Tag: 2 Chronicles 11

Who Are You Gonna Believe?

There is a brief but interesting story that takes place between two unnamed men in today’s reading. One is simply referred to as the “man of God” and the other is only known as the “old prophet”.

The Man of God goes to Jeroboam, the now-apostate king of Israel, and tells him that his kingdom will be taken from him and that his family line will be destroyed for his rabid unfaithfulness to the Lord who put him in that position! Jeroboam tries to win this man over with hospitality but the Man of God insists that the Lord told him 1) not to eat or drink anything in the land of Jeroboam and 2) to go home a different way than he came. And so, without eating or drinking at Jeroboam’s table the Man of God leaves to go home on a different path than the one that brought him.

Meanwhile the Old Prophet (who lived in the territory of Jeroboam) saddles up a donkey and rides to catch up with the Man of God. He does so successfully and invites the man over to his house to eat. The man tells the prophet no, because God said so and the Old Prophet replies that God told him it was okay. So the Man of God went and ate.

That’s it!? That’s all it takes?! God came to you and gave you a specific job and clear instructions, but ONE GUY says ‘God told me it’s alright’ and you abandon the direction God has given you and do the OPPOSITE? —— That’s what happened to the Man of God. He ended up being killed by a lion and buried in the Old Prophet’s grave.

If you have a word from the Lord, you’d better believe it! Weigh it against Scripture and seek the Lord with each step. I would go so far as to say that when the Old Prophet comes to you with something else, take it seriously and seek the Lord. Is it from Him, or is it a distraction? Has something changed (Abraham and Isaac, Genesis 22) or has nothing changed (Paul, Acts 21)?

The Lord will never lead you astray. Seek Him and you’ll bee in good shape!

On Leadership & Submission

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!

  1. This would be a fascinating issue to study on another day. If Solomon was the transgressor, why was no punishment visited upon him… for David’s sake? ↩︎
  2. Did the names REALLY need to be so similar? He could’t have chosen a Jim instead? ↩︎