The Revolt Against Rehoboam

 

2 Chronicles 10:1-11

 

June 22, 2023

 

The Revolt Against Rehoboam

Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all Israel had come to Shechem to make him king.  And as soon as Jeroboam the son of Nebat heard of it (for he was in Egypt, where he had fled from King Solomon), then Jeroboam returned from Egypt.  And they sent and called him. And Jeroboam and all Israel came and said to Rehoboam, “Your father made our yoke heavy. Now, therefore, lighten the hard service of your father and his heavy yoke on us, and we will serve you.”  He said to them, “Come to me again in three days.” So, the people went away.

Then King Rehoboam took counsel with the old men, who had stood before Solomon his father while he was yet alive, saying, “How do you advise me to answer this people?”  And they said to him, “If you will be good to this people and please them and speak good words to them, then they will be your servants forever.”  But he abandoned the counsel that the old men gave him and took counsel with the young men who had grown up with him and stood before him.  And he said to them, “What do you advise that we answer this people who have said to me, ‘Lighten the yoke that your father put on us’?”  And the young men who had grown up with him said to him, “Thus shall you speak to the people who said to you, ‘Your father made our yoke heavy, but you lighten it for us’; thus, shall you say to them, ‘My little finger is thicker than my father's thighs.  And now, whereas my father laid on you a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke. My father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions.’”

 

Patrick Morley, the founder of Man in the Mirror enlightens us on the absence of strong male role models that deprive young men of essential boundaries necessary for a healthy and fulfilling life.  Solomon did great things but could have been a better role model for his son.  Before we get down on Solomon, David his dad also was not involved, he was good at his job, but a very poor dad.  

Patrick shares the elephant's story with us, as an example of the lack of an older man teaching and guiding a young man, and how it affects their lives.

When Gus Van Dyk, an ecologist at Pilanesberg National Park in South Africa, discovered a series of attacks on rhinos, he found that a group of adolescent male elephants in a state of heightened aggression, known as “musth,” were responsible. These young elephants had killed over 50 rhinos, mutilating their carcasses.

Van Dyk realized that the absence of older bull elephants to regulate the musth behavior was a key factor. To address this, he introduced six giant bull elephants from Kruger National Park, causing the teenage elephants to drop out of Musth immediately. They mentored the younger bulls so they could see what normal male behavior looked like. No more rhinos were killed once the mature bulls arrived.

1 Peter 5:5, gives this council; “You younger men, likewise, be subject to your elders; and all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, for God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”  When young men grow up without the leadership of an older man, they will run with other young men and be like the young elephants.

 

King Rehoboam, went to the elders and got council from the elders, in that he was not trained by his dad, and his dad was not trained by his dad, he sought the young guys he ran with for council, and it cost him to lose the hearts of the northern kingdom and his authority over them.  And it opens the door for Jeroboam to be their king.

 

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice