RECAP
Solomon is Made King
1 Kings 1:28-53
Solomon Asks God for Wisdom
1 Kings 3:3-14
1Ki 3:14 “So if you walk in My ways, to keep My statutes and My commandments, as your father David walked, then I will lengthen your days.”
The Wisdom of Solomon HIS FIRST TEST-
1 Kings 3:16-28; 4:21-34
Solomon Builds the Temple
1 Kings 6:1-38
The Dedication of the Temple
1 Kings 8:1-66
The Queen of Sheba
1 Kings 10:1-13
Solomon Turns from the LORD
1 Kings 11:1-13, 41-43
The Kingdom is Divided 1 Kings 11:26-40; 12:1-24
1KINGS 12:15B “For the turn of EVENTS was from the LORD, that He might fulfill His word.”
ATTENTION GRABBER! Decisions, Decisions!
In today’s lesson, we will be learning about listening to good advice and bad advice and what happens when we listen to bad advice.
We have to make choices and decisions all of the time.
Our friends may not always give us good advice. We need to learn how to listen to the Lord.
LESSON TIME!
When Solomon became King of Israel, he was a good king—he led the people in the ways of God.
God told the people of Israel that if they would obey Him and follow all of His commandments and instructions, He would dwell with them and would bless them.
And God did just that. He greatly blessed Solomon and the nation of Israel.
As the years passed, however, Solomon forgot his promises to God.
As we saw in our last lesson, he allowed the influence of his many wives to draw him away from the one true God and into the worship of false gods and idols.
The people of his kingdom followed their king into the same sin and the nation fell into captivity, losing the blessings God had promised to those who would follow in His ways.
In our lesson today, we will see a large portion of the people of Israel will break away to make their own country.
Brother will turn against brother and family against
family.
The people of Israel will begin to fight against one another!
None of this had to happen. If only the king and the people would have remained faithful to the Lord!
Sin destroys our relationship with God and with other people.
1 Kings 11:26-40; 12:1-24 Jeroboam’s Rebellion
26 Then Solomon’s servant, Jeroboam the son of Nebat, an Ephraimite from Zereda, whose mother’s name was Zeruah, a widow, also rebelled against the king.
27 And this is what caused Jeroboam to rebel against the king: Solomon had built the Millo and repaired the damages to the City of David his father. 28 The man Jeroboam was a mighty man of valor; and Solomon, seeing that the young man was industrious, made him the officer over all the labor force of the house of Joseph.
29 Now it happened at that time, when Jeroboam went out of Jerusalem, that the prophet Ahijah the Shilonite met him on the way; and he had clothed himself with a new garment, and the two were alone in the field. 30 Then Ahijah took hold of the new garment that was on him and tore it into twelve pieces. 31 And he said to Jeroboam, “Take for yourself ten pieces, for thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: ‘Behold, I will tear the kingdom out of the hand of Solomon and will give ten tribes to you 32 (but he shall have one tribe for the sake of My servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel),
33 because they have forsaken Me,
and worshiped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians,
Chemosh the god of the Moabites, was a deity
and Milcom the god of the people of Ammon, their national god
and have not walked in My ways to do what is right in My eyes and keep My statutes and My judgments, as did his father David.
34 However I will not take the whole kingdom out of his hand, because I have made him ruler all the days of his life for the sake of My servant David, whom I chose because he kept My commandments and My statutes. 35 But I will take the kingdom out of his son’s hand and give it to you—ten tribes. 36 And to his son I will give one tribe, that My servant David may always have a lamp before Me in Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen for Myself, to put My name there.
37 So I will take you, and you shall reign over all your heart desires, and you shall be king over Israel. 38 Then it shall be, if you heed all that I command you, walk in My ways, and do what is right in My sight, to keep My statutes and My commandments, as My servant David did, then I will be with you and build for you an enduring house, as I built for David, and will give Israel to you. 39 And I will afflict the descendants of David because of this, but not forever.’”
40 Solomon, therefore, sought to kill Jeroboam. But Jeroboam arose and fled to Egypt, to Shishak king of Egypt, and was in Egypt until the death of Solomon.
Summary of Solomon’s Reign
41 The rest of the events in Solomon’s reign, including all his deeds and his wisdom, are recorded in The Book of the Acts of Solomon. 42 Solomon ruled in Jerusalem over all of Israel for forty years. 43 When he died, he was buried in the City of David, named for his father. Then his son Rehoboam became the next king.
1KINGS 12:1-24
The Revolt Against Rehoboam (2 Chr. 10:1–19; 11:1–4)
1 And Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all Israel had gone to Shechem to make him king. 2 So it happened when Jeroboam the son of Nebat heard it (he was still in Egypt, for he had fled from the presence of King Solomon and had been dwelling in Egypt),
3 that they sent and called him. Then Jeroboam and the whole assembly of Israel came and spoke to Rehoboam, saying, 4 “Your father made our yoke heavy; now therefore, lighten the burdensome service of your father and his heavy yoke which he put on us, and we will serve you.”
5 So he said to them, “Depart for three days, then come back to me.” And the people departed.
6 Then King Rehoboam consulted the elders who stood before his father Solomon while he still lived, and he said, “How do you advise me to answer these people?”
7 And they spoke to him, saying, “If you will be a servant to these people today, and serve them, and answer them, and speak good words to them, then they will be your servants forever.”
8 But he rejected the advice which the elders had given him, and consulted the young men who had grown up with him, who stood before him. 9 And he said to them, “What advice do you give? How should we answer these people who have spoken to me, saying, ‘Lighten the yoke which your father put on us’?”
10 Then the young men who had grown up with him spoke to him, saying, “Thus you should speak to these people who have spoken to you, saying, ‘Your father made our yoke heavy, but you make it lighter on us’—thus you shall say to them: ‘My little finger shall be thicker than my father’s waist! 11 And now, whereas my father put a heavy yoke on you, I will add to your yoke; my father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scourges!’”
12 So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam the third day, as the king had directed, saying, “Come back to me the third day.” 13 Then the king answered the people roughly, and rejected the advice that the elders had given him; 14 and he spoke to them according to the advice of the young men, saying, “My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to your yoke; my father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scourges!”
15 So the king did not listen to the people; for the turn of events was from the LORD, that He might fulfill His word, which the LORD had spoken by Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat.
16 Now when all Israel saw that the king did not listen to them, the people answered the king, saying: “What share have we in David? We have no inheritance in the son of Jesse. To your tents, O Israel! Now, see to your own house, O David!” So, Israel departed to their tents. 17 But Rehoboam reigned over the children of Israel who dwelt in the cities of Judah.
18 Then King Rehoboam sent Adoram, who was in charge of the revenue; but all of Israel stoned him with stones, and he died. Therefore, King Rehoboam mounted his chariot in haste to flee to Jerusalem. 19 So Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David to this day.
20 Now it came to pass when all Israel heard that Jeroboam had come back, they sent for him and called him to the congregation, and made him king over all Israel. There was none who followed the house of David, but the tribe of Judah only.
21 And when Rehoboam came to Jerusalem, he assembled all the house of Judah with the tribe of Benjamin, one hundred and eighty thousand chosen men who were warriors, to fight against the house of Israel, that he might restore the kingdom to Rehoboam the son of Solomon. 22 But the word of God came to Shemaiah the man of God, saying, 23 “Speak to Rehoboam the son of Solomon, king of Judah, to all the house of Judah and Benjamin, and to the rest of the people, saying, 24 ‘Thus says the LORD: “You shall not go up nor fight against your brethren the children of Israel. Let every man return to his house, for this thing is from Me.”’” Therefore, they obeyed the word of the LORD, and turned back, according to the word of the LORD.
MEMORY VERSE
1KINGS 12:15B “For the turn of EVENTS was from the LORD, that He might fulfill His word.”
PRAY~
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