1 Kings 12:1-31

The Kingdom In Crisis And The Collapse Of An Empire (1 Kings 12:1 to 1 Kings 14:31).

The death of Solomon, as always with the death of a king who had ruled powerfully for a long time and had been somewhat autocratic, resulted in hopes being raised among the people that things might now be made better for them. Indeed they appear to have been quite satisfied with the thought of Rehoboam being their king, as long as he would meet them halfway, and they actually gathered at Shechem to negotiate with him for that purpose. It was a real opportunity. Had Rehoboam made concessions, and retained the loyalty of Israel, the combined kingdom would have remained a power, and the tributaries watching in expectation might have hesitated about making trouble. But let Israel and Judah once become divided into two nations, and the driving force and the power base would be lost, and men like Hadad in Edom and Rezon in Damascus (1 Kings 11:14) would soon ensure the collapse of the empire. And ever waiting in the wings for the collapse of the empire was the powerful Shishak of Egypt in a revived Egypt, just waiting for his opportunity to break up the trade monopoly which Solomon had built up.

On the death of Solomon Israel were ready to accept Rehoboam as their king, and they assembled at Shechem, which they clearly saw as the local Sanctuary of the northern tribes when it came to such matters. The very choice of Shechem indicated that they were calling on the king to recognise his obligations under the Law of Moses. Shechem was the place to which Israel had first gathered under Joshua for the reading of the Law and the renewal of the covenant (Joshua 8:30), in obedience to the command of YHWH through Moses (Deuteronomy 11:29; Deuteronomy 27:1), and was the place where Joshua himself had renewed the covenant after the initial stages of the invasion were over and Israel were settled in the land (Joshua 24:1). It was a recognised place at which YHWH had recorded His Name (suggested by Joshua 8:30 with Exodus 20:24). It was the place where the stone of witness had been set up (Joshua 24:26) and it may well be that the regular reading of the covenant required by the Law of Moses took place at Shechem whose two local mountains Ebal and Gerizim, together with the narrow valley that lay between them, formed a natural amphitheatre (see Deuteronomy 27:1).

Rehoboam should, of course have recognised that the very choice of this site for their gathering emphasised that Israel saw themselves as separate from Judah when it came to crowning a new king, and were calling on him to renew his obedience to the Law of Moses, and to walking in the ways of YHWH, something which Solomon had signally failed to do. Solomon had previously slipped into the joint kingship so easily, because he had done it while David was still alive, and when the kingdom was at peace. It had thus been easy to forget this independent feeling in Israel, and the fact that kingship in Israel had always been by popular acclamation. It had been so for Saul (1 Samuel 10:24; 1 Samuel 11:12), for David (2 Samuel 5:1) and indeed for Solomon (1 Chronicles 29:22). And we should not forget how delicate had been the situation after Absalom's rebellion (2 Samuel 19:9; 2 Samuel 19:41 to 2 Samuel 20:2). Israel did not see themselves as Judah's lapdog.

But sadly Rehoboam had been brought up in Solomon's court, and he had been bred with a sense of arrogance and with the feeling that all Israel and Judah were there to do his bidding. He saw himself as ‘a king like the kings of the nations'. In his view the people were simply there to be whipped into line. And while when he took advice from his father's older counsellors they gave him good advice as to the need to meet the people half way, he preferred the advice of the younger arrogant aristocrats like himself who assured him that what was needed was to show them who was in charge. So what brought about Rehoboam's rejection was the arrogance that had become so much a part of Solomon's lifestyle, and which he had passed on to his son. In contrast, in the case of Jeroboam, his downfall would come about through his turning his back on the covenant and diluting Yahwism, in order, as he saw it, to protect his kingdom. This would result in his destroying the religious heart of Israel, something which would affect all the kings who followed him. Thus both aspects of Solomon's failures came out in his successors.

Overall Analysis (1 Kings 12:1 to 1 Kings 14:31).

a Rehoboam's Intransigence Alienates Israel (1 Kings 12:1).

b Rehoboam Is Rejected By Israel And Jeroboam Becomes King of Israel In Accordance With YHWH's Covenant (1 Kings 12:17).

c In Disobedience Jeroboam Sets Up The Golden Calves, Appoints Alien Priests And Establishes Alien High Places (1 Kings 12:25).

d The Alien Altar Is Condemned By A Man Of God (1 Kings 12:33 to 1 Kings 13:10).

c In Disobedience The Man Of God Eats And Drink In Israel And Is Slain (1 Kings 13:11).

b Jeroboam's House Loses The Kingship Because Of The Sins of Jeroboam (1 Kings 13:33 to 1 Kings 14:20).

a The Unhappy Reign Of Rehoboam Which Is The Consequence Of His Intransigence (1 Kings 14:21).

Note that in ‘a' Rehoboam's reign commenced unhappily and in the parallel it continued unhappily. In ‘b' Jeroboam received the Kingship through YHWH's covenant, and in the parallel his house loses the kingship because of his sin. In ‘c' Jeroboam acts in disobedience against YHWH and in the parallel the man of God acts in disobedience against YHWH. Central in ‘d' is the condemnation of the alien altar by the man of God.