The Kingdom Splits in Two

A young king faces a huge crowd. He could win their hearts with a few kind words. Instead he says, “My father made your load heavy. I will make it heavier.” And the crowd turns away.

King Solomon has died after forty years on the throne. His reign was rich and glorious, but it came at a cost. To pay for his building projects, the people had worked hard and paid heavily. And in his later years, Solomon had turned his heart toward other gods. Now his son Rehoboam is to be king. He travels north to Shechem, an ancient meeting place, where all Israel has gathered to make him king. Among them is a man named Jeroboam. He had once been one of Solomon's officials, in charge of forced labour, until he fled to Egypt. A prophet had told him that God would give him ten of the tribes.

The people speak to Rehoboam, with Jeroboam among them. “Your father put a heavy yoke on us. Lighten the hard work and the heavy yoke, and we will serve you.” It's a fair request. Rehoboam says, “Go away for three days, then come back.” First he asks the old men, the advisers who had served his father. Their advice is wise and simple.

“If you will be a servant to this people today, and serve them, and speak good words to them, then they will be your servants for ever.”

But Rehoboam doesn't like that answer. So he asks the young men he grew up with, who now serve him. They tell him to show the people who's boss. Tell them, they say, my little finger is thicker than my father's waist. My father put a heavy yoke on you; I'll add to it. My father beat you with whips; I'll beat you with scorpions. Three days later, the people come back. And Rehoboam speaks to them harshly, word for word what the young men told him. The Bible adds a line that explains everything. This turn of events was from the Lord, to fulfil the word he had spoken through the prophet Ahijah.

When the people hear his answer, they shout an old rebel cry. “What share do we have in David? To your tents, O Israel! Look after your own house now, David!” And they go home. Rehoboam sends Adoram, the man in charge of forced labour, to bring them back in line. It's the worst choice he could make. The crowd stones Adoram, and he dies. Rehoboam jumps into his chariot and races back to Jerusalem. The northern tribes make Jeroboam their king. Only the tribe of Judah, along with Benjamin, stays loyal to the house of David. Rehoboam gathers a huge army to win the kingdom back. But God sends a prophet named Shemaiah with a message. Don't go up. Don't fight your brothers. This thing is from me. And, to their credit, they listen, and go home.

Now Jeroboam has a worry. If his people keep going to Jerusalem to worship at the temple, their hearts might turn back to Rehoboam. So he makes two calves of gold. He puts one at Bethel in the south of his kingdom, and the other at Dan in the far north. “It's too much for you to go up to Jerusalem,” he tells them. “Here are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.” He builds shrines, appoints his own priests, invents his own festival. And the Bible says simply, this thing became a sin.

Dan, in the far north of Israel, has been excavated for decades. At Tel Dan, the archaeologist Avraham Biran uncovered a large stone platform within a sacred area, and he identified it as a high place first built in the days of the northern kings. Some scholars debate the dates and details, but the site gives a sense of the kind of worship centre that stood at Dan.

You'll find this story in First Kings, chapter 12. One king refused to listen and to serve. Another king trusted his own plans instead of God. And a nation that had been one family split in two for centuries. So here is something to think about. When you are given a little power, will you use it to serve people, or to push them around?