1 Kings 12

Solomon was a very forceful ruler. When the time came for his son, Rehoboam, to take his place, the people brought their concerns to the new king under the leadership of one of Solomon's enemies, Jeroboam.

Israel asked Rehoboam to lighten their load. The more seasoned advisers of the king urged accommodation, but the young men around him advised a show of strength. Beyond all the wisdom of counselors, God was accomplishing His own purposes.

The Lord had revealed some time before this exactly what would happen after Solomon's death. God would now accomplish what He had announced through His prophet. The nation would be divided. The northern tribes would follow Jeroboam. Only Judah, the tribe of kings, would stay with Solomon's son.

Rehoboam gathered the troops from Judah and the neighboring tribe of Benjamin. It was his intention to bring the rest of Israel into submission by force. But the Lord sent another prophet to the king with this message: “This thing is from Me.” According to God's instruction, everyone went home in peace, and Israel and Judah were divided.

From the beginning, the story of the kings of the northern tribes was one of fear, confusion, and disobedience. Jeroboam set up shrines in the southern and northern reaches of his territory in order to dissuade the people from returning to Jerusalem. He made up his own feast, established his own priesthood, and sacrificed offerings on his own altar, all against the Law of God.

God is not the author of sin. Yet the Lord understands well the trouble that has come into the world through evil, and He is ordaining everything according to His own plan of grace. Though His good hand may be hard to see behind the brash foolishness of Rehoboam and the fearful idolatry of Jeroboam, we are reminded that it was the Lord who had announced that after Solomon's days there would be a division between Judah and the northern tribes. Now it had taken place.

As God had warned, there would be consequences for Solomon's disobedience. But nothing could ever turn the Lord away from His eternal promises. The line of David would continue on to the next generation. Neither the kingdom of Rehoboam nor the kingdom of Jeroboam would be the final kingdom of God. Behind these frowning providences was the eternal blessedness of our great Messiah. In His face we have found perfect righteousness and eternal peace.