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Our recent travels to Ohio observed different cultural art. The area of the camp was rural and recognized for the influence of Tecumseh, a popular Native American chief. Tecumseh was not only a strong warrior but a smart leader who traveled various regions far away to rally alliances to protect his people. However, during his far reaching travels, his people were left exposed and were eventually defeated.

This was true of many Native American tribes. ^[1] Another tribe, the Mandan Indians based in the Dakotas, were devastated by an external virus. In 1837, a smallpox epidemic ravaged many colonists. The disease spread through people and their germ-infected possessions. Native Americans who traded and interacted with the colonists became infected. When colonists tried to warn the Natives about purging items they purchased or traded because they contained the virus, they refused thinking these items were “their belongings” (reportedly, blankets). Sadly, the virus spread rapidly and more than 17K Indigenous people died along the Missouri River alone, with some tribes becoming nearly extinct. Of the Mandan tribe, they had about 9 large villages but only 2 survived with fewer than 100 individuals of a once great tribe.

The situation in 1 Kings 12 is similar. Severe repercussions came over insignificant issues like political discussions, prideful leadership, and selfish decisions.  Sin split a kingdom. Pride poisons a nation.

EXAMINE           1 Kings 12-14            A Family’s Pride

1 Kings 12 ¹ Rehoboam

Solomon’s son Rehoboam (Reh) becomes Israel’s next king. Reh is the only child of Solomon that is named, though there were likely hundreds of children with his 700 wives & 300 concubines.

went to Shechem, for all Israel had come to Shechem to make him king. ² And as soon as Jeroboam the son of Nebat heard of it (for he was still in Egypt, where he had fled from King Solomon), then Jeroboam returned from Egypt.

Jeroboam was one of Solomon’s servants. Yet, a prophet foretold Jeroboam’s reign after Solomon’s downfall (1K 11:31-39). In fact, the Lord promised to bless Jeroboam’s kingdom if he obeyed God’s commands.

³ And they sent and called him, and Jeroboam and all the assembly of Israel came and said to Rehoboam, ⁴ “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.” ⁵ He said to them, “Go away for three days, then come again to me.” So the people went away. ⁶ Then King Rehoboam took counsel with the old men, who had stood before Solomon his father while he was yet alive, saying, “How do you advise me to answer this people?”

Reh hears the people wanting a better economy – inflation is high, unemployment is increasing since the temple and palace are built – so, Reh asks the older cabinet members for advice. They tell him to write a speech “Read my lips: ‘No new taxes!’”

⁷ And they said to him, “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.” ⁸ But he abandoned the counsel that the old men gave him and took counsel with the young men who had grown up with him and stood before him.

Reh dismisses the older men’s advice and entertains his peers – the younger audience’s suggestions.

• Before we dismiss Reh, consider how many of us go “advice shopping” for the news bias that fits our thinking, or the counseling that fits how we want to behave so that we don’t have to change. We seek what we want to hear, instead of what we need to hear. Indeed, it is wise to gather advice (Prov 11:14), but we must be careful to not surround ourselves with echo chambers of guidance that doesn’t challenge us to godliness, rather than building our own ego.

We seek what we want to hear, instead of what we need to hear. Indeed, it is wise to gather advice, but we must be careful to not surround ourselves with echo chambers of guidance that doesn’t challenge us to godliness, rather than building our own ego.

⁹ And Rehoboam said, “What do you advise that we answer this people who have said to me, ‘Lighten the yoke that your father put on us’?” ¹⁰ And the young men who had grown up with him said to him… ‘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.’”

We see the young audience not being content and wanting bigger and better. The lesson for youth: Bigger is not always better. Be careful of deconstructing or shedding tradition just because. Make sure you evaluate history within its context so that you learn and act wisely in the present.

¹⁵ So king Rehoboam did not listen to the people, for it was a turn of affairs brought about by the Lord that he might fulfill his word, which the Lord spoke by Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat.

The circumstances were brought about by the Lord. The sovereignty of God is mysterious and complex for us to understand. The Bible affirms,

• Proverbs 16:9 “The heart of man plans his way but the LORD establishes his steps.”
• Proverbs 19:21 “Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the LORD that will stand.”
• Lamentations 3:37 “Who has spoken and it came to pass, unless the Lord has commanded it?”
• Isaiah 46:10 “I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say: ‘My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.’
• Ephesians 1:11 “we are predestined according to the purpose of Christ who works all things to the counsel of His will”

So, while Scripture affirms God’s sovereignty, we also know that God is never the author of sin. God’s will of decree is never interrupted (Job 42:2), but God’s will of desire is disrupted by our sinful choices.[2] Yet, God still works all things together for good (cf Ro 8:28; Gen 50:20).

Rehoboam was an instrument of God’s passive discipline upon disobedient children.

¹⁶ And when all Israel saw the king did not listen to them, the people answered, “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.” So Israel went to their tents. ¹⁷ But Rehoboam reigned over the people of Israel… ¹⁸ Then King Rehoboam sent Adoram, who was taskmaster over the forced labor, and all Israel stoned him to death. And King Rehoboam hurried to mount his chariot to flee to Jerusalem. ¹⁹ So Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David to this day.

In hindsight, Reh learned a valuable leadership lesson: rules without relationship leads to rebellion / relationship with rules leads to reward. Instead, Reh becomes the standard of rebellion for future ungodly kings of Israel.

Rules without relationship leads to rebellion.
Relationship with rules leads to reward.

The rest of the chapter describes the civil between the North 10 tribes (Israel) with King Jeroboam and the South 2 tribes (Judah) with King Rehoboam. And sadly, both depart from the worship of the LORD.

• Jeroboam makes two golden calves to worship in Bethel & Dan, instead of the Jerusalem temple (12:28-29). Further, he appointed priests not of the Levites, and also appointed a different feast day to worship apart from the sacred Feast of Tabernacles (Dt. 16:13).
  
• These verses reverberate to the rhythm of ‘he did … he did … he did’ – 8x in the Hebrew.^[3] Jeroboam’s directives are competing with divine principles, and the people are choosing politics over the worship of God. Earthly politics have become a man-made religion that rejects the authority of Almighty God.

• Jeroboam promised Solomon he would be a servant and friend to the kingdom. However, the first opportunity to serve his own interests, he took it. That’s politics at its finest — or could say its foulest. And the next chapters 13 & 14 indicate Jeroboam’s manipulative nature toward the Lord. 1Ki 14:14-16 summarize “the LORD will raise up for himself a king over Israel who shall cut off the house of Jeroboam today. And henceforth, the LORD will strike Israel as a reed is shaken in the water, and root up Israel out of this good land that He gave to their fathers and scatter them beyond the Euphrates, because they have made their Asherim[4], provoking the LORD to anger. And he will give Israel up because of the sins of Jeroboam, which he sinned and made Israel to sin.”
  
  Fellow Christian, be careful of cozying up to politicians who promise protection and prosperity. History has shown that whenever the church gets intimate with politics, the church gets pregnant, and our offspring does not look like our Heavenly Father.[5]
  
• Rehoboam was the son of the wisest and wealthiest man in history. Yet, he still made foolish decisions. Of all Solomon’s building projects, he neglected building sons and daughters that feared God and followed His commands. The book of Proverbs should have been a frame around the art of Solomon’s family; instead, it’s a dashboard light blinking and warning of engine failure and destruction if its not heeded.
  
• Parents, I implore with you to
  1) catechize your children, whether formal catechism[6], or exhorting with ongoing faith testimonies.
  2) church your children with a similar priority as other passions (sports, dance, clubs, even school, etc.). There is coming a day when your child will advance from these organizations, and if church has been diminished or condensed to low importance, then why would it change to becoming noteworthy.

SO, in Rehoboam and Jeroboam we learn that sin splits a kingdom and pride poisons a nation. Generational sin will follow many kings and families. But the curse of sin can be stopped and prevented with just one person.

The curse of sin can be stopped and prevented with just one person.

1 Kings 15:9-15 ⁹ In the twentieth year of Jeroboam king of Israel, Asa began to reign over Judah, ¹⁰ and he reigned forty-one years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Maacah the daughter of Abishalom. ¹¹ And Asa did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, as David his father had done. ¹² He put away the male cult prostitutes out of the land and removed all the idols that his fathers had made. ¹³ He also removed Maacah his mother from being queen mother because she had made an abominable image for Asherah. And Asa cut down her image and burned it at the brook Kidron. ¹⁴ But the high places were not taken away. Nevertheless, the heart of Asa was wholly true to the Lord all his days. ¹⁵ And he brought into the house of the Lord the sacred gifts of his father and his own sacred gifts, silver, and gold, and vessels.

Basically, 1 Ki 14-22 is like a really bad baseball team^[7]: 8 bad kings and 1 good one. Here’s the batting order:

Three Southern Kings of Judah

1. Rehoboam (14:21–31)
2. Abijam (15:1–8)
3. Asa (15:9–24) #3 hitter is usually best

Six Northern Kings of Israel

4. Nadab (15:25–31)
5. Baasha (15:33–16:7)
6. Elah (16:8–10)
7. Zimri (16:10–20)
8. Omri (16:21–28)

And the pitcher is always the last and worst hitter…

9. Ahab (16:29–34)

So, let’s focus on one who reversed the curse: King Asa. What actions described him as a godly leader?

#1 Revere the LORD. Asa does what is right in the eyes of God. Instead of doing what is right in their own eyes[8] and following the pattern of ungodly role models, Asa reaches back to his heritage with his 2^nd great grandfather: David.[9]
How many know the name of their 2^nd great grandfather? There are times when we need to pull water from a different well, and seek inspiration and gain motivation from a different source. Otherwise, we will look/talk/think/believe like everyone else; taking the wide road that leads to destruction. The narrow road is hard and holy, but its trustworthy and essential for eternal life.

My friend, in life you will have sorrow and shame, but you will never regret following Jesus and doing right in the eyes of the LORD.

#2 Reform the culture. While the other kings were conformers to culture, Asa was a reformer of culture. He removed male cult prostitutes and removed idols that his fathers made. Reforming the culture starts with an individual’s integrity. The overflow of one’s character becomes contagious. Followers of Jesus are filled with the Holy Spirit, so that salt and light are able to influence others and organizations, according to the Scriptures.

#3 Remove stumbling blocks. Asa removed his mother/grandmother[10] from the position as spiritual queen, because she was an idolater. He took her darling decorations, her fabulous colored flags, her prized ribbons, and gathered them into one precious orderly pile, so that he could set them ablaze in fire and watch them smolder into forgotten ashes.

Our world needs men and women, youth, and families, and churches willing to amputate personal but unhelpful affections and bury stumbling bocks that we deem precious, but God deems futile and fruitless in eternity. Asa made a difficult decision to confront his mother. What is your difficult decision that God is asking/demanding amputation and eradication?

#4 Reflect grace and generosity. Asa gave sacred gifts of silver, gold, and other vessels to the Lord. He used his treasure to praise God, protect the needy, and promote God’s kingdom. Asa’s actions were not exempt from faith inconsistencies, but he is a lamp in the darkness of Israel’s kings.

• If you’ve tasted the grace of God, how are you sharing that treasure with others?

• What sacred gift is in your hands and within your resources, but you have yet to release?

APPLY/TAKEAWAY

Our world and nation dwells in shadows of conspiracy and corruption, along with many corners of darkness and depravity.

But there is a king in the line of David whom we await. “Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end” – unending reign, never-ceasing justice, and always advancing goodness – “No more let sins and sorrows grow, nor thorns infest the ground; He comes to make His blessings flow, far as the curse is found, far as the curse is found.” Jesus Christ, the greater King Asa.

2 Chronicles 16:9 “For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him.”

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^[1] Illustration inspired and adapted from Dale Ralph Davis, 1 Kings: The Wisdom and the Folly, Focus on the Bible Commentary (Great Britain: Christian Focus Publications, 2002), 125.

[2] God sovereignty is not contaminated by sin: Psalm 5:4; Ecclesiastes 7:17; Lamentations 3:38; Isaiah 45:7; Matthew 5:45; 1 John 1:5; James 1:13.

^[3] J. Gary Millar, “1-2 Kings,” in 1 Samuel–2 Chronicles, ed. Iain M. Duguid, James M. Hamilton Jr., and Jay Sklar, vol. III, ESV Expository Commentary (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2019), 615.

[4] Mother to the false gods, specifically Baal. Promoted child sacrifice (1Ki 13:2), immoral fertility (1Ki 14:23-24), and other abominable practices (Dt 7:5; 12:3; 16:21).

[5] Lightly adapted quote from J.D. Greear.

[6] Consider the New City Catechism, or use mine: https://growinggodlygenerations.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/training-to-trust-and-treasure-jesus_catechism-spbc.pdf.

^[7] Tony Merida, Exalting Jesus in 1 & 2 Kings (Nashville, TN: Holman Reference, 2015), 85.

[8] Like Judges 2:11, etc.

[9] David – Solomon – Rehoboam – Abijam – Asa.

[10] Maacah was Rehoboam’s wife and mother of Abijah (2 Chr 11:21; 13:2), and thus actually Asa’s grandmother. Some scholars also suggest Asa’s biological mother (unnamed in narrative) died early, so his g-ma acted as mother.