I Kings 12:8-15. It was of the Lord (v. 15) to give a major portion of the Kingdom to Jeroboam. Humanly speaking, what was it that motivated the young men to be so harsh, and Rehoboam to listen to them?
The younger are characteristically not the wiser. The new King sees rebellion forming around him already, and decides to show himself tough and harsh so as to put out of their minds altogether any thought of continuing in their revolt.
Rehoboam has seen the strength of his father, but did not inherit his wisdom. His father had once said that a soft answer is what is needed at times, but no softness or compromise seems to be in the son. Egged on by his peers, he will have justice, and not mercy. He will not only continue the lavish spending of the Throne, and the resultant impoverishment of some, he will increase it, for who knows but whether he, the son of the Great King of Israel, will be an even greater one, and will need every shekel and more?
I Kings 13:18-19. Why did a prophet of God lie to another prophet, and so cause his death?
The answer is not given in the text. Men speculate that he was merely curious about the younger prophet, and wanted to know all the particulars of the prophecy, thus a need for him to come home and share with him. Others say that this was a lonely old man, who greatly desired fellowship with another man of God. Thus, they say, he meant no harm, and knew that he would have to say “God told me” to entice such a one as the man before him.
The “God told me” people are with us today. Some of them mean no harm, and truly think God has spoken to them. Others are deceitful to the max and must be avoided. See in this story the result of changing your convictions based on someone else’s convictions. Tragedy.
I Kings 14:19. This verse mentions the “Chronicles of the Kings of Israel,” whereas verse 29 talks of the “Chronicles of the Kings of Judah.” Are they the same book?
Not at all. And neither of them are the same as I and II Chronicles in the Bible. These are, rather, two books available to God’s prophets and historians in the days in which the events took place. The sacred writers chose from these two writings, the portions of history the Spirit of God pointed out to them. They often expanded the histories, commented on them, made judgments about them, all, we believe, under the direct supervision of the Spirit of God.
I Kings 14:21. Was Rehoboam purely Jewish?
Perhaps it is significant for us to know that, due to the many political affinities of his amorous father, Solomon, Rehoboam was not the son of an Israelite woman. His mother was from the nation of Ammon, the one descended from the unfortunate parentage of Lot and his daughter. The Ammonites had been and would be enemies of Israel, and were steeped in paganism. It is hard to imagine what Rehoboam’s upbringing involved, but there was almost certainly a smattering of falseness when it came to the religious education of the young boy. And it would seem that Solomon looked the other way, striving to please all the members of his harem.
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