DIVISION! 1st Kings 12:1-24 For many years, there had been an "us and them" attitude among the Israelites. Ephraim seemed to be the most influential tribe in the northern part of the nation, and Judah was the most influential in the south. Rehoboam must have sensed the potential problem, so he went north to Shechem for his coronation and set up his government's center, perhaps to seek to unify the people. It could have been that he was seeking to claim historical significance because that was where the Lord met Abraham and promised him the land as far as he could see all around him.
Misunderstanding the role you are supposed to fill in life leads to unfortunate consequences, often leading to strife and division. It can happen in nations, assemblies, families, and even between husband and wife. In all these areas of life and service, your primary role is to be a servant to others. To think leadership is your calling is an end in itself, or to use it in some way to accumulate wealth, prestige, and self-gratification will end in not only you but also others being put on a shelf. Our responsibility and role, is always to serve our sisters and brothers.
God established leadership to maintain orderly conduct in homes, churches, and governments; even factories needed good leaders to produce products and make a profit. Each area of life in which people are involved requires a standard based on tried and proven principles of life and conduct. You who lead in any of these areas are called to be spiritual fathers and guides with common sense.
When you need counsel, ask it of those who care and have demonstrated over years of faithful service; they have already been there and have experienced God’s guidance through His word. They know what works right and what burdens leaders must bear when you meet with them and ask for advice and counsel. Good leaders know their role is to serve the people they lead. It is an honorable task in life that is given to those who earn it. You can learn from older people by being observant of their lives and conduct and their success when they please the Lord. You will learn wisdom that will stay with you forever if you pay attention to what they say.
Younger leaders need to learn that if they start right, people will follow them as leaders who walk in the light of God’s word with God. Instead of being divisive and critical, their fellowship will be tight, their counsel trustworthy, their wisdom understandable, and their knowledge practical. A servant who succeeds in his endeavor will follow the example of Jehovah's Perfect Servant, our Lord Jesus Christ. Trouble only occasionally comes upon us unawares. It usually has cast a shadow before it that can be seen by careful observers.
A division is usually the result of an ongoing difficulty that starts with unresolved differences of opinion. We have to respect those who have differences because of culture or nationality. However, different points of view regarding the word of God and divine authority may bring permanent division because of different opinions about the infallibility of the scriptures. “What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols?” Three things were involved in the division of the nation of Israel.
The first was the rebellion of the ten tribes from the rule of David’s family. Satan would want to cut off the prophesied “Seed of David” from being the King of Kings. Another aspect of the division was apostasy. People had been deliberately turning away from God and His laws for generations. It was no problem for Jeroboam to get most people in the northern tribes to accept the two golden calves as the focus of their worship. It seemed to happen right away on a national scale. They were already away from God in their hearts. Another part of this division was a divisive spirit among the people for a long time, which had occasionally shown itself in various ways.
However, only some people in the northern part of that land were willing to embrace the new religion Jeroboam had shrewdly brought upon them. He lost the best of the people, the Levites, who left their possessions and went to Judah for conscience's sake. Others also “set their hearts to seek the Lord God of Israel” to go to Jerusalem to sacrifice unto the Lord God. They had firm principles and were faithful to what they had been taught.
Those who are true to the word of God and practice it are towers of strength wherever they may be found. By its very nature, division has a root cause that has been overlooked and left unresolved until it grows into a serious problem. Jealousy of some kind is usually its source. Pride demands supremacy, and humility often allows it to happen. Grace left unbalanced by truth leads God's people to leave sin unjudged if we are not careful. Truth without grace to balance it becomes hard and calloused to the extent that people can become resentful and ignore the righteous demands of our Lord.
We must ask ourselves: when I confess my sin to the Lord, do I really forsake it? Is there a residue of resentment in my mind that retains sinful thoughts regarding the matter I confessed? David’s confession of sin did not end the whole matter. What we sow, we reap. The death of a child and then of his sons resulted. Solomon may have been his only son who died as an older man. Even Solomon made a fool of himself in his old age.
The root of evil is not quickly done away with in the human heart. The cause of division, rebellion, and apostasy was not only Jeroboam’s sin, but he was responsible for his actions. When he was given the place of ruler over the house of Joseph, his desire was kindled to become king. The Lord didn’t permit him to lead a rebellion or to substitute gold calves as the focus of worship. He knew the northern tribes had to be kept from going to Jerusalem. A new religion was needed to keep them from going there if they remained separate.
It is a reason for us to be grieved when we see some Christians either want to be on top or, for some other motive, willing to do what has been wrong and seek to make it right in the eyes of the majority. When expediency demands we change and conform to what pleases most people, the testimony to the name, authority, and person of the Lord Jesus Christ will die in that place. Jeroboam’s legacy that stuck to his name for generations was, “Jeroboam made Israel to sin!”
David began his reign in Israel over the northern tribes. The representatives of those tribes came to meet Rehoboam at Shechem to seek some deliverance from the pressures they were under when Solomon was king. Jeroboam recently returned from Egypt as their spokesman. The people's discontent over high taxes, the drafting of laborers, and the military forces that Solomon had imposed to support his opulent lifestyle left a deep bitterness in the people. As Solomon's pride and extravagance increased, and the political pressures led him to take multiple idolatrous wives, the burdens on the Israelites increased until when Rehoboam became king, they had had enough.
Not everything passed on to us is good, nor are we obligated to do what older people tell us if it is not biblically based. We want this generation and those following to "set their hope in God," not in being successful in the eyes of the world. The expectations people may have of us are not the basis of our motivation to "live godly in Christ Jesus." What we do in life is to be for the glory of God and the blessing of others. Responsibilities and opportunities may be passed on to us by others, and it is up to us to use them in ways directed by the Lord. Divisions can come quickly when a new generation arises to take leadership among God's people.
Authority in the assemblies of the people of the Lord and the kingdom of God in general is given for service, not for self-promotion and personal advantage. Solomon had finished his life with full and plenty, with fame and popularity in the world, but with confusion and chaos in Israel and his own home. Rehoboam was left with a very discontented nation of people to lead who were disillusioned with the royal family. He asked for advice, it was true, but he did not carefully evaluate the advice given. He must have given government positions to his friends and those his age as soon as he took the throne. Older men were there to advise him, but for some reason, he took the younger men's advice and rejected the counsel of the aged men.
When advice is asked for and given, determine if it is realistic and consistent with scriptural principles. If the advice is fair, positive, workable, and will be an improvement, and the direction is clear, then follow the advice. If you are uneasy about the advice given because it seems too hard or too slack, go no further but wait on God to open the way before you unmistakably are found to be against divine guidance.
Rehoboam's answer to the people of a harsher and more aggressive rule was contrary to the principles of the covenant of the nation with God that are written in Deuteronomy 17. The people had been warned by Samuel what would happen when they had a king - and it happened. The rebellion of the northern tribes was not condoned, nor was the foolishness of Rehoboam. Some things are a natural response to the actions of those who act outside God's will. God allows events of our choosing to bring about the effect that can be expected when we act in the flesh. Division among God's people is one of those awful effects.
One wrong act leads to another, and the result of self-will is not only divisive; in the case of Rehoboam's decision, it led to the murder of his tax man and the flight of Rehoboam himself to the city of David, Jerusalem. Some decisions come back to bite us severely, and it is tough to admit to making a mistake and take steps to fix the problem.
Rehoboam didn't learn from his mistake and was about to make a more serious one involving an invasion of northern Israel. However, God spoke through His servant, and the bloodshed was avoided temporarily. Until the cause of division is faced and fixed, instability among the people of God will remain.
What are you doing, Jeroboam? Don't you understand true worship is to be given in God's way, not the will of man? To say you worship your way is an arrogant decision made by an unbeliever or someone far away from the Lord. Worshipping in God's way is the divine condition of true worship. “They that worship the Father must worship Him in spirit and in truth.” To act independently is to usurp the role of God our Father, the Supreme Authority of the universe. Worship and service are to be according to His Word. Compromise and presumption lead to error, and error brings consequences that God and those chosen men who lead us will administer.
Learn from those in the ancient past who made this grave mistake. They lost all God intended for them when they took their own way. Confusion and rebellion tracked the people who followed those leaders all their days. Instead of a unified nation of holy people, they went their separate ways without divine direction and perished as unbelievers. There is no spiritual reason for convenience to be the reason for doing things our way. When we try to do God's will in our own "convenient season" without the guidance of the Holy Spirit and scriptural authority, we make a big mistake that will bring bad results. Possibly, we think our actions affect ourselves only alone, but generations yet to come will be affected by what we've done.