Israel's Division (2 Chronicles 10)

If today’s world is about division, is God’s plan to bring all people groups together? Let’s begin in 2 Chronicles 10.

Do we get Rehoboam and Jeroboam mixed up? Can we remember that Jeroboam rebelled against Judah?

Rehoboam went to Shechem where everyone was waiting to crown him king. Jeroboam son of Nebat heard what was happening, and he returned from Egypt, where he had gone to hide from Solomon. The people from the northern tribes of Israel sent for him. Then together they went to Rehoboam and said, “Your father Solomon forced us to work very hard. But if you make our work easier, we will serve you and do whatever you ask.” Rehoboam replied, “Come back in three days for my answer.” So the people left. (2 Chr 10:1-5 CEV)

Did Rehoboam listen to the wise advice of older men?

Then King Rehoboam took counsel with the old men, who had stood before Solomon his father while he was yet alive, saying, “How do you advise me to answer this people?” And they said to him, “If you will be good to this people and please them and speak good words to them, then they will be your servants forever.” But he abandoned the counsel that the old men gave him, and took counsel with the young men who had grown up with him and stood before him. (2 Chr 10:6-8 ESV)

What foolish advice did the young men give to Rehoboam? What hidden truth did the people’s request tell us about Solomon? Is it the same for human governments still?

He asked them, “What message do you advise we send back to these people who said to me, ‘Lighten the yoke your father put on us’?” Then the young men who had grown up with him told him, “This is what you should say to the people who said to you, ‘Your father made our yoke heavy, but you, make it lighter on us!’ This is what you should say to them: ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s loins. Now therefore, my father burdened you with a heavy yoke, but I will add to your yoke; my father disciplined you with whips, but I, with barbed whips.’” (2 Chr 10:9-11 HCSB)

What harsh and inflammatory words did Rehoboam say to the people?

So Jeroboam and all the people went back to Rehoboam on the third day, just as they had been directed when the king said, “Come back again in three days.” But the king answered them strictly and ignored the counsel of his elders. Instead, Rehoboam spoke to them along the lines of what the younger men suggested. He told them, “My father burdened you heavily, but I will add to that burden. If my father disciplined you with whips, I will, too—with scorpions!” (2 Chr 10:12-14 ISV)

Was the resultant division of the land in two actually of God?

So the king hearkened not unto the people: for the cause was of God, that the Lord might perform his word, which he spake by the hand of Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat. And when all Israel saw that the king would not hearken unto them, the people answered the king, saying, What portion have we in David? and we have none inheritance in the son of Jesse: every man to your tents, O Israel: and now, David, see to thine own house. So all Israel went to their tents. But as for the children of Israel that dwelt in the cities of Judah, Rehoboam reigned over them. (2 Chr 10:15-17 KJV)

Did this rebellion of Israel against Judah result in a long term separation?

Then King Rehoboam sent Hadoram, who was over the forced labor, and the sons of Israel stoned him and he died. And King Rehoboam made haste to mount his chariot to flee to Jerusalem. So Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David to this day. (2 Chr 10:18-19 LSB)

Is there a prophecy about God reuniting Israel and Judah?

say to them, ‘This is what the Lord God says: “Behold, I am going to take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel, his companions; and I will put them with it, with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they will be one in My hand.”’ (Ezekiel 17:19 NASB)

Is there a prophecy of breaking down an even bigger barrier between Jew and Gentile?

For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. (Ephesians 2:14-16 NIV)

If today’s world is about division, is God’s plan to bring all people groups together? You decide!