Chapter 295 of 1163

1 KINGS 12

Rehoboam did not seek God’s wisdom, as had his father before him (1 Kings 3). Instead, he turned to men for guidance and even then did not heed the right advice. Like some people who seek counsel today, he wanted somebody to tell him to do what he already decided to do. The new king grew up in luxury. What did he know about the burdens of the common people?

We lead by serving (Matt. 20:20–28), and a true leader seeks to lighten the loads people carry. (Compare Matt. 11:28–30 and 23:4.) The king used the people to build his authority instead of using his authority to build the people. The result was a divided nation as Ahijah predicted (1 Kings 11:29ff.). As much as we love unity, we must accept the fact that some divisions are of God.

Afraid that his people would return to Jerusalem to worship, Jeroboam established a “religion of convenience” (v. 28) and made it easy for the nation to sin. Abandoning the true worship of Jehovah, he repeated the sin of Aaron (Exod. 32). Patterned after the Mosaic system, his religion was popular, but it did not have God’s approval (Hos. 13:2).

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