May 6 Daily Devotional

1 Kings 12

After the death of Solomon one of his sons, Rehoboam, was the next one chosen to sit on David’s throne. But the men of Israel hesitated to crown him. They met with him at Shechem, north of Jerusalem. They wanted the new king to promise certain things before they would accept him in the place of his father. They came to Rehoboam and said, Thy father made our yoke grievous; now make thou his yoke lighter, and we will serve thee. And Rehoboam took counsel with the old men, which had stood before Solomon his father, saying, “How do ye advise that I may answer this people?” They said to him, If thou wilt hear them, then they will be thy servants forever. But Rehoboam forsook the counsel of the old men, and took counsel with the young men that were grown up with him. And the young men said to him, Thus shalt thou speak unto them, “My father hath chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions” (whips with pieces of iron at the ends.) Rehoboam followed this advice of the young men, indicating that the burden of taxes under his reign would be higher than it had been while his father was ruling.

Instead of asking the people for advice Rehoboam should have asked God. He was foolish. He did not know what his hot-headed action would cost him. The answer of the people came very soon. As with one voice all the tribes except Judah and Benjamin replied, “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.” Ten of the tribes, when they saw that Rehoboam hearkened not to them, fell away from the house of David, and made Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, their king. Two tribes, Judah and Benjamin, followed the house of David and made Rehoboam their king. Thus Israel was now divided into two kingdoms: the Kingdom of Judah with Rehoboam as king and Jerusalem for its capital; the Kingdom of Israel with Jeroboam as king and Samaria for its capital.

But Jeroboam, the king of the ten tribes said in his heart, If this people go up to do sacrifice in the house of the Lord at Jerusalem, then they may fall away from me, the kingdom may return to Rehoboam. I will build places of worship and altars in my own kingdom; then my people will not need to go to Jerusalem to worship. Therefore, Jeroboam made two calves of gold, and set the one in Bethel in the southern portion, and the other at Dan, in the northern portion of his kingdom. And he said to his people, “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.” And this thing became a sin, for the people went there.