Solomon sinned against God by going after false gods, and because of that God divided the kingdom between Rehoboam (Solomon’s son) and Jeroboam (Solomon’s servant, from the tribe of Ephraim). Judah and Benjamin remained under Rehoboam’s rule, while the other 10 tribes were given to Jeroboam. God made the same promise to Jeroboam that He had made to Solomon; that if Jeroboam would walk in God’s ways, then God would bless him.<\/p>\n
All the people of Israel were to come to the temple in Jerusalem 3 times a year to offer the sacrifices God required. But because Jerusalem was under Rehoboam’s rule, Jeroboam was afraid he would lose the allegiance of his people if they went to Jerusalem. Jeroboam decided it was safer for him to appoint men, who were not from the family of Levi (as God had commanded), to serve as priests in the northern kingdom. He also made 2 golden calves and set them up as the people\u2019s gods, thus falling into the very same sin as Solomon. He forgot that he was not king because of his own efforts or ability, but because God wanted him to be king. It\u2019s amazing how quickly Jeroboam forgot that promise.<\/p>\n
2 Chronicles 11:13\u201317 tells us that after Jeroboam rejected the Levitical priests, who refused to have any part of Jeroboam’s unscriptural altars and false worship, they left their homes and went south to Rehoboam’s territory so they could worship God as He had commanded. But the majority of the people stayed and worshiped these gods of convenience, the golden calves. It wasn\u2019t convenient for Jeroboam to trust God with the situation or the security of his kingship, so he took matters into his own hands.<\/p>\n
We need to consider this lesson carefully. Whatever God gives to us, He will see to it that we keep it. By the same token, whatever we take for ourselves, God can take away and give to others. God desires to bless our lives today, but He expects us to hold those blessings lightly. We should never latch on to them, doing anything we have to in order to keep them. Jeroboam did not learn to keep the Lord as the Master of his life, and he choked by grabbing the control for himself. And in doing so, he caused everyone around him to sin also.<\/p>\n
“LORD, we choose to lay everything we have at Your feet again today. It all belongs to You anyway, doesn’t it?!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n =============================================================<\/p>\n\n\n\n 1 Kings 12 KJV<\/p>\n\n\n\n 1<\/sup>\u00a0And Rehoboam went to Shechem: for all Israel were come to Shechem to make him king.\u00a02<\/sup>\u00a0And it came to pass, when Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who was yet in Egypt, heard\u00a0of it<\/em>, (for he was fled from the presence of king Solomon, and Jeroboam dwelt in Egypt;)\u00a03<\/sup>\u00a0That they sent and called him. And Jeroboam and all the congregation of Israel came, and spake unto Rehoboam, saying,\u00a04<\/sup>\u00a0Thy father made our yoke grievous: now therefore make thou the grievous service of thy father, and his heavy yoke which he put upon us, lighter, and we will serve thee.\u00a05<\/sup>\u00a0And he said unto them, Depart yet\u00a0for\u00a0<\/em>three days, then come again to me. And the people departed. 6<\/sup> And king Rehoboam consulted with the old men, that stood before Solomon his father while he yet lived, and said, How do ye advise that I may answer this people?\u00a07<\/sup>\u00a0And they spake unto him, saying, If thou wilt be a servant unto this people this day, and wilt serve them, and answer them, and speak good words to them, then they will be thy servants for ever.\u00a08<\/sup>\u00a0But he forsook the counsel of the old men, which they had given him, and consulted with the young men that were grown up with him,\u00a0and\u00a0<\/em>which stood before him:\u00a09<\/sup>\u00a0And he said unto them, What counsel give ye that we may answer this people, who have spoken to me, saying, Make the yoke which thy father did put upon us lighter?\u00a010<\/sup>\u00a0And the young men that were grown up with him spake unto him, saying, Thus shalt thou speak unto this people that spake unto thee, saying, Thy father made our yoke heavy, but make thou\u00a0it\u00a0<\/em>lighter unto us; thus shalt thou say unto them, My little\u00a0finger\u00a0<\/em>shall be thicker than my father\u2019s loins.\u00a011<\/sup>\u00a0And now whereas my father did lade you with a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke: my father hath chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions. 12<\/sup>\u00a0So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam the third day, as the king had appointed, saying, Come to me again the third day.\u00a013<\/sup>\u00a0And the king answered the people roughly, and forsook the old men\u2019s counsel that they gave him;\u00a0\u00a014<\/sup>\u00a0And spake to them after the counsel of the young men, saying, My father made your yoke heavy, and I will add to your yoke: my father\u00a0also\u00a0<\/em>chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions.\u00a015<\/sup>\u00a0Wherefore the king hearkened not unto the people; for the cause was from the\u00a0LORD, that he might perform his saying, which the\u00a0LORDspake by Ahijah the Shilonite unto Jeroboam the son of Nebat. 16<\/sup> So when all Israel saw that the king hearkened not unto them, the people answered the king, saying, What portion have we in David? neither\u00a0have we\u00a0<\/em>inheritance in the son of Jesse: to your tents, O Israel: now see to thine own house, David. So Israel departed unto their tents.\u00a017<\/sup>\u00a0But\u00a0as for\u00a0<\/em>the children of Israel which dwelt in the cities of Judah, Rehoboam reigned over them.\u00a018<\/sup>\u00a0Then king Rehoboam sent Adoram, who\u00a0was\u00a0<\/em>over the tribute; and all Israel stoned him with stones, that he died. Therefore king Rehoboam made speed to get him up to his chariot, to flee to Jerusalem.\u00a0\u00a019<\/sup>\u00a0So Israel rebelled against the house of David unto this day.\u00a0\u00a020<\/sup>\u00a0And it came to pass, when all Israel heard that Jeroboam was come again, that they sent and called him unto the congregation, and made him king over all Israel: there was none that followed the house of David, but the tribe of Judah only. 21<\/sup>\u00a0And when Rehoboam was come to Jerusalem, he assembled all the house of Judah, with the tribe of Benjamin, an hundred and fourscore thousand chosen men, which were warriors, to fight against the house of Israel, to bring the kingdom again to Rehoboam the son of Solomon.\u00a022<\/sup>\u00a0But the word of God came unto Shemaiah the man of God, saying,\u00a023<\/sup>\u00a0Speak unto Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, king of Judah, and unto all the house of Judah and Benjamin, and to the remnant of the people, saying,\u00a024<\/sup>\u00a0Thus saith the\u00a0LORD, Ye shall not go up, nor fight against your brethren the children of Israel: return every man to his house; for this thing is from me. They hearkened therefore to the word of the\u00a0LORD, and returned to depart, according to the word of the\u00a0LORD. 25<\/sup> Then Jeroboam built Shechem in mount Ephraim, and dwelt therein; and went out from thence, and built Penuel.\u00a026<\/sup>\u00a0And Jeroboam said in his heart, Now shall the kingdom return to the house of David:\u00a027<\/sup>\u00a0If this people go up to do sacrifice in the house of the\u00a0LORD\u00a0at Jerusalem, then shall the heart of this people turn again unto their lord,\u00a0even\u00a0<\/em>unto Rehoboam king of Judah, and they shall kill me, and go again to Rehoboam king of Judah.\u00a028<\/sup>\u00a0Whereupon the king took counsel, and made two calves\u00a0of\u00a0<\/em>gold, and said unto them, It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem: behold thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.\u00a029<\/sup>\u00a0And he set the one in Beth-el, and the other put he in Dan.\u00a030<\/sup>\u00a0And this thing became a sin: for the people went\u00a0to worship\u00a0<\/em>before the one,\u00a0even\u00a0<\/em>unto Dan.\u00a031<\/sup>\u00a0And he made an house of high places, and made priests of the lowest of the people, which were not of the sons of Levi.\u00a032<\/sup>\u00a0And Jeroboam ordained a feast in the eighth month, on the fifteenth day of the month, like unto the feast that\u00a0is\u00a0<\/em>in Judah, and he offered upon the altar. So did he in Beth-el, sacrificing unto the calves that he had made: and he placed in Beth-el the priests of the high places which he had made.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a033<\/sup>\u00a0So he offered upon the altar which he had made in Beth-el the fifteenth day of the eighth month,\u00a0even\u00a0<\/em>in the month which he had devised of his own heart; and ordained a feast unto the children of Israel: and he offered upon the altar, and burnt incense.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Solomon sinned against God by going after false gods, and because of that God divided the kingdom between Rehoboam (Solomon’s son) and Jeroboam (Solomon’s servant, from the tribe of Ephraim). Judah and Benjamin remained under Rehoboam’s rule, while the other 10 tribes were given to Jeroboam. God made the same promise to Jeroboam that He […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"yes","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6744"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6744"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6744\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16248,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6744\/revisions\/16248"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6744"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6744"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6744"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}