I find this beginning of the “Divided Kingdom” era fascinating. Rehoboam is the rightful heir to the throne, but God decides to remove the kingdom from him because of the sins of his father, Solomon1. So God makes a promise to Jeroboam2 that if he honours the Lord in the same way David did, he will rule over Israel forever. Of course God knew exactly how it would turn out, so He never really had to worry about making good on that promise. And here’s where the story gets interesting…
On the issue of taxation, Rehoboam ignores the council of faithful older men who advised him to reduce the burden on the people to endear loyalty, instead taking the advice of young people who encourage him to flex his authority and tax them all the more! This leads to a deadly revolt on the part of the people, who end up promoting Jeroboam to king. And so, all of Israel — with the exception of Judah and Benjamin — side with Jeroboam and have nothing to do with Rehoboam and his iron fist.
There is a lesson to be learned here about leadership! If you are in a position of leadership there are two ways you can think about it. One way — the way Rehoboam chose — is the top-down “authority” type of leadership. “What I say goes, because I am in charge!” And that certainly is an avenue open to you, of course we see the consequences of that action in the deadly revolt… The other type of leadership — the way demonstrated by Jesus — is a bottom-up “servant” type of leadership. “We’re moving in this direction because I have sought the Lord and it is what is best for all of us.”
And that would be a great take-away, but there’s more to the story!
After this, Jeroboam — now in charge of most of Israel (the territory of 10 tribes) — decided that people would want to go back to Jerusalem (Rehoboam’s territory) to worship God. So what solution does this bright bulb come up with? Rather than building a temple to Yahweh, the God who GAVE HIM THIS KINGSHIP, he instead chose to bring back the golden calves of Aaron and say that THESE are the gos who brought Israel out of Egypt! Upon seeing this, the Levites abandoned their land and moved to Judah. And those among the populace who wanted to be failed to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob also defected to Judah. That’s right, their priority for God led them into a situation that was less good for them physically and financially, but was infinitely better spiritually.
And herein lies the second take-away for the day; our primary loyalty should be with God. We ought not to act in a way that is self-serving, but instead should be focused on our first (that is, our PRIMARY) love—Jesus. Even if it means submission to an authoritarian leadership. Now, of course we should want the leadership over us (our Governments, our bosses, our pastors(!)) to be Godly and bottom-up, servant-style. I get that. But our leadership preference and physical/financial comfort should NEVER be prioritized above our spiritual health and position.
Let’s be good leaders, seeking good leaders. But let’s also keep our priorities in order!