Revolt of the Northern Tribes

I KINGS 12:1-5, 12-15, 19, 20

GOLDEN TEXT: “A man’s pride shall bring him low: but honor shall uphold the humble in spirit.”—Proverbs 29:23

TRUE to the warning God gave to Solomon, all the tribes of Israel with the exception of Judah and the small tribe of Benjamin, were wrested from his son, Rehoboam, hence from the Davidic line. Jeroboam, a fugitive in Egypt during the reign of Solomon, returned to his county when he learned that Solomon had died, and rallied the ten northern tribes in rebellion against Rehoboam, and the kingdom was divided.

In principle, the method employed to create dissatisfaction among the ten tribes was not unlike that which is frequently used today to stir up opposition against exiting governments. It was an appeal for liberty and the lessening of taxes. The riches of Solomon and the glory of his kingdom were brought about in no small measure by his burdensome taxation of the people, and the fact that he crafted many of them into his service. It was a fulfillment in part of what the Prophet Samuel had forewarned when Israel demanded a king to rule over them. (See I Samuel 8:10-18) The situation was vexing enough to enable Jeroboam to rally the people to his support on the ground that he would get their burden lifted.

So the people’s case was presented Rehoboam. He was requested to remove the yoke which his father Solomon had place upon them. The king asked for three days to think the matter over, and to consult with his advisers—a sort of “cooling off period” as we would call it today. First, Rehoboam took the matter up with some of the elders of the people, those to whom Solomon had looked for advice. These advised him to give the people favorable consideration. It probably seemed to them that since the temple and the royal palace had been completed, national taxes might well be lowered.

But Rehoboam was not entirely satisfied with this advice. Perhaps he had a secret desire to increase still further the glory of Israel’s ruling house. In any event, he consulted the young men of his own set, those how would be more inclined to see matter as he did. Why should an up-and-coming king be hampered by the advice of old men, he thought. The advice of the young men was not to lighten the yoke of the people. They told Rehoboam that he should say to the people that he proposed to increase their burdens. “This shalt thou say to them,” the young men advised Rehoboam, “My little finger shall be thicker than my father’s loins.”—I Kings 12:10

When the agreed days were up and the people came to the king again, he followed the advice of the young men, and make it even more emphatic, saying, “My father made your yoke heavy, and I will add to your yoke: my father also chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions.” (I Kings 12:14) The young men and the king may have thought this would be good bargaining technique; that rather then have their burdens increased, the people would satisfied to let matters stand as they were. But the plan didn’t work. The rebellion was on, and not long after that the revolting ten tribes appointed Jeroboam to be king over them.

Shorty thereafter, Rehoboam assembled the warriors of Judah and Benjamin and made plans to subdue the revolt, but God interfered, explaining that what had occurred was in keeping with the divine will concerning these tribes, so Rehoboam did nothing further about it.

Jeroboam’s course of action following his appointment to kingship over the then tribes indicates that he had little respect for the true God of Israel. He realized, however, that the Israelites were a religious people; that the matter of worship and offering sacrifice loomed large and important in their lives. Regardless of the immediate cause of their rebellion, Jeroboam knew that the spirit of devotion in the hearts of the Israelites would cause them to go to Jerusalem to the religious feasts head there, and to offer sacrifice. He feared that in doing this they would gradually be weaned away from their loyalty to him and would rejoin the two tribes and accept Rehoboam as their king.

So Jeroboam deliberately and willfully set about to establish places of worship and to offer sacrifice where the Israelites could pour out their hearts’ devotion to false gods. This he not only tore them away from their rightful king, but alienated them also from their God. The ten tribes never recovered themselves, and God let them drift further and further away from him and from his covenant promises. They will be raised from the dead by and by, when the “new covenant” is made with the “house of Israel, and with the house of Judah,” but they lost forever the royal promises pertaining to ruler ship in Messiah’s kingdom.—Jer. 31:31

QUESTIONS:

Who was Jeroboam, and how did he become king over ten of the tribes of Israel?

What was the greatest sin of Jeroboam in connection with the insurrection of which he was leader?

Will the ten rebellious tribes ever be restored to their original position of favor with God?

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