Year One, November 6

Be Kind to Everyone1

2 Chronicles 9:31

31And Solomon slept with his fathers and was buried in the city of David his father, and Rehoboam his son reigned in his place. (The wisest man in the world died and so must we all. There is no getting around it. What a change came over the nation when the great ruler passed the scepter into the hands of his unfit successor. It is sad when great fathers have foolish children.)

  

2 Chronicles 10:1-8; 10-16; 19

1Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all Israel had come to Shechem to make him king. 2And 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. 3And they sent and called him. (The people had felt the government of Solomon had been too dictatorial. They had decided to demand more compassionate laws before they would allow Rehoboam to be their king. They hoped they would be given more liberty if they threatened to set up another king instead of him.) And Jeroboam and all Israel came and said to Rehoboam, 4“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.” 5He said to them, “Come to me again in three days.” So the people went away.

He did the right thing to take time for thinking about his decision. Important steps should not be taken in a hurry. We can do in an hour what we cannot undo in a lifetime.

6Then 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?” 7And 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.” (Lowering our expectations will often win over those who oppose our ideas. To give in a little in order to gain much is wise policy. The people had a right to what they asked. If the young prince would have agreed to their demands with a graceful spirit, he would have been the beloved ruler of an enthusiastic people.)

8But 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.

10And 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. 11And 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.’”

These young advisors thought it would be dangerous to give the people what they asked for. If the king agreed to their request, would they not be encouraged to ask for more later? Let them be put in their place immediately with an iron fist. To consent to their demands would only inflate them with pride and lead to even more rebellion. We have heard men talk like this in our own day, but we judged them to be conceited fellows. If the people ask for right things, let them have them. No harm can come from it.

12So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam the third day, as the king said, “Come to me again the third day.” 13And the king answered them harshly; and forsaking the counsel of the old men, 14King Rehoboam spoke to them according to the counsel of the young men, saying, “My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to it. My father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions.” 15So the king did not listen to the people, for it was a turn of affairs brought about by God that the LORD might fulfill his word, which he spoke by Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat.

16And when all Israel saw that the king did not listen to them, the people answered the king, “What portion have we in David? We have no inheritance in the son of Jesse. Each of you to your tents, O Israel! Look now to your own house, David.” So all Israel went to their tents.

19So Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David to this day. (The sin of Solomon inflicted his son Rehoboam, but God was not unjust. The unwise action of Rehoboam led naturally to the ten tribes breaking away. God’s ways are always just. We may be confident that if he seems to act unjustly, it is not really the case. God’s ways are fair, and in the end people will acknowledge that it is so.)

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¹ 2 Timothy 2:24