1 Kings 12:1-33
12:1 Rehoboam is poised to become king now that his father has died. However, Solomon has left his son a divided and frustrated kingdom. Rehoboam travels to Shechem for his coronation.
12:2 Meanwhile, Jeroboam (son of Nebat) is still in Egypt. Solomon threatened Jeroboam's life when he found out that God chose Jeroboam to lead ten of the tribes.
12:3 The people call Jeroboam and inform him of Rehoboam's plans to become king. It is their hope that Jeroboam will serve as a representative for them.
12:4 Jeroboam thus communicates the plight of the people to the new king: Solomon created a large labor force to build all of his grand buildings. But the laborers are not treated well, the pressure of their duty is too high. Jeroboam asks Rehoboam to modify the system in order to accommodate more satisfactory conditions for the workers.
12:5 Rehoboam does not immediately respond; instead, he tells Jeroboam to depart for three days while he considers.
12:6 Rehoboam convenes with the men of his father's administration and asks them how he should proceed. In the contemplation of what will be his first decree, he does not ask counsel from God. Moreover, though the people have expressed their distress, Rehoboam's mind is focused on the ramifications of modifying a system that is reaping grand rewards for his father's kingdom.
12:7-8 Rehoboam's disregard for the people is evident: he rejects the advice to respond emphatically.
12:9 Rather than consult God or follow the advice of these experienced and sage elders, Rehoboam looks to his friends.
12:10-11 The advice of Rehoboam's cohorts is to respond with cruelty. To enforce a stricter policy through physical punishment. The is once humble and spiritual kingdom suddenly faces a regime focused on power and production. This is a subsequent result of Solomon raising his children and his kingdom without the principles of God's word. Their values are corrupt and their motives are selfish.
12:12-14 Jeroboam returns to Rehoboam after three days and receives the declaration that the king will not lesson the pressure on the laborers. Rehoboam ignored God, rejected the advice of righteous men and followed the advice of corrupt ones. Worse, he has no spiritual backbone of his own. No sense of empathy. No ability to solve his own problems.
12:15 None of this is a surprise to God, Who allowed it to happen because He allows free will. The deterioration of the kingdom is precisely why God made a plan beforehand and placed Jeroboam in a place of leadership.
12:16-17 The tribes of Israel (comprising 10 of the whole) reject Rehoboam as king, as well as David's lineage. This fracturing is in line with God's prophesy in the previous chapter: Jeroboam would lead ten of the tribes.
12:18-19 Rehoboam tries to ignore their rejection by sending a man, Adoram (head of revenue) in their land. But Adoram is stoned to death by them, as the made a rather gruesome, physical declaration of their intention to secede. Rehoboam flees to Jerusalem.
12:20 The ten tribes of Israel make Jeroboam their king. Only the tribe of Judah (combined with Benjamin) accept Rehoboam as king. The reunification of the tribes will only happen at God's hands:
Ezekiel 37:15-23
15 Again the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 16 “As for you, son of man, take a stick for yourself and write on it: ‘For Judah and for the children of Israel, his companions.’ Then take another stick and write on it, ‘For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel, his companions.’ 17 Then join them one to another for yourself into one stick, and they will become one in your hand.
18 “And when the children of your people speak to you, saying, ‘Will you not show us what you mean by these?’— 19 say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “Surely I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel, his companions; and I will join them with it, with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they will be one in My hand.”’ 20 And the sticks on which you write will be in your hand before their eyes.
21 “Then say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “Surely I will take the children of Israel from among the nations, wherever they have gone, and will gather them from every side and bring them into their own land; 22 and I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king over them all; they shall no longer be two nations, nor shall they ever be divided into two kingdoms again. 23 They shall not defile themselves anymore with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions; but I will deliver them from all their dwelling places in which they have sinned, and will cleanse them. Then they shall be My people, and I will be their God.
The tribes of Israel are representative of a larger group than one might initially think. After all, over thousands of years, these people spread throughout the world. Ezekiel is God's declaration that He will unite His humanity as only divine intervention can.
12:21 Rehoboam establishes his kingdom in Jerusalem, reigning over the tribes of Judah and Benjamin. He also assembles and army will full intentions to take the rest of the tribes back by force.
12:22-24 But God sends a messenger named Shemaiah to Rehoboam, commanding him to disassemble his efforts against Israel (now to be understood as the 10 seceded tribes): “You shall not go up nor fight against your brethren the children of Israel. Let every man return to his house, for this thing is from Me.”
Rehoboam wisely follows God's command and turns back. Rehoboam should feel lucky to have even a fraction of the kingdom; it is because of David's faith that he has been able to retain it.
12:25 Meanwhile, Jeroboam reminds us that all of us humans are a bit of a sorry lot sometimes. For even though Jeroboam is a more righteous man than Rehoboam; he makes an initial grave mistake.
12:26-27 Jeroboam's fear is that now Israel will be unable to sacrifice in the house of God. He fears that if the people return to Jerusalem to do so, they will also turn back to Rehoboam.
12:28-30 So Jeroboam erects two golden calves (Exodus 32 flackbacks)! He tells the people to let the calves be their gods, setting one up in Dan and another in Bethel.
12:31 He also declares priests that are not of the priest-line, the Levites. God is specific about who the leaders of His philosophy are because He knows how many corrupt people would ruin the faith.
12:30-33 In an effort to replicate the feasts in Jerusalem for God, Jeroboam tells the people to worship and celebrate the calves. God has warned of false idols since the beginning of scripture and continues to do so until the end. Keeping God as our beacon keeps us in line with righteousness. False idols lead us away from righteousness, and then we harm others and ourselves.
