loved MANY foreign women. There were three things in the Law that a king was supposed to avoid. Not to get a lot of horses for himself. Not to amass riches for himself. The idea being that he may be richer than the average Israelite, but they were to advance TOGETHER and prosper TOGETHER as a nation, not as an individual far above the rest. And finally, do NOT take lots of wives. God’s plan was one male and one female in covenant permanently. Period. He allowed divorce because of the hardheartedness of men. He allowed extra wives in the sense that He didn’t actively oppose it (also because of men’s hardheartedness), but He consistently warned against it and frowned on it. Why? Because they’ll split your attention from where it should be. Because you can’t give proper attention to them. Because foreign women (a spouse of another religion) will eventually turn your heart against God. Solomon not only loved MANY women, but he specifically loved FOREIGN women. How many? Seven hundred wives (some of whom were princesses, so they were probably political marriages) and three hundred concubines. And they turned his heart away from following God.

When Solomon got older, he worshipped with his wives the goddess of the Sidonians, and the abomination of the Ammonites. He did evil from God’s point of view. He did NOT follow after David’s footsteps. He did NOT fully follow God. He built a temple for the Moabite god, and for the god of the Ammonites. Then it says he did the same for ALL his foreign wives. He let them burn incense to their gods and sacrifice to them. This was a HORRIBLE example to the people of Israel who had ALREADY had problems with this in the past. The Lord had appeared to Solomon TWICE, but Solomon had turned away from Him. It shows you that visible manifestations of God don’t build up our trust in Jesus. Only the Word does that (Romans 10:17). He had been commanded not to do this thing, and he was doing it. Not wise.

God spoke to Solomon (probably through a prophet or priest) and told him that because he had done this, God was ripping the kingdom from him. God would give it to Solomon’s servant. But He wouldn’t do it while Solomon lived for David’s sake. It would happen during the reign of his son. Also, God would only take most of the tribes away. He would leave one. Also for David’s sake.

God also did not oppose it when an adversary rose against Israel, Solomon in particular, because Solomon had rejected Him and His protection. Hadad the Edomite, who had escaped David and Joab’s slaughter by fleeing to Egypt (2 Samuel 8:13-14). He had been cared for by the Pharaoh at the time, given a home and a wife – the Pharaoh’s sister-in-law. Hadad’s son was raised in the Pharaoh’s household. But eventually he had the desire to return and reclaim the kingdom of his people from Solomon. Rezon, whose father had fled from Hadadezer, also went rogue. He raised up bandits, became their captain, and ruled from Damascus.

Then we come to Jeroboam. When Solomon had built the Millo and rebuilt Jerusalem, he had noticed Jeroboam – a mighty man of valor. He was a good worker, so Solomon appointed him officer over all the labour force of Ephraim and Manasseh. He was an Ephrathite, but Solomon liked him a lot. Now there was a prophet named Ahijah and he had put on a new garment. He came and found Jeroboam alone in a field. He greeted him warmly, took the garment, and tore it in twelve pieces and offered ten to Jeroboam. He told him God declared that He would tear ten tribes from Solomon and give them to Jeroboam, but leave Solomon one because of David. God explained He was doing this because they were worshipping idols and NOT what was right from God’s point of view, worshipping God according to His statues and judgments. God wasn’t going to take everything away, only ten – so that David’s line would always have a lamp before God in Jerusalem. God said he would take Jeroboam, and Jeroboam would rule over his heart’s desires, and would be king over Israel. He got the same warning all the kings got. If he would follow God and do what was right, keeping the commandments and statues, God would build for Jeroboam an enduring house.

Solomon tried to kill Jeroboam because of this, but he fled to Egypt and stayed in Egypt under Shishak until Solomon died. Shishak or Sheshonk I, flourished 10th century BC) was the first king (943-923 BC) of the 22nd dynasty of Egypt. These two men were alone in the field, so I don’t know how Solomon heard about it. But he obviously did.

Solomon reigned for a total of forty years over Israel and he died, buried with his ancestors in the City of David. His replacement was his son Rehoboam.

“Then Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all of Israel had come to Shechem to make him king.” (1 Kings 12:1)

Someone sent word to Jeroboam and he came up from Egypt to attend the coronation of Rehoboam in Shechem. Jerusalem was the seat of Rehoboam’s power. Everyone involved knew something was up. The Israelites cried out to Rehoboam and said look, your Daddy taxed us something fierce (remember that upkeep of his household with all those wives and concubines, and the horses, and the military, and the building projects?) and we want a break. Make the yoke that is on us lighter, and we will serve you. No problems. Rehoboam thought about this and made a wise decision. He asked for three days to think about it.

He spoke to the elder statesmen. The ones with experience. The ones who had served under his father, Solomon. They said, reduce taxes. Serve their needs. If you do, they’ll be loyal to you forever. Then Rehoboam asked his contemporaries. The young rich men of the kingdom. The people he had grown up with. They said tax them more. Show them how tough you are. This was bad advice. And he followed it.

Israel heard him out and then they left. They told him to rule Judah, Rehoboam’s own tribe, but they were done with him. Rehoboam sent his officer, the officer in charge of collecting revenues (1 Kings 4:6; 5:14), and the Israelites stoned him to death. Rehoboam retreated to Jerusalem and stayed there. This was the last day they were together as a nation. From this day onward, they would be divided for the next two hundred and fifty-six years. Rehoboam reigned over Judah and Benjamin only. This was just 120 years since Saul had been made king.

Israel heard that Jeroboam had come back and they went and made him king over the ten tribes. Rehoboam got back to Jerusalem and gathered one hundred and eighty thousand soldiers to fight and retake Israel. But Shemaiah, a man of God, came and gave him God’s word: no. This thing is from God, don’t fight each other. Rehoboam listened and sent everyone home.

Jeroboam made Shechem his capital, in the mountains of Ephraim. This was the same town that Jacob’s sons had killed everyone over a rape (Genesis 34). Joseph was also buried nearby (Joshua 24:32). An auspicious place. But Jeroboam wasn’t trusting God. He was worried about worship. If they all went down to the Temple to worship, they would all have to sit. Only the king could stand – which would be Rehoboam. The people would see Jeroboam in subservience to Rehoboam, and their hearts could return to the House of David. He was worried. God had told him to worship God and everything would be fine, but his anxiety was getting the better of him.

He built two calves of gold (sound familiar?) and told the people it was too hard to go to Jerusalem. He presented the calves as the gods who had brought them out of Egypt. He put one in Bethel and one in Dan, and told the people to worship them there. Which of course many did, and it became a great sin to them. He also made shrines in high places. And took priests from ANY tribe to serve and consecrated them as priests. The Levites were disgusted. Jeroboam made a great feast to land on the same days as the ones in Judah (Leviticus 23:33-43). They sacrificed to the calves. They sacrificed in high places. He installed his priests. And they as a nation embraced false worship in total defiance of what God told Jeroboam directly and also the Law (Exodus 20:2-4; Deuteronomy 12:5-7 & 16:6). This was NOT wise. He still did it. He made sacrifice and burnt incense.

Summary

Key Players: God, Solomon, Jeroboam, Rehoboam

Key Themes: Disobedience, Right Worship, Succession, Idolatry

Key Verse(s): 1 Kings 11:1-5, 11-13, 34-40; 12:4-5, 12-15, 18-19, 28-30, 33