At the church where I serve, we
are spending our time together looking at the lives of kings who
were placed in a position of leadership over the Jewish people. And as we look
at the lives of these kings, we are going to discover several timeless truths
that have the potential to powerfully impact how we live our lives today.
This week, I would like for us to pick up where we left off last week. We ended last
week looking on as the Lord responded to the erosion
of King Solomon’s commitment to Him by fulfilling the promise that He had made
earlier in his life. As a result of King Solomon’s ungodly commitments that
eroded his commitment to the Lord, the Lord responded by raising up adversaries
that revolted against the Jewish nation.
As a result of the ungodly commitments that eroded
his commitment to God, King Solomon no longer had peace. Instead, the nation of
Edom began to revolt against the Jewish people. In addition, the Lord raised up
a man named Jeroboam to oppose King Solomon. Jeroboam was from the northern
region of the Jewish nation and had helped King Solomon supervise the laborers
who worked on many of the building projects that occurred during King Solomon’s
reign.
The Lord sent the prophet Ahijah to Jeroboam to
proclaim to him that he would become king of the ten northern tribes of the
Jewish people. In addition, the Lord promised Jeroboam that if he lived out his
life in a way that placed His confident trust in and follow the Lord, the Lord
would bless Jeroboam and his descendants just as he had promised to bless King
Solomon and his descendants.
However, upon hearing all that the Prophet Ahijah
had proclaimed to Jeroboam, King Solomon attempting to put Jeroboam to death.
Jeroboam then fled for his life to Egypt, where he remained until the death of
King Solomon in 931 B.C. And it is in this context that, as the son of King
Solomon, a man named Rehoboam, prepared to become the king of the Jewish nation,
that we jump back into the next section of a letter that is recorded for us in
the Old Testament of the Bible, called the book of 1 Kings. So let’s do that
together, beginning in 1 Kings 12:1:
Then Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all Israel had come to Shechem to make
him king. Now when Jeroboam the son of Nebat heard of it, he was living in Egypt (for he was yet in Egypt, where he
had fled from the presence of King Solomon). Then they sent and called him, and
Jeroboam and all the assembly of Israel came and spoke to Rehoboam, saying,
"Your father made our yoke hard; now therefore lighten the hard service of
your father and his heavy yoke which he put on us, and we will serve you."
Then he said to them, "Depart for three days, then return to me." So
the people departed.
Now Solomon’s son Rehoboam became king in 931 B.C.
at forty one years of age. We are brought into this event from the history of
the Jewish people on the day that Rehoboam was to be appointed king of the
Jewish nation. Representatives from the twelve tribes of the Jewish people had
come to Shechem in order that Rehoboam be recognized and officially installed
as king.
Shechem was located in the northern part of the
Jewish nation and held a special significance when it came to the history of
the Jewish people. Shechem was the place where the Lord had first appeared to
Abraham, who was considered the father of the Jewish nation. Shechem was the
place where Jacob, who was the father of the sons who would become the twelve
tribes that formed the Jewish people, had settled. And Shechem was where the
grave of Joseph was located. So Shechem was a natural place for the Jewish
people to gather in order to anoint and appoint their next king.
Jeroboam, who had been in exile in Egypt for fear of
his life, returned to Shechem for the appointing of Rehoboam as king at the
request of those who lived in the northern part of the Jewish nation. You see,
those in the northern part of the Jewish nation wanted someone to be an
advocate on their behalf. We then see exactly what the representatives from the
Northern tribes wanted Jeroboam to do when it came to advocating on their
behalf.
Jeroboam, as their spokesperson, made the following
request to the new king Rehoboam: “Your father made our yoke hard; now therefore lighten the hard service of
your father and his heavy yoke which he put on us, and we will serve you."
Now a
natural question that arises here is “well Dave, what are they talking about
when they refer to a yoke?” The word yoke here refers to a burden of servitude
that is carried by someone, in this case, the Jewish people.
You see, during the reign of King Solomon, the
Jewish nation undertook several major building projects that involved a great
deal of money and a great deal of labor.
During King Solomon’s reign, the Temple in Jerusalem, which was
considered one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, was constructed. In
addition, 1 Kings 7 details the construction of Solomon’s royal palace, which
took twice as long to build as the Temple.
So you can imagine that the royal palace was even more costly when it
came to labor and materials than the Temple.
Then, in 1 Kings 9, we discover that besides the
Temple and the royal palace, the Jewish people, under the direction of King
Solomon, were involved in construction projects designed to strengthen the
defenses of the cities of Jerusalem, Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer. In addition,
there were various storage facilities that were built to contain the wealth of
King Solomon.
In order to facilitate such extensive projects, King
Solomon did two things. First, King Solomon imposed heavy taxes of the Jewish
people in order to finance these construction projects. Second, King Solomon
imposed an involuntary work force to provide the labor necessary in order to
complete these construction projects. This involuntary work force came from two
different sources. The first source of involuntary workers came from the
enemies of the Jewish people, who were called the Canaanites.
However, the second source of these involuntary
workers consisted of 30,000 Jewish people that spend up to four months a year
working. These involuntary workers were “drafted” into the workforce to work
one month on location working with two months off to be home. This shift work
went on for years. And most of the 30,000 Jewish people that were “drafted”
into this workforce came from the northern region of the Jewish nation. And
after year after year of increased taxes and a drafted workforce to complete
these immense construction projects under King Solomon, many who lived in the
northern region of the Jewish nation were incredibly frustrated.
But now King Solomon was dead and there was a new
king. And with a new king came an opportunity for the Jewish people to request
that the heavy taxes and forced labor be eased by the new king. So the tribes
of the northern part of the Jewish nation wanted someone to be an advocate on
their behalf to request relief from the high taxes and drafted labor.
Upon hearing the northern tribes request from their
spokesman Jeroboam, king Rehoboam requested three days to consider and respond
to their request. The northern tribes, encouraged by the new kings’ willingness
to consider their request, agreed to return in three days to hear his response.
Tomorrow, we will see what King Rehoboam did next…
No comments:
Post a Comment