1 Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all Israel had gone there to make him king. 2 When Jeroboam son of Nebat heard this (he was still in Egypt, where he had fled from King Solomon), he returned from Egypt. 3 So they sent for Jeroboam, and he and the whole assembly of Israel went to Rehoboam and said to him: 4 “Your father put a heavy yoke on us, but now lighten the harsh labor and the heavy yoke he put on us, and we will serve you.” 5 Rehoboam answered, “Go away for three days and then come back to me.” So the people went away.
After the death of Solomon, Rehoboam, his son, is made king of Israel. It is widely thought that in Solomon’s declining years Rehoboam shared a co-regency with his father. This would have allotted Rehoboam with the luxury of understanding how to rule, what resources he had at his disposal and, most importantly, the need to consult scripture daily so that his rule would be just. This all becomes important in Rehoboam’s story, for this son of Solomon is not a very just leader.
Remember, there’s arise of opposition to Solomon in his last years. There are outside forces at work against him (Haddad and Rezon) as well as inside opposition (Jeroboam). As Solomon’s peaceful rule comes to a close and the fractures of Solomon’s sin begin to crack across the landscape of Israel, the new king has a choice: to either continue with Solomon’s just rule or go his own way.
Rehoboam is first crowned at Shechem. This is a continuation of the Davidic Dynasty and Rehoboam is the only named son of Solomon in scripture. Jeroboam had fled to Egypt during Solomon’s reign. Solomon attempted to kill him, but the reason is not as well known. There are two ideas. First, Jeroboam tried some sort of coup to Solomon’s kingdom. Second, it could be that Solomon, still living outside God’s will, knew of the new covenant he had with God through the prophet Ahijah. Regardless, Jeroboam fled and returned once Solomon had died.
Jeroboam comes to the new king with a proposal. Solomon, during his time had many projects being built in Israel. Jeroboam, who was head of the labor force and well-liked, became the people’s voice. His plea is simple: lighten the work on us and we’ll serve you dutifully. At first, it seems that Rehoboam is considering this wisely. He will take three days to render his decision.
6 Then King Rehoboam consulted the elders who had served his father Solomon during his lifetime. “How would you advise me to answer these people?” he asked. 7 They replied, “If today you will be a servant to these people and serve them and give them a favorable answer, they will always be your servants.” This is a wise move from Rehoboam. No ruler rules completely alone. He goes to those people who were part of Solomon’s wise counsel, men who were trusted and had been through many rigorous and staunch debates over time. Rehoboam, after all, is young (age 41 according to 2 Chronicles 12:13) and inexperienced.
The counsel is simple:if you relate to the people on a human level with kindness, then you will ingratiate them to you. It will not be an extension of Solomon’s rule but a bold new way that the new kingdom does business.
8 But Rehoboam rejected the advice the elders gave him and consulted the young men who had grown up with him and were serving him. 9 He asked them, “What is your advice? How should we answer these people who say to me, ‘Lighten the yoke your father put on us’?” 10 The young men who had grown up with him replied, “These people have said to you, ‘Your father put a heavy yoke on us, but make our yoke lighter.’ Now tell them, ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s waist. 11 My father laid on you a heavy yoke; I will make it even heavier. My father scourged you with whips; I will scourge you with scorpions.’”
Rehoboam rejects the advice of the wise counsel. This is important to note, for he rejects the wisdom and them consults his friends. Most likely Rehoboam didn’t like what the elders had to say and instead looked for people who would tell him what he wanted to hear. His friends tell him to put a heavier burden on the people, break them under his will. Instead of turning a moment of goodwill into a new place of vision and joyous serving, he breaks it in two, severing the ties of the northern tribes in one swoop.
12 Three days later Jeroboam and all the people returned to Rehoboam, as the king had said, “Come back to me in three days.” 13 The king answered the people harshly. Rejecting the advice given him by the elders, 14 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.” 15 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.
In Ecclesiastes 2:18-19, Solomon worries that his work will go to a foolish leader. Here it comes to fruition. Rehoboam didn’t listen to the will of the people. He instead tried to make a power play and ends up breaking the nation in two, as was predicted in 1 Kings 11:26-40.
16 When all Israel saw that the king refused to listen to them, they answered the king: “What share do we have in David, what part in Jesse’s son? To your tents, Israel! Look after your own house, David!” So the Israelites went home. 17 But as for the Israelites who were living in the towns of Judah, Rehoboam still ruled over them. 18 King Rehoboam sent out Adoniram, who was in charge of forced labor, but all Israel stoned him to death. King Rehoboam, however, managed to get into his chariot and escape to Jerusalem. 19 So Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David to this day. 20 When all the Israelites heard that Jeroboam had returned, they sent and called him to the assembly and made him king over all Israel. Only the tribe of Judah remained loyal to the house of David.
As the rebellion started, we see not only a walking away of Rehoboam’s rule but the rejection of David. Israel rejects both he current king, the former king and the spiritual entanglement of both. Next, the rebellion rejects Adoniram, in charge of forced labor (in charge of the revenue in KJV) and end up stoning him to death. This escalation brings with it a seriousness that Rehoboam may not have counted on. This is the splitting of the kingdom. From this point forward, the 10 northern tribes, under Jeroboam’s rule, is referred to as Israel. The southern tribes, Judah and Benjamin, remain under Rehoboam’s control as is referred to as Judah.
21 When Rehoboam arrived in Jerusalem, he mustered all Judah and the tribe of Benjamin—a hundred and eighty thousand able young men—to go to war against Israel and to regain the kingdom for Rehoboam son of Solomon. 22 But this word of God came to Shemaiah the man of God: 23 “Say to Rehoboam son of Solomon king of Judah, to all Judah and Benjamin, and to the rest of the people, 24 ‘This is what the Lord says: Do not go up to fight against your brothers, the Israelites. Go home, every one of you, for this is my doing.’” So they obeyed the word of the Lord and went home again, as the Lord had ordered.
Rehoboam, true to form, stays with the heavy hand. He intends to wage war against the 10 northern tribes. But he is stopped by the words of the prophet and surprisingly he listens. Shemaiah wrote a history of Reheboam’s reign in the book of Chronicles (Chronicles 12:1-16). In this we see a Rehoboam who is humbled by God, but during his reign Egypt’s Pharaoh Shisak steals the treasures of the temple. Rehoboam makes bronze replacements for them, but the damage is done. A compromised Judah is forever blighted by Rehoboam’s rule, and, as we will see, Israel is further destroyed spiritually by Jeroboam’s rule.
Golden Calves at Bethel and Dan 25 Then Jeroboam fortified Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim and lived there. From there he went out and built up Peniel. 26 Jeroboam thought to himself, “The kingdom will now likely revert to the house of David. 27 If these people go up to offer sacrifices at the temple of the Lord in Jerusalem, they will again give their allegiance to their lord, Rehoboam king of Judah. They will kill me and return to King Rehoboam.”
Jeroboam has forgotten an essential part of God’s promise (1 Kings 11) : if he follows God and the people follow the king, the land will be blessed. He has forgotten that God will provide and protect him. He only has to follow.
But Jeroboam is concerned. He is afraid that the people, who still have a covenant obligation to sacrifice at Solomon’s temple (which is in Judah) will go there, then they will align themselves with Judah and come to kill him. Jeroboam seems consumed with fear and power, and the two are not in alliance to God but to himself.
28 After seeking advice, the king made two golden calves. He said to the people, “It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Here are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.” 29 One he set up in Bethel, and the other in Dan. 30 And this thing became a sin; the people came to worship the one at Bethel and went as far as Dan to worship the other.
Jeroboam too looks for advice and gets it. From who we don’t know, but the advice is not good for him or his kingdom. It shows an already corrupt spirituality operating in Israel. If Jeroboam’s advisors are giving him spiritually corrupt information, then what does it say about them and about Jeroboam himself?
Jeroboam attempt to subvert the Israelites worshipping God properly is disguised as a matter of convenience. He says, “it is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem.” As he appeals to their confidence, he offers a solution. “Here are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.” So the Israelites don’t have to make the arduous trip to Judah to fulfill their proper worship – Jeroboam has created a new way to do it. He sets up one in the north (Dan and the other in the south (Bethel).
In our convenience-driven society we may read this and wonder what the big deal is. They’re still worshipping God, right? Why make the long trip down if they could do it nearby?
Jeroboam repeats the same words Aaron did during the golden calf incident in the book of Exodus (32:4). In connecting the two we see the perversion of God’s Law. Jeroboam could have very well intended for Israel to worship the God of Israel, but this wasn’t what God commanded they do. Sacrifice were to be at the temple. Just as the Israelites sacrificed in the desert tabernacle, the permanent tabernacle (Solomon’s temple) was meant for the same purpose. Jeroboam has allowed Israel to go astray by forgetting the word of God and creating a new system of worship.
31 Jeroboam built shrines on high places and appointed priests from all sorts of people, even though they were not Levites.
Next, Jeroboam builds additional places of worship. Even though the sin of creating calves at Dan and Bethel was bad enough, creating more further perverts the solemn site that God required Israel to worship at.
Second, he created a new priesthood. Only Levites, descended from Aaron, were permitted to become priests. But Jeroboam opens it up to anyone. The lineage does not matter anymore, another step away from how God dictated it to Moses. This did not sit well with everyone. As in any group of people, there are those who follow the system and those who follow God. The remnant of God in Israel did not like what they were seeing and left for Judah (2 Chronicles 11:13-16).
32 He instituted a festival on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, like the festival held in Judah, and offered sacrifices on the altar. This he did in Bethel, sacrificing to the calves he had made. And at Bethel he also installed priests at the high places he had made. 33 On the fifteenth day of the eighth month, a month of his own choosing, he offered sacrifices on the altar he had built at Bethel. So he instituted the festival for the Israelites and went up to the altar to make offerings.
Again, we may say that more convenience is good, but we also see that Jeroboam dilutes God’s Law and creates his own, further stepping away from he promises of 1 Kings 11. He begins to institute his own festivals. In the books of Exodus, Numbers and Deuteronomy, specific festivals are allowed by God for the Israelites to follow, mainly for their remembrance of God’s deliverance while in the desert. Here, Jeroboam creates his own dates and times for his celebrations. In verse 33 he himself is offering the sacrifices. So, in the structure of this religion which has been devised in his own mind and heart, he has gone from leading the people of Israel to a self-delusion that what he has done is good.
In the delusional mind of a cult leader, this is fairly common behavior. It’s about wrapping oneself up in adulation and inoculating themselves from he truth. If they can surround themselves with a good number of people who adore them, trick them into believing and following, then ultimately they can have control over their kingdom. It is the complete antithesis of what God wants to do in us. God wants us to operate in dependence, not independence from him.