A Kingdom Torn in Two The Story: part 14 January 15, 2017 DAY 1: Solomon dies; Rehoboam, his son about to become king. 1 Kings 12:1 Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all the Israelites had gone there to make him king. 2 When Jeroboam son of Nebat heard this (he was still in Egypt, where he had fled from King Solomon), he returned from Egypt. 3 So they sent for Jeroboam, … 1. King Solomon is dead. Rehoboam, his son, is all set to become king. No problem, right? Not so fast.

2. Jeroboam had been in charge of forced labor. He was a young man that King Solomon had trusted. But Solomon heard word that after his death, Jeroboam would be a threat to his son, Rehoboam’s throne. Solomon hatched a plot to assassinate Jeroboam. Jeroboam fled to Egypt for safety. After Solomon’s death, Jeroboam returned to Jerusalem.

3. The people were ready to anoint Rehoboam king, but first they wanted to see what kind of king he would be. To accomplish this, they recruited Jeroboam as their spokesman.

1 Kings 12:3b …and he (Jeroboam) and the whole assembly of Israel went to Rehoboam and said to him: 4 "Your father put a heavy yoke on us, but now lighten the harsh labor and the heavy yoke he put on us, and we will serve you." 5 Rehoboam answered, "Go away for three days and then come back to me." So the people went away.

4. What kind of king had Solomon been?

5. Their question to Rehoboam was a simple one. In today’s world we’d ask, “What’s your platform?” What kind of king do you aspire to be? 6. Seems like a simple question, correct? When you have an important question to think through and answer, how do you go about making that decision?

1 Kings 12:6 Then King Rehoboam consulted the elders who had served his father Solomon during his lifetime. "How would you advise me to answer these people?" he asked. 7 They replied, "If today you will be a servant to these people and serve them and give them a favorable answer, they will always be your servants." 7. Seems simple! How do you think Rehoboam responded? DAY 2: Rehoboam seeks the wrong advisers; acts on the wrong advice. 1 Kings 12:8 But Rehoboam rejected the advice the elders gave him and consulted the young men who had grown up with him and were serving him. 9 He asked them, "What is your advice? How should we answer these people who say to me, 'Lighten the yoke your father put on us'?" 10 The young men who had grown up with him replied, "Tell these people who have said to you, 'Your father put a heavy yoke on us, but make our yoke lighter'--tell them, 'My little finger is thicker than my father's waist. 11 My father laid on you a heavy yoke; I will make it even heavier. My father scourged you with whips; I will scourge you with scorpions.'" 1. This is astoundingly poor advice. What reasons would younger men have for giving Rehoboam this kind of advice?

1 Kings 12:12 Three days later Jeroboam and all the people returned to Rehoboam, as the king had said, "Come back to me in three days." 13 The king answered the people harshly. Rejecting the advice given him by the elders, 14 he followed the advice of the young men and said, "My father made your yoke heavy; I will make it even heavier. My father scourged you with whips; I will scourge you with scorpions." 2. From a lower story perspective, this is horrendous advice! Instead of creating good will with the people, instead of listening to the people he is supposed to lead, he torpedoes his leadership! Are there any good reasons you can think of that would make Rehoboam’s response a good one?

3. My mentor used to tell me, “People do what makes sense to them.” Think about Rehoboam’s response. What are some reasons that would “make sense” to a young man about to become a young king?

4. When a leader is insecure or fearful, he will be “driven” to lead in such a way that his needs are met instead of the needs of those he’s supposed to lead. In the following examples, mark which ones you think may have played in role in Rehoboam’s response: ____ a. Sometimes “blustering” his way ahead may make sense to him. It may persuade the people that he knows what he is doing after all. ____ b. “Confidence,” even though it is based on nothing, still is worth something when it comes to leading. ____ c. Winning the admiration and “respect” of the younger crowd may secure his future and win him a following DAY 3: The nation splits in two 1 Kings 12:16 When all Israel saw that the king refused to listen to them, they answered the king: "What share do we have in David, what part in Jesse's son? To your tents, O Israel! Look after your own house, O David!" So the Israelites went home. 1. The nation split into two. Ten of the twelve tribes refused to follow Rehoboam as king. The ten tribes became known as “Israel,” (the northern kingdom) while the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin became known as “Judah,” (the southern kingdom). 19 So Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David to this day. 20 When all the Israelites heard that Jeroboam had returned, they sent and called him to the assembly and made him king over all Israel. Only the tribe of Judah remained loyal to the house of David.

2. From a lower story perspective, this looked like yet another disaster for God’s plan.

3. Yet, from a higher story perspective, God’s plan is moving right along! How can that be??!!!!

4. We get a little clue in verses 16, 19, and 20. Notice how the remaining tribes of Judah and Benjamin are called: “the house of David.”

5. God had made a covenant with Abraham that a Messiah would come out of his offspring. The Abrahamic covenant was restated with a covenant with Moses. But now the promise of a coming Messiah is honed even tighter to only one of the twelve tribes of Israel: the tribe of Judah, which was King David’s lineage.

6. This split of the nation into two nations came as no surprise to God, and, in fact God used this split to hone the promise of the coming Messiah! 1 Kings 11:31 Then he said to Jeroboam, "Take ten pieces for yourself, for this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: 'See, I am going to tear the kingdom out of Solomon's hand and give you ten tribes. 32 But for the sake of my servant David and the city of Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, he will have one tribe. 7. BEFORE Rehoboam even asked for advice about how to answer the people regarding what kind of king he would be, God had already spoken through a prophet that the kingdom would be torn in two! And notice whose name pops up, David!

DAY 4: God’s surprising use of our dismal lower stories 1 Kings 12:15 So the king did not listen to the people, for this turn of events was from the LORD, to fulfill the word the LORD had spoken to Jeroboam son of Nebat through Ahijah the Shilonite. 1. As we saw yesterday, the dividing of the kingdom, from a lower story perspective was a disaster.

2. But God used what seemed like a disaster to further His purposes, by pinpointing the coming Messiah would be through one of the twelve possible tribes, the tribe of Judah.

3. He also specified that David’s line would continue after Solomon’s death, through Rehoboam, in spite of the rebellion of the ten tribes.

4. Rehoboam, in a tremendous pique of pride and anger was ready to go to war against the northern tribes, although he would have been greatly outnumbered!! Pride can blind us to the most “obvious” of facts!

5. The threat of war, and the almost certain crushing defeat could have meant the loss of the nation, entirely! But God stepped in, again.

21 When Rehoboam arrived in Jerusalem, he mustered the whole house of Judah and the tribe of Benjamin--a hundred and eighty thousand fighting men--to make war against the house of Israel and to regain the kingdom for Rehoboam son of Solomon. 22 But this word of God came to Shemaiah the man of God: 23 "Say to Rehoboam son of Solomon king of Judah, to the whole house of Judah and Benjamin, and to the rest of the people, 24 'This is what the LORD says: Do not go up to fight against your brothers, the Israelites. Go home, every one of you, for this is my doing.'" So they obeyed the word of the LORD and went home again, as the LORD had ordered.

6. Once again, while Rehoboam was foolishly plotting his own national suicide, God makes clear that the division of the nation was NOT a disaster!

7. Amidst the rubble of their lower stories, God’s Upper Story gets stronger, and more precise!!

8. What strikes you about God in this story? DAY 5: The Lion of Judah 1. Because Rehoboam was only committed to his own lower story, he had virtually no idea that God’s Upper Story was marching ahead. All he could see and do was respond to his own needs, and what he thought he should do. His instincts were dead wrong.

2. Meanwhile, God’s plan was marching on! The Messiah will come, not just from the nation as God had promised Abraham and Moses. But the promise is further refined: through the house of David; from the line of Judah. The Messiah would be called the Lion of Judah.

3. Centuries before David was born, Jacob gave this prophetic word over his son, Judah. Genesis 49:8 "Judah, your brothers will praise you; your hand will be on the neck of your enemies; your father's sons will bow down to you. 9 You are a lion's cub, O Judah; you return from the prey, my son. Like a lion he crouches and lies down, like a lioness--who dares to rouse him? 10 The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, until he comes to whom it belongs and the obedience of the nations is his. 11 He will tether his donkey to a vine, his colt to the choicest branch …

4. These prophecies will find their fulfillment in Jesus, over a thousand years later after they were spoken.

5. At the other end of time, we have the book of Revelation.

Revelation 5:5 Then one of the elders said to me, "Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals." 6. Notice how both elements of prophecy, the tribe of Judah and King David both coalesce in Jesus Christ our Lord and Messiah!!

7. In our lives, it may appear that our lower stories are unraveling, or that God is doing nothing in our behalf. But no matter how dismal our own story may appear, God is working to bring us home, shaping us along the way to reflect more and more of His Son’s character to a dark world.