And Rehoboam went to Shechem: for all Israel were come to Shechem to
make him king. 2. And it came to pass, when Jeroboam the son of Nebat,
who was yet in Egypt, heard of it (for he was fled from the presence of
king Solomon, and Jeroboam dwelt in Egypt); 3. That they sent and
called him. And Jeroboam and all the congregation of Israel came, and
spake unto Rehoboam, saying, 4. Thy 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. 6. And he
said unto them, Depart yet for three days, then come again to me. And
the people departed. 6. 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? 7. And 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. 8. But 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, and which stood before him: 9. And 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? 10. And 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 it lighter
unto us; thus shalt thou say unto them, My little finger shall be
thicker than my father's loins. 11. And 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.
So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam the third day, as the
king had appointed, saying, 'Come to me again the third day. 13. And
the king answered the people roughly, and forsook the old men's counsel
that they gave him; 14. And 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 also chastised you with whips, but I will chastise
you with scorpions. 15. Wherefore the king hearkened not unto the
people; for the cause was from the Lord, that He might perform His
saying, which the Lord spake by Ahijah the Shilonite unto Jeroboam the
son of Nebat. 16. 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 have we inheritance in the son of Jesse: to your
tents, O Israel: now see to thine own house, David. So Israel departed
unto their tents. 17. But as for the children of Israel which dwelt in
the cities of Judah, Rehoboam reigned over them.'--1 KINGS xii. 1-17.
The separation of the kingdom of Solomon into two weak and hostile
states is, in one aspect, a wretched story of folly and selfishness
wrecking a nation, and, in another, a solemn instance of divine
retribution working its designs by men's sins. The greater part of this
account deals with it in the former aspect, and shows the despicable
motives of the men in whose hands was the nation's fate; but one
sentence (verse 15) draws back the curtain for a moment, and shows us
the true cause. There is something very striking in that one flash,
which reveals the enthroned God, working through the ignoble strife
which makes up the rest of the story. This double aspect of the
disruption of the kingdom is the main truth about it which the
narrative impresses on us.
As to the mere details of the incident, as a political revolution, they
are in four stages. First come the terms of allegiance offered to the
new king. Rehoboam goes to Shechem, because 'Israel was gone' there.
The choice of the place is suspicious; for it was in the tribe of
Ephraim, and had been for a time the centre of national life; and its
selection at once indicated discontent with the preponderance of
Jerusalem, and a wish to assert the importance of the central tribes.
No doubt, the choice of the latter city for the capital had caused
heart-burning, even during David's time.
Adopting the reading of the Revised Version, we see another suspicious
sign in the recall of Jeroboam, and his selection as spokesman; for he
had been in rebellion against Solomon (1 Kings xi. 26), and therefore
an exile. Probably he had now been the instigator of the discontent of
which he became the mouthpiece; and, in any case, his appearance as the
leader was all but a declaration of war. His former occupation as
superintendent of the forced labour exacted from his own tribe taught
him where the shoe pinched, and the weight of the yoke would not be
lessened in his representations.
No doubt, the luxury and splendour of Solomon's brilliant reign had an
under side of oppression, even though forced labour was not exacted
from Israelites (1 Kings ix. 22); but probably the severity was
exaggerated in these complaints, which were plainly the pretext for a
revolt of which tribal jealousy was the main cause, and Jeroboam's
ambition the spark that set light to the train. Certainly there was
ignoring of the benefits of the peaceful reign, which had brought
security and commerce. But there was enough truth in the complaint to
make it plausible and effective for catching the people. Had they a
right to suspend their allegiance on compliance with their terms?
Israel was neither a despotism, nor simply a constitutional monarchy.
God appointed the kings, and had ordained the Davidic house to the
throne; and therefore this making terms was, in effect, asserting
independence of God's will. Jeroboam was scheming for a crown. The
people were shaking off their submission to God. It is very doubtful if
concession would have conciliated them. There is nothing elevated, not
to say religious, in their motives or acts.
Then comes Rehoboam on the scene. The one sensible thing that he did
was to take three days to think. Whether or no his little finger was
thicker than his father's loins, his head was not half so wise.
Ecclesiastes, speaking in Solomon's name, reckons it a great evil that
he must leave his labour to his successor; 'and who knoweth whether he
shall be a wise man or a fool?' Certainly Rehoboam had little 'wisdom'
either of the higher or lower kind. It was the lower kind which the old
counsellors of his father gave him,--that wisdom which is mere cunning
directed to selfish ends, and careless of honour or truth. 'Flatter
them to-day, speak them fair, promise what you do not mean to keep, and
then, when you are firm in the saddle, let them feel bit and spur.'
That was all these grey-headed men had learned. If that was what passed
for 'wisdom' in Solomon's later days, we need not wonder at revolt.
To act on such motives is bad enough, but to put them into plain words,
and offer them as the rule of a king's conduct, is a depth of cynical
contempt for truth and kingly honour that indicates only too clearly
how rotten the state of Israel was. Have we never seen candidates for
Parliament and the like on one side of the water, and for Congress,
Senate, or Presidency on the other, who have gone to school to the old
men at Shechem? The prizes of politicians are often still won by this
stale device. The young counsellors differ only in the means of gaining
the object. Neither set has the least glimmer of the responsibility of
the office, nor ever thinks that God has any say in choosing the king.
Naked, undisguised selfishness animates both; only, as becomes their
several ages, the one set recommends crawling and the other bluster.
Think of Saul hiding among the staff, David going back to his sheep
after he was anointed, Solomon praying for wisdom to guide this people,
and measure the depth of descent to this ignoble scramble for the
sweets of royalty!
According to I Kings xiv. 21, Rehoboam was forty-one at this time, so
his contemporaries could not have been very young. But possibly the
number in the present text is an error for twenty-one, which would
agree better with the tone of the reference to age here, and with the
rash counsel. Note the recurrence, both in Rehoboam's question in verse
9 and in the young advisers' answer in verse 10, of the obnoxious
speech of the people. That may be accidental, but it sounds as if both
he and they were keeping their anger warm by repeating the offensive
complaint.
The Revised Version reads, 'My little finger is thicker,' etc., and so
makes the sentence not a threat, but the foundation of the following
threat in an arrogant and empty assertion of greater power. The fool
always thinks himself wiser than the wise dead; the 'living dog'
fancies that his yelp is louder than the roar of 'the dead lion.' What
can be done with a Rehoboam who brags that he is better than Solomon?
The threat which follows is inconceivably foolish; and all the more so
because it probably did not represent any definite intention, and
certainly was backed by no force adequate to carry it out. Passion and
offended dignity are the worst guides for conduct. Threats are always
mistakes. A sieve of oats, not a whip, attracts a horse to the halter.
If Rehoboam had wished to split the kingdom, he could have found no
better wedge than this blustering promise of tyranny.
Next in this miserable story of imbecility and arrogance comes the
answer to the assembly. Shechem had seen many an eventful hour, but
never one heavier with important issues than that on which the united
Israel met for the last time, and there, in the rich valley with Ebal
and Gerizim towering above them, heard the fateful answer of this
braggart. A dozen rash words brought about four hundred years of
strife, weakness, and final destruction. And neither the foolish
speaker nor any man in that crowd dreamed of the unnumbered evils to
flow from that hour. Since issues are so far beyond our sight, how
careful it becomes us to be of motives! Angry counsels are always
blunders. No nation can prosper when moderate complaints are met by
threats, and 'spirited conduct,' asserting dignity, is a sign of
weakness, not of strength. For nations and individuals that is true.
Here the historian draws back the curtain. On earth stand the insolent
king and the now mutinous people, each driving at their ends, and
neither free of sin in their selfishness. A stormy scene of passion,
without thought of God, rages below, and above sits the Lord, working
His great purpose by men's sin. That divine control does not in the
least affect the freedom or the guilt of the actors. Rehoboam's
disregard of the people's terms was 'a thing brought about of the
Lord,' but it was Rehoboam's sin none the less. That which, looked at
from the mere human side, is the sinful result of the free play of
wrong motives, is, when regarded from the divine side, the determinate
counsel of God. The greatest crime in the world's history was at the
same time the accomplishment of God's most merciful purpose. Calvary is
the highest example of the truth, which embraces all lesser instances
of the wrath of man, which He makes to praise Him and effect His deep
designs.
Again, the rending of the kingdom was the punishment of sin, especially
Solomon's sin of idolatry, which was closely connected with the
extravagant expenditure that occasioned the separation. So the
so-called natural consequences of transgression constitute its temporal
punishment in part, and behind all these our eyes should be
clear-sighted enough to behold the operative will of God. This one
piercing beam of light, cast on that scene of insolence and rebellion,
lights up all history, and gives the principle on which it must be
interpreted, if it is not to be misread.
Again, the punishment of sin, whether that of a community or of a
single person, is sin. The separation was sin, on both sides; it led to
much more. It was the consequence of previous departure. So ever the
worst result of any sin is that it opens the door, like a thief who has
crept in through a window, to a band of brethren.
Lastly, we have the fierce rejoinder to the empty boast of Rehoboam,
and the definitive disruption of the nation. Jeroboam must have fanned
the flame skilfully, or it would not have burst out so quickly. There
is no hesitation, nor any regret. The ominous cry, which had been heard
before, in Sheba's abortive revolt, answers Rehoboam with instantaneous
and full-throated defiance. Rancorous tribal hatred is audible in it.
Long pent up jealousy and dislike of the dynasty of David has got
breath at last: 'To your tents, O Israel! now see to thine own house,
David!'
That roar from a thousand voices meant a good deal more than the cowed
king's vain threats did. The angry men who raised it, and were the
tools of a crafty conspirator, the frightened courtiers and king who
heard it, were alike in their entire oblivion of their true Lord and
Monarch. 'God was not in all their thoughts.' An enterprise begun in
disregard of Him is fated to failure. The only sure foundations of a
nation are the fear of the Lord and obedience to His will. If politics
have not a religious basis, the Lord will blow upon them, and they will
be as stubble.