Hello my dear “Walking with Jesus” friends on this Friday,
When you and I think of events which happen in our world that we attribute to God’s direct involvement in the affairs of humanity, I wonder if we assume God will always work in wonderful, hope filled miracles? Does it trouble you to consider that sometimes God brings discipline or judgment upon a person, or an organization, or even a nation which is painful, maybe even devastating?
Is it possible that what we call ‘natural disasters’ might sometimes actually be caused by God in His discipline or judgment of humanity’s rebellion against God? Now ponder that for a moment. Can you think of some major disasters which seemed to have no human cause, yet resulted in widespread damage or took the lives of many people? As you look closely at when, where, how and who was impacted by those events, can you see some which may very well have been God’s discipline or judgment on morally decadent humanity living in rebellion against God?
Come with me again my friends, to Jerusalem about 3000 years ago. Yesterday we watched as the new King of Israel, Rehoboam, the son of King Solomon, rejected the appeal of his people, the Israelites, to ease the burden of their harsh labor. The glory years of King Solomon had seen dramatic expansion and major development projects accomplished, but the workload to accomplish those projects had been enormous.
With the nation in a wonderful time of prosperity and peace, the people hoped King Rehoboam would usher in a time of spiritual renewal, social refreshment, and less burden for the people. But Rehoboam’s harsh response actually frightened the people, for King Rehoboam promised his reign would be at time of even heavier burden upon them and much crueler punishments for failure to meet work quotas!
Shocked, the people renounced their allegiance to King Rehoboam turning instead to one of the men King Solomon had elevated to a high role in his government, Mr. Jeroboam. (1 Kings 11:26-33) We’ve been following Jeroboam’s story for the last few days, so I don’t think I need to explain who Jeroboam was or why the people would call upon him to be their leader as they rejected the cruel leadership of King Rehoboam.
When word came to King Rehoboam of the people’s response, he was furious and sent word out to rally every able bodied man in and around Jerusalem to take up arms and prepare to attack. But attack who? Their fellow Israelites? Do you see it, my friends? Civil war was brewing! For nearly 150 years Israel had been a united nation, a people of God under the leadership of the prophet Samuel, and then King Saul, followed by King David, followed by his son King Solomon. While 12 different tribes, the people of Israel were unified as the unique Covenant people of God, with their shared history reaching back more than 1000 years to Abraham!
But now, suddenly, the unthinkable was happening in Israel as Israelites were taking up arms to kill each other, and under the direction of their king Rehoboam the son of King Solomon! God then intervened in the affairs of humanity. The record of 1 Kings 12:22 says: “But this word of God came to Shemiah the man of God: ‘Say to Rehoboam son of Solomon king of Judah, to all Judah and Benjamin, and to the rest of the people. This is what the LORD says: ‘Do not go up to fight against your brothers, the Israelites. Go home, everyone of you, for this is MY doing.‘ So they obeyed the words of the LORD and went home…”
What? Could it be true? God was in this? Yes, God Himself was bringing His judgment upon His people Israel and especially the royal family of King Solomon, as God had promised, remember? As we saw in 1 Kings 11:11, God had declared that because King Solomon had failed in his personal spiritual life, his family, and his royal leadership of God’s people, God was bringing judgment!
How had Solomon failed?
Solomon had defiled the sacred covenant of marriage by having 1000 women, many of them from the nations God had clearly warned the Israelites to NOT marry!! (1 Kings 11:3)
Solomon had failed in his personal spirituality and leadership of both his family and his nation by turning away from God and worshiping idols and building temples for those idols in and around Jerusalem! (1 Kings 11:4-8) King David, Solomon’s father, had warned Solomon very clearly that God would bless Israel as long as their king led them in honoring God and following God’s lead. But also, God would pour out His discipline, and if necessary God’s judgement, if the king and the people of Israel turned away from God. (1 Chronicles 28:8,9)
My friends, have you and I learned that God is faithful to His word? God had told Solomon that the judgment for his failed leadership and his personal spiritual collapse was that the united kingdom of Israel would tear apart into two kingdoms and it would be God’s doing!
This, my friends, is a very, very important lesson for us to learn: God is holy and loving and merciful, but God is also Holy Justice and rebellion against God has consequences with God!
Did you notice God identified that King Rehoboam was left with only two tribes which remained loyal to him, the tribe of Judah and Benjamin? This was in fulfillment of what God had promised Jeroboam through the prophet Abijah as we saw in 1 Kings 11:29-38. The region of Israel which King Rehoboam still controlled was the city of Jerusalem and the region around it and south to the desert. The other 10 tribes occupied the region north of Jerusalem all the way up to the border of Lebanon including the Galilee region.
1 Kings 12:25 tells us the first thing Jeroboam did was to fortify the city of Shechem near Samaria. In those days fortifying a city meant reinforcing the wall around the city and building both watchtowers and military posts on the walls to defend that city against any approaching enemy. 2 Chronicles 11:5-12 reports that King Rehoboam did the same in several towns and cities forming a defense perimeter around Jerusalem. Thus a sort of DMZ was established, dividing the nation of Israel for the first time in its history!
Jeroboam’s choice of Shechem was very significant. Can you remember the important history of that town in Israel? It was at Shechem that Joshua, near the end of his life, had challenged the people of Israel to declare their allegiance to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
Perhaps you remember Joshua’s famous words: “Choose you this day whom you will serve. As for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.” (Joshua 24:15) And Joshua had done one other very, very significant thing at Shechem. The record says: “Joseph’s bones, which the Israelites had brought up from Egypt, were buried at Shechem in the tract of land Jacob had purchased…” (Joshua 24:32)
Could Jeroboam possibly have selected any city in all Israel with a greater historical significance, at this dreadful moment of near civil war, than Shechem where the tomb of their patriarch Joseph was located?
Let’s pause here friends. As Israelites in Jerusalem and Israelites in Shechem sat around with their children and grandchildren reflecting on what was happening in Israel, can you imagine the conversations? For the first time in history the Israelites were a divided people.
What would they do when it came time for the Hebrew festivals of Passover and Shavuot which normally drew all Israel together in Jerusalem for celebration of their unique nation, the chosen people of God? And now, did God have two groups of His chosen people or was God abandoning one of them…the people with Rehoboam or the people with Jeroboam?
Oh those were terrible times with no easy answers. That’s the ripple effect of sinful rebellion against God, isn’t it my friends?
Look around our world today, do you see evidence of the same mess in many places of our world? Is God planning soon to respond again with His discipline or His judgment? No song today my friends, rather I call us to give careful consideration to God’s interventions in the rebellion of humanity. How do you explain this to your children and grandchildren?
Today’s Scripture: 1 Kings 12:20-24.
Choose below to read or listen.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
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Pastor Doug Anderson
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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