Sunday, October 12, 2014 - 2 Chronicles 10:1-15

[Tek7]

The Kingdom Divided
10 Then Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all Israel had gone to Shechem to make him king. 2 When Jeroboam son of Nebat heard about it—for he was in Egypt where he had fled from King Solomon’s presence—Jeroboam returned from Egypt. 3 So they summoned him. Then Jeroboam and all Israel came and spoke to Rehoboam: 4 “Your father made our yoke difficult. Therefore, lighten your father’s harsh service and the heavy yoke he put on us, and we will serve you.”

5 Rehoboam replied, “Return to me in three days.” So the people left.

6 Then King Rehoboam consulted with the elders who had served his father Solomon when he was alive, asking, “How do you advise me to respond to these people?”

7 They replied, “If you will be kind to these people and please them by speaking kind words to them, they will be your servants forever.”

8 But he rejected the advice of the elders who had advised him, and he consulted with the young men who had grown up with him, the ones serving him. 9 He asked them, “What message do you advise we send back to these people who said to me, ‘Lighten the yoke your father put on us’?”

10 Then the young men who had grown up with him told him, “This is what you should say to the people who said to you, ‘Your father made our yoke heavy, but you, make it lighter on us!’ This is what you should say to them: ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s loins.[a] 11 Now therefore, my father burdened you with a heavy yoke, but I will add to your yoke; my father disciplined you with whips, but I, with barbed whips.’”

12 So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam on the third day, just as the king had ordered, saying, “Return to me on the third day.” 13 Then the king answered them harshly. King Rehoboam rejected the elders’ advice 14 and spoke to them according to the young men’s advice, saying, “My father made your yoke heavy,[c] but I will add to it; my father disciplined you with whips, but I, with barbed whips.”[d]

15 The king did not listen to the people because the turn of events came from God, in order that the Lord might carry out His word that He had spoken through Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam son of Nebat.

2 Chronicles 10:1-15, HCSB

Commentary to follow!

 

[Tek7]

EDIT: I told you commentary would follow! I didn't specify that it would be in any time frame resembling prompt, though.

I was trying to come up with an elegant commentary for this passage, but I kept coming back to:

Rehoboam was dumb. Don't be dumb.



And be especially careful if you think you're smarter than Rehoboam, because it's really easy to listen to counsel that sounds good but leads to ruin.

What's especially sad about this story is Rehoboam's reign followed what could easily be called the pinnacle of Israel's history.

I need to take time out to make sure that I'm getting wise counsel--from Scripture first and from wise, mature Christians as well--because I have a nasty tendency to just lunge forward and try to get lines crossed off a checklist. I ask that you pray for me that I won't be dumb.