Third Presbyterian Sunday Morning Bible Study - October 17, 2021

Below is the Bible Study written by Jim Rudiger for his Sunday School Class which meets at Third Presbyterian Church, Norfolk, Virginia. It's based on 1 Kings 12.

Choices, choices, choices. Every day we are bombarded with making choices. Some are easy and some are hard. Now, if I have a choice between eating at the Red Lobster and eating at McDonald’s, it’s a no brainer. But, a lot of our choices aren’t that easy. What makes choices hard?

(1) We don’t know how our choice will turn out. We only hope for a good result. Then we spend a lot of time wondering what would have happened if we had made a different choice. Like the poem about coming to a “Y” in a path and taking one path but wondering about the path not taken.

(2) We have to make a decision. We spend a lot of time avoiding making decisions. Putting off dealing with the problem or waiting until events force us to have to decide. But, sometimes, there just isn’t sufficient information available to make a good decision and waiting can allow other facts to surface. So waiting is not all bad.

(3) Sometimes the decision involves making winners and losers - a real no win situation for you. Two of your children want to play with the same toy or both want to get on the computer. No matter what you decide, someone will consider themselves to be the loser and will prove that you like Jack better than you like me.

Our life is full of choices. In fact we go from one choice to another, thinking and evaluating consequences and worrying about the results some times long after the choice is made. Some choices can be retracted. For instance if you are driving a car and choose to go down Carlton only to find after a few blocks that the street is torn-up. If there is room, you can turn the car around and go back to the origin of the choice and detour to Pythian. You might lose some time but you can reach your destination.

Then there are other choices which are fixed and can't be changed. Any body here ever have an accident? One of the first things that seems to hit you after an accident is the realization that if you had chosen to go another way or to have delayed for a few minutes, this accident wouldn't have happened.

I can recall when Jackie had to make one of those tough choices - choosing between two fellows. Now, one was virile, nice looking, hard working and steady. The other was over- bearing, egotistical, self centered and cocky. Fortunately, she overlooked all these bad traits and chose me.

In today’s study, a king has to make a choice and as a result of his decision, a large part of his kingdom is lost.

Last week we were introduced to Solomon. Solomon came to power after his father, David, died. David had been a warrior king who had gotten all the tribes to unite under his rule. It was a loose confederation which depended on the kingdom offering the tribes something for their loyalty. The kingdom had an army commanded by competent generals and could guarantee the tribes that they would have secure borders. It was like the NATO of David’s day. In exchange for this protection, the tribes were willing to give their allegiance and pay taxes to David.

Solomon brought another element to the table - his wisdom and his ability to make a buck. No king could have had a better start than Solomon. Right off, he proved to the people that he was a very wise ruler. What wise decision is Solomon remember for? Two women claimed to be the mother of a baby. They brought the problem of which was the real mother to Solomon. Solomon said the only fair thing to do was to give each woman half of the baby. He ask them if they agreed for him to cut the baby in half and give each woman a half? The woman who was not the real mother agreed to Solomon's solution. The real mother said no to Solomon's plan, She would rather the other woman have the baby than hurt the baby. Solomon handed the baby to the real mother reasoning that only the real mother would do anything to spare her baby. With this act, The people saw how Solomon made difficult choices and they were so impressed that they were willing to put their fate in his hands.

It seemed like Solomon could do no wrong. For the first time, the kingdom didn’t have to rely on some other nation’s merchant fleet to bring commerce to the kingdom. He formed his own fleet and cut out the middle man. As more money flowed through the tribes from merchants passing through their territory, more taxes were collected. The tribes weren’t upset because they were still making a lot of money and recognized that it was Solomon who was behind the boom times.

Where David depended on the might of his army to protect his borders, we learned last week that Solomon used diplomacy. He married nearly every princess of every country that bordered the kingdom, even marrying an Egyptian princess. Now, many of these women worshiped other gods and this is where Solomon began to fail as a God’s king. Instead of seeking God’s direction in handling the matter of his wives gods, he looked to his own wisdom. It told him that it was easier to give in to his wives when they insisted on worshiping their gods. They slowly pushed him until Solomon finally built them temples for their gods right outside the walls of Jerusalem. Solomon had begun to see himself as the architect of the kingdom and not God’s servant and his standing with God and the people began to fall.

In order to initiate and carry out the massive building plans he had for the kingdom, Solomon needed money and workers. So, he raised the taxes on the tribes, but, he wasn’t fair with how he assigned the tax load. He came from the tribe of Judah which was closely aligned with another southern tribe, Benjamin, and these two tribes were taxed less than the ten northern tribes. In addition he used forced labor, largely from the northern tribes, for his building projects.

His secretary of labor was a man from a northern tribe named Jeroboam. Solomon had met Jeroboam as a young man and was impressed with his ability and brought him into his government. He rose quickly through the ranks and soon was one of Solomon’s trusted aids. A prophet named Ahijah told Jeroboam that God was going to make him king over the ten northern tribes because Solomon had not followed God’s leading. When Solomon heard about it, he sent his men after Jeroboam and he escaped to Egypt and stayed there until Solomon died.

With the death of a king or when we vote in a new president, there is always an opportunity for change. What had been accepted was now up for negotiation. The same was true then. Solomon was dead and now his son Rehoboam was assuming the position of king. But not so fast. The ten northern tribes had get some changes first. And that is where we pick up the story.

1 Kings 12: 3 And they sent and called him; and Jeroboam and all the assembly of Isreal came and said to Jeroboam, 4 "Your father made our yoke heavy. Now therefore lighten the hard service of your father and his heavy yoke that he placed on us, and we will serve you,"

After Solomon's death, Jeroboam returned from exile in Egypt and assumed the role of chief spokesman for northern tribes based mainly on the prophesy by Ahijah. Now Rehoboam already had the support of the two southern tribes. He was already voted in as their king. But being king of Judah didn’t make him king of Israel. It now was up to the northern tribes to confer on Rehoboam the title of king. For this purpose, Rehoboam traveled to the ancient northern city of Shechem. What we have here is a political convention with Rehoboam politicking for votes up north. His main purpose is to hold together the alliance that had been forged by David and maintained by Solomon.

Rehoboam, dressed in all of the rich kingly trappings, stands on the platform in front of the convention and Jeroboam steps up to tell Rehoboam what would be required if the ten northern tribes are to pledge their allegiance to him. The deal was very simple - reduce the taxes, limit the use of forced labor and ease up on the demands made on the common people. Jeroboam’s demand wasn’t out of line - basically, it was for Rehoboam to lighten up. At this point, Rehoboam makes a good choice. He tells them that he needs some time to study their proposal - time to discuss this with his advisors, but, he will let them know his decision in three days.

6 Then King Rehoboam took counsel with the older men who had attended his father Solomon while he was still alive, saying, "How do you advise me to answer this people?" 7 They answered him, "If you will be a servant to the people today and serve them, and speak good words to them when you answer them, then they will be your servants forever."

Rehoboam calls in the old men who had advised his father, Solomon. These were elderly respected leaders whose judgement concerning the kingdom served his father well and could be trusted. What they told Rehoboam was that if he was to be a leader he had to be a servant of the people. This is good advice for every leader. A leader must put the concerns of the people first not his personal agenda. A leader exists to serve the people..not the people exist to serve the leader. Here is a young man who has watched his Dad be king for as long as he can remember. All he saw was people waiting on him. Saw him buying what ever he wanted with no regard for price. Why, his Dad even had 700 wives to take care of him. There were always yes men telling his Dad how great he was. This was the kind of king Rehoboam wanted to be. A king that was served.

8 But he disregarded the advice that the older men gave him, and consulted with the young men who who had grown up with him and now attended him. 9 He said to them, "What do you advise that we answer this people who have said to me, 'Lighten the yoke that your father put on us' ?" 10 The young men who had grown up with him said to him, "Thus you should say to this people who spoke to you. 'Your father made our yoke heavy, but you must lighten it for us'; Thus you should say to them, 'My little finger is thicker than my father's loins. 11 Now, whereas my father laid on you a heavy yoke. I will add to your yoke. My father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions' "

Now if you ask someone for advice and they give you advice that you don’t want to hear, what do you do? Get another opinion. In fact, keep getting opinions until you find someone who tells you what you want to hear. Rehoboam gets a second opinion, this time from his beer buddies. Our scripture describes these guys as “young men”. Actually, the words used to describe them in the Hebrew text is “little boys”. These were little rich kids. Spoiled from birth. Never worked a day in their lives. Their only disappointment comes when they lose a game on their I-phone. Now would you say that these would be the ideal advisers for solving the world’s problems much less unifying a kingdom?

And what was the marvelous advice that came from this “Our Gang Comedy”? Teach them a lessen. Tell them you aren’t scared of them. They work for you and they had better not forget it. And just so they know you mean business, you’re going to raise taxes and as far as forced labor goes, if they thought being encouraged by being stung by a whip - wait until they taste the scorpion. A scorpion was a whip made up of strands of leather impregnated with rocks and bone. So the lashing not only left whelps but would tear the flesh from your back.

So Rehoboam has two choice. He can meet their demands or spit on their demands. You would think that it would have been prudent for Rehoboam to have sought a third opinion or at least sought a compromise. He listens to his buddies and thumbs his nose at the ten northern tribes. Why would he do something so stupid? (1) Sometimes we all make stupid choices. (2) His buddies mirrored what he thought so it was no use seeking any further advice - his initial feelings had been ratified. (3) He thought the ten tribes were just bluffing and needed to be put in their place. After all he was THE KING!

13 The king answered the people harshly. He disregarded the advice that the older men had giiven him -- 16 When all Israel saw that the king would not listen to them, the people answered the the king, "What share do we have in David? We have no inheritance in the son of Jesse. To your tents, O Israel! Look now to your own house, O David." So Israel went away to their tents.

How do the ten northern tribes take Rehoboam’s answer? See ya later alligator. They see David as part of the southern tribes, so they reject him and don't consider the family icon. What the ten northern tribes are saying in these verses is that they are pulling out of the alliance formed by David and are forming a kingdom in the north with Jeroboam as their king.

Jeroboam recognized that Jerusalem would remain under the control of Rehoboam since it was located in Judah. Since the Temple in Jerusalem was a part of the royal grounds, any members of the northern tribes visiting the Temple to worship would be exposed to Rehoboam’s rule and might eventually come to reconsider breaking away from the northern alliance. So, Jeroboam concluded that the people needed new religious centers. He selected Bethel which was close to the southern border and Dan near the northern border as religious sites. Now, he could designate all the places he wanted as religious sites but he was lacking a key item that was in the Temple in Jerusalem. What was that? The Ark of the Covenant sitting in the Holy of Holies in the Temple in Jerusalem. After all, the ark was considered the seat of God - that God actually was hovering over the winged cherubim. Jeroboam had to have something dramatic to take the place of the ark.

What he hit on was something that he borrowed from other local religions. A lot of the Near Eastern gods were represented as riding on or standing on the backs of bulls. So what Jeroboam did was to construct two golden bulls - one for each designated religious center. The idea was that god would reside over the bulls just as he did over the ark. The bulls weren’t there as a representation of God or to be worshiped but would serve as a focal point over which God would hover. Now there is one glaring problem with Jeroboam using golden bulls. What was that? The golden calf that Aaron made while Moses was on Mount Sinai receiving the Ten Commandments. Evidently, this was a choice that Jeroboam made without considering history or the consequences.

Choices, choices, choices. There is no sure way of always making good choices. But there is a way that cuts down on mistakes. Include God in those choices. That is where Jeroboam and Rehoboam made their mistake - they left God out of their choices. You see, God wants to be included in our decision making process. That is why he has given us the Holy Spirit. To whisper in our ear and give us that uneasy feeling that something just ain't right here or that comfortable feeling that we are making the right choice. If we do include God in our choices, scripture assures us that all things will turn out good for those who love the Lord. That doesn’t mean that by seeking God’s input, that we will be on the yellow brick road heading for OZ. What it means is that we will have made the best choice that we could with the best advice possible. And, folks, that is all we can hope for.

Prayer: Father, may we not forget that you are there for us when problems arise. In those times, be with us as we make choices and decisions and speak to us through the Holy Spirit so that we can know what you would have us do.