The Times of the Kings (Part 5)

Today we're going to continue through our Bible study through the Kings of Israel. This was a little bit of an unusual week for me, and as I sat down and was working on this and wrapping it up yesterday evening, I thought, you know, wow, I'm reading a lot of the Bible today. You know, and I think, well, if that's the worst you can say about a preacher on the Sabbath giving a Bible study, you should read a lot of the Bible. I think we're doing good. So we're going to delve into God's Word and pick up where we left off. As you recall, my last Bible study on the Kings was related to King Solomon and his reign. We're going to turn our focus here a little differently today. And as we arrive at this point, one of the most significant turning points in the Old Testament, we're going to recognize something that took place that led to the division of what was the United Kingdom of Israel. The year is approximately 931 BC and Solomon has died. And from this point forward, Israel becomes two kingdoms. The northern kingdom of Israel under Jeroboam, who we'll look at today, and the southern kingdom of Judah under Reoboam, the son of Solomon. As we walk through the story today, these two men are going to reveal something persistent about human nature. I think if we're honest with it, something that resides within each of us that maybe to this human experience seems normal, but we're seeking by God's blessing to work out of our lives, but something persistent to human nature. Reoboam will show what happens when pride overshadows wisdom. And Jeroboam will show us what happens when fear replaces faith. If God says, I promise this to you, and yet your fear won't allow you to just submit to what God is doing, you're going to try to grab the wheel yourself. Jeroboam's story is what happens when fear replaces faith. And through it all, we'll see that even in judgment, God remains faithful to his purposes and his promises. And that's actually, for me, I think one of the most important threads through this story and through all the kings of Israel, that no matter if they were a good king, a bad king, a righteous king, a failure, God's purpose, God's plan, what he said he would accomplish through all of this remains constant. You know, it's not about the man. Ultimately, it's about God. The title of the sermon today is The Times of the Kings, Part 5.

Reoboam and Jeroboam, a kingdom divided. Reoboam and Jeroboam, a kingdom divided. And our study will take us primarily through 1 Kings, chapters 11 through 14, and also elements of 2 Chronicles, chapters 10 through 12. So I encourage you in your free time, you can go back and read all of that through as a flow and pick up other details as well. But let's jump into it. 1 Kings 11 and verse 9. We're actually going to go back a little bit during the life of Solomon and lay the groundwork for what's taking place here. 1 Kings 11 and verse 9. It says, So the Lord became angry with Solomon, because his heart had turned from the Lord God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice, 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. He says, Therefore the Lord said to Solomon, because you have done this, and have not kept my covenant and my statutes with I commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom away from you, and give it to your servant. You know, this is not just a reprimand. This is like, you know, to the lineage. This is a slap in the face that, you know, it's not going to your son primarily, it's going to your servant. But, you know, promises made to David are guaranteed to David's lineage, but they weren't guaranteed to Solomon himself, unless, indeed, he was faithful through and through. So there's going to be a consequence here.

Verse 12, he says, 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. However, I will not tear away the whole kingdom, I will give one tribe to your son, for the sake of my servant, David, for the sake of Jerusalem, which I have chosen. And so we understand that this division of the kingdom didn't begin with Rehoboam and Jeroboam. I think that's kind of where maybe our mind naturally goes. It actually began before that. The decision was made before that, and actually it began in the heart of Solomon. Solomon, as you recall, had been given incredible wealth, right? Incredible wisdom, an incredible place in history. I mean, he brought, by God's guidance and direction, Israel to a place of national and international prestige, dominance. It was a hub of the world. And he had incredible peace during his reign. You recall, he built a temple and brought Israel, again, to the greatest level of national strength it had never known. But over time, his heart was turned away, and compromise moved in. And indeed, he turned and divided his loyalties.

So what makes Solomon's failure so sobering? Brethren, it wasn't a lack of knowledge.

He had knowledge. He had understanding. But it was a failure to remain faithful to what he already knew. And that's how spiritual decline happens. You know, some of my other messages, I've sort of stacked up lessons at the very end. I've taken lessons and they're scattered throughout this message today. And this is a lesson for us to understand as we're carrying forward. Still remembering Solomon's example is that his failure wasn't a lack of knowledge, but a failure to remain faithful to what he already knew. For us, we must be aware of the same.

Because as Mr. Roke says, there's things we know that is incredible knowledge, incredible blessing. Things that maybe we take for granted and say, well, this is normal. Yeah, know that. Glad you know it. Don't ever let go of it. Don't ever let it slip through your fingers. Don't ever compromise with what God has given and you know that you know is true.

Because that was Solomon's problem here. Compromise. And for you and I, again, it's not a lack of knowledge. It's not ignorance. I believe largely that could be a risk to us. Again, it's compromise over what it is we know and that we allow to slide. So, as a result, God declared that the kingdom would be torn away. And yet, even in judgment, God's mercy is evident for David's sake. And because of his covenant promises, God would preserve a remnant for David's line. So, so the line would continue. The kingship through that line would continue, but a vast majority of the kingdom was going to be ripped from David's descendant and given to, as it said here, Solomon's servant. Again, a lesson for us. Even when God disciplines us, he doesn't abandon his promises. You and I might, you know, get angry at somebody and you say, well, you know, you can just...our deal is off. But God, even when he disciplines and he disciplines in love, his promises remain. So, let's introduce Jeroboam and see how God would accomplish this division in the nation. 1 Kings chapter 11 and verse 26 says, then Solomon's servant Jeroboam, son of Nebat and Ephraimite from Zerda, whose mother's name was Zerua, a widow, also rebelled against the king. So, at the end of Solomon's life now, there's various challenges rising.

The weakness is being seen through his turning from God, and God's hand of blessing is starting to be withdrawn, and various challenges have arisen. And now, here we come to Jeroboam.

Verse 27, it says, and this is what caused him to rebel against the king. Solomon had built the milo and repaired the damages to the city of David, his father. 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. And so, this passage is a little incomplete as to what exactly led to Jeroboam's rebellion, but it seems it was actually tied to Solomon's public works programs. You know, the burdens, the manpower it required, the finances it required. I mean, this was Jerusalem and city of David centric and heavy, and yet the taxation goes out to bring in to support these things. And so, what we're actually finding here, it seems Jeroboam becoming a spokesman for the dissatisfaction of the northern tribes. You know, it's these projects that came in that seem to stress other areas of the country. Verse 29 says, now it happened at that time when Jeroboam went out of Jerusalem that the prophet Ahijah the Silonite met him on the way, and he had clothed himself with a new garment, and there were the two of them alone in the field. And Ahijah took hold of the new garment that was on him, tore it into 12 pieces, right? There's 12 tribes, 12 pieces. And he said to Jeroboam, take for yourself 10 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 10 tribes to you. It says, 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. It says, because they have forsaken me, worshiped Asherith, the goddess of the Sidonians, Shemush, the god of the Moabites, and Milchon, the god of the people of Ammon, and have not walked in my ways to do what was right in my eyes, keep my statutes my judgments, as did his father David. It says, 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. Verse 35, I will take the kingdom out of his son's hand, of Solomon's son, and give it to you, Jeroboam, ten tribes. And so to his son I will give one tribe, and as we come to understand, you know, there's Judah, where he is, he is of Judah, and then one tribe being Benjamin to that.

And I will give to him one tribe that my servant David may always have a lamp, verse 36, before me in Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen for myself to put my name there. And so a high just prophecy specifies that Jeroboam is going to receive now at some time in the future ten tribes, and Solomon's son would retain Judah, and one additional tribe, Benjamin, as we'll see. And this arrangement actually preserved Jerusalem, it preserved the temple, right, where the house of God was, it preserved the central focus of worship in Judah, and understand too what kind of would have been at stake. Jerusalem is actually in the tribe of Benjamin, not in the tribe of Judah, specifically. So if Benjamin were to go to the north, then actually it could have been an abandonment, possibly even of the house of God in Jerusalem itself. As a result, God was still preserving his covenant promises to David as well as the location he had chosen for his name.

If we go down to verse 37, it says, right, I will take you, Jeroboam, and you shall reign over all your heart's desires. This is God's promise to Jeroboam. You shall reign over all your heart's desires, and you shall be king over Israel. 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. He says, then I will be with you, and build for you an enduring house, as I built for David, and I will give Israel to you. It's quite a promise. Verse 39, and I will afflict the descendants of David because of this, but not forever. And so God offers Jeroboam something quite remarkable, right? If he'll submit himself to God, if he'll obey God, the promises to him and his line, his dynasty, are significant. You know, even though the kingdom would split, God's desire would be for the entire nation, all 12 tribes, and their rulers to worship him, to follow him, to do things the right way. It was always his desire to bless them as his people. So Jeroboam has offered this blessing from God. And as such, his story begins with tremendous promise, right? God's not setting him up to fail. Indeed, God is saying, I am with you, and he's offering him every opportunity to succeed. The question is, will Jeroboam trust God? We trust what he's promised. Will he yield to God's direction and do it God's way? Or will he seek to, you know, grab hold of things and do it his own way? As we're going to see pretty soon, that actually becomes the defining issue of his reign. Oh, he wanted what God promised him, but his fear caused him to do something that in his mind would, you know, I'm going to wrap my arms around and hang on to these tribes my way.

Verse 40, then Solomon therefore sought to kill Jeroboam, but Jeroboam arose and fled to Egypt. So Shishak the king of Egypt and was in Egypt until the death of Solomon. So I think it highlights kind of the decline now even of Solomon's dominance, his influence. Egypt, that was actually kind of an ally, you know, through marriage and other things. Now they're sheltering someone that's actually opposed to Solomon. So we come to the end of Solomon's life as we did on the last study, verse 43. Then Solomon rested with his fathers and buried it in the city of David. Let's now turn our attention to Solomon's son, Rhea-Boam, who actually then ascends here to the throne in his place. First Kings chapter 12 in verse 1. First Kings 12 verse 1, and Rhea-Boam went to Shechem, for all Israel had gone to Shechem to make him king. You might say, well why not Jerusalem? Why Shechem? Well Shechem had significance in the nation as well. It is a place where they had had national commitment made before, where they had renewed covenants to God, where they had declared as a nation, we will follow the Lord. And so there's actually, again, a degree of significance to that place. But also why not Jerusalem might be because there's challenge to this one that would be come King. There's maybe challenge surrounding now the family of Solomon. There's challenge surrounding Jerusalem and the seed of that throne itself. So maybe this is a little more neutral territory up in the northern ten region, where they would come, and all of Israel then gathered together. Ultimately Shechem would be the first capital of the northern kingdom of Israel after the split. So they come together and they're going to crown this man king. King over all 12 tribes at this point. Verse 2, so what happened when Jeroboam the son of Nebat heard it, okay Jeroboam, he was still in Egypt. For he had fled from the presence of King Solomon and had been dwelling in Egypt. And they sent and they called him. Then Jeroboam and the whole assembly of Israel came and spoke to Rheoboam. You know, it appears that Jeroboam is like the spokesman for these ten tribes. They come to Rheoboam saying, Your father made your yoke, his yoke heavy upon us. Now therefore lighten the burdensome service of your father and his heavy yoke which he put on us and we will serve you. You know, we want to be a nation. We want to support you. But you know, the taxation, the manpower requirements, everything that went into supporting that massive kingdom, this is heavy. And if you can cut us a break, lighten our load, okay, we're behind you. So he said to them to part for three days, come back to me, and the people departed. Then King Jeroboam 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? 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.

He says, But he rejected the advice which the elders had given him and consulted the young men with whom he had grown up and who had stood before him. You know, the other palace brats, let's get their opinion on it. You know, they might have an idea here.

In verse 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? Then the young men who had grown up with him spoke to him, saying, Thus you shall 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. You know, if you thought you were loaded up before, just wait. I got plans.

Verse 11, And now, whereas my father put a heavy yoke on you, I will add to your yoke, My father chastise you with whips, I will chastise you with scourges. You know, we know scourges. Christ was scourge. You know, it's the whip with the leather bits and the things. He's like, I'm going to tear you up. And actually, scorpions is the literal translation of that word. I will chastise you with scorpions. You know, my reign actually is going to sting.

So Jeroboam and all the people came to Reoboam the third day as the king had directed, saying, Come back to me the third day. And the king answered the people roughly, and he rejected the advice which the elders had given him. And so 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 chastise you with whips, I will chastise you with scorpions. Reoboam's decision reveals something here about human nature, which is, it's often easier to listen to voices that confirm what you're already thinking, what you already want to do. It's easier to go get advice that agrees kind of with your leaning anyway. It's hard actually to listen to advice of wisdom at times that tells you to humble yourself and to make a real change. Again, it's something that is part of the nature of all mankind in one way or another. But sadly, this decision would cost him big. Verse 15, still in chapter 12, verse 15, it says, 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 to Ahijah the Shylonite, to Jeroboam the son of Nebat. Verse 16, Now all Israel saw that the king did not listen to them. He is king. He's king over all the tribes at this moment. He's been crowned king, and they approached him with this. They saw the king did not listen to him, and 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. It's like we're done with you. You know, what's the benefit for the rest of us? What's the benefit for the nation? What's the benefit of the taxation and all that you have placed upon us? To your tents, to your own house, O David. So Israel departed to their tents. Verse 17, But Rehoboam reigned over the children of Israel, who dwelt in the cities of Judah. It says, Then king Rehoboam sent Adoram, who was in charge of the revenue. Okay, let's just see what we can make stick here. Send the tax collector up into the northern ten people, right? But all Israel stoned him with stones, and he died. Therefore king Rehoboam mounted his chariot in haste to flee to Jerusalem. Here's the king of the nation of Israel, of the 12 tribes, and within, you know, a very short period of time, days, he's hightailing it back to Jerusalem on the run from the majority of his countrymen, the majority of the nation. Verse 19, So Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David to this day. Now some shall come to pass when all Israel heard that Jeroboam had come back, that 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. And when Rehoboam came to Jerusalem, he assembled all the house of Judah with the tribe of Benjamin, 180,000 chosen men who were warriors, to fight against the house of Israel, that he might restore the kingdom to Rehoboam, the son of Solomon. But the word of the Lord came to Shemiiah, the man of God, saying, 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, 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 returned back according to the word of the Lord.

And so, you know, the results here are immediate in all that's happening. The 10 northern tribes reject Rehoboam, excuse me, they crown Jeroboam as the king. You have Solomon's son, who says, No, I'm the rightful king. He's going to rise up and fight, you know, a civil war within Israel to try to reclaim the other 10 tribes. But thankfully, he listened to God. Listen to God. There is a result here.

The United Kingdom is divided in two. You know, before we shake our heads too quickly at these men and what has happened, I want us to, again, remember God's words. Notice what he says here in verse 24. God says, For this thing is from me. This is God's will. That's what God has determined. This thing is from me, he says. So even as men make choices and are accountable for their choices, God still reigns sovereign over history. God says, I'll still accomplish what I'll accomplish. And this is from me. Sometimes a division can perhaps be from God. In this case, it was because of sin.

And God said, you know, this has to be done in order to bring about a lesson.

I think a lesson for us is that God's purpose moves forward even through human failure.

God's purpose moves forward even through human failure. Ultimately, what God has determined to accomplish can't be stopped by human efforts. It doesn't matter who's on the throne. It really doesn't matter exactly what your territory borders are. It doesn't matter who your president is. It doesn't matter how long your nation has been a country. Men rise and fall. Nations rise and fall. Nations divide. The plan of God and the purpose of God continues. And he will continue it out. These men have and had free will and free choice. And it would take the nations where it would take them. But God still would fulfill his purpose. Now, to Rehoboam's credit, he listened to God's instructions. He abandoned the invasion. And even though war continued between the two kingdoms through much of his reign, this upfront civil war to try to, again, take back the ten was avoided. Because God's word was respected. Let's not follow Jeroboam for a time. Let's see what would define him as a king. 1 Kings 12 and verse 25. It says, Then Jeroboam built Shechem, again, that's the place where they split off from the throne of David. Jeroboam built Shechem in the mountains of Ephraim and dwelt there. Also, he went out from there and built a pinuel. It says, Then Jeroboam said in his heart, Now the kingdom may return to the house of David. I might start to lose some of these people. 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. The phrase here is Jeroboam said in his heart. The problem wasn't his actions at this point. The problem was and began with his thinking. After all, God had already promised Jeroboam the kingdom. He promised stability. He promised the dynasty. He promised great blessing. He says, If you heed the word of the Lord, I will give you all these things. And yet somewhere along the way, fear began to replace faith in the life of Jeroboam. Jeroboam reasoned that if the people continued returning to Jerusalem three times a year for God's annual festivals, their heart is going to go that way. They're going to gravitate back to Rehoboam, and he's going to lose control of the northern ten tribes. After all, Jerusalem remained the capital of David's dynasty in the home of God's temple. And so from a political standpoint, maybe what Jeroboam is about to do is going to make a little sense or seem reasonable politically. But in terms of a spiritual point of view, it revealed a failure of trust in the promises of God. And God said, I will give you this, and I will be with you, and I will bless you if you follow me. That was the condition. Follow me, not try to solve this or manage this yourself. Fear, brethren, often creates the desire for control.

We don't like... I mean, fear a lot of times means something's out of our hands, out of our control, and we don't like that. We want to grab hold of it and bring it back in under our control. And when we try to control what God has already promised to govern, then compromise follows.

And in Jeroboam's case, it produced... what did it produce? A counterfeit religion.

That's what we're going to see. 1 Kings 12 and verse 28 It says, therefore the king asked advice, made two calves of gold, and he said to the people, it is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Here are your gods, O Israel, which brought you out of the land of Egypt. You know, sound familiar? They've heard those words before at the place of another golden calf. And he set up one in Bethel to the south, right? And one in Dan up in the north. This is going to be easy. You don't have to go all the way down to Judah now. It's in your neighborhood.

Now this thing became a sin for the people went to worship before the one as far as Dan. It says, he made shrines in the high places, made priests from every class of people who were not the sons of Levi. Jeroboam ordained a feast on the 15th day of the eighth month. Okay, wrong 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. Verse 33, so he made offerings on the altar which he had made at Bethel on the 15th 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 in burned incense. Again, a counterfeit religion. Jeroboam constructs an alternative religion. This is what he's doing to try to hold on to this nation. Don't go down to Judah. Don't go to the house of God. And what makes it especially deceptive is it doesn't just outright reject God. We're still worshiping God, he says, but it mimics it. But it's a counterfeit.

So it's undermining all the foundations of the things of God. After all, you know, how would he advertise this? There's still sacrifices going on. There's still an altar. There's still a priesthood. There's still worship. There's still appointed feasts. You know, why do you have to go all the way down there? Here's your God, Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt. Everything established by God, he modified.

Due to the placement of the two golden calves, all of Israel could conveniently worship without traveling to Jerusalem. Bethel, if you recall, means what? House of God. Right? So it doesn't sound much better than that. Come to the house of God. Come to Bethel in worship. Setting up worship there made it appear especially legitimate.

While the practice was something entirely different. Beneath it all was one driving principle, convenience. Let's make it convenient for the people. Worship is redesigned to be easier, more accessible, more politically secure. But convenience and obedience, brethren, aren't the same thing. And it's important. Convenience and obedience. What did God say? Three times in a year, come up to the place where the Lord God has placed his name. Your mail shall come up. They shall not appear empty-handed. So was this obedience? It was not.

It was convenience. And many people fell for the convenience over obedience.

And they might go, well, that was their problem. You know, it plays out in various ways. It can play out today. We have this camera. We have this technology. We have a webcast. It is a blessing. In the purpose of the webcast, we tie our congregations together, and we reach people who are shut in, who cannot assemble. But the command of the Sabbath is, it is a holy convocation. It is assembly. If you can assemble, you must. The webcast is convenient.

Don't choose convenience over the commands of God. This is what Jeroboam set up for the people as a snare in the northern kingdoms. And that convenience became the guiding principle. And when it does, then it is truth that suffers. Truth suffers. According to 2 Chronicles 11, verse 15, we won't turn there, but it's a parallel passage to this. 2 Chronicles 11, 15, God viewed this counterfeit worship very differently than the people did. It states that Jeroboam's priesthood was actually connected to the worship of demons. That there was actually demon worship going on. That there's demons behind the idols. And indeed agrees with what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 10, verse 20.

The apostle Paul says, the things with the Gentile sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to God. And they do not want you to have fellowship with demons. So just understand how this counterfeit religion looked in the eyes of God. It was not in any way an acceptable substitute. And again, convenience does not replace obedience. 1 Kings 13, verse 1. This is going to be Jeroboam's legacy. 1 Kings 13, verse 1, And behold, the man of God went from Judah to Bethel, by the word of the Lord.

And Jeroboam stood by the altar to burn incense. I've given an extensive sermon on this man of God and this encounter, the things that followed. So I'm just going to go briefly through some of this. Verse 2, And then he cried out against the altar, by the word of the Lord, and said, O altar, altar, thus says the Lord. Behold, the child Josiah by name shall be born to the house of David. And on you, on this altar, he shall sacrifice the priests of the high places, who burn incense on you. And men's bones shall be burned on you. So God didn't leave this false system unchallenged. In fact, he gives a very specific prophecy here about Josiah, approximately 300 years from this point.

You know, that's a long time. We're getting ready next week, next Saturday, 4th of July, right, 250th birthday of the U.S. So, you know, longer than we've been a nation in that since, 300 years later, God prophesied the consequence to this, King Josiah of Judah. And that reference is in 2nd Kings chapter 23 verse 15 and 16. We'll get to Josiah one day. The 2nd Kings chapter 23 verse 15 and 16. There he destroyed the altar at Bethel. He killed the priests. He dug up the bones of the former priest who had died and burned them on the altar.

And indeed defiled that site. Verse 3 it says, and he gave a sign, this man of God, 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. So it shall come to pass when King Jeroboam heard the saying of the man of God who cried out against the altar of Bethel that he stretched out his hand and saying, arrest him.

He says, and then his hand which he stretched out toward him withered so that he could not pull it back to himself. You know, in my mind, every time I go to Raiders of the Lost Ark or something, you know, some Indiana Jones type sci-fi special effect, you know, but he just reaches out and says, arrest him. And his hand, his arm just withers up and he can't pull it back to himself. Some other commentaries kind of express it like it became like a stick, you know, just almost like wooden and stiff.

This is God's judgment. Verse 5, the altar was also split apart. The ashes poured out from the altar according to the sign which the man of God had been given by the word of the Lord. Then King answered and said to the man of God, please entreat the favor of the Lord your God, your God, your God, okay, 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. So then the king said to the man of God, come home with me, refresh yourself and I will give you a reward. The man of God said to the king, if you were to give me half your house, I would not go with you, nor would I eat bread or drink water in this place.

For so it was commanded to me by the word of the Lord, saying, you shall not eat bread nor drink water nor return by the same way you came. He said, so we went another way and did not return by the way he came to Bethel.

So God's message here is clear against Jeroboam, against this worship, and against this place. And yet Jeroboam's response reveals something in his thinking as well, because, you know, he does want the man of God's help, but does he repent? Is he sorry for what he's done?

Is he feeling, you know, cut to the heart for a change? He does not. What is his issue here, actually? His issue is simply he asks for relief from the consequence of his actions, but he doesn't ask for forgiveness of sin. He asks for relief from consequences of his actions, but not for forgiveness from sin. He wants the problem removed, but he doesn't want to change his heart. And you know what? That actually reveals a lot about the carnal nature and even something we can struggle with as well.

You know, Paul said the sorrow of the world produces death, because it's kind of like, well, I'm sorry I got the speeding ticket, and as soon as I'm around the corner and out of view, here I go again. Right? But he says, godly sorrow leads to repentance and change, and that wasn't in the heart of Jeroboam. Again, it's something we must be careful of. Verses 11 through 32 of this chapter, I'm not going to read through them, but let me summarize briefly. Again, I covered this recently in a sermon, but an older prophet, as you recall, convinces the man of God that God's changed his mind.

Right? He says, I too am a prophet from God. He told me you should come home with me, eat and drink, be refreshed. And he convinces the man of God to listen to his voice rather than to the instructions that God had given him. And we know the result of that story was he went, and ultimately he died, because he didn't listen to the word of the Lord.

Lesson for us, brethren, is be careful whose voice you listen to. Be careful whose voice you listen to. There's a lot of competing voices in the world today. Is it the word of God, or is it not? Indeed, we have to be careful, and we have to test the spirits.

If we go down to verse 33 of 1 Kings chapter 13, it says, After this event, Jeroboam did not turn from his evil way, but again made priests from every class of people for the high places. Whoever wished, he consecrated them, and he became one of the priests of the high places. Okay, and this thing was the sin of the house of Jeroboam, so as to exterminate and destroy it from the face of the earth. Understand, God had made incredible promises to Jeroboam regarding his dynasty, if he would obey. If he would obey. But sadly, the opposite would come to pass in both Jeroboam's behavior as well as God's response to him. He would not obey, and God's blessing would not come. Actually, destruction would be the result upon Jeroboam.

Upon his house, 1 Kings chapter 14 in verse 1, says, At that time, Abijah, the son of Jeroboam, became sick. 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, for Ahijah the prophet is there, the one who told me that I would be king over this people. 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. You know, deep down, Jeroboam still knew where the truth was. You know, because he maintained this counterfeit system, and yet when he's in trouble, who does he cry out to? Who does he send and reach out to? It is the prophet of God, the man of God, the power of the true God. So, you know, he actually understood in these things.

Verse 4, And Jeroboam's wife did so. She arose, went to Shiloh, came to the house of Ahijah, but Ahijah could not see, for his eyes were glazed by reason of his age. 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, and thus you shall say to her, for it will be when she comes in that she will pretend to be another woman. 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. Go tell Jeroboam, thus says the Lord God of Israel, because I exalted you among the people and made you ruler over my people Israel, and tore the kingdom away from the house of David and gave it to you. And yet you have not been as a servant, as my servant David, who kept my commandments and who have followed me with all his heart to do only what was right in my eyes. He says, But you have done evil, 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.

Therefore, verse 10, 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's all gone. It says, The dog 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. Arise, therefore, go to your own house. When your feet enter the city, the child shall die.

Verse 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 of him there is found something good towards the Lord, God of Israel, in the house of Jeroboam. So that is the scene. This child's early death actually appears to be an act of mercy, because Jeroboam's lineage is going to be cut off, and it's going to be cut off violently in many ways. People are going to die out in the open in the city, in the fields. They're going to be devoured by the beasts of the land. This one came to his grave in that sense, in in a peaceful death. God had to fulfill what God was going to fulfill. And yet again, this still, even in that, appears to be an act of mercy. Verse 14, It says, Moreover, the Lord will raise up for himself a king over Israel, who shall cut off the house of Jeroboam. This is the day. He says, What even now? For the Lord will strike Israel as a reed is shaken in the water. This is a prophecy. He will uproot Israel from this good land which he gave to their fathers, and he will scatter them beyond the river, because they have made their wooded images, provoking the Lord to And he says, And he will give Israel up because of the sins of Jeroboam, who sinned, and who made Israel sin. Then Jeroboam's wife arose, departed, and came to Tarzah. Then she came to the threshold of the house. As she did, the child died. And then 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. 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. We have that. You can go and read some of those accounts. The period that Jeroboam reigned was 22 years, and so he rested with his fathers. Then Nadab his son reigned in his place. It's such a sad story.

It's a sad story. God had promised so much, and yet it came to this end, but it underscores a profound truth, and that is the greater the opportunity God gives, the greater the accountability that follows. The greater the opportunity God gives, the greater the accountability that follows.

It applies to each and every one of us, personally. While Jeroboam's reign was relatively short, the influence of it stretched across generations. Long after his death, the other kings of Israel were judged against whose standard? Riebohams. You know, they sinned like their father, Rieboham, or they were judged against the standards of Rieboham. He was known as the man who caused Israel to sin. Indeed, it's a record of how one man's decisions shaped the spiritual direction of an entire nation, the first king of the northern ten. Set the example, and they charge forward in this way. 2 Kings 17 and verse 21. Let's turn over there briefly. 2 Kings 17 verse 21. It recounts actually the consequence of Israel's sins. 2 Kings 17 verse 21. It says, For God tore Israel from the house of David, and made Jeroboam the son of Nebat king.

3 Then Jeroboam drove Israel from following the Lord, and made them commit a great sin. 4 For the children of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam, which he did, and they did not depart from them, until the Lord removed Israel out of his sight, and as he had said by all his servants the prophets. So Israel was carried away from their own land to Assyria, as it is to this day. The eventual fall of the northern kingdom, brethren, is directly tied to the spiritual failure of Jeroboam, the system he established, the example he set, and indeed the kings that followed after him. He is repeatedly described as the man who made Israel sin, and it was a pattern again for successive kings of that nation.

For more than two centuries, two hundred years following Jeroboam, and more than that time, indeed, this pattern continued. Ultimately, they were carried off into captivity.

A lesson for us today. Our choices rarely remain isolated. For you and for me, our choices rarely remain isolated. They rarely impact only us. They rarely stay hidden off in the corner somewhere. And indeed, often many of the choices we make have a lasting impact, not only during our life, that even generations beyond. Our choices rarely remain isolated. Though Jeroboam began well, he didn't end well. God raised them up as the first king of the northern ten tribes, and yet he became the one who led Israel into sin by establishing again this false system of worship. His life stands as a warning, stands as a warning to all that fear and compromise and self-reliance can undo tremendous potential, especially when your trust in God is replaced by trust in your own human reasoning. Again, fear overcame faith in the life of Jeroboam, and the result was disastrous. Let's turn now to Reoboam, the king of Judah, and see if he fared any better. Reoboam reigned for 17 years, approximately 931 BC to 913 BC, and the story of his reign fluctuates between obedience and unfaithfulness. The first first kings has his account, and it tells us what happened during his reign, but 2 Chronicles actually tells us why. So I want to shift over to 2 Chronicles for his story. 2 Chronicles 11, verse 5.

2 Chronicles 11, verse 5 says, So Reoboam dwelt in Jerusalem and built cities for defense in Judah. He built Bethlehem, Etam, Ticohah, all these other cities. Drop it down to verse 10.

Hebron, which are in Judah and Benjamin, says fortified cities. Verse 11, And he fortified the strongholds, put captains in them, and stores of food, oil, and wine. Also in every city he put shields and spears, and made them very strong, having Judah and Benjamin on his side. And so you have this fortification of Judah, and it actually kind of makes sense if you think of it from a military perspective. Here he's just lost the majority of the kingdom. He's a weakening nation. He's surrounded by other nations that would be potential threats to him. And so now he's essentially fortifying cities that essentially lay around Jerusalem, around the throne, around the hub, strengthening his defenses from these potential enemies.

Again, from human perspective, this made prudent sense.

Of course, there's God to consider. Verse 13. Second Chronicles 11, verse 13, says, And from all their territories, notice the priests and the Levites, who were in all Israel, okay, Israel to the north, took their stand with him, with Rehoboam. For the Levites left their common lands and their possessions, and they came to Judah and Jerusalem. For Jeroboam and his sons had rejected them from serving as priests to the Lord. So that's why when you come down later, what you find in what we commonly call Judah was a tribe of Judah and Benjamin, and quite a lot of Levites. Again, because the Levites were the servants of God and the priesthood of God among the Levites. And so they fled the false religious system and came down where they could serve at the house of God. This migration strengthened Judah for a time spiritually and nationally, and for the first three years of Jeroboam's reign, the people walked in the ways of David and Solomon. And during that time, then you had this kingdom that experienced relative peace and security.

And yet, like Solomon, and also like David before him, Rehoboam had a weakness that would eventually surface. If we go down to verse 21, it says, Now Rehoboam loved Mechaiah, the granddaughter of Absalom, more than all his wives and his concubines. For he had eighteen wives and sixty concubines, and begot twenty-eight sons and sixty daughters. You know, small apple, but the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, does it? I mean, what did he grow up seeing in the house of his father Solomon?

You know, these arrangements, they carry inherent weaknesses that don't serve the kingdom well. 2 Chronicles 12, verse 1, says, Now it came to pass when Rehoboam had established the kingdom and had strengthened himself, that he forsook the law of the Lord and all Israel along with him. It's heartbreaking. Again, he started out strong. He started out looking to God, but you know what? Once his kingdom was secure, once he felt safe, established, fortified, turned from God.

As recorded in 1 Kings chapter 14, verse 22 through 24, Judah drifted into spiritual compromise including the establishment of high places, false worship, male shrine, prostitution, all these things and all sorts of abominations in the eyes of God. Indeed, their sin reached a level that provoked God to jealousy, it says, beyond any before him, in that nation. Verse 2, 2 Chronicles chapter 12, and it happened in the fifth year of King Rehoboam that Shishak, the king of Egypt, came up against Jerusalem because they had transgressed against the Lord. And 12,000 chariots, excuse me, 1200 chariots, 60,000 horsemen and people without number who came with him out of Egypt, and Lubim and Succim and the Ethiopians, and he took the fortified cities of Judah and came to Jerusalem. Then it says, Shammiah the prophet came to Rehoboam and the leaders of Judah who were gathered together in Jerusalem because Shishak, and he said to them, thus says the Lord, you have forsaken me and therefore I have left you in the hand of Shishak.

He says, so the leaders of Israel and the king humbled themselves. They humbled themselves.

And they said, the Lord is righteous. Now when the Lord saw that they had humbled themselves, the word of the Lord came to Shammiah, saying, they have humbled themselves, therefore I will not destroy them, but I will grant them some deliverance. My wrath shall not be poured out on Jerusalem by the hand of Shishak. He said, nevertheless, they will be his servants, that they may distinguish my service from the service of the kingdoms of the nations. Okay, so instead of complete destruction, God let them essentially come into subjection to Egypt. They would be a vassal nation. They would pay tribute. They would feel the hand of this oppression upon them. They would feel independence in many ways stripped away because of their sin from God, but they did humble themselves for a time, and because of that, God would not go to full and complete destruction. Verse 9, so Shishak, the king of Egypt, came up against Jerusalem, took away the treasures of the house of the Lord and the treasures of the king's house. Do you remember Solomon? All that he built, all that he accumulated, I mean wealth gathered from the four corners of the earth in their day, says he took everything. He also carried away the gold shields which Solomon had made. Again, such incredible wealth accumulated during the time of Solomon, gone nearly overnight, again, because they were not obedient to God. Verse 10, then King Rehoboam, excuse me, 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. Okay, the king's house could not even afford gold for the shields. Okay, this is bronze. And whatever the king entered the house of the Lord, the guard would go and bring them out, and they would take them back into the guard room. Okay, like, you know, I'm going from the king's house to the house of the Lord. Where's my guard? Where's my shield? The peace of the nation has been taken away. Verse 12, when he humbled himself, the wrath of the Lord turned from him as to not destroy him completely, and things also went well in Judah, so they stabilized for a time. Thus King Jeroboam strengthened himself in Jerusalem and reigned. Now Rehoboam was 41 years old when he became king, and he reigned 17 years in Jerusalem, the city which the Lord had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel to put his name there. His, the tribes of Israel to put his name there says his mother's name was Nehemiah and Ammonidos. It says, and he did evil. Okay, Rehoboam, this is the final analysis of his reign. He did evil because he did not prepare his heart to seek the Lord.

The acts of Rehoboam, first and last, are they not written in the book of Shehemiah the prophet, and of Idu the seer concerning genealogies. You know, books, records, historical books that are long since lost to history. You know, not an inspired word, but interesting nonetheless.

And there were wars between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all their days. So Rehoboam rested with his fathers and was buried in the city of David. Then Abijah, his son, reigned in his place.

Brethren, Rehoboam's reign reminds us that a good beginning doesn't compensate for a heart that never fully commits to seeking God. Right? A good beginning started out strong. He looked to God strong, but he wasn't wholly dedicated to seeking God. And again, verse 14 said he did evil because he did not prepare his heart to seek the Lord. His reign began with promise and experienced moments of humility and obedience, but ultimately it became a story of inconsistent faithfulness.

So let's put the two stories together for a moment. In its contrast, Rehoboam and Jeroboam.

Jeroboam feared losing what God had given him, and it caused him to sin.

Rehoboam assumed he could easily keep what God had given him without continuing to seek God, and it caused him to sin. And in the final analysis, neither man fully trusted God.

Both had opportunity. Both had a promise from God if they would be obedient. Both received a warning.

Yet both made choices that shaped their nation for the worse.

The encouraging part of the story is that God's purpose. And again, I think that's what we have to come back to throughout all these kings. What is God doing? What is His purpose? That's the encouraging part of this. God's purpose was never dependent upon either man. In the grand scheme of things, kings rise and fall, nations rise and fall, nations divide, but God's promises remain sure. He preserved His covenant with David, and He continues even today to move history towards His ultimate fulfillment that He has purposed at the coming of the King of Kings, His son from David's line. Let's conclude today in Ezekiel chapter 37.

Ezekiel 37. This is a prophecy regarding all of Israel following the return of Jesus Christ.

As we leave the kings, we leave a divided nation. But understand what God will do in His perfect timing. Ezekiel chapter 37 in verse 21. Then say to them, Thus says the Lord God, Surely I will take the children of Israel from among the nations, wherever they have gone, as the ten northern tribes were taken out by the Assyrians, ultimately scattered among the nations, and truly scattered abroad to where they remain by and large, yet even today. What does God say then? He says, I will take the children of Israel from among the nations, wherever they have gone, and will gather them from every side, and bring them into their own land. And I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel, and one king shall be king over them all. They shall no longer be two nations, nor shall they ever be divided into two kingdoms again. That is God's promise. That is God's promise. No matter what comes and goes, no matter who reigns or who falls, or what it is that happens in the physical circumstances of this world, God's plan is still running its course throughout man's choices. And ultimately, it will be fulfilled. This is His promise. One day, what human failure divided, God himself will reunite under one righteous king.

The story that began with division will end with restoration. And, brethren, that leads us to the final lesson of the message today, and that is human leadership may fail. Human leadership may fail, and it does often fail, but understand God's faithfulness endures forever.