FULFILLED PROMISES - PART 2

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In Christ, Mark

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Solomon brought Pharaoh’s daughter up from the City of David to the palace he had built for her, for he said, “My wife must not live in the palace of David king of Israel, because the places the ark of the Lord has entered are holy.”

Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all Israel had gone there to make him king. When Jeroboam son of Nebat heard this (he was in Egypt, where he had fled from King Solomon), he returned from Egypt. So they sent for Jeroboam, and he and all Israel went to Rehoboam and said to him: “Your father put a heavy yoke on us, but now lighten the harsh labor and the heavy yoke he put on us, and we will serve you.”

Rehoboam answered, “Come back to me in three days.” So the people went away.

Then King Rehoboam consulted the elders who had served his father Solomon during his lifetime. “How would you advise me to answer these people?” he asked.

They replied, “If you will be kind to these people and please them and give them a favorable answer, they will always be your servants.”

But Rehoboam rejected the advice the elders gave him and consulted the young men who had grown up with him and were serving him. He asked them, “What is your advice? How should we answer these people who say to me, ‘Lighten the yoke your father put on us’?”

The young men who had grown up with him replied, “The people have said to you, ‘Your father put a heavy yoke on us, but make our yoke lighter.’ Now tell them, ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s waist. My father laid on you a heavy yoke; I will make it even heavier. My father scourged you with whips; I will scourge you with scorpions.’”

Three days later Jeroboam and all the people returned to Rehoboam, as the king had said, “Come back to me in three days.” The king answered them harshly. Rejecting the advice of the elders, he followed the advice of the young men and said, “My father made your yoke heavy; I will make it even heavier. My father scourged you with whips; I will scourge you with scorpions.” So the king did not listen to the people, for this turn of events was from God, to fulfill the word the Lord had spoken to Jeroboam son of Nebat through Ahijah the Shilonite.

When all Israel saw that the king refused to listen to them, they answered the king:

“What share do we have in David, what part in Jesse’s son? To your tents, Israel! Look after your own house, David!”

So all the Israelites went home. But as for the Israelites who were living in the towns of Judah, Rehoboam still ruled over them.

King Rehoboam sent out Adoniram, who was in charge of forced labor, but the Israelites stoned him to death. King Rehoboam, however, managed to get into his chariot and escape to Jerusalem. So Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David to this day.

2 Chronicles 8:11 and Chapter 10

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

After the temple dedication, God spoke the following words to Solomon:

“If you turn away and forsake the decrees and commands I have given you and go off to serve other gods and worship them, then I will uproot Israel from my land, which I have given them, and will reject this temple I have consecrated for my Name. I will make it a byword and an object of ridicule among all peoples. This temple will become a heap of rubble. All who pass by will be appalled and say, ‘Why has the Lord done such a thing to this land and to this temple?’ People will answer, ‘Because they have forsaken the Lord, the God of their ancestors, who brought them out of Egypt, and have embraced other gods, worshiping and serving them—that is why he brought all this disaster on them.’” 2 Chronicles 7:19-22

God had provided Solomon an abundance of blessings, fulfilling a promise that He made to make Solomon great, not only in wisdom and knowledge, but also power and wealth. There was only one stipulation for the promise to stay in effect.

Solomon was to remain faithful to God and His decrees.

It seemed easy enough, right? Stay obedient to God’s word and way, and in return gain all you could ever ask for. God even made sure that Solomon knew that there would be negative consequences if the king chose to not honor Him and chase after false gods instead, just in case he was tempted.

Unfortunately, Solomon did not stay faithful to God and set in motion events that would result in God’s promise being fulfilled with Israel uprooted from their land and the temple rejected and destroyed. Look at what got Solomon in trouble:

Solomon brought Pharaoh’s daughter up from the City of David to the palace he had built for her, for he said, “My wife must not live in the palace of David king of Israel, because the places the ark of the Lord has entered are holy.” 2 Chronicles 8:11

King Solomon, however, loved many foreign women besides Pharaoh’s daughter—Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians and Hittites. They were from nations about which the Lord had told the Israelites, “You must not intermarry with them, because they will surely turn your hearts after their gods.” Nevertheless, Solomon held fast to them in love. He had seven hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines, and his wives led him astray. As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the Lord his God, as the heart of David his father had been. He followed Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and Molek the detestable god of the Ammonites. So Solomon did evil in the eyes of the Lord; he did not follow the Lord completely, as David his father had done.

On a hill east of Jerusalem, Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the detestable god of Moab, and for Molek the detestable god of the Ammonites. He did the same for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and offered sacrifices to their gods.

The Lord became angry with Solomon because his heart had turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice. Although he had forbidden Solomon to follow other gods, Solomon did not keep the Lord’s command. So the Lord said to Solomon, “Since this is your attitude and you have not kept my covenant and my decrees, which I commanded you, I will most certainly tear the kingdom away from you and give it to one of your subordinates. Nevertheless, for the sake of David your father, I will not do it during your lifetime. I will tear it out of the hand of your son. Yet I will not tear the whole kingdom from him, but will give him one tribe for the sake of David my servant and for the sake of Jerusalem, which I have chosen.” 1 Kings 11:1-13

From Solomon’s story, as well as the story of his son Rehoboam who succeeded him, we have to learn about the power of influence and how we can fall into sin easily when we don’t surround ourselves with the right people.

In Solomon’s case, he allowed the multitude of foreign wives he married to turn him from God to their gods. He not only recognized them but he worshiped them himself, even building high places so he and his wives could worship the false gods. It was little wonder why God had warned Israel not to associate with other nations and especially not intermarry. God had commanded that there would be no other gods before Him and consequences would be levied on anyone who chose to violate this commandment. In Solomon’s case, God promised to tear the kingdom, not from his hand but the hand of his son, leaving him with only Judah to rule. The rest of Israel would be under the rule of another as the kingdom divided.

It’s little wonder that Jesus later would say these words, “Any kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and a house divided against itself will fall” (Luke 11:17). Israel’s history bore proof to his words.

In Chapter 10, we see the pupal stages of Israel’s demise. We read that the people led by Jeroboam approached Rehoboam to discuss changes in the way the kingdom was run. We get an immediate sense that Solomon had oppressed his people during the latter stages of his rule, especially in the way of heavy labor. Rehoboam received their request and asked for three days to render a decision.

The young king then consulted with his elders, those with the experience and wisdom to advise him properly. When Rehoboam asked them as to what he should do, the elders suggested that Rehoboam should honor the request and ease the burden on the Israelites. They felt assured that if he did so, they would be faithful to him as servants.

But Rehoboam chose to reject the advice of his elders and instead went to his peers, the young men he had grown up. Their counsel was quite different from the elders. For they told Rehoboam to tell the people that he would oppress them even worse than his father had. And that’s what he did.

In turn, we know that the people of Israel rejected him as their king and went back to their homelands. Rehoboam thought he would assert himself on them, sending the leader of forced labor, Adoniram, after the Israelites but they stoned him to death. It was obvious that Rehoboam had lost power and control over most of the Israelite nation and he fled back to Jerusalem to save himself. The rest of the kingdom, ten tribes in total which would be known as Israel, would be placed under the leadership of Jeroboam, fulfilling yet another promise from God (1 Kings 11:34-35).

Friends, yesterday we explored how God fulfills His promises to watch over us, protect us, instruct us, comfort us, and ultimately save us. Today, we need to see that God also fulfills His promises to correct and discipline when we choose to sin, going against His word and will.

In the end, we have a choice to make and those choices will have an impact on our standing with the God who made us. My prayer is that we all will opt for obedience and seeking to always live a life that not only pleases God but also glorifies and magnifies His precious and holy name.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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