Rehoboam's Tough Guy Approach Backfires

 

First, the backstory, I Kings 11

We all heard in Sunday School what a wise man King Solomon was. He allegedly wrote the book of Proverbs and the lyrical Song of Solomon in the Hebrew Bible, and I suspect that he also wrote the somewhat cynical book of Ecclesiastes. I’ve no doubt he was a handsome fellow because his mother’s beauty caused King David’s heart and brain to turn to mush. David forgot everything he ever knew about God and committed murder and adultery, with the usual government coverup. Coverups never work with God. Bathsheba’s first baby died, devastating both parents.

Solomon was the darling of the court, even though he was son #7. All of his older male half-siblings were from six different wives of David. When Solomon was born, sons #1-6 knew that they were screwed as far as inheriting the throne.

Solomon began well, joining with his father in plans for a grand new Temple unto the Lord. When it was complete, miraculous manifestations demonstrated God’s approval of all. Solomon’s dedicatory prayers were heartfelt and just what anyone spiritual would want. At one point, Solomon sought a dream communication from God, and this is what was spoken to him while he slept,

Then God said to him: “Because you have asked this thing, and have not asked long life for yourself, nor have asked riches for yourself, nor have asked the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern justice, ¹² behold, I have done according to your words; see, I have given you a wise and understanding heart, so that there has not been anyone like you before you, nor shall any like you arise after you. ¹³ And I have also given you what you have not asked: both riches and honor, so that there shall not be anyone like you among the kings all your days. ¹⁴ So if you walk in My ways, to keep My statutes and My commandments, as your father David walked, then I will lengthen your days.” (1 Kings 3:4-15 NKJV)

So far so good, but wait, there’s a tiny, itty-bitty two-letter caveat in there. The word “if.” A small word, a big warning. Because as time went on, Solomon changed.

^“And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines; and his wives turned away his heart.” (1 Kings 11:3)

As his heart grew colder and his faith in God alone began to wane, Solomon’s care and compassion for his people also began to diminish. Solomon was making Israel great with many ambitious building projects. The tradition of kings at the time was to raid a neighboring nation, scoop up random men off the street, and force them to build temples and palaces in the nation that captured them. There’s no indication that Solomon did that, but there was a national conscription process in which officials laid heavy burdens on the workers. If they didn’t meet their work quotas, they were whipped. In addition, the many building projects, glorious as they were, required taxes that caused distress among the people. As a result of Solomon’s sins and his governmental harshness, a prophet named Ahijah accosted the man who was the chief officer over the labor force on the road, took his garment, tore it into ten pieces, and told him he would be king over 10 tribes of Israel. When word of that got out, Jeroboam had to flee to Egypt until Solomon died. (I Kings 11)

Although the temple was glorious and functioned as expected during Solomon’s reign, there were altars and depictions of foreign gods, some of them quite vile, all over the city. Infants were undoubtedly offered to these deities. The people tolerated it, but their patience was about burnt through by the time Solomon died and passed the throne to his young son, Rehoboam. The era of Kings Saul, David, and Solomon is called The United Kingdom. All 12 tribes were united in one nation.

The day came when Solomon, the richest man in the world, had to stand before the Eternal Judge to explain why he offered sacrifices to pagan gods, while his son, Rehoboam, who had never been trained in the ways of Mosaic Law, nor for that matter, been prepared to manage the nation of Israel, was anointed as the new king of Israel. He had no administrative experience, and when he should have been studying civics, he was off racing chariots with his buddies. (I made that last part up.)

Tough guy Rehoboam

When Solomon died, maybe even just before, the elders of the northern parts of Israel called Jeroboam back from Egypt. Rehoboam and his bros were hanging out at court, enjoying the luxury and intoxicated with their new power. On coronation day in the city of Shechem, Jeroboam appeared with the disgruntled leaders of 10 northern tribes. They had a list of demands for Rehoboam, things like better pay and fewer hours for workers, the kind of things that unions demand today. The Bible puts it like this,

“Your father made our yoke heavy; now therefore, lighten the burdensome service of your father, and his heavy yoke which he put on us, and we will serve you.”

The spoiled rich kid had an easy path to follow there. Just lighten up on the people, give them a tax cut, shorten working hours, lower the price of eggs, and the whole kingdom was in the bag for him without one shot fired. But Rehoboam wanted to consult with his advisors, so he said come back in 3 days. He turned to the elder advisors, the ones who knew Solomon, the ones who were young when David was king. They were there for the building of the city walls and gates and even the Temple. Their answer was very diplomatic, lawful, traditional, undramatic, sedate, almost boring:

“If you will be a servant to these people today, and serve them, and answer them, and speak good words to them, then they will be your servants forever.”

Pfft. Servant leadership? Where’s the fun in that? Rehoboam turned to his thuggish young friends. I can imagine the laughter and mocking when they heard the response of the older men. What I imagine them saying is, “Dude, that takes too much thinking. Those old woke guys would never get anything done, and the kings of neighboring countries would totally laugh at you. You’d look like a wimp and some upstart would try to throw you over. Show them who you are. Make us administrators and we’ll back all your plans. We’ll see to it that there won’t ever be another Jeroboam. How dare he challenge a son of David and Solomon?” (I made that up, too.) And Rehoboam took their advice. The Bible puts it this way,

“My little finger shall be thicker than my father’s waist! And now, whereas my father put a heavy yoke on you, I will add to your yoke; my father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scourges!”

It didn’t take a vote for the elders of the northern tribes to tell Rehoboam where to stick his scourges. They all marched back to Shechem, the place where Rehoboam was crowned, and made Jeroboam king.

The tribe of Benjamin, located next to Judah, was split on their loyalties. Rehoboam raised an army of Benjamite mercenaries and Judaite men and they went marching north. A prophet met them and ordered them to turn back because this was all according to God’s will and plan. Thwarting God would not end well. There was undoubtedly debate about whether to follow the word of the prophet or toss him in a ditch, but for once, Rehoboam made the right call. The army back and marched home.

Tough guy Jeroboam I

Rehoboam’s tough guy approach split the kingdom forever, opening the era called The Divided Kingdom, but it didn’t cut northern believers off from free access to the temple. That caused Jeroboam to feel threatened. Ignoring all that the prophet said who anointed him king, he built two golden calves, one in the extreme north and one in Bethel of Benjamin, close to Judah. The idea was to give northern Israelites an alternative to the Mosaic Law and Temple of Solomon. One day while Jeroboam was leading worship at the new altar, a prophet came to deliver a message from God:

“O altar, altar! Thus says the Lord: ‘Behold, a child, Josiah by name, shall be born to the house of David; and on you he shall sacrifice the priests of the high places who burn incense on you, and men’s bones shall be burned on you.’” And he gave a sign the same day, saying, “This is the sign which the Lord has spoken: Surely the altar shall split apart, and the ashes on it shall be poured out.”

                                                                        Image from ChatGPT

Well, tough guy Jeroboam wasn’t having it. With all the pomp he could muster, he raised his hand and pointed at the prophet. “Arrest him!” And before the soldiers could move to wrestle the prophet to the ground and tie his hands behind his back, Jeroboam’s hand withered. Oh. Oops. Um, sir, I seem to have misspoken here. Could you please let me have my hand back, and I’ll be good from now on. So Jeroboam got his hand back. And of course, the altar split and the ashes poured out.

Tough leaders often have their day in the sun, but in the end the people get crabby and uncooperative. Hitler committed suicide. Mussolini and wife got hung upside down. Ghadaffy was shot in the middle of a mob. Sadam Hussein was hung. Romanian Nicolae Ceaușescu and wife were overthrown and executed. Osama bin Laden was shot in his bedroom, and a couple of Russia’s puppet dictators wound up permanently in Moscow.

Diplomacy, the way of the older men of Rehoboam’s court, is slow and messy and lacking in spine tingling drama. It should be strong in empathy…you know, like caring about everyone equally in the community and meting out justice to rich and poor alike. Politics is supposed to be boring and bi-partisan. There are protections/guardrails against corruption that all parties should respect. Tough guys think rules are for wimps. It’s interesting how even the most evil leaders wrap their dirty deeds in some lame cloak of being a good thing.

All the evil kings of the Hebrew Bible had a coterie of false prophets and advisors who would tell them whatever they wanted to hear. The true prophets often had to hide. Today, there are still prophets declaring what they say is God’s word to U.S. leaders. I talk about that in other posts. One thing sure…if there’s a God who truly sends a prophet now and then, He knows who’s who, and lying to the Holy Spirit never ends well.