1 Kings 12 Dreadful Advice

Solomon is now sleeping with his ancestors. His son Rehoboam takes the throne. He gets dreadful advice from the start. The kingdom is torn in two.

As hard as it is to stomach, this ‘dreadful advice’ was God ordained.  NOT that God forced the words out of the mouths of Rehoboam’s friends, or even made Rehoboam follow it, but that God used their personalities to accomplish His own plan.

God KNEW what was going to happen from before began. And He let it unfold just as He knew it would. And Rehoboam’s dreadful answer was no surprise to Him, as it completed Solomon’s judgment for his falling away from the Lord. Let’s rejoin the story as Israel tears itself in two.

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Rehoboam is wrestling with mixed emotions. His father is dead and he is feeling the loss. But he is also excited for what comes next. He is to be the king of Israel in a matter of days! “Is it wrong for me to want power”, he wonders. “It is my birthright after all.”

Rehoboam doesn’t want ‘power’ so that he can lead the people of the Lord, but so that they will bow down to his every command. He sees himself as more important than any man on earth. And everyone else as something to affirm his importance.

Solomon had not followed in David’s footsteps of appointing his successor before he died. This makes it important that the people choose to follow Rehoboam as king. They will have to affirm their allegiance to him. The place that Israel chooses for this, by assembling there as a nation, is Shechem.

Jeroboam, whom the prophet Ahijah told that he would be king, hears of Solomon’s death and the upcoming coronation of Rehoboam. He had fled to Egypt when Solomon learned of the prophecy. “It’s time to return to my own country”, he says to Shishak king of Egypt. Shishak wishes him well and sees him safely on his way.

Rehoboam has no doubt that they will affirm him as king. He goes to Shechem full of pride and purpose. Accompanying him are several of the men he grew up with, as well as many of Solomon’s advisors. They are all here to support him and assure the people of the support of Solomon for this day.

The town is teaming with people. Some are excited while others are reserved. The consensus of the people is that a confrontation has to happen and concessions made before they will follow Rehoboam; son of Solomon or not. Everyone is waiting for that moment. Jeroboam is among the people waiting to confront Rehoboam.

Rehoboam steps before the crowd. Zadok, the high priest, stands behind and to the side of him, ready to anoint him before the people. Rehoboam smiles and looks out over the crowd. “This is MY moment”, he thinks to himself.

Jeroboam has heard the complaints and requests of the people. He is ready to speak for them. He watches as Rehoboam stands before the crowd. He is waiting for the right moment.

Rehoboam nods his head and then begins to turn to Zadok the priest. THIS is the moment Jeroboam has been waiting for. Jeroboam calls out.

“Your father made our yoke heavy. Now therefore lighten the hard service of your father and his heavy yoke on us, and we will serve you” (1 Kings 12:4).

Rehoboam was not expecting this. He figured anointing him king was a simple formality. He isn’t sure how to answer Jeroboam’s challenge. He does the wisest thing possible. He asks for time to consider the matter.

“Go away for three days, then come again to me” (1 Kings 12:5).

Jeroboam nods. He turns to the people and nods again to ensure that they see he is willing to do as Rehoboam has asked. The people begin to break up and move away from the place where Rehoboam stands.

The people don’t travel back to their homes but withdraw outside the city into camps set up on its edge. Here they discuss what has happened and what may come next.

“What if he refuses to listen?”

“Then we walk away. We will NOT serve under him as king if he thinks nothing of the people.”

“Who would lead us then?”

“Jeroboam stood for us in making this demand. He can stand for us as king, IF the time comes.”

“I heard that the prophet Ahijah told him that he would be king.”

“I heard that he ran to Egypt because Solomon tried to kill him to prevent him from becoming king.”

“If God said He would make Jeroboam king, that’s good enough for me.”

“Me too” echoes around the circle. And the same conclusion is drawn by all those who are discussing the matter.

Rehoboam goes to the leading home in the city and commandeers it for his own use. From here, he calls for the advisors of Solomon. He paces the floor until they appear.

Solomon’s advisors have been discussing the matter amongst themselves from the moment they heard the people’s words.

“The people are right”, states the eldest advisor.

“Of course they are” answers another. “Solomon’s yoke was heavy, but there was a reason behind it. There was much building and repairs that needed done throughout Israel.”

“The cities have been restored and the walls fortified. There is no need of such a heavy yoke any longer”, argues a third.

“Are we all agreed that the need for the heavy yoke is passed?”

Heads nod all around.

“Then we advise Rehoboam to lift the yoke in order to gain the people’s confidence.”

They all look to one another and nod again. It is settled among them.

As soon as they are called, they make their way to the place specified. They enter the room and wait quietly.

Rehoboam stops pacing and faces the men who were his Abba’s closest advisors. He looks pleadingly into their eyes. ““How do you advise me to answer this people?” (1 Kings 12:6b).

The eldest advisor speaks for the group. “If you will be a servant to this people today and serve them, and speak good words to them when you answer them, then they will be your servants forever” (1 Kings 12:7).

Rehoboam dismisses them with a wave. He begins pacing again, thinking about the question and the answer he has just received. He is not satisfied. He cannot see giving in to the people as his first act as king. “I need another opinion” he tells himself. “The young men who have grown up with me will have a modern view of the situation. Not like the old men who only see the world through the eyes of the past.”

Rehoboam calls for his friends who accompanied him on this journey. They came quickly in response to his call. They all enter the room where Rehoboam waits. They are talking amongst themselves as they enter. They too have been discussing the words of the people. Rehoboam holds up his hands to quiet them down before asking them their advice.

“What do you advise that we answer this people who have said to me, ‘Lighten the yoke that your father put on us’?” (1 Kings 12:9).

The boldest of the men, who was also Rehoboam’s closest companion speaks for them all. “Thus shall you speak to this people who said to you, ‘Your father made our yoke heavy, but you lighten it for us,’ thus shall you say to them, ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s thighs. ¹¹ And now, whereas my father laid on you a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke. My father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions’” (1 Kings 12:10-11).

Rehoboam’s mouth begins to curl as he listens to his friend’s advice. An evil look forms on his face and he begins nodding as the idea takes hold.

“Now THAT sounds like good advice. The old men of my father’s court advised me to give in to the people’s demands. I can’t allow myself to appear weak before the people. If I gave in on my first day as king, can you imagine how they would run over me from that day on? I’m going with your plan.”

The three days has passed. The people begin to assemble before the king. Jeroboam stands front and center before Rehoboam. Their eyes lock as if all alone and in a struggle for supremacy. Rehoboam finally breaks their private struggle and looks out over the people.

With his chin held high, Rehoboam gives the people their answer. “My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to your yoke. My father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions” (1 Kings 12:14).

An audible gasp explodes from the people. They look to one another in complete shock. They did not expect this cruel of an answer. Jeroboam cries out what they all are thinking. “What portion do we have in David? We have no inheritance in the son of Jesse. To your tents, O Israel! Look now to your own house, David” (1 Kings 12:16).

The people in mass begin leaving and going back to their tents. The same ones that they occupied while Rehoboam crafted his despicable answer.

Rehoboam was not expecting this response. He believed that they would fold under his hand if he only showed strength. As he watches the crowd turn their backs on him, his anger begins to simmer just beneath the surface.

Rehoboam quickly calls for Adoram, who was over the forced labor. “If they are going to act like foreigners, I will treat them as such”, he decides.

Adoram stands before Rehoboam in the very place where he expected to be crowned king of all Israel. He bows low before Rehoboam.

“I have a task for you. Go and enslave the people of Israel who have retreated to their tents. If they won’t submit to their rightful king, then they will be treated as foreigners and enslaved.”

Adoram bows again. “It will be done as you have said, my king.”

Adoram believes his words will be enough to straighten the people out. “Threaten them a little and they always comply” he tells himself.

When Adoram reaches the encampment of tents, he steps up onto a nearby rock so the people can all see and hear him. “By order of the king, you are to disperse. If you refuse to accept him as your king, you will be treated as foreigners and put under my care as forced labor!”

The people, again, can’t believe their ears. “Does he really think he can enslave anyone who disagrees with him?” “He is NO king of mine!” “We never crowned him as king so his edicts are useless!” These are the things being shouted back at Adoram.

Adoram attempts to quiet them by raising his hands above his head to get their attention. One of the men in the second row of the people bends down and takes up a stone. He throws it and it hits Adoram squarely in the chest.

Adoram moves as if he is going to go after the man, and pandemonium breaks out. The people grab stones and begin flinging them at Adoram with all their might. In minutes Adoram lies dead on the ground, stones lying all around him and on him. The people finally stop throwing stones when Jeroboam calls out to them.

“Enough my brothers. He is dead. The king’s edict is no more.”

The people immediately begin calling for Jeroboam to be their king. “Long live King Jeroboam” resounds throughout the crowd.

Rehoboam hears the chants of the people and runs to his chariot and flees. He whips his horses until they are foaming at the mouths trying to increase his speed. As he reaches the gates of Jerusalem his horses collapse and he is thrown from the chariot. He quickly scrambles to his feet and runs through the gates. “Close the gates”, he cries as he passes the guards.

Once he hears the bar being drawn across the gates, he slows to a walk. He begins to pace the ground. His anger is no longer simmering, it is at full boil! After a minute of pacing he summons one of the guards.

“Bring me a chariot to carry me to the palace.”

Rehoboam is quickly whisked away from the gates, which are then reopened to receive the rest of those who had accompanied him to Shechem.

As soon as Rehoboam flees Shechem, Jeroboam takes the place where he stood and is anointed king over Israel. The only tribe that did not accept him is the tribe of Judah, for they do have a share in David’s lineage.

(to be continued)

This was God’s plan for the sin of Solomon. The nation is now divided. Benjamin will join Judah in following the line of David. Rehoboam didn’t make it any easier for the people to follow him. He listened to the wrong counsel and made matters go from bad to worse.

We aren’t really told what Adoram was told to do, or even why he was called by Rehoboam. I just used logic to extrapolate his role that day. Honestly, I can think of no other reason Rehoboam would have summoned him.

Both leaders end up being problems for the people. Jeroboam turns the people completely away from the Lord, but that’s a story for another day. What is for today is that God sometimes uses BAD leaders to bring the lessons His people truly need to learn. And that learning does NOT happen overnight. It has to get really bad before it gets better. I’m wondering how much further we have to fall before Jesus returns. I’m watching the skies!

Father God, I don’t like what I see going on in the world around me, including in my own country. I have no power to stop it beyond raising my voice to what I see is wrong. But You know how that ends up; in arguments that leave me physically sick. All I can really do Father God is pray for my leaders and my nation and leave it in Your hands.

Just like with my children. I trust You Lord to work things out in Your way to bring about Your plan. I know it is NOT going to be an easy or smooth process, but it will be YOUR desired result in the end. And that result ALWAYS is love!