Thursday, February 8, 2018
Another
rebel leader was Jeroboam son of Nebat, one of Solomon’s own officials. He came from the town of Zeredah in Ephraim,
and his mother was Zeruah, a widow. This
is the story behind his rebellion. Solomon
was rebuilding the supporting terraces and repairing the walls of the city
of his father, David. Jeroboam was a
very capable young man, and when Solomon saw how industrious he was, he put him
in charge of the labor force from the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, the
descendants of Joseph. One day as
Jeroboam was leaving Jerusalem, the prophet Ahijah from Shiloh met him along
the way. Ahijah was wearing a new cloak.
The two of them were alone in a
field, and Ahijah took hold of the new cloak he was wearing and tore it
into twelve pieces. Then he said to
Jeroboam, “Take ten of these pieces, for this is what the Lord, the God of
Israel, says: ‘I am about to tear the
kingdom from the hand of Solomon, and I will give ten of the tribes to you! But I will leave him one tribe for the sake
of my servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of
all the tribes of Israel. For Solomon has abandoned
me and worshiped Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Sidonians; Chemosh, the god of
Moab; and Molech, the god of the Ammonites. He has not followed my ways and done what is
pleasing in my sight. He has not obeyed
my decrees and regulations as David his father did. “‘But I will not take the entire kingdom from
Solomon at this time. For the sake of my
servant David, the one whom I chose and who obeyed my commands and decrees, I
will keep Solomon as leader for the rest of his life. But I will take the kingdom away from his son
and give ten of the tribes to you. His
son will have one tribe so that the descendants of David my servant will
continue to reign, shining like a lamp in Jerusalem, the city I have chosen to
be the place for my name. And I will
place you on the throne of Israel, and you will rule over all that your heart
desires. If you listen to what I tell
you and follow my ways and do whatever I consider to be right, and if you obey
my decrees and commands, as my servant David did, then I will always be with
you. I will establish an enduring
dynasty for you as I did for David, and I will give Israel to you. Because of Solomon’s sin I will punish the
descendants of David—though not forever.’”
Solomon tried to kill Jeroboam, but he fled to King Shishak of Egypt and
stayed there until Solomon died. 1 Kings
11:26-40(NLT)
Solomon may have been the wisest
man ever…but he managed (at times) to ignore his own smarts by ignoring Jehovah
God and worshipping the gods and goddesses of the surrounding pagans. These gods were particularly the kind of in-your-face
gods for anyone claiming to be a child of the kingdom. Ashtoreth was a fertility goddess, and
worship included temple prostitution.
Chemosh was a god of war; for an Israelite to worship the god generally
called upon to defeat Israel…well, what does that say about collusion with the enemy? And Molech was a god that required child
sacrifice. Incidentally, a quick survey
of 21st century life in America shows these gods have made wide
inroads into our Western culture.
For Solomon’s infidelity to the God
he had pledged to serve, his kingdom was torn from him, divided and weakened. The point is well-taken: worship is when you give your attention and
allegiance to anything. Solomon
was worshipping other gods; the one true God will not
tolerate that!
But…there is a bit of good news in
the bad here. Note that God left Solomon
as a leader to a small portion of the nation.
This was due to God’s promise to David.
Like Solomon, David had strayed from his vows to God; unlike Solomon,
David had repented and returned to the fold.
This “following after” and serving God restored God’s favor on David,
and renewed God’s original covenant to bless David’s lineage…namely Solomon.
A note for our country today: The good, Godly integrity of our founders and
those who have carried the purposes of God on in our short history since 1776
has faded like a worn-out, over-washed set of jeans. We no longer see fiercely-maintained moral conduct
as even a desirable character trait. Our
nation is still strong militarily and economically, but the basis of all
strength – the goodness that comes from faith in, and fidelity-towards God, is
hardly flourishing. We, like Solomon may
be resting on former sacrifice and service.
The coming tearing-apart of the land we claim to love is on the horizon…and
it hardly takes a prophet to speak the math of what’s coming.
Perhaps it is not too late to turn
around…to repent…to give up our Ashtoreth, Chemosh, and Molech wanderings, and
come home to our Father’s fold.
What does
it take to be wiser than a Solomon?
Serve God…not what everybody else is worshiping.
You chew on that as you hit the
Rocky Road today.
