2 Chronicles 10: 1 – 19
Palace smart not street smart
10 And Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all Israel had gone to Shechem to make him king. 2 So it happened, when Jeroboam the son of Nebat heard it (he was in Egypt, where he had fled from the presence of King Solomon), that Jeroboam returned from Egypt. 3 Then they sent for him and called him. And Jeroboam and all Israel came and spoke to Rehoboam, saying, 4 “Your father made our yoke heavy; now therefore, lighten the burdensome service of your father and his heavy yoke which he put on us, and we will serve you.” 5 So he said to them, “Come back to me after three days.” And the people departed. 6 Then King Rehoboam consulted the elders who stood before his father Solomon while he still lived, saying, “How do you advise me to answer these people?” 7 And they spoke to him, saying, “If you are kind to these people, and please them, and speak good words to them, they will be your servants forever.” 8 But he rejected the advice which the elders had given him, and consulted the young men who had grown up with him, who stood before him. 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’?” 10 Then the young men who had grown up with him spoke to him, saying, “Thus you should speak to the 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! 11 And now, whereas my father put a heavy yoke on you, I will add to your yoke; my father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scourges!’ ” 12 So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam on the third day, as the king had directed, saying, “Come back to me the third day.” 13 Then the king answered them roughly. King Rehoboam rejected the advice of the elders, 14 and he spoke to them according to the advice of the young men, saying, “My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to it; my father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scourges!” 15 So the king did not listen to the people; for the turn of events was from God, that the LORD might fulfill His word, which He had spoken by the hand of Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat. 16 Now when all Israel saw that the king did not listen to them, the people answered the king, saying: “What share have we in David? We have no inheritance in the son of Jesse. Every man to your tents, O Israel! Now see to your own house, O David!” So all Israel departed to their tents. 17 But Rehoboam reigned over the children of Israel who dwelt in the cities of Judah. 18 Then King Rehoboam sent Hadoram, who was in charge of revenue; but the children of Israel stoned him with stones, and he died. Therefore, King Rehoboam mounted his chariot in haste to flee to Jerusalem. 19 So Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David to this day.
I want to start off by debunking a theory.
Being street smart does not mean you are ‘uneducated’ or ‘unintelligent’.
That is a false assertion.
I did relatively well at school and have 4 university degrees but since I grew up on the city streets of Philadelphia I would brand myself as having a degree in street smarts.
So, what is it to be street smart?
Being street smart means you have a good environmental, or situational understanding. You know what is going on around you.
More importantly you can see what is happening around you
You can make judgements on the scenario, the place and people around you, and you are able to trust these personal judgements. Let’s call it gut instinct, and your observation is usually right.
It is, stripped back, having a basic understanding of the street ‘level’. Being on the ground. Being in the battle, rather than looking down atop of it.
Further, your solutions to problems and tasks will more likely be practical, and pragmatic.
It is developed purely from experience and ‘real life’
It comes from doing the task, or the work, that others read about or just observe. From getting your hands dirty. From getting ‘stuck in’. Whether it is through successes or failures, these first-hand experiences develop your knowledge and understanding of the world and your work.
This is a fundamental advantage. You have learned things you can’t just read about in books. You know the in’s and out’s that can only be gained by doing.
Whereas Palace smarts knowledge is gained from being spoiled from the ‘kisser uppers’ who are part of your parent’s world. You get all this over positive attention because of who your mom and dad are or were.
If you were in line to be king or the next President of your dad’s company then wouldn’t it be a great thing to be Palace smart?
It cannot be denied that the Palace smarts for some can be valuable. If this is your background then you get the best of everything, education, material items, physical, and emotional care. In addition, you might see things that the common person would never encounter.
However, if you do a study you find that most people who are Palace smart can be described as ‘exam smart’, or ‘academically smart but not life smart.
Palace smart people believe value lies in knowing people that can do whatever they might need. They have all the tools at their beck and call to make things happen.
They might have the knowledge but lack the practicality to put the things they observed and learned into practice and execute. They have the learnings and understanding of what to do, yet somehow common sense and practicality seems to be missing.
They have the ‘know what’ and the ‘know who’ can get it done for them but the actual ‘know why’ which is the reason or value is non-existent
And that is why being street smart, or streetwise, is the key to success anyone’s startup.
You can read all the success stories you like. Read the founders secret formula for ‘making it’. Consume books like ‘Making Ideas Happen’ and ‘How to Be an Overnight Success’.
But what happens when you are out in the real world and your decisions rally count, with no one you can be sure will give you the right direction.
In these situations, the street smarts are ready to fight and defend themselves. They have prepared themselves for these moments. This is where their expertise comes into play
They have the ‘world experience’ which trumps the Palace smarts ‘word experience’ every single time. They have the life skills which trumps the fabricated learning of living in a spoiled home.
Those individuals who have learned through the school of ‘hard knocks’ know and understand their environment and who is in it whether it is a business or a kingdom.
People need to immerse themselves in the environment they work in. It is a good idea to start from the lowest level others have begun their careers.
To be on the right course of success one needs to get out there in person. Meet the people of the real world. Get on site. Get involved in the dirty work. Not be a hands-off person. With every experience, positive or negative, one will become more accustomed, more comfortable and more aware of their world. Learn it by living it.
Today, we are going to see someone who was Palace Smart. He wasn’t like the people he ultimately would rule over. He had his on gang of friends from other important families. He never knew what it was like to need anything. His experience of what happened in the everyday life of an Israelite was viewed from his palace window. Everything he wanted was given to him. He was king Solomon’s son, Rehoboam. We will see how quickly he comes to mess up his position and kingdom.
Solomon had many sons and daughters through his taking to himself many wives. At of all these the one son in line to be made king was Rehoboam. If you have been studying with us from the beginning with the book of Genesis, then as we had studied the life of David you know that he really loved his kids. It is evident from the book of Ecclesiastes chapter 1 that Solomon did not have the same fatherly love for his kids including the one he would pass the scepter to. “17 Therefore I hated life because the work that was done under the sun was distressing to me, for all is vanity and grasping for the wind. 18 Then I hated all my labor in which I had toiled under the sun, because I must leave it to the man who will come after me. 19 And who knows whether he will be wise or a fool? Yet he will rule over all my labor in which I toiled and in which I have shown myself wise under the sun. This also is vanity. 20 Therefore I turned my heart and despaired of all the labor in which I had toiled under the sun. 21 For there is a man whose labor is with wisdom, knowledge, and skill; yet he must leave his heritage to a man who has not labored for it. This also is vanity and a great evil. 22 For what has man for all his labor, and for the striving of his heart with which he has toiled under the sun? 23 For all his days are sorrowful, and his work burdensome; even in the night his heart takes no rest. This also is vanity.”
The death of Solomon, as always with the death of a king who had ruled powerfully for a long time and had been somewhat autocratic, resulted in hopes being raised among the people that things might now be made better for them. Any new administration gives a hope that things will be better. The people appear to have been quite satisfied with the thought of Rehoboam being their king, if he would meet them halfway, and they actually gathered at Shechem to negotiate with him for that purpose. It was a real God-given opportunity. Had Rehoboam made concessions, and retained the loyalty of Israel, the combined kingdom would have remained a power in the area, and the tributaries watching in expectation might have hesitated about making trouble. The empire would have continued. But let Israel and Judah once become divided into two nations, and the driving force and the power base would be lost, and men like Hadad in Edom and Rezon in Damascus (1 Kings 11.14-25) would soon ensure the collapse of the empire.
Furthermore, ever waiting in the wings for the collapse of the empire was the powerful Pharaoh Shishak of Egypt in a revived and united Egypt, just waiting for his opportunity to break up the trade monopoly which Solomon had built up. He wanted, and had plotted towards, a divided Israel.
For us there is an important lesson here about the importance of being willing to talk things over rather than rushing into something like a bull at a gate. Even if we think that we have received God’s guidance we have a responsibility to demonstrate Christian love by taking other people’s opinions and ideas into account. Unless all are at one in the end solution it can only lead to discord and disharmony. A strong detriment to this point is that if one surrounds himself with ‘Yes men’ then he will get a consensus vote yet it will not be accurate.
As Jerusalem was the sacred place of Judah, so Shechem appears to have been the sacred place of northern Israel. Thus it was to Shechem that they went for what they anticipated would be the crowning of Rehoboam as their king. But whilst in Judah the king obtained his throne by right of birth in the house of David, in Israel the kingship was obtained by popular acclaim.
10 And Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all Israel had gone to Shechem to make him king.
On the death of Solomon Israel were ready to accept Rehoboam as their king, and they assembled at Shechem, which they clearly saw as the local Sanctuary of the northern tribes when it came to such matters. The idea was to acclaim him as king over Israel, in contrast with Judah, by popular acclamation in the time honored way.
The very choice of Shechem indicated that they were calling on the king to recognize his obligations under the Law of Moses. Shechem was the place to which Israel had first gathered under Joshua for the reading of the Law and the renewal of the covenant (Joshua 8.30-35), in obedience to the command of YHWH through Moses (Deuteronomy 11.29-32), and was the place where Joshua himself had renewed the covenant after the initial stages of the invasion were over and Israel were settled in the land (Joshua 24.1-28). It was a recognized place at which YHWH had recorded His Name (suggested by Joshua 8.30-31 with Exodus 20.24). It was the place where the stone of witness had been set up (Joshua 24.26) and it may well be that the regular reading of the covenant required by the Law of Moses took place at Shechem whose two local mountains Ebal and Gerizim, together with the narrow valley that lay between them, formed a natural amphitheater (Deuteronomy 27.1-26).
Rehoboam should, of course have recognized that the very choice of this site for their gathering emphasized that Israel saw themselves as separate from Judah when it came to crowning a new king, and were calling on him, if he was to reign over them, to renew his obedience to the Law of Moses, and to walking in the ways of YHWH, something which Solomon had signally failed to do. Solomon had previously slipped into the joint kingship so easily, because he had done it while David was still alive, and when the kingdom was at peace. It had thus been easy to forget this independent feeling in Israel, and the fact that kingship in Israel had always been by popular acclamation. The ten tribes of Israel did not see themselves as Judah’s (included the tribe of Benjamin) lapdog. They saw themselves as an independent entity with a right to choose their own king. Solomon’s attempt to destroy this sense of separateness by dividing Israel and Judah into administrative centers had failed.
Rehoboam had been brought up in Solomon’s court, and he had been bred with a sense of arrogance and with the feeling that all Israel and Judah were there to do his bidding. He saw himself as a king like the kings of the nations that surrounded the tiny kingdom of Israel. In his view the people were simply there to be whipped into line. And while when he took advice from his father’s older counsellors they gave him good advice as to the need to meet the people half way, he preferred the advice of the younger arrogant aristocrats like himself (many of whom would have been sons of Solomon and other royal families) who assured him that what was needed was to show them who was in charge.
So, what brought about Rehoboam’s rejection was the arrogance that had become so much a part of Solomon’s lifestyle, and which he had passed on to his son. In contrast, in the case of Jeroboam, his downfall would come about through his turning his back on the covenant and ignoring our Holy Father God Yahweh’s instruction, in order, as he saw it, to protect his kingdom. This would result in his destroying the religious heart of Israel (as opposed to Judah), something which would affect all the kings who followed him. Thus, both aspects of Solomon’s failures came out in his successors.
2 So it happened, when Jeroboam the son of Nebat heard it (he was in Egypt, where he had fled from the presence of King Solomon), that Jeroboam returned from Egypt.
When Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who had sought refuge in Egypt from King Solomon, heard the news of Solomon’s death and that Israel were preparing to acclaim Rehoboam as king, he saw it as his opportunity to return. It was no doubt with the support of Shishak who would have been happy to see dissension in Israel/Judah and would no doubt have been delighted if they broke up. Solomon’s empire and might had been a restraint on his own aims and purposes.
3 Then they sent for him and called him. And Jeroboam and all Israel came and spoke to Rehoboam, saying,
It appears that their leaders had kept in touch with him during his exile, something which revealed how unsatisfied they were with the state of things under Solomon. Now they felt that they needed his assistance. And once he had arrived Jeroboam and ‘all Israel’ came to speak to Rehoboam. He was their natural leader. Note how ‘all Israel’ is now seen in terms of ‘northern Israel’. They were preparing to lay down the terms on which they would accept his kingship. They saw this, not as rebellion but as their ancient right. Kingship for Israel had always been by popular acclaim starting from Saul onwards.
4 “Your father made our yoke heavy; now therefore, lighten the burdensome service of your father and his heavy yoke which he put on us, and we will serve you.”
The Israelites then sent representatives to put their requirements to Rehoboam. Their terms were very simple. They were prepared to acknowledge Rehoboam as their king on condition that he could assure them that he would lighten the yoke that his father had put on them with his building schemes and constant demands. They wanted a relaxation of the pressure on them so that they could concentrate more on their own welfare and their families.
5 So he said to them, “Come back to me after three days.” And the people departed.
Rehoboam then asked for three days in which he could consider the matter before he gave his reply. ‘Come again in three days’ probably means ‘come again the day after tomorrow’ (three days equaling part of today, tomorrow and part of the next day). This was not unreasonable as they would want him to come forward with some concrete proposals. They saw kingship in Israel as something resulting from a covenant between the king and the people. Even in the case of Solomon he had been made king while the Hebron covenant with David had still been active, and his kingship was later renewed and acknowledged by Israel (1 Chronicles 29.22). So, they went away feeling quite hopeful. Concessions on taxes and on labor levies were often a regular feature on the accession of a new ruler.
6 Then King Rehoboam consulted the elders who stood before his father Solomon while he still lived, saying, “How do you advise me to answer these people?”
Rehoboam then called together his father’s old counsellors, men of wide experience and politically astute, and asked them how, in their view, he should reply.
7 And they spoke to him, saying, “If you are kind to these people, and please them, and speak good words to them, they will be your servants forever.”
Their reply was that in their view if he was willing to meet the men of Israel half way, with a little humility, and consider Israel’s genuine grievances, recognizing at the same time that one of his duties as king was to serve his people, he would win them over and they would become his loyal subjects permanently. They recognized the goodwill and sense of loyalty that Israel had towards Solomon’s son, and that Israel had a genuine grievance.
There are grounds for thinking that ‘good words’ technically has in mind treaty concessions. The idea was that he concedes their right to avoid the forced labor levy (it would still be open to him to use Canaanites). By this means he could ensure their loyalty.
8 But he rejected the advice which the elders had given him and consulted the young men who had grown up with him, who stood before him.
But Rehoboam was not happy with their advice. His ‘wise’ father had not brought him up to consider the good of the people. Rather he had allowed him to be brought up with an overbearing attitude of arrogance and self-interest. An arrogant and despotic father rarely produces a considerate son. So, Rehoboam did not feel that what his counsellors were advising was a good idea. He felt that it was too humiliating and giving too much away. Far better to listen to men of his own age who really understood life. Thus, he then turned to the younger men who had grown up with him at court, and who were constantly in his presence.
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’?”
He asked the guys who had grown up with him (he was forty one years old now) how they felt that he should reply to Israel’s request for their yoke to be made lighter. The answer was really a foregone conclusion, for to a man they were as arrogant and spoiled as Rehoboam himself. They were the younger aristocrats of the court who saw themselves as being God’s gift to the world in the wrong sense, and they had grown up under Solomon’s despotic rule. They had no understanding of Israel’s custom that a king had to be appointed by popular acclaim, for no king had been crowned within their lifetime. They had grown up under a king whose will was unquestioned, and who had himself used the forced labor levy. Their view was that inheritance of the throne was a foregone conclusion. The people should do as they were told or be whipped into line.
10 Then the young men who had grown up with him spoke to him, saying, “Thus you should speak to the 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! 11 And now, whereas my father put a heavy yoke on you, I will add to your yoke; my father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scourges!’”
These men had grown up with him in Solomon’s court, and they gave him the answer that fitted in with his own attitude. Let him show the men of Israel who was in charge and let them know that he was even more of a man, and even stronger, than his father and that he would do precisely as he liked. Let him inform the rebellious people that his little finger was thicker than his father’s thighs. In other words that he was tougher than his father and would do precisely what he wanted. He was not there to be told what to do. So, whereas his father had simply beaten them with whips, he would beat them with scorpions, which would be even more painful. The scorpion sting was noted for the pain it caused. The intention was to frighten them into submission. And if they would not submit, so much the worse for them.
By this he was, of course, negating God’s covenant with David which had been based on his walking in YHWH’s ways and doing what was right in His eyes. He was basically declaring that did not intend to walk by that covenant. He was going to walk in his own ways. He was the consequence of what Solomon had become.
12 So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam on the third day, as the king had directed, saying, “Come back to me the third day.”
Thus, when Jeroboam and all the elders of Israel, representing all the people who had gathered there, came on the third day to receive Rehoboam’s reply he was in no mood for compromise. He should have noted that they were in sufficient strength to make their presence felt, and had he done so things might have turned out differently. They came believing that as a body they had a right to choose their king, and they were strong enough to enforce the idea. He came believing that he was entitled to the kingship, and that his kingship was therefore a foregone conclusion. And he had seemingly only brought with him a bodyguard, and not an army. He had not expected resistance.
13 Then the king answered them roughly. King Rehoboam rejected the advice of the elders, 14 and he spoke to them according to the advice of the young men, saying, “My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to it; my father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scourges!”
He answered the people roughly, ignoring the advice of the wiser old men, and relying on the counsel of his contemporaries. Let Israel recognize that they were not dealing with any soft option. If his father had made their yoke heavy, he would add to it and make it heavier. His father may have chastened them with whips, but he would beat them with scorpions, the creatures whose painful sting was almost beyond bearing. They would be made to pay for their insubordination.
15 So the king did not listen to the people; for the turn of events was from God, that the LORD might fulfill His word, which He had spoken by the hand of Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat.
The reply was so foolish that there could only be one explanation for it. It was of the will of our Holy Father God YHWH, to bring about His purposes. Apparently either Solomon did not tell Rehoboam or his son did not listen to what our Holy God Yahweh told Solomon in chapter 11 of the book of 1st Kings, “9 So the LORD became angry with Solomon, because his heart had turned from the LORD God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice, 10 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. 11 Therefore the LORD said to Solomon, “Because you have done this, and have not kept My covenant and My statutes, which I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom away from you and give it to your servant. 12 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. 13 However I will not tear away the whole kingdom; I will give one tribe to your son for the sake of My servant David, and for the sake of Jerusalem which I have chosen.”
16 Now when all Israel saw that the king did not listen to them, the people answered the king, saying: “What share have we in David? We have no inheritance in the son of Jesse. Every man to your tents, O Israel! Now see to your own house, O David!” So all Israel departed to their tents.
The people of Israel probably came to the meeting hoping that a compromise could be reached. They would then by popular acclaim have crowned him as king.
This revealed that these men were in a determined mood. They had been prepared to cooperate, but their lives had become so unbearable that what Rehoboam threatened could only take them over the edge (we must remember this when assessing Solomon’s reign). So, when they saw that he had not listened to them, they boldly declared that they no longer ‘had any portion in David’. In other words, they no longer saw themselves as being in the Davidic covenant, or saw the Davidic house as having authority over them. They no longer saw the son of Jesse as their inheritance. From now on ‘David’ (Rehoboam) could look after his own house. They would return to the freedom of their own homes no longer under ‘David’s’ yoke. It was a total rejection of any covenant that they had had with David or his house. Note the implication that Israel were not thinking of attacking Judah (‘they departed to their tents (homes)’). They saw themselves as simply maintaining their rights.
‘What portion have we in David? Neither have we inheritance in the son of Jesse. To your tents, O Israel.’ This indicated a withdrawal from negotiations and from any covenant which might be seen as binding them. It also indicates that they did not see their relationship with the house of David as having been too binding. It was dependent on mutual response. Covenants were two-sided. They had chosen David because at that time he had been the best option and had been much more open-handed in dealing with the people. They had chosen Solomon because they had expected quite wrongly that he would be like his father. They rejected Rehoboam because he was like his father.
17 But Rehoboam reigned over the children of Israel who dwelt in the cities of Judah. 18 Then King Rehoboam sent Hadoram, who was in charge of revenue; but the children of Israel stoned him with stones, and he died. Therefore King Rehoboam mounted his chariot in haste to flee to Jerusalem. 19 So Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David to this day.
Rehoboam still had total control over all who dwelt in the cities of Judah, including Jerusalem, and, we learn, also over part of Benjamin. These had probably never been as much affected by the continual labor levies as the remainder. He was so arrogant and ‘palace smart’ that he does not seem to have stopped to consider his position. Possibly he believed that the whole army would support him. He had not been brought up to consider the people as an independent force, who, based on a sound knowledge of the uniqueness of the Law which provided more equality than was prevalent in the surrounding nations, saw themselves as a redeemed people, and therefore free. So arrogantly assuming that Israel could easily be ‘whipped into line’ Rehoboam sent Hadoram who had total overall control over the labor levies, one of the leading men in the kingdom, to deal with the rebels and bring them to heel. In his folly he still thought that the authority of the king would be enough to subdue the rebels, and that the sight of Hadoram would cause them to climb down. It was a foolish move, for it blatantly declared his intention to treat them all as bond-men, and that he had no intention of listening to them.
But Hadoram was so hated that as soon as the men of Israel recognized who was among them they took up stones and stoned him to death. Hearing the news and realizing almost too late the danger of the situation Rehoboam then hurriedly mounted his chariot and fled with his bodyguard to Jerusalem.
As far as Israel were concerned that was the end of the rule of the Davidic house, and so they appointed their champion Jeroboam as their king, a man with whom YHWH had made a covenant like the one that He had made with David (11.37-38). From now on only those who acknowledged the authority of the elders of Judah would follow Rehoboam.
