He Needed a Faithful Father
After the death of Solomon in 930 B.C., the kingdom divided. The
northern tribes rebelled against the house of David and established a new nation
which continued to be called "Israel". The southern kingdom continued to
acknowledge the authority of the house of David; they were called "Judah".
It all happened during the reign of Rehoboam, the son of Solomon. The split of
the nation into two smaller nations left both much weaker. We often refer to
Rehoboam's bad decision to follow the counsel of his young friends rather than
that of the wiser counselors of his father as the reason for the division of the
nation. And it is true that Rehoboam is responsible for his decision and the
consequences of it, but it was not there that the division had begun. The wheels
had been set in motion during the reign of his father, Solomon.
The Division of the Kingdom Had Been Prophesied
God had spoken to Solomon and told him of consequences that would result if he
became an unfaithful king. The Lord said, "As for you, if you walk before Me as
your father David walked, even to do according to all that I have commanded you,
and will keep My statutes and My ordinances, then I will establish your royal
throne as I covenanted with your father David, saying, "You shall not lack a man
to be ruler in Israel.' But if you turn away and forsake My statutes and My
commandments which I have set before you, and go and serve other gods and
worship them, then I will uproot you from My land which I have given you, and
this house which I have consecrated for My name I will cast out of My sight and
I will make it a proverb and a byword among all peoples." (2 Chronicles
7:17-20).
Also, the prophet Ahijah had prophesied to Jeroboam "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 give you
ten tribes (but he will have one tribe, for the sake of My servant David and for
the sake of Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen from all the tribes of
Israel), because they have forsaken Me, and have worshiped Ashtoreth the goddess
of the Sidonians, Chemosh the god of Moab, and Milcom the god of the sons of
Ammon; and they have not walked in My ways, doing what is right in My sight and
observing My statutes and My ordinances, as his father David did. Nevertheless I
will not take the whole kingdom out of his hand, but I will make him ruler all
the days of his life, for the sake of My servant David whom I chose, who
observed My commandments and My statutes; but I will take the kingdom from his
son's hand and give it to you, even ten tribes. (1 Kings 11:31-35).
The Ultimate Cause of the Division Was Solomon's
Apostasy
Two independent kingdoms were formed. Jeroboam was king over Israel (10 tribes)
in the North (1 Kings 12:20) and Rehoboam was king over Judah and Benjamin in
the South (1 Kings 12:21).
While we understand that Rehoboam was not simply an innocent bystander, we see
that his reign is adversely effected by his father's spiritual failures. This
did not make Rehoboam not responsible for his own decisions, he was (1 Kings
11:9-13). But the actions and attitudes of his father adversely effected
Rehoboam.
Solomon was a very wise man. He was a good governor and the nation prospered
under him. But during the middle of his reign, he began to compromise his faith
and convictions. His many political marriages undertaken to cement alliances
with other nations brought great influence upon him from his pagan wives, and
they influenced him to turn to idolatry. It was in that failure that the seeds
of division had been sown.
Parents will effect their children's future, and Rehoboam, though responsible
for his own errors, needed faithful parents to look up to. Rehoboam did not get
that from his father Solomon. I do not know how to make the message any plainer
than that.
Will We Effect Our Children As Badly as Solomon
Effected His?
I doubt that Solomon planned on having such an adverse effect on his son. His
moral and spiritual failures slipped up on him. That happens when proper
attention is not given to the Lord and his will in our lives. Solomon had given
such matters their proper place at one time, but somewhere along the he had lost
his way (1 Kings 11:9-13).
Why did Rehoboam listen to the unwise counsel of his friends to increase the tax
burdens of the people (1 Kings 12:9-11) instead of the wise counsel of his
father's counselors and decrease the tax burden (1 Kings 12:6-8) (any similarity
between this and modern day political issues in our own nation are purely
coincidental). Was it pride? Was it a lack of respect of his father, perhaps due
to his father's own spiritual failures? Whatever it was, the end result was the
same. National disaster and civil war.
So that was then, and now is now. We fill the roles of parents and children. We
are now the ones living our lives before God. It is our children who are being
influenced by us. They are seeing in us examples of strong faith and commitment,
or spiritual weakness and failure. The Bible says, "For He established a
testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel, which He commanded our fathers
that they should teach them to their children, that the generation to come might
know, even the children yet to be born, that they may arise and tell them to
their children, that they should put their confidence in God and not forget the
works of God, but keep His commandments." (Psalm 78:5-7).
In the New Testament we read, "Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger,
but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord." (Ephesians
6:4). We also read of the good effect godly parents (and grandparents) can have
on their offspring. Paul wrote to Timothy, "You, however, continue in the things
you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned
them, and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able
to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ
Jesus.: (2 Timothy 3:14,15; cf. 2 Timothy 1:5).
Parents! Will we live for the Lord as the examples of faith we ought to be
before our children and all, or will we conceal the wonderful things God's grace
has provided us in compromise and neglect? "We will not conceal them from their
children, But tell to the generation to come the praises of the LORD, And His
strength and His wondrous works that He has done." (Psalm 78:4). Let us prepare
our hearts and be faithful to our God! "And not be like their fathers, a
stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation that did not prepare its heart
and whose spirit was not faithful to God." (Psalm 78:8). It does not take a
"Solomon" to clearly see what our choice ought to be.
By Jon W. Quinn
From Expository Files 14.12; December 2007
