And he spoke to them according to the advice of the young men, saying, "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. (verse 14)
Message: A Young King's Folly
Time: The author of 1&2 Kings (originally 1 book) is not known. First Kings follows the history of this divided kingdom from the death of David around 971 BC through the year 853 BC. First Kings reveals Solomon’s relationship with Yahweh and introduces the prophet Elijah who pronounces judgment on the evil northern king Ahab. Like other books, it helps us to understand the history of Israel and Judah.
What the Lord is Saying: Rehoboam, the son of Solomon and grandson of David, is now the central figure. Rehoboam heads to Shechem to be crowned king through a ceremonial process with representatives from the 12 tribes. In the last chapter it was prophesied that Jeroboam would be in charge of the ten tribes of the northern part of Israel. He was a former servant of Solomon and placed in charge of parts of the labor of the temple and changes. After Solomon's death he had fled to Egypt (verse 2) and now hears of Rehoboam's assent to king. He returns to speak to Rehoboam (verse 3).
Jeroboam mentions to Rehoboam in verse 4, "Your father made our yoke hard." Solomon's reign was marked with prosperity but in building a lot he also placed a lot of pressure on his labor force, that build a temple but then also built his much larger palace. Prosperity takes hard work. It is not simply hand-outs. It is hard work building something. So Jeroboam petitions Rehoboam to "lighten the hard service of your father...and we will serve you." The problem is not hard work but instead forced labor. This is the problem that remains, forcing people to work. The evils of society speak of this often - forcing people to be sex slaves is one of the biggest problems today. Rehoboam responds that he needs time to deliberate and think of this. Sometimes we need time to consider a path forward.
In verse 6, Rehoboam counsels elders. This is good perspective - to go to those who came before him, to the elders. He goes to those that counseled Solomon, most likely in his early days. In life, hopefully we seek aid from the wisdom of others. Hopefully our leaders are being counseled by others. The elders recommendation to Rehoboam hold true today in verse 7, "Be a servant to this people...serve them...speak good words to them."
But instead Rehoboam "forsook the counsel of the elders" and instead "consulted with the young men" instead that had been serving him and they told him to say to Jeroboam in verse 11, "I will add to your yoke; my father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions." Basically, you thought you had it hard, but I will show who is really tough. In verse 12, the 3 days is up from verse 5 and Rehoboam tells Jeroboam what the young men told him.
And yet, this was God's sovereign will - judgment on Solomon's idolatry, splitting the kingdom with Jeroboam receiving the bulk of the split and Rehoboam receiving the least. Only a small portion of people would remain loyal to David (Judah) while the bulk would go in the direction of Jeroboam. The people, Israel, responded by stoning to death (verse 18) the man in Adoram who had overseen the force labor under Solomon's reign. The people made Jeroboam king over all Israel (v. 20) and the ten tribes. Rehoboam and the people of Judah wanted to fight Israel, but God said no (v. 24). The division of the kingdom fulfilled God’s judgment on Solomon’s unfaithfulness and His prior word concerning Jeroboam. Rehoboam’s loss of the northern tribes was not to be reversed by force.
Matthew Henry comments, “God serves his own wise and righteous purposes by the imprudences (lack of good judgment) and iniquities of men.” This passage doesn't go in the direction you would think people Rehoboam listening to wise counsel, but instead listens to foolish counsel but in so doing God's sovereign ways are fulfilled. God works things out in the way he had mentioned by fulfilling wrath toward Solomon and Israel, splitting the kingdoms and yet not allowing a civil war between the people.
Summary: Jeroboam petitions Rehoboam for mercy and does not receive it and in return receives the 10 tribes of Israel while Rehoboam gets Judah and a division results.
Promise: God uses our decisions to achieve His purposes.
Prayer: Lord, I think that my default thinking is that my decisions achieve purposes that will work out in my favor, but this passage shows that decisions made by people, selfish decisions, can also work out in your favor and result in judgment sometimes.
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