Lessons from the Life of Solomon's Successor, Part 1

Recently I was privileged to take part in a discussion that my Sabbath School had a while back. Every week we gather to sing songs, praise God, and study His Word. This particular week’s focus was the story of Rehoboam, the son of Solomon. There were so many good points that we talked about that I decided that I definitely needed to share them with you!

Here’s the setup: Solomon the king of Israel is getting pretty old. He’s going to die soon, so right before he dies Solomon anoints his son Rehoboam as king over all Israel. Now Rehoboam has a lot of choices to make. David, his grandfather, was a really good king. Solomon, his father, was a fairly good king too, although in the middle of his life Solomon got a bit carried away with idolatry and copious amounts of foreign women. So Rehoboam has both good and bad examples to look to.           

Very soon Rehoboam had a chance to show which kind of a king he would be. Right after Solomon died, a group of Israelites came to Rehoboam, and kindly asked him to lower the taxes. Solomon had exerted terribly harsh laws, way overtaxing the people. So the people of Israel had good reason to ask Rehoboam to lower the taxes, and make living at least a little more bearable.

Rehoboam listens, and tell them, “Come back in three days” (see 1 Kings 11:5). The new king of Israel then goes to his elders, the wise and aged men who had served his father, and asked them what to do. Here’s what the elders said:

“If today you will be a servant to theses people and serve them and give them a favorable answer, they will always be your servants.” (v. 7)

That was very good advice. In short, cement your subjects’ loyalty by lowering the taxes. By doing such, they will love you even more and be devoted to you forever. Even more tax money will come in!

Going to the elders for advice was a very good decision on the part of King Rehoboam. But, unfortunately, Rehoboam did not listen to his elders. Instead, he rejected the elders’ advice and went to see what his peers—the young men who had grown up with him—would say. Rehoboam’s peers finally said something that he wanted to hear—don’t lower the taxes, but raise them!

So when the group of Israelites came back to their king in three days, here are Rehoboam’s exact words:

“My father made your yoke heavy; I will make it even heavier. My father scourged you with whips; I will scourge you with scorpions.” (v. 14)

Now them’s fightin’ words! As you might suspect, those Israelites weren’t too happy. The word quickly got around, and the whole nation revolted. Rebelled.

“What share do we have in David, what part in Jesse’s son? To your tents, O Israel! Look after your own house, O David!” (v. 16)

And so the ten northern tribes of Israel split from Rehoboam, and set up shop with their own king, Jeroboam. Rehoboam kept the southern two tribes, Judah and Benjamin, and named the new country “Judah”. God’s once-unified nation had totally split in two, and all because of some sharp words.

Now this story has really got me thinking. Previously I had known about the nation of Israel splitting during Rehoboam’s reign, but I hadn’t known the reason why. Words really do build us up, or tear us down. I don’t think Rehoboam took into account the wise advice given in 1 Thessalonians 5:11—

“Therefore encourage one another and build each other up”

Rehoboam did have good advice. The elders had given him wisdom, which if followed, would have maintained a united Israel for years. But he didn’t want to do what was right—he wanted to do what he wanted.

While there are many important lessons to be learned from the life of Rehoboam (we’ll discuss more next week), I think there’s an important one right here. Who did Rehoboam listen to? What did he do? While he did listen to his wise elders, he rejected their advice. Instead, he followed the counsel of the foolish young men that he had grown up with.

What can we learn from his story? I think that the lesson is obvious. We need to listen to, and seek advice from, wise and godly people. People that will encourage us to do right, and tell us the things we need to hear even if we don’t like it. In the same vein we need to choose our friends wisely, for “by beholding we are changed”. Who do you hang around? Who do you seek advice from? Pray today that you can surround yourself with godly people in your life.