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Message
1 Kings 12:1-24
“Fools Can’t Stop A Sovereign God”
Solomon the King is dead.
Now it is time for a new king – Rehoboam the son of Solomon is the next in line.
Rehoboam the Son of Solomon, the wisest king ever – he ruled for 40 years.
Rehoboam the grandson of David, a man who was a friend of God – he also ruled for 40 years.
These are big shoes to fill aren’t they. And there are going to be many expectations placed upon Rehoboam.
Does he have what it takes?
Can he continue the great legacy?
Let’s read.
1 Kings 12:1-5
Before we even find out what Rehoboam is going to be like we read this and we go oh oh!
There are a few issues here that make us sit up and realise all is not going so well.
Off to Shechem
When Solomon was made King by the people where did they all go? To Jerusalem.
So why have they all gathered at Shechem?
It is about 50km from Jerusalem. Which is ok when you go by car, but they had, at the best, chariots.
And isn’t it a little bit rude to ask the next king to meet you? Shouldn’t you go to the king?
This isn’t good – and it gets worse. You see Shechem is a town with a very important heritage.
Quick history about conquest.
Finally the people are settled.
And Joshua renews the covenant … at Shechem.
Shechem symbolised the closing of the door of the people leaving Egypt and each tribe settling free in the new land.
This town was not randomly picked.
Something is not quite right.
Then we find that the people have a complaint
No one is praising Solomon are they.
In fact it sounds like everyone is glad that he is dead.
Everyone thinks that Solomon’s rule was glorious, but it cost a lot of money.
There were huge and expensive building projects.
Whole cities were built from scratch.
Solomon was constantly entertaining foreign dignitaries.
Remember he had 700 wives and 300 concubines – that is 1000 families he needs to look after.
Ultimately the money came from the people, as did the resources, as did the labour. And they were sick of it. In fact more than sick of it.
One of the words they use to describe their situation is that Solomon caused their lives to be heavy. You don’t get it in English, but you do in Hebrew. The people are actually having a go at Solomon.
Many people look at the reign of Solomon as the years of glory … the Hebrew word for glory is kabod. The people are complaining that their lives are heavy … the Hebrew word for heavy is kabed
Glory … kabod. Heavy … kabed. The glory of Solomon has been nothing but a heavy load for the people.
In fact it isn’t just heavy it was a yoke. Always in the Bible the word yoke only applied to a burden which is placed on enemies, or slaves, or foreigners. Never was a yoke to be carried by fellow countrymen. Basically they are saying, “Your Father treated us the same why that Pharaoh treated us when we were in Egypt.
Now you see why they are in Shechem don’t you. The town symbolically represented a door on the history of Israel that was meant to be shut. Now they are basically saying – your father Solomon opened the door again and we want it shut.
All they want is freedom.
That is what is happening here isn’t it. And that is a sentiment we can identify with can’t we. We just want to be free.
Most of us in one way or another have a vocation that makes great demands from us.
- The demands of going to work.
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- The demands of home duties.
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Some days we just say, we want to be free from all of that.
Most of us find ourselves under financial pressure.
- When we are younger and studying.
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- In our later years with older children
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- Even when we come to retirement
Expand.
Don’t you have it some days that you want to be free?
The world we live in is a hard taskmaster. It is heavy. It is a yoke. There is something going on in this section of Scripture which we can identify with can’t we. Like the Israelites we are looking for renewal. So let’s see how it all turns out.
1 Kings 12:6-20.
Well that didn’t work out so good did it.
And it doesn’t take a genius to see why.
Rehoboam goes to the older wiser elders first.
All of these men have been around since the beginning if the rule of Solomon, so they had seen what had happened to the nation under his care. Indeed they can remember back to the days of David, so they have a good perspective. Their advice is simple, be a servant King. Let the people have what they want now and they will follow you through your whole reign.
Was Rehoboam ever going to listen to that advice?
When he talks to the elders he says, “How would you advise me?”
When he talks to his mates he says, “How should we answer these people?”
You see the young men had grown up when Solomon had basically finished building the kingdom and expanding the riches. These guys were used to being pampered and having the good life. If Rehoboam was to listen to the people all that would be taken away.
Besides Rehoboam has to prove that he is a greater man than his father – and the way to do that, they think, is for Rehoboam to be more ruthless.
So much for diplomacy. And it is easy to understand the result.
One of the most significant events in the history of the nations unfolds as the nation divides in two and now we have two kingships and two kingdoms. Jeroboam leading 10 tribes in the north – who will be known as Israel. Rehoboam leading two tribes in the south – who will be known as Judah.
Now it is tempting at this point to look at what happened and say things like:-
This is what happens when you don’t listen to older wiser people … and then you make a whole point about that.
Or you could use this as a warning against peer pressure … Rehoboam and his mates stand as a warning against the dangers of just following the crowd.
But this story is not here for that reason. Remember we said when we started this series that the original audience … the first group of people to read the book of Kings … they were exiles in Babylon. They were from the tribe of Judah – the ones currently be lead by Rehoboam. And they are meant to look at these words and learn from them. And do you know what they are going to see?
They are going to see that nowhere … not at any point … did anyone stop and say “I wonder what God thinks about this situation?”
The elders may have been wise, but they were not necessarily Godly. They too were reflecting the truth that the later years of the rule of Solomon were a failure – not a failure in terms of riches and glory and extravagance, but a failure in relationship with God.
Go back to 1 Kings 11:4-9
Briefly expand.
Rehoboam is a product of this situation. So are the elders. So are the young people. So are the people.
No one says, “Let’s talk to a priest or a prophet”.
No one prays.
No one opens the word.
No one listens to God.
They all want some sort of freedom, but all of them are looking for freedom in the wrong place. No one is seeking the freedom that comes when you are in a relationship with God.
Where is true freedom is found?
Stop and think about your life for a moment. All of the challenges. All of the responsibilities.
How many of you feel like you are just stuck
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Talk about the ruts we go through.
We go through the motions.
We feel out of control.
We want it to be different … MAYBE FREE?
Are we listening to God in all of this?
Not just going through the religious motions.
Looking like good Christians.
But listening in a vibrant relationship.
Because life is complex and having the wisdom to negotiate life is really difficult.
And we think we are all alone but we are not … because God knows this.
And also God knows how to fix it.
Let me show you what I mean by showing you the key verse in this section.
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.
What was the word spoken to Jeroboam? You can read the whole thing in 1 Kings 11:26-40. But let’s just focus on 1 Kings 11:31-33.
Read.
Solomon may have been a wise king, but he has created a huge mess. It is such a big mess that God is now coming in and working it all out because, at the moment, the king and the people are so far from Him they are not walking in His ways or following His plans.
Everyone was trying to do life in their own strength.
They want freedom, but it is freedom that comes by relying on their own strength.
And it is a mess.
Stop and have a think about your life for a moment. Are there parts of it that you look at and say, this is just a mess?
Could the issue be that you are trying to do all these things in your own strength?
Family – in your own strength.
Expand … especially the impact on relationships.
Work – in your own strength.
Expand … especially that it can be all consuming.
Having Purpose and Value – in your own strength.
Expand … chasing after aspects of life that make us feel empty.
Religion – in your own strength.
Expand … it becomes routine, optional, empty.
Sometimes in our lives God steps in and shakes us up a bit and says, “I’m going to fix this mess”.
We are sitting in the middle of it all saying, “Is there freedom?”
All this heaviness, the weight of the yoke?
Is there freedom?
You know the answer don’t you.
Jesus says:-
28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
Matthew 11:28-30
This is not a passage that just applies once, when you make a commitment to Jesus.
This is an ongoing all of life passage.
A promise to us from Jesus that He is willing to go the distance with us, even when we are struggling.
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Especially as it applies to us having purpose and meaning.
Also focus on the fresh start that is being offered.
In Christ there is a new moment.
Let me show you what I mean by reading the last bit of this account.
1 Kings 12:21-24
Notice how God deals with this.
He doesn’t say, “Ok let’s swallow our pride and go and reconcile”.
He says, “No more of the old way (surely you have learnt by now) and now it is time to move forward.”
They get a fresh start, not by going back and trying to fix up the mess, but by drawing a line under that event and moving forward.
Ironically it is the first time that they have heard from God … imagine what might have happened if someone said a lot earlier – “Why don’t we ask God what He thinks?”.
But no-one did.
How are you going today?
Is your life in a mess somewhere – and you are just looking for freedom?
You can’t undo what is done.
You can’t go back and make it different.
You can’t unsay what has been said.
Perhaps you should have said long ago, “I wonder what God thinks about this?” … but the reality is you didn’t.
So here you are today.
Your sovereign God wasn’t surprised this was going to happen. And He is completely prepared. That is why He sent Jesus.
He is saying “Come on … come to Me.”
Let’s draw a line in the sand.
Don’t worry about the mess which you have left behind.
Trust in Me and all this can change.
That … right there … that is true Freedom.
Prayer
