Articles
The Kingdom Divides - 2 Chron. 10-13
The Kingdom Divides - 2 Chron. 10-13
The Davidic rule over all of Israel was short-lived! With Solomon's son, Rehoboam, becoming king, it immediately split.
With our limited knowledge, it is often impossible for us to know the actuality of how things come to pass. Usually, there are many things that contribute to a cause and we struggle to even assign degrees of importance to them. There is a constant theme of man's responsibility for his actions. There is also a constant theme that God is working out His purposes thru men and nations.
Solomon is a good starting point in this problem. He not only built the temple the king's palace, but many, many other great projects. This required much labor and money. The money was provided by heavy taxation of the people. The labor was mostly provided by forced labor. While there may have been intense pride at the glory and prestige all of this provided for the nation, the individual burden was almost impossible to bear (just put yourselves in their shoes!).
Thus was set up the desire of the people and the advice of the elders to lighten these burdens. As it plays out, such counsel was a thin veil for demand -- 'or else'. As you read through Chronicles, it is made clear that there was no real excuse for the rebellion of the northern tribes. Such was in fact rebellion against God's chosen leadership in the family of David.
Rehoboam and the 'younger' counselors were filled with visions of glory, power, and might. Now was the time to 'make a name'. Now was the time to establish who is the king. Rehoboam was 41 years old when he became king (12:13), so the 'younger' men were not teenagers or even 20-year-olds! Rehoboam was not so much evil and weak: "and worthless men gathered about him, scoundrels, who proved too strong for Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, when he was young and timid and could not hold his own against them" (2 Chronicles 13:7).
Jeroboam is also given much responsibility for this division of the nation. The record plainly states: "He 'rebelled against David" (2 Chron. 13:5-6).
Such event was also said to be 'of the LORD' (2Chron. 10:15). Because of Solomon turning away from the LORD, God had foretold this very division (1Kings 11:29-31). Such was to be punishment. It is simply amazing to me to see how God uses even the evil choices of men to bring about His own purposes and plans! James Smith stated: "Rehoboam’s pride is inexcusable and reprehensible. Nevertheless, Yahweh used his incident to accomplish his purpose of bringing about a division within the kingdom. God may even use the sinful acts of men to accomplish his will. What happened at Shechem led to the fulfillment of the predictions made by the prophet Ahijah to Jeroboam some two decades earlier (12:15)"*.
Consider then how difficult it is for us to state a definitive reason for some event happening when we have no revelation at all from God about it. Yet people often speak about such events as if God himself said: "I caused this". God has shown that He uses people and their choices for His own purposes and plans. You can be faithful to Him, be used of God, and be praised; or you can rebel against Him, be used by Him, and be condemned for your rebellion. What are you choosing? Hugh DeLong
* James Smith, Old Testament Survey Series, The Books of History, College Press, Logos edition.
