may 12, 2022

Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all Israel had gone there to make him king. When Jeroboam son of Nebat heard this (he was still in Egypt, where he had fled from King Solomon), he returned from Egypt. So they sent for Jeroboam, and he and the whole assembly of Israel went to Rehoboam and said to him: “Your father put a heavy yoke on us, but now lighten the harsh labor and the heavy yoke he put on us, and we will serve you.”…

Then King Rehoboam consulted the elders who had served his father Solomon during his lifetime. “How would you advise me to answer these people?” he asked. They replied, “If today you will be a servant to these people and serve them and give them a favorable answer, they will always be your servants.”

But Rehoboam rejected the advice the elders gave him and consulted the young men who had grown up with him and were serving him…

The young men who had grown up with him replied, “These people have said to you, ‘Your father put a heavy yoke on us, but make our yoke lighter.’ Now tell them, ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s waist. My father laid on you a heavy yoke; I will make it even heavier. My father scourged you with whips; I will scourge you with scorpions.’”

Three days later Jeroboam and all the people returned to Rehoboam, as the king had said, “Come back to me in three days.” The king answered the people harshly. Rejecting the advice given him by the elders, he followed the advice of the young men.

1 Kings 12:1-4, 6-14

Devotional

This section of Scripture gets a little hectic and difficult to untangle. After a long period of peace and stability under David and Solomon, everything falls apart. King Rehoboam is the son of Solomon, and ought to have presided over the unified, peaceful kingdom that Solomon left him. Instead, his first decision as King shatters that unity and peace. The ‘conscripted labor’ or ‘forced labor’ (also known as slavery) that Solomon had used to do all his building projects was extremely unpopular among the people. In fact, the man who presided over it was stoned to death in 1 Kings 12:18. Moving forward, the people wanted this conscription discontinued, along with harsh treatment like being scourged with whips. The people put forward a man named Jeroboam to put this (to our eyes, quite reasonable) proposition to Rehoboam. Rehoboam asks for three days to consider their plan, and he consults with the elders and with his younger friends.
 
The elders urge him to be a servant of the people, listen to their complaint, and do what they are asking, because if he will treat them that way, they will serve him as king gladly all their days. The elders are asking Rehoboam to listen carefully and hear the truth in what the people are complaining about, and to respond with graciousness, relieving the people of the burden of forced labor. In this way, he will respond with compassion in his first days as King, and the people will be pleased, relieved, and well-disposed to anything he might ask of them in the future.
 
But Rehoboam does not like the idea of serving the people. It sounds weak to him, and he prefers to be the arrogant, proud, heavy-handed monarch his young friends describe. They recommend that he present himself as a heavy-weight, cruel king. So he does this, and the results are awful. After his employee the taskmaster is stoned to death, he narrowly escapes the people’s wrath and flees back to Jerusalem. (1 Kings 12:18)
 
If only Rehoboam had listened to the elders! His kingdom, which included both Israel and Judah, might have remained intact. Alternate worship sites other than the Temple would have never been established in Israel, and idols and pagan worship would not have spread widely throughout both kingdoms. The priesthood in Israel would not have been filled with “all sorts of people.” (1 Kings 13:33) Strife, enemy attacks, continual warfare, and the sacking of treasures from the Temple by an Egyptian king would not have occurred. All of this might well have been avoided if King Rehoboam had given a wise answer that befit a servant leader. If only he had considered the probable outcome of a harsh reply. Both the Southern Kingdom of Judah and the Northern Kingdom of Israel suffered and went astray from that moment on for many years. It all started with a harsh answer.

For Reflection

Why do you think Rehoboam went with the heated harsh response?

What does it mean to be a servant leader?

Have you known servant leaders?

Have you been a servant leader?

Prayer

Dear Lord, help me to consider the outcome of my decisions. Help me to guard against harshness and boasting as I respond to others. Help me to truly desire to be a servant leader, tending the flock you have given me, keeping them peacefully out of danger. Help me to keep a cool head and a warm heart as I do the tasks you have given me to do. In Jesus’ name, Amen.