1 Kings 15:1-24 - Rulers of Evil and Good

1 Kings 15:1-24

Abijam Reigns in Judah (2 Chronicles 13:1—14:1)

1 In the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam the son of Nebat, Abijam became king over Judah. 2 He reigned three years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Maachah the granddaughter of Abishalom. 3 And he walked in all the sins of his father, which he had done before him; his heart was not loyal to the LORD his God, as was the heart of his father David. 4 Nevertheless for David’s sake the LORD his God gave him a lamp in Jerusalem, by setting up his son after him and by establishing Jerusalem; 5 because David did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, and had not turned aside from anything that He commanded him all the days of his life, except in the matter of Uriah the Hittite. 6 And there was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all the days of his life. 7 Now the rest of the acts of Abijam, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? And there was war between Abijam and Jeroboam.

8 So Abijam rested with his fathers, and they buried him in the City of David. Then Asa his son reigned in his place.

Asa Reigns in Judah (2 Chronicles 14:1—16:14)

9 In the twentieth year of Jeroboam king of Israel, Asa became king over Judah. 10 And he reigned forty-one years in Jerusalem. His grandmother’s name was Maachah the granddaughter of Abishalom. 11 1 Asa did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, as did his father David. 12 And he banished the perverted persons from the land, and removed all the idols that his fathers had made. 13 Also he removed Maachah his grandmother from being queen mother, because she had made an obscene image of Asherah. And Asa cut down her obscene image and burned it by the Brook Kidron. 14 But the high places were not removed. Nevertheless Asa’s heart was loyal to the LORD all his days. 15 He also brought into the house of the LORD the things which his father had dedicated, and the things which he himself had dedicated: silver and gold and utensils.

16 Now there was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel all their days. 17 And Baasha king of Israel came up against Judah, and built Ramah, that he might let none go out or come in to Asa king of Judah. 18 Then Asa took all the silver and gold that was left in the treasuries of the house of the LORD and the treasuries of the king’s house, and delivered them into the hand of his servants. And King Asa sent them to Ben-Hadad the son of Tabrimmon, the son of Hezion, king of Syria, who dwelt in Damascus, saying, 19 ”Let there be a treaty between you and me, as there was between my father and your father. See, I have sent you a present of silver and gold. Come and break your treaty with Baasha king of Israel, so that he will withdraw from me.”

20 So Ben-Hadad heeded King Asa, and sent the captains of his armies against the cities of Israel. He attacked Ijon, Dan, Abel Beth Maachah, and all Chinneroth, with all the land of Naphtali. 21 Now it happened, when Baasha heard it, that he stopped building Ramah, and remained in Tirzah.

22 Then King Asa made a proclamation throughout all Judah; none was exempted. And they took away the stones and timber of Ramah, which Baasha had used for building; and with them King Asa built Geba of Benjamin, and Mizpah.

23 The rest of all the acts of Asa, all his might, all that he did, and the cities which he built, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? But in the time of his old age he was diseased in his feet. 24 So Asa rested with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the City of David his father. Then Jehoshaphat his son reigned in his place.

Rehoboam the son of Solomon reigned with evil in Judah and his son immediately following him did the same.  Abijam ruled in evil, not with a good heart after God like king David, but with a disloyal heart full of blasphemous actions.  He warred against the northern tribes of Israel from Judah until he eventually died and his son Asa ascended to the throne.  This man ruled for forty-one years in Jerusalem with a good heart and did what was right in the eyes of the LORD as his great grandfather David had done.  He cleaned up the ritual homosexual prostitutes in the temple, destroyed the idols and removed his idolatrous grandmother, returned the dedicated things of silver and gold to the temple which his father had absconded for himself, and continued the war with Israel.  He ended up having to use the silver and gold items to buy a ceasefire with Israel by payment to Syria for help, however.  He then took the building materials Israel was using to build Ramah and used them to build Geba and Mizpah instead for Judah.  His reign of doing good in spite of the evil done by his father Rehoboam eventually came to and end and his son Jehoshaphat took over the throne of Judah (1 Kings 22:43) and did good himself in his reign, a faithful son after God’s heart as well.  These were examples of good and evil rulers who were so recorded by their adherence to God’s word or their rejection and subsequent actions to the contrary.  May we who are in Christ pursue the good heart after God as David and his righteous offspring gave us example and not go the way of the unrighteous offspring who spurned God’s word and worshiped worthless idols of (1 Samuel 15:23, Colossians 3:4-5) immorality and evil actions with their self serving intentions as Abijam’s.

1 Kings 14:19-31 - Sinful Assimilation of God’s People

1 Kings 14:19-31

Death of Jeroboam

19 Now the rest of the acts of Jeroboam, how he made war and how he reigned, indeed they are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel. 20 The period that Jeroboam reigned was twenty-two years. So he rested with his fathers. Then Nadab his son reigned in his place.

Rehoboam Reigns in Judah (2 Chronicles 11:5—12:16)

21 And Rehoboam the son of Solomon reigned in Judah. Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he became king. He reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city which the LORD had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, to put His name there. His mother’s name was Naamah, an Ammonitess. 22 Now Judah did evil in the sight of the LORD, and they provoked Him to jealousy with their sins which they committed, more than all that their fathers had done. 23 For they also built for themselves high places, sacred pillars, and wooden images on every high hill and under every green tree. 24 And there were also perverted persons in the land. They did according to all the abominations of the nations which the LORD had cast out before the children of Israel.

25 It happened in the fifth year of King Rehoboam that Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem. 26 And he took away the treasures of the house of the LORD and the treasures of the king’s house; he took away everything. He also took away all the gold shields which Solomon had made. 27 Then King Rehoboam made bronze shields in their place, and committed them to the hands of the captains of the guard, who guarded the doorway of the king’s house. 28 And whenever the king entered the house of the LORD, the guards carried them, then brought them back into the guardroom.

29 Now the rest of the acts of Rehoboam, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? 30 And there was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all their days. 31 So Rehoboam rested with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the City of David. His mother’s name was Naamah, an Ammonitess. Then Abijam his son reigned in his place.

The sinful assimilation of God’s people into the ungodly cultures around them is seen in the reign of idolatrous Jeroboam in the northern nation of Israel, but even more in the southern nation of Judah led by Rehoboam into every sort of abomination to the LORD from idolatry to immorality to ritual prostitution and homosexuality.  The nations which the LORD had cast out before the children of Israel became their role models of sinful living.  The things which our current western world are pursuing are those that ancient Israel did in their pursuit of denying God and loving for perverted pleasure and serving gods of self and self-gratification.  For the people of God then, this led to defeat by foreign powers such as Egypt who took away all the temple treasures dedicated to the LORD and left them with cheap imitation shields kept locked away instead of on God-honoring display.  How long until our churches become similarly sold off and taken away by compromise and corruption (1 Corinthians 5:6-7) of pure and pure worship?  Will we continue to allow what the Lord plainly calls blasphemy and immorality infiltrate by cultural assimilation of all the scriptures say we are to avoid in the name of relevance or to avoid cultural conflict?  We would do well to remember Jeroboam and Rehoboam who led the people into such sinful association and immoral assimilation with those the LORD had commanded to be driven out of the promised land and not followed into judgment as a people and a nation.  Solomon’s sins of adultery and murder festered in his son Solomon and culminated in the rottenness of his son Rehoboam seen here in this account.  What sinful behavior and acceptance of cultural assimilation with such disobedience to compromise God’s word we accept, these things we pass to our children and cause great spiritual and social harm to all unless we drive it out of (1 Corinthians 5:9, 11,12-13) the congregation with accountability and church discipline.  We are to keep godliness intact (John 17:15, 17) by the teaching and preaching of the whole counsel of God’s word to one another in a holy union with Christ and one another to avoid the disastrous consequences of sinful assimilation with the world we live in, having been called out of such darkness into the light of righteousness (Acts 26:18) and obedience in devotion of our worship.  If we call ourselves by His name (2 Timothy 2:19), we will keep living in the light (Ephesians 5:8, 1 John 1:7) instead of darkening with the world. 

1 Kings 14:1-18 - Consequences of Bad Stewardship

1 Kings 14:1-18

Judgment on the House of Jeroboam

1 At that time Abijah the son of Jeroboam became sick. 2 And Jeroboam said to his wife, “Please arise, and disguise yourself, that they may not recognize you as the wife of Jeroboam, and go to Shiloh. Indeed, Ahijah the prophet is there, who told me that I would be king over this people. 3 Also take with you ten loaves, some cakes, and a jar of honey, and go to him; he will tell you what will become of the child.” 4 And Jeroboam’s wife did so; she arose and went to Shiloh, and came to the house of Ahijah. But Ahijah could not see, for his eyes were glazed by reason of his age.

5 Now the LORD had said to Ahijah, “Here is the wife of Jeroboam, coming to ask you something about her son, for he is sick. Thus and thus you shall say to her; for it will be, when she comes in, that she will pretend to be another woman.”

6 And so it was, when Ahijah heard the sound of her footsteps as she came through the door, he said, “Come in, wife of Jeroboam. Why do you pretend to be another person? For I have been sent to you with bad news. 7 Go, tell Jeroboam, ‘Thus says the LORD God of Israel: “Because I exalted you from among the people, and made you ruler over My people Israel, 8 and tore the kingdom away from the house of David, and gave it to you; and yet you have not been as My servant David, who kept My commandments and who followed Me with all his heart, to do only what was right in My eyes; 9 but you have done more evil than all who were before you, for you have gone and made for yourself other gods and molded images to provoke Me to anger, and have cast Me behind your back— 10 therefore behold! I will bring disaster on the house of Jeroboam, and will cut off from Jeroboam every male in Israel, bond and free; I will take away the remnant of the house of Jeroboam, as one takes away refuse until it is all gone. 11 The dogs shall eat whoever belongs to Jeroboam and dies in the city, and the birds of the air shall eat whoever dies in the field; for the LORD has spoken!“‘ 

12 Arise therefore, go to your own house. When your feet enter the city, the child shall die. 13 And all Israel shall mourn for him and bury him, for he is the only one of Jeroboam who shall come to the grave, because in him there is found something good toward the LORD God of Israel in the house of Jeroboam.

14 “Moreover the LORD will raise up for Himself a king over Israel who shall cut off the house of Jeroboam; this is the day. What? Even now! 15 For the LORD will strike Israel, as a reed is shaken in the water. He will uproot Israel from this good land which He gave to their fathers, and will scatter them beyond the River, because they have made their wooden images, provoking the LORD to anger. 16 And He will give Israel up because of the sins of Jeroboam, who sinned and who made Israel sin.”

17 Then Jeroboam’s wife arose and departed, and came to Tirzah. When she came to the threshold of the house, the child died. 18 And they buried him; and all Israel mourned for him, according to the word of the LORD which He spoke through His servant Ahijah the prophet.

The consequences of Jeroboam’s bad stewardship of the throne of Israel came to its end at last according to the warning given by God for his unrepentant acts of idolatry.  When his son was ill, he used his wife to try to find out the child’s fate from an old prophet by deception, yet the LORD warned the prophet and the real future was told to her.  The consequences of such evil stewardship of the throne given to guide and lead Israel into true worship and that was used for idolatrous blasphemy instead, the consequences of these came to bear on the bad king through the message given to him through his complicit spouse.  Jeroboam failed to exercise wise leadership as steward of the role given to lead the tribes of God’s people torn from Judah who had gone wrong as he led these of Israel even further astray from following God and His commandments as king David did.  Jeroboam was not a man after God’s own heart, but a man after his own corrupt heart instead who did more evil than any gone before him as he made his own lifeless gods in his own image and led the people away from the LORD to serve them instead as they desecrated the first commandment with impunity.  God cursed the house of this corrupt king and pronounced the end of the family lineage in specific events to follow.  All the male heirs would be disposed of like trash and dogs would devour the leftovers of them, a horrendous proclamation equal to the blasphemy of Jeroboam.  This curse would extend to all Israel who followed him into this pit of despair as a consequence of his bad stewardship and their equally bad acquiescence to his lead.  Their child mercifully died as the only good one of the family (1 Kings 14:12-13) as soon as his mother came back from the prophet to the cursed king.  The lesson for us here is that apostasy has severe and lasting consequences for the perpetrator and all who follow him instead of honoring the Lord and His Word. 

1 Kings 13:11-34 - Deception and Disobedience

1 Kings 13:11-34

Death of the Man of God

11 Now an old prophet dwelt in Bethel, and his sons came and told him all the works that the man of God had done that day in Bethel; they also told their father the words which he had spoken to the king. 12 And their father said to them, “Which way did he go?” For his sons had seen which way the man of God went who came from Judah. 13 Then he said to his sons, “Saddle the donkey for me.” So they saddled the donkey for him; and he rode on it, 14 and went after the man of God, and found him sitting under an oak. Then he said to him, “Are you the man of God who came from Judah?”

And he said, “I am.”

15 Then he said to him, “Come home with me and eat bread.”

16 And he said, “I cannot return with you nor go in with you; neither can I eat bread nor drink water with you in this place. 17 For I have been told by the word of the LORD, ‘You shall not eat bread nor drink water there, nor return by going the way you came.’”

18 He said to him, “I too am a prophet as you are, and an angel spoke to me by the word of the LORD, saying, ‘Bring him back with you to your house, that he may eat bread and drink water.’” (He was lying to him.)

19 So he went back with him, and ate bread in his house, and drank water.

20 Now it happened, as they sat at the table, that the word of the LORD came to the prophet who had brought him back; 21 and he cried out to the man of God who came from Judah, saying, “Thus says the LORD: ‘Because you have disobeyed the word of the LORD, and have not kept the commandment which the LORD your God commanded you, 22 but you came back, ate bread, and drank water in the place of which the LORD said to you, “Eat no bread and drink no water,” your corpse shall not come to the tomb of your fathers.’”

23 So it was, after he had eaten bread and after he had drunk, that he saddled the donkey for him, the prophet whom he had brought back. 24 When he was gone, a lion met him on the road and killed him. And his corpse was thrown on the road, and the donkey stood by it. The lion also stood by the corpse. 25 And there, men passed by and saw the corpse thrown on the road, and the lion standing by the corpse. Then they went and told it in the city where the old prophet dwelt.

26 Now when the prophet who had brought him back from the way heard it, he said, “It is the man of God who was disobedient to the word of the LORD. Therefore the LORD has delivered him to the lion, which has torn him and killed him, according to the word of the LORD which He spoke to him.” 27 And he spoke to his sons, saying, “Saddle the donkey for me.” So they saddled it. 28 Then he went and found his corpse thrown on the road, and the donkey and the lion standing by the corpse. The lion had not eaten the corpse nor torn the donkey. 29 And the prophet took up the corpse of the man of God, laid it on the donkey, and brought it back. So the old prophet came to the city to mourn, and to bury him. 30 Then he laid the corpse in his own tomb; and they mourned over him, saying, “Alas, my brother!” 31 So it was, after he had buried him, that he spoke to his sons, saying, “When I am dead, then bury me in the tomb where the man of God is buried; lay my bones beside his bones. 32 For the saying which he cried out by the word of the LORD against the altar in Bethel, and against all the shrines on the high places which are in the cities of Samaria, will surely come to pass.”

33 After this event Jeroboam did not turn from his evil way, but again he made priests from every class of people for the high places; whoever wished, he consecrated him, and he became one of the priests of the high places. 34 And this thing was the sin of the house of Jeroboam, so as to exterminate and destroy it from the face of the earth.

The sins of Jeroboam spread to destroy his house and took the man of God with him who had exposed him.  This man of God was warned by the LORD not to stop to eat in Bethel and to return home by a different route than the one he came by.  A prophet heard of what he had done and intercepted the man of God along the way and desired him by saying the LORD told him it was alright to deviate from God’s word and come with him back to Bethel to eat.  The man of God gave in without question or discernment whether this was of God and disobeyed God.  His disobedience therefore spawned from the deception of this prophet who claimed to have a different word from God that would allow the man of God to go with him instead of the way God had told him, and he suffered the earthly consequences of that ill-fated decision because he was still accountable to God for the initial command.  The irony is that God had used this prophet to test the man of God for he then prophesied for real to tell him he had disobeyed and would face the consequences of impending death.  On the journey home, the man of God who exposed Jeroboam and was deceived into disobedience was killed by a lion and left on the road home with his donkey and that lion of the LORD watching over his body along the roadside.  The prophet retrieved the body to bury in his own tomb and had his sons promise to bury his bones alongside the man of God (2 Kings 23:17-18) when he returned to the earth as well, which would be undisturbed when the prophecy of burning the bones of the disobedient ones by Josiah (1 Kings 13:2) would come to pass.  He honored the man of God who spoke out against the sins of Jeroboam for the king’s idolatry and high places of worship to false gods while the king continued to blaspheme the name of the LORD with false priests (including himself!) and altars of idolatrous worship.  In the end, the king would be exterminated along with his offspring for this disobedient blasphemy.  We should learn from this example not to go against God’s word given to us in scripture in disobedience even when a godly man tells us to do otherwise with deception; we are tested by our adherence to the word of God and not of any man (Matthew 24:24, 1 Corinthians 6:9, 1 John 3:7) over those commands, principles, and examples.  The answer to this deception is to know God’s word to avoid being led astray into disobedience by anyone. 

1 Kings 13:1-10 - Obey God, Not Man

1 Kings 13:1-10

The Message of the Man of God

1 And behold, a man of God went from Judah to Bethel by the word of the LORD, and Jeroboam stood by the altar to burn incense. 2 Then he cried out against the altar by the word of the LORD, and said, “O altar, altar! Thus says the LORD: ‘Behold, a child, Josiah by name, shall be born to the house of David; and on you he shall sacrifice the priests of the high places who burn incense on you, and men’s bones shall be burned on you.’” 3 And he gave a sign the same day, saying, “This is the sign which the LORD has spoken: Surely the altar shall split apart, and the ashes on it shall be poured out.”

4 So it came to pass when King Jeroboam heard the saying of the man of God, who cried out against the altar in Bethel, that he stretched out his hand from the altar, saying, “Arrest him!” Then his hand, which he stretched out toward him, withered, so that he could not pull it back to himself. 5 The altar also was split apart, and the ashes poured out from the altar, according to the sign which the man of God had given by the word of the LORD. 6 Then the king answered and said to the man of God, “Please entreat the favor of the LORD your God, and pray for me, that my hand may be restored to me.”

So the man of God entreated the LORD, and the king’s hand was restored to him, and became as before. 7 Then the king said to the man of God, “Come home with me and refresh yourself, and I will give you a reward.”

8 But the man of God said to the king, “If you were to give me half your house, I would not go in with you; nor would I eat bread nor drink water in this place. 9 For so it was commanded me by the word of the LORD, saying, You shall not eat bread, nor drink water, nor return by the same way you came.’” 10 So he went another way and did not return by the way he came to Bethel.

The lesson for King Jeroboam of Israel who setup the golden calves of idol worship was given through a man of God who brought the divine message of judgment to the false altar of the LORD where the king dared come.  This prophet told of a man of the line of David named Josiah who would sacrifice on this altar the very priests whom the king setup in the high places (1 Kings 12:28-29) to serve idols (1 Kings 12:30-31).  The sign of this message’s validity was to be the destruction of altar there at Bethel by splitting it in half and spilling the ashes all over as a sign of the disregard and unholy worship of Jeroboam and those he led astray.  When the king heard this truth, he ordered the messenger arrested to stop God’s word which only brought judgment on himself.  His hand reaching towards the altar withered as the altar was severed in two just as God had said.  The king begged for mercy to heal his useless hand and it was restored, so he tried to appease the messenger by inviting him to his house to eat and be rewarded for healing him, totally ignoring the judgment pronounced just then.  The wise man of God refused most vehemently, making it clear that he would never disobey the LORD who sent him for any earthly reward to remain silent or go along with the evil of the king against God.  Then the man left by another route to avoid being punished for resisting the evil.  This Josiah he spoke of would later destroy the false altar (2 Kings 23:15) and burn the bones (2 Kings 23:16) at Bethel as promised by God would be done.  False worship is held accountable.  May we learn from this and not substitute any other idols for unacceptable worship on altars of our own making as they did.  We are to worship the Father through the Son in the wisdom and power of the Holy Spirit in these temples where He lives and not worship any other person or institution above our Lord and Savior.  We are to obey God and not any man in earthly authority above Him.   Amen! 

1 Kings 12:25-33 - Golden Calves of Manmade Worship

1 Kings 12:25-33

Jeroboam’s Gold Calves

25 Then Jeroboam built Shechem in the mountains of Ephraim, and dwelt there. Also he went out from there and built Penuel. 26 And Jeroboam said in his heart, “Now the kingdom may return to the house of David: 27 If these people go up to offer sacrifices in the house of the LORD at Jerusalem, then the heart of this people will turn back to their lord, Rehoboam king of Judah, and they will kill me and go back to Rehoboam king of Judah.”

28 Therefore the king asked advice, made two calves of gold, and said to the people, “It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Here are your gods, O Israel, which brought you up from the land of Egypt!” 29 And he set up one in Bethel, and the other he put in Dan. 30 Now this thing became a sin, for the people went to worship before the one as far as Dan. 31 He made shrines on the high places, and made priests from every class of people, who were not of the sons of Levi.

32 Jeroboam ordained a feast on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, like the feast that was in Judah, and offered sacrifices on the altar. So he did at Bethel, sacrificing to the calves that he had made. And at Bethel he installed the priests of the high places which he had made. 33 So he made offerings on the altar which he had made at Bethel on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, in the month which he had devised in his own heart. And he ordained a feast for the children of Israel, and offered sacrifices on the altar and burned incense.

Jeroboam ruled all Israel minus Judah since the split with Rehoboam but quickly went astray from the LORD after building two cities and asking bad advice.  He had used reason over the commandments of God concerning worship because the temple and altar of worship was in Jerusalem under Rehoboam’s rule in Judah and he feared the people of Israel would leave him to worship there and turn on him to kill him as they went back under the reign of Rehoboam.  He repeated the sin of Aaron before Moses at the foot of mount Sinai where Aaron’s decision was likewise moved with reason to fabricate a golden calf to worship in order to avoid a riot or exodus of the people from that place.  Jeroboam went much further, however, in that he had two golden calves made as false gods and attributed their deliverance to them instead of the Almighty, just as Aaron had done.  He set these up in Bethel, which was named as God’s city, and Dan at the northern edge of Israel, far from Jerusalem and true worship as prescribed by the LORD.  This became sin to Israel and was compounded by assigning priests from common men of every station of life instead of the tribe set aside and chosen by God.  He put false high priests on the high places of worship and sacrificed offerings to other gods according to the days and times of his own imagination and not according to the word of God as was given through Moses, another sinful deviation from true worship in the temple at Jerusalem (Deuteronomy 12:5, 11, 14) erected according to the (Hebrews 8:5) heavenly pattern.  He broke the first commandment with impunity to keep the people under his control and rule, much as fringe groups and cults have done in and to the church over the centuries and to this day.  How we need to always set our aim to worship the Lord in spirit and truth according to the scriptures and not according to the imagination and dictates of men as they devise in their own hearts and put in religious writings that supersede or even replace the word of God!  How we who know these things from examples like this need to remember and remind ourselves an one another to keep to the narrow road of life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3, 1 Timothy 6:3, 11-12) found there to guide us to the altar of His sacrifice (Hebrews 9:23, 24-25, 26) on the cross and not with added conditions or requirements as golden calves of manmade worship contrary (Matthew 15:9, 1 John 5:19, 20) to true worship on the altar of God’s grace in Christ alone by faith alone. 

1 Kings 12:1-24 - Bad Counsel, Revolt and Rebellion

1 Kings 12:1-24

The Revolt Against Rehoboam (2 Chronicles 10:1–19; 11:1–4)

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 still in Egypt, for he had fled from the presence of King Solomon and had been dwelling in Egypt), 3 that they sent and called him. Then Jeroboam and the whole assembly of 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, “Depart for three days, then come back to me.” And the people departed.

6 Then King Rehoboam consulted the elders who stood before his father Solomon while he still lived, and he said, “How do you advise me to answer these people?”

7 And they spoke to him, saying, “If you will be a servant to these people today, and serve them, and answer them, and speak good words to them, then 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 this 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 the third day, as the king had directed, saying, “Come back to me the third day.” 13 Then the king answered the people roughly, and rejected the advice which the elders had given him; 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 your yoke; 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 the LORD, that He might fulfill His word, which the LORD had spoken by 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.
To your tents, O Israel!
Now, see to your own house, O David!”

So 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 Adoram, who was in charge of the revenue; but all 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.

20 Now it came to pass when all Israel heard that Jeroboam had come back, they sent for him and called him to the congregation, and made him king over all Israel. There was none who followed the house of David, but the tribe of Judah only.

21 And when Rehoboam came to Jerusalem, he assembled all the house of Judah with the tribe of Benjamin, one hundred and eighty thousand chosen men who were warriors, to fight against the house of Israel, that he might restore the kingdom to Rehoboam the son of Solomon. 22 But the word of God came to Shemaiah the man of God, saying, 23 “Speak to Rehoboam the son of Solomon, king of Judah, to all the house of Judah and Benjamin, and to the rest of the people, saying, 24 ‘Thus says the LORD: “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.”’” Therefore they obeyed the word of the LORD, and turned back, according to the word of the LORD.

Jeroboam the servant of Solomon who rose up against the king then fled to Egypt to escape execution and had been told by the prophet Ahijah that he would rule after Solomon, this valiant man was asked to return by the son of Solomon, Rehoboam who reigned as king by succession but not by divine decree.  Jeroboam asked Rehoboam to ease up on the people because he thought Solomon had ruled with an iron fist, but bad youthful counsel swayed Rehoboam to clamp down even more harshly than his father, resulting in a revolt against him with misused authority.  He listened to his friends instead of God’s leading through Jeroboam as the prophet Ahijah had predicted.  This was the catalyst the LORD set in place to split the kingdom of Judah under Rehoboam from the other tribes of Israel who rebelled against his authority which they saw as oppressive compared to Jeroboam who now led Israel.  This is why Israel had been in rebellion against the house of David to the time of this account and for a long time afterwards as predicted to David after his sin with Bathsheba that began this downward spiral.  Most of Israel, except the people of Judah, rejected any part of their inheritance in David the son of Jesse, ironic since Judah was the line of the Messiah to come which the majority of the people of God had rejected.  When Rehoboam gathers the army of Judah to attack the other tribes of Israel who revolted, the LORD stopped him with His word and they obeyed.  Nevertheless, the consequences of sin echoed down through time with reverberations of rebellion and destruction caused by revolt resulting from bad counsel, yet God’s plan was not interrupted or swayed from the predetermined path He set and prophetically announced to the people by His prophets that culminated in the arrival of (Hebrews 1:1-2) His Son as the ultimate prophet and anointed King Messiah.  He would redeem the promises to all His people by faith as of Abraham (Romans 4:1, Galatians 3:6) who trusted the God of the plan as the Seed by David (John 7:42, Romans 1:3-4) through whom the lineage according to the flesh came to pass in Bethlehem.  Our rebellion against God since Eden has been acquitted by the work of Jesus the Christ as prophetically promised to all who went before us, whom we now receive by repentance from our spiritual revolt against Him as we by faith turn to Him for a promised new united kingdom under His sovereign rule according to His predetermined plan since (2 Timothy 1:9, Titus 1:2-3, 1 Peter 1:20) before time began.  Good counsel of the gospel now unites us. 

1 Kings 11:14-43 - Adversaries, Rebellion, and Death

1 Kings 11:14-43

Adversaries of Solomon

14 Now the LORD raised up an adversary against Solomon, Hadad the Edomite; he was a descendant of the king in Edom. 15 For it happened, when David was in Edom, and Joab the commander of the army had gone up to bury the slain, after he had killed every male in Edom 16 (because for six months Joab remained there with all Israel, until he had cut down every male in Edom), 17 that Hadad fled to go to Egypt, he and certain Edomites of his father’s servants with him. Hadad was still a little child. 18 Then they arose from Midian and came to Paran; and they took men with them from Paran and came to Egypt, to Pharaoh king of Egypt, who gave him a house, apportioned food for him, and gave him land. 19 And Hadad found great favor in the sight of Pharaoh, so that he gave him as wife the sister of his own wife, that is, the sister of Queen Tahpenes. 20 Then the sister of Tahpenes bore him Genubath his son, whom Tahpenes weaned in Pharaoh’s house. And Genubath was in Pharaoh’s household among the sons of Pharaoh.

21 So when Hadad heard in Egypt that David rested with his fathers, and that Joab the commander of the army was dead, Hadad said to Pharaoh, “Let me depart, that I may go to my own country.”

22 Then Pharaoh said to him, “But what have you lacked with me, that suddenly you seek to go to your own country?”

So he answered, “Nothing, but do let me go anyway.”

23 And God raised up another adversary against him, Rezon the son of Eliadah, who had fled from his lord, Hadadezer king of Zobah. 24 So he gathered men to him and became captain over a band of raiders, when David killed those of Zobah. And they went to Damascus and dwelt there, and reigned in Damascus. 25 He was an adversary of Israel all the days of Solomon (besides the trouble that Hadad caused); and he abhorred Israel, and reigned over Syria.

Jeroboam’s Rebellion

26 Then Solomon’s servant, Jeroboam the son of Nebat, an Ephraimite from Zereda, whose mother’s name was Zeruah, a widow, also rebelled against the king.

27 And this is what caused him to rebel against the king: Solomon had built the Millo and repaired the damages to the City of David his father. 28 The man Jeroboam was a mighty man of valor; and Solomon, seeing that the young man was industrious, made him the officer over all the labor force of the house of Joseph.

29 Now it happened at that time, when Jeroboam went out of Jerusalem, that the prophet Ahijah the Shilonite met him on the way; and he had clothed himself with a new garment, and the two were alone in the field. 30 Then Ahijah took hold of the new garment that was on him, and tore it into twelve pieces. 31 And he said to Jeroboam, “Take for yourself ten pieces, for thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: ‘Behold, I will tear the kingdom out of the hand of Solomon and will give ten tribes to you 32 (but he shall have one tribe for the sake of My servant David, and for the sake of Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel), 33 because they have forsaken Me, and worshiped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, Chemosh the god of the Moabites, and Milcom the god of the people of Ammon, and have not walked in My ways to do what is right in My eyes and keep My statutes and My judgments, as did his father David. 34 However I will not take the whole kingdom out of his hand, because I have made him ruler all the days of his life for the sake of My servant David, whom I chose because he kept My commandments and My statutes. 35 But I will take the kingdom out of his son’s hand and give it to you—ten tribes. 36 And to his son I will give one tribe, that My servant David may always have a lamp before Me in Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen for Myself, to put My name there. 37 So I will take you, and you shall reign over all your heart desires, and you shall be king over Israel. 38 Then it shall be, if you heed all that I command you, walk in My ways, and do what is right in My sight, to keep My statutes and My commandments, as My servant David did, then I will be with you and build for you an enduring house, as I built for David, and will give Israel to you. 39 And I will afflict the descendants of David because of this, but not forever.’”

40 Solomon therefore sought to kill Jeroboam. But Jeroboam arose and fled to Egypt, to Shishak king of Egypt, and was in Egypt until the death of Solomon.

Death of Solomon (2 Chronicles 9:29–31)

41 Now the rest of the acts of Solomon, all that he did, and his wisdom, are they not written in the book of the acts of Solomon? 42 And the period that Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel was forty years. 43 Then Solomon rested with his fathers, and was buried in the City of David his father. And Rehoboam his son reigned in his place.

The account of king Solomon ends with the consequences of his sins of idolatry and immorality with his many pagan wives.  We see the adversaries raised against him by the LORD in judgment, the rebellion of Solomon’s servant (1 Kings 11:11) as promised, and finally the end of Solomon and his reign gone astray.  This is a warning to deal with sin and to not put anything or anyone above the Lord God in our hearts and actions.  The consequences of sin is death (Romans 6:23) which we have been redeemed from, yet may follow in physical but not spiritual death if unrepentant sin festers (1 Corinthians 11:30-32) and not dealt with.  All our God-given wisdom and sincere work for the Lord will be remembered and their effects will be seen in others after us, but sin leaves a stain on those if not washed whiter than snow by ongoing confession and repentance (1 John 1:9) from them.  We will face more adversity by adversaries if we continue in sin unchecked.  We should not rebel against the Lord by sin or our adversaries will take advantage of us and death may follow in some case if sin is left unrepentant.  May we then observe and learn from the life and examples of others gone before us like Solomon, especially in light of Christ’s work on the cross and resurrection from death to life we celebrate on this Resurrection Day as we reflect on what life we have been given and who we are to live (Romans 14:8, 1 Corinthians 6:19, 2 Corinthians 5:15, 1 Peter 3:10, 4:2, Galatians 2:20) for now.  

1 Kings 11:1-13 - Sin Defiled Solomon’s Temple

1 Kings 11:1-13

Solomon’s Heart Turns from the LORD

1 But King Solomon loved many foreign women, as well as the daughter of Pharaoh: women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, and Hittites— 2 from the nations of whom the LORD had said to the children of Israel, “You shall not intermarry with them, nor they with you. Surely they will turn away your hearts after their gods.” Solomon clung to these in love. 3 And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines; and his wives turned away his heart. 4 For it was so, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned his heart after other gods; and his heart was not loyal to the LORD his God, as was the heart of his father David. 5 For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. 6 Solomon did evil in the sight of the LORD, and did not fully follow the LORD, as did his father David. 7 Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, on the hill that is east of Jerusalem, and for Molech the abomination of the people of Ammon. 8 And he did likewise for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods.

9 So the LORD became angry with Solomon, because his heart had turned from the LORD God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice, 10 and had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods; but he did not keep what the LORD had commanded. 11 Therefore the LORD said to Solomon, “Because you have done this, and have not kept My covenant and My statutes, which I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom away from you and give it to your servant. 12 Nevertheless I will not do it in your days, for the sake of your father David; I will tear it out of the hand of your son. 13 However I will not tear away the whole kingdom; I will give one tribe to your son for the sake of My servant David, and for the sake of Jerusalem which I have chosen.”

King Solomon was like the children of Israel who left the bondage of sinful immorality and idolatry in Egypt but did not have the Egypt in them leave him.  He turned back to both immorality and idolatry through marriage with not only the archetypical wife of idolatry, the Pharaoh’s daughter, but also many from the idolatrous Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, and Hittites whom the LORD had commanded to avoid due to their corruptive influences on the soul.  His heart went the way the LORD had warned them all of as it turned to other dead imaginary gods and broke the first commandment to satisfy his desires for pleasing himself and disregard for pleasing God.  He clung to these and refused to let them go in rebellion against God, with disastrous consequences.  The LORD told him that He would rip the kingdom from him and hand it over to his servant in the end after he had left the earth in honor of His promise to his father David to pass the kingdom down through his lineage until the Messiah would come to rule permanently.  Even then God would leave a remnant tribe to Solomon’s son (Judah) for the sake of that promise.  The Lion of the tribe of Judah (Genesis 49:9, 10), Jesus Christ, would arise in the end after all this disobedience (Hebrews 7:14) to redeem the remnant of those promised eternal life in Him as the Seed of promise to Abraham and David (Acts 3:25, 13:22-23, Romans 1:3, 2 Timothy 2:8) through this messianic line.  Even though God’s people could not get the Egypt out of themselves after He led them out from the bondage of sin in Egypt, He redeemed them.  He also has promised to hold us firmly in His hand (John 10:28-29) through His unbreakable covenant in His Son, even when we allow ourselves to go back to the spiritual Egypt of sins such as immorality and the resulting idolatry of Solomon as we are pulled away by unbelievers in unequal yoking or association that leads us to follow them away from the Lord, even so He will lead us back as promised to the kingdom prepared (Matthew 25:34, 2 Corinthians 5:4-5, Ephesians 2:10) for us from the beginning of time according to our calling of promise.  We have this example to remember that we do not fall away (1 Corinthians 10:6-7, 11) as we turn to the Lord for grace to help in such times (Hebrews 4:16, 1 Corinthians 10:13) to stand against such tugs of the world and our flesh against His Spirit and word in us, just as we read here that overwhelmed Solomon with a return to sin’s bondage of how sins of immorality to love and marry the ungodly turned his heart away to (1 Corinthians 10:14, Colossians 3:5) idolatry.  Sin defiled Solomon’s temple as it does ours; may we take heed to this account as a warning and keep our own temples clean (1 Corinthians 6:18-19, 20, 2 Corinthians 6:15-16) from such things and teach others the same. 

1 Kings 10:14-29 - God’s Abundant Supply

1 Kings 10:14-29

Solomon’s Great Wealth

14 The weight of gold that came to Solomon yearly was six hundred and sixty-six talents of gold, 15 besides that from the traveling merchants, from the income of traders, from all the kings of Arabia, and from the governors of the country.

16 And King Solomon made two hundred large shields of hammered gold; six hundred shekels of gold went into each shield. 17 He also made three hundred shields of hammered gold; three minas of gold went into each shield. The king put them in the House of the Forest of Lebanon.

18 Moreover the king made a great throne of ivory, and overlaid it with pure gold. 19 The throne had six steps, and the top of the throne was round at the back; there were armrests on either side of the place of the seat, and two lions stood beside the armrests. 20 Twelve lions stood there, one on each side of the six steps; nothing like this had been made for any other kingdom.

21 All King Solomon’s drinking vessels were gold, and all the vessels of the House of the Forest of Lebanon were pure gold. Not one was silver, for this was accounted as nothing in the days of Solomon. 22 For the king had merchant ships at sea with the fleet of Hiram. Once every three years the merchant ships came bringing gold, silver, ivory, apes, and monkeys. 23 So King Solomon surpassed all the kings of the earth in riches and wisdom.

24 Now all the earth sought the presence of Solomon to hear his wisdom, which God had put in his heart. 25 Each man brought his present: articles of silver and gold, garments, armor, spices, horses, and mules, at a set rate year by year.

26 And Solomon gathered chariots and horsemen; he had one thousand four hundred chariots and twelve thousand horsemen, whom he stationed in the chariot cities and with the king at Jerusalem. 27 The king made silver as common in Jerusalem as stones, and he made cedar trees as abundant as the sycamores which are in the lowland.

28 Also Solomon had horses imported from Egypt and Keveh; the king’s merchants bought them in Keveh at the current price. 29 Now a chariot that was imported from Egypt cost six hundred shekels of silver, and a horse one hundred and fifty; and thus, through their agents, they exported them to all the kings of the Hittites and the kings of Syria.

Solomon experienced God’s an abundant supply of wisdom, but also of nearly endless provision of material goods as well.  He ruled in the wisdom of the LORD as he had begged God to have (2 Chronicles 1:11, 12) for his people and the LORD promised him the riches he never asked for or sought after.  We who are in Christ also find that our truly fulfilling desires are not for prosperity of material wealth, but of the knowledge and wisdom of the Lord through His word and Spirit that we may serve Him and others in acceptable fear (Matthew 6:31, Philippians 4:19, 1 Peter 4:11) and awe with thankful hearts for all His grace and goodness of provision and providence.  Whether we have luxury or poverty, we are rich in the wisdom and knowledge of Jesus Christ our Lord!  We later see how the love of riches can corrupt with pride and sin that rot from within when our valuation of material possessions overtakes the true riches (Jeremiah 9:23, 24, Luke 12:21, 1 Timothy 6:6, 17) we possess in our great God and Savior, (Titus 2:13, 2 Peter 1:1) Jesus Christ.  We find wisdom in 2 Peter 3:16, 17 to avoid false doctrines of seeking possessions over wisdom that some erroneously teach today as we choose instead to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  He is our greatest gifted possession and our wealth is founded on and in His love and grace as adopted sons and daughters of the true and only wise King.  May we then humbly pursue knowledge of and knowing Him as our greatest possession and reward and not allow the thorns of life to choke out our joy in following and serving Him as living sacrifices in continuous contentment amidst the calls of the world or bad teachings around us.  God’s love in His abundant supply (2 Corinthians 9:8, 1 Thessalonians 4:1) is all we need.