Wages of Sin Reaped

2 Chronicles 10:1-19 

    1 And Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all Israel had gone to Shechem to make him king. 2 So it happened, when Jeroboam the son of Nebat heard it (he was in Egypt, where he had fled from the presence of King Solomon), that Jeroboam returned from Egypt. 3 Then they sent for him and called him. And Jeroboam and all Israel came and spoke to Rehoboam, saying, 4 "Your father made our yoke heavy; now therefore, lighten the burdensome service of your father and his heavy yoke which he put on us, and we will serve you."  5 So he said to them, "Come back to me after three days." And the people departed.

    6 Then King Rehoboam consulted the elders who stood before his father Solomon while he still lived, saying, "How do you advise me to answer these people?"  7 And they spoke to him, saying, "If you are kind to these people, and please them, and speak good words to them, they will be your servants forever."

    8 But he rejected the advice which the elders had given him, and consulted the young men who had grown up with him, who stood before him. 9 And he said to them, "What advice do you give? How should we answer this people who have spoken to me, saying, 'Lighten the yoke which your father put on us'?"

    10 Then the young men who had grown up with him spoke to him, saying, "Thus you should speak to the people who have spoken to you, saying, 'Your father made our yoke heavy, but you make it lighter on us'—thus you shall say to them: 'My little finger shall be thicker than my father's waist! 11 And now, whereas my father put a heavy yoke on you, I will add to your yoke; my father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scourges!'"

    12 So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam on the third day, as the king had directed, saying, "Come back to me the third day." 13 Then the king answered them roughly. King Rehoboam rejected the advice of the elders, 14 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 it; my father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scourges!" 15 So the king did not listen to the people; for the turn of events was from God, that the LORD might fulfill His word, which He had spoken by the hand of Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat.

    16 Now when all Israel saw that the king did not listen to them, the people answered the king, saying:

      "What share have we in David?
      We have no inheritance in the son of Jesse.
      Every man to your tents, O Israel!
      Now see to your own house, O David!"

So all Israel departed to their tents. 17 But Rehoboam reigned over the children of Israel who dwelt in the cities of Judah.

    18 Then King Rehoboam sent Hadoram, who was in charge of revenue; but the children of Israel stoned him with stones, and he died. Therefore King Rehoboam mounted his chariot in haste to flee to Jerusalem. 19 So Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David to this day.

Rehoboam rejected the right and good counsel of the elders of God’s people, choosing to listen to voices without grace or mercy or compassion.  He had been chosen as king by the people, for all Israel gathered to crown him.  At the same time, the banished Jeroboam (1 Kings 11:40) had come back to the new ruler to ask for better treatment than that he received from Rehoboam’s father Solomon.  He had been given a prophetic message that he would be given ten tribes of Israel because Solomon had sinned by worshiping false gods (1 Kings 11:30-32).  The wages of sin is death (Romans 3:23), and this is separation from God and His favor as well as a physical end.  Rehoboam earned these wages by refusing to show mercy to Jeroboam, and reaped the whirlwind after sowing the empty wind of sin like his father as Hosea 8:7 reminded God’s people later.  We must also beware that we do not side with bad counsel of no merciful compassion or grace as this king did, or God may take away what we have (Matthew 25:29) because we have been bad stewards of His grace.  We are to be peacemakers and instruments of grace, holy and not serving any other than our great God and Savior.  The mean vindictive response seen here instead of making a wrong right has consequences.  For Rehoboam, it meant that God’s will was done as determined and promised to take most of Israel away from him and begin a rebellion against the house of David which divided God’s people.  That house of Judah remained in Jerusalem, on their own as estranged children for a time.  We can also learn that the wages of sin in worship of anything else as our god instead of the Lord God only has separation from Him and His grace as reward, but following in loving obedient trust with our spiritual compass pointed in His direction as written in His word and guided by His Spirit and good counsel of godly men - these keep us in the love and grace of God (1 John 5:21, Jude 1:21).  May we not follow ungodly advice which denies others the mercy and grace of the gospel of Jesus Christ!  We do reap what we sow, just as Solomon’s idolatry was reaped by his son Rehoboam here.