Rehoboam and Jeroboam, and the Division of Israel

Content:

• The division of Israel
• Jeroboam
• Rehoboam

The division of Israel

Rehoboam, Solomon's son, became king of Israel. As soon as Jeroboam heard that,
he returned from Egypt where he had fled from Solomon. Jeroboam and all the congregation of Israel came and told Rehoboam that Solomon had made their yoke heavy. They would serve Rehoboam if he lightened this hard service. Rehoboam told them to go away for three days and then come back to him. So they did. Then he consulted with the old men who served Solomon while he was still alive. They told him that if he wanted to be a servant to this people, he would speak good words to them and they would be his servants. But he forsook the counsel which they gave, and consulted with the young men who had grown up with him and stood before him. Their advice was to tell them that while his father put a heavy yoke on them, he would add to their yoke, and while his father chastised them with whips, he would chastise them with scorpions. When Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam on the third day, he answered them harshly, and spoke to them according to the advice of the young men. Rehoboam didn't listen to the people which fulfilled the word which the Lord had spoken through Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam, see the end part of King Solomon. (1 Kings 12:1–15, 2 Chron 10:1–15).

Solomon had taxed the people heavily because of all his building projects. They had
also been forced to do work for Solomon. They now wanted to be freed from all that. Rehoboam didn't have his father's wisdom and followed the wrong advice.

When all Israel saw that the king wouldn't listen to them, they turned away from him. Rehoboam ruled over the people of Israel who lived in the cities of Judah. Then Rehoboam sent Adoram, who was taskmaster over the forced labour, but all Israel stoned him to death. Rehoboam had to flee to Jerusalem. Israel rebelled against the house of David. They made Jeroboam king over all Israel. There was none who followed the house of David except the tribe of Judah and the tribe of Benjamin 
(1 Kings 12:16–20, 2 Chron 10:16–19, 11:5–12).

It was very unwise of Rehoboam to send his taskmaster over the forced labour to Israel when they had turned away from him. It led to the death of his taskmaster. 

From this time we got the divided kingdom of Israel. It resulted in the northern kingdom (Israel) with the ten tribes that later was conquered by the Assyrian
Empire, see The Book of Hosea. The southern kingdom (Judah) lasted longer, with the tribe of Judah as the main part, but also with the tribe of Simeon and the
tribe of Benjamin. The tribe of Simeon was gradually absorbed by the tribe of Judah. Joseph’s descendants had become two tribes, Manasseh and Ephraim who were part of the ten tribes. After the destruction of the northern kingdom (Israel), the 
tribe of Benjamin was fully absorbed in the southern kingdom (Judah). Judah was eventually conquered by the Babylonian Empire, see The Book of Habakkuk.

The tribe of Judah, the tribe of Simeon, the tribe of Benjamin, and the people of the tribe of Levi who lived among them belonged to the southern kingdom (Judah).
The ten tribes were the tribes of Reuben, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Issachar, Zebulun, Manasseh, Ephraim, and the people of the tribe of Levi who lived among them. They belonged to the northern kingdom (Israel). 

When Rehoboam came to Jerusalem, he gathered 180,000 warriors from the
house of Judah (Judah and Simeon) and the tribe of Benjamin to fight against the
house of Israel. But the word of God came to a man of God to say to Rehoboam, 
to the house of Judah and Benjamin and to the rest of the people, not to go up or fight against their relatives, the people of Israel. Each  should return to his home,
for this division came from God. They listened to the word of the Lord and went home. (1 Kings 12:21–24, 2 Chron 11:1–4).

God prevented a civil war from breaking out by sending them a prophet. 

Jeroboam

Jeroboam became afraid that the kingdom would return to Rehoboam if the people went to Jerusalem to sacrifice in the temple and that they would kill him. He made two calves of gold and set one in Bethel, and the other in Dan. This became a sin for the people. He also built temples on high places and appointed priests from among all the people, who were not of the Levites. At Bethel he set priests on the high places as he had made. (1 Kings 12:25–33).

Jeroboam thought he couldn't compete with the magnificent temple in Jerusalem to which his people would go. He knew that the Jews had to visit the temple at least once a year and thought he would loose everyone to Rehoboam because of it.
Jeroboam rejected the word of God which he had received by the prophet 
Ahijah the Shilonite, see the end part of King Solomon.

God had promised Jeroboam that if he did all that God commanded him, walked in obedience to him, and did what was right in his eyes by obeying his decrees and commands as David did, God would be with him. God would even build a dynasty for him as lasting as the one he built for David and would give Israel to him. Instead, 
he created a pagan man-made religion out of his own imagination just to prevent his people from going to the temple in Jerusalem, see also the example Man-made Religion. The northern nation (Israel) would never recover from this and would eventually go into captivity because of what Jeroboam did. All because he was afraid of losing the devotion of the people. Fear can make us do things contrary to the Lord if we aren't careful, see Fear of Man. 

A man of God came out of Judah with the word of the Lord to Bethel. Jeroboam
stood at the altar to sacrifice. The man called out to the altar with the word of the Lord and said: "A son shall be born to the house of David, Josiah by name, and he shall sacrifice on you the priests of the high places who make offerings on you, and human bones shall be burned on you." And he gave the sign that the altar should be torn down and the ashes that are on it should be poured out. Jeroboam
then stretched out his hand from the altar and commanded them to seize the man
of God. But his hand dried so that he couldn't draw it back to himself. The altar was also torn down, and the ashes poured out from the altar. The king told the man of God that he would pray for him, that his hand might be recovered. The man of God did so, and the king’s hand was restored and became as it was before. The king asked the man of God to accompany him home to receive a reward. But he answered the king that even if he gave him half his house, he wouldn't do it. He wouldn't eat bread or drink water at that place, for so it was commanded him by the word of the Lord, which said that he should neither eat bread nor drink water, nor return by the way that he came. He went another way and didn't return the way he came to Bethel. (1 Kings 13:1–10).

This prophesy mentioned a person named Josiah. He who would be king in Judah
290 years later and would make a great return to the Lord in Judah, see 
Josiah of Judah.

The prophesy said that Josiah would take the bones of Jeroboam's priests and burn them on that altar. It meant:

1. There would be judgement about what  Jeroboam had done.
2. That it would be a sign of defilement of that altar, meaning that it could then no longer be used.
3. It was an act of grace and mercy from God to warn Jeroboam for the
   man-made religion he had created, but he didn't understand that.
   God wanted him to repent.

God broke David's pride when he got warnings for the mistakes he made. He immediately confessed and got it right with God, even though he was punished for it. Jeroboam had the opportunity to respond in the same way, but he didn't.

An old prophet lived in Bethel and his sons came and told him all that the man of God had done that day. He went after him and found him sitting under an oak tree. He told him to come home with him and eat bread. But he replied that he couldn't do so, because the Lord had told him not to eat bread or drink water and not to return the way he came. The other man said that he was also a prophet and that an angel had spoken to him to bring him back to his house to eat bread and drink water. But he lied to him. The man of God did so. As they sat at the table, the word of the Lord came to the prophet who had brought him back, that because he had disobeyed the Lord, his body won't come to his fathers grave. After the man of God had eaten bread, drunk, and departed, a lion met him on the road and killed him. When the prophet who had brought him back from the way heard it, he said that he was a man of God who didn't obey the word of the Lord; therefore the Lord had given him to the lion. And he went and found the man's body. He picked it up, brought it back to the city to mourn and bury him. He put the body in his own grave. He also said that what the man had cried out by the word of the Lord against the altar in Bethel and against all the high places that were in the cities of the northern kingdom would happen. Jeroboam didn't turn from his wicked way, but again made priests for the high places among all the people. Whoever wanted to become a priest he ordained to the sacrificial places. This was the sin of the house of Jeroboam that led to its downfall and to its destruction from the face of the Earth. (1 Kings 13:11–34).

The following can be learned about this:

1. God doesn't change his mind or contradict himself (Num 23:19).
2. There are Christians today who follow people who claim to have supernatural experiences, even when it contradicts God's word or what God has told them. 
3. This story surely reached Jeroboam by the grace of God, to show him what happens if we don't obey God. That should have convinced Jeroboam that God's word would come to pass and that he needed to repent, but he didn't.
   When God speaks he will bring it to pass.
4. There is a point when disobedience without repentance leads to destruction.

Jeroboam's son fell ill. He told his wife to go to the prophet Ahijah the Shilonite
and he would tell her what was going to happen to the boy. So she did. He told her that the Lord had raised up Jeroboam and made him ruler over Israel. God tore the kingdom from the house of David and gave it to him, but he hadn't been like his servant David, who kept his commandments and followed God with all his heart and did only what was right in his eyes. Jeroboam had done more evil than anyone who lived before him. He had created other gods and turned his back on him. God would bring disaster upon his house because of it. He would cut off from him every male in Israel, slave or free. God would burn up Jeroboam's house like one burns dung until it is all gone. Dogs would eat those who belonged to him who died in the city, and the birds would feed on those who died in the country. The boy would die when she went home and set foot in her town. He would be the only one belonging to Jeroboam who would be buried, because he was the only one in the house of Jeroboam in whom the Lord had found something good. The Lord would set up a king over Israel who would cut off his family. God would uproot Israel for making Asherah poles and give Israel up for the sins Jeroboam had committed. The boy died as soon as she stepped over the threshold of her house. Jeroboam reigned for 22 years and then rested with his ancestors.
His son Nadab succeeded him as king, see Nadab of Israel in 
Kings of Judah and Israel. (1 Kings 14:1–20).

When lives fall apart, many times people go to the living God for help but not for repentance. Their heart doesn't change. So was the case with Jeroboam. 

The judgement wasn't against the child, but against his house. It was an act of mercy to spare him from what to come upon the house of Jeroboam. We must see God's actions from the perspective of eternity. We can't act as this life is all there is.

Jeroboam received several tremendous signs but made absolutely no effort to change his life. His sin affected the entire nation of Israel, which was uprooted
when the Assyrian empire conquered the northern kingdom (Israel), see 
The Book of Hosea.

Rehoboam

The priests and Levites from all their regions throughout Israel were on Rehoboam's side. They even left their pastures and their possessions and came to Judah because Jeroboam and his sons had rejected them as priests of the Lord when he appointed his own priests for the high places and for the goat and calf gods that he had made. Those from all the tribes of Israel who invested in seeking the Lord followed the Levites to Jerusalem to offer sacrifices to the Lord. They strengthened the kingdom of Judah and supported Rehoboam for three years, following the ways of David and Solomon during this time. (2 Chron 11:13–17).

Those from all the tribes of Israel who came to Judah served the Lord but only for three years. But it means that there were representatives from all the tribes in
Judah. For example, when Jesus was brought to the temple in Jerusalem by his parents, they met the prophetess Anna who was of the tribe of Asher (Luke 2:36).

Rehoboam had 18 wives and 60 concubines (2 Chron 11:18–23). A king wasn't allowed to have many wives because his heart would then be led astray 
(Deu 17:17a).

Rehoboam was 41 years old when he became king of Judah. He reigned 17 years in Jerusalem. After his position was established and he had become strong, he abandoned the Law of the Lord. Judah did what was evil in the eyes of the Lord.
By the sins which they committed they roused the Lord's jealous wrath, more than those who were before them had done. They also set up high places for themselves, sacred stones and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every spreading tree. There were even male sanctuary prostitutes in the land; the people indulged in all the detestable practices of the nations that the Lord had driven out.  In king Rehoboam's fifth year, Shishak king of Egypt
(probably Ramesses II, see the New Egyptian Chronology) attacked Jerusalem. 
He carried away the treasures of the temple and the treasures of the royal palace. He took everything, including all the gold shields that Solomon had made. There was constant warfare between Rehoboam and Jeroboam. His son Abijah
succeeded Rehoboam as king, see Abijah of Judah in Kings of Judah and Israel. 
(1 Kings 14:21–31, 2 Chron 12).

Our God is a jealous God (in a positive sense), see God's Attributes, and doesn't accept us worshiping other gods whoever they are.

See also Kings of Judah and Israel and The Old Testament of the Bible.