1 Kings 12
-Chapter twelve tells of the split between the northern ten
tribes of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah and Benjamin, who remained
loyal to the throne of David by Rehoboam. The division did not need to occur,
but as a turn of events established by the LORD according to the words of the
prophet Ahijah, Israel was split by bad advice from the younger generation that
served Rehoboam (1 Kings 12:1-15). Instead of listening to sage counsel from
the elders to lighten up on the burden of his people, Rehoboam acted in pride
and tried to flex his kingly muscles. There was a strong reaction to this
arrogance by most of Israel and they went their own way departing from the
Davidic rule (1 Kings 12:16). All Israel stoned Rehoboam’s superintendent of
forced labor, Adoram, to death and forced the king to flee back to his home in
Jerusalem (1 Kings 12:18). This rebellion was never truly reconciled and the
united kingdom of Israel was finished (1 Kings 12:19). The northern kingdom
never had even one good king and fell into abased idolatry and depravity, which
ended up causing the Assyrians to capture them and disperse them as a nation in
722 BC. The LORD would not forget His promise to the Davidic line and
eventually raised up the Messiah, Jesus Christ, but the southern kingdom also
had real spiritual problems that only the true prophets, and a few good kings,
could bring some form of semblance as to the LORD’s proper will and direction.
-Civil war appeared to be imminent as the factions drew
battle lines upon the return of Jeroboam from Egypt to head up the northern
kingdom according to the prophecy (1 Kings 11:30-35). However, bloodshed was averted
due to the word of the LORD, which came to the man of God, Shemaiah (1 Kings 12:23-24).
The factioning parties listened to the word of the LORD and returned in peace, but
there was now bitterness towards each other and lines of demarcation were drawn.
-Jeroboam went to his homeland of Ephraim in the hill country
and built Shechem (the ancient place of quite a few instances with the patriarchs,
Genesis 12:6; 33:18-20). He was apparently jealous and suspicious of the Temple
worship in Jerusalem and possibly rightly feared a reunification under the Davidic
rule at some point. So, he erected high places in Bethel (in the hill country, this
was to be in Samaritan territory by the time of Christ and we see here the background
to some of the issues people in Jesus’ time faced from history, for example see
John 4 with the woman Jesus encountered at the well) and Dan (far to the north in
the territory he reigned in). This thing became a sin (1 Kings 12:30) as he made
two golden calves (much like Israel did in the wilderness when Moses was on Sinai,
Exodus 32:1-8) for the people to worship as the gods who brought them out of Egypt
(1 Kings 12:28). He stationed priests at these places that were not of the tribe
of Levi, and he instituted his own festivals in the eighth month like the feast
in Judah. Jeroboam went to these high places and participated in the pagan-idolatrous
worship to burn incense on these alters (1 Kings 25-33).
-*Application* There is always a real deal as opposed to the
fake. We see in this chapter several instances of the real verses the fake. First,
Rehoboam should have listened to the real wisdom of the elders as opposed to the
false ideas of his contemporaries. Second, we see men of God who gave real and accurate
prophecies like Ahijah and Shemiah. Although there were no false prophets in this
passage to speak of, we know that there were many times in the history of Israel
that false prophets arose and gave bad advice. Know the difference between truth
and lies. Thirdly, we see the real Temple in Judah, which was the place of promise,
as opposed to the replicas in Bethel and Dan that Jeroboam erected to carry people
away from the One-True Living God. God is opposed to any idols or false ways of
thinking. Stay true to His Word and abide in the real deal!!!
Verses to Memorize: 1
Kings 12:8, 15-16, 24, 28, 30
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