Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - Join, or Die | Historical Books | 1 Kings 12:16-33

Episode Date: August 22, 2025

What fuels division? What kills our relationship with God and others? Where are you experiencing death by division? In today's episode, Jeff shares how 1 Kings 12:16-33 encourages us to depend on God's grace, which unites us as his people. If you're listening on Spotify, tell us about yourself and where you're listening from! Read the Bible with us in 2025! This year, we’re exploring the Historical Books—Joshua, Judges, 1 & 2 Samuel, and 1 & 2 Kings. Download your reading plan now. Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now. Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it so that others can find it, too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you! To learn more, visit our website and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter @TenMinuteBibleTalks. Don't forget to subscribe to the TMBT Newsletter here. Passages: 1 Kings 12:16-33

Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life. In the time it takes to get to work. I'm Jeff Parrott. When something that's meant to be united is cut apart, people take notice. That was certainly the case in one of the most iconic political cartoons in American history. Now, whether you're an American citizen or not, you're likely familiar with a famous join-or-die image of a snake that's cut up into eight pieces. Originally published in 1754, the Join or Die Snake was created to stir up unity among the American colonies during the French and Indian War.

And of course, it took on a new meaning during the American Revolution, and the image went viral, creating a sense of unified movement and support among the colonies. Since then, the join or die snake has been modified and used as a catalyzing image for various political causes and groups. Now, why did that image have such an impact in its early contexts, and why does it continue to have such lingering influence today? Well, a big reason, maybe the main reason for its ongoing significance is because it so clearly depicts the tragedy of death by division. When something that's meant to be together is severed, it not only stops working, it stops being the unified thing it's meant to be. Yes, its function is warped by the dismemberment, but so is its identity. And that's why the political cartoon is associated with such strong language, join or die. If we don't stay together, it's not just that we'll decline, we'll be dead.

The second half of First Kings chapter 12 is a little bit like a living historical version of the join or die political cartoon. In this tragic moment, the kingdom of God's people is divided. The hearts of God's people are divided. It is a death by division. As a horrific and hinge-like moment in the historical books, 1st Kings chapter 12 gives the people of God a warning of what happens when they live divided from their creator king and from one another. Now, as we approach God's word together,

let's slow down and ask for his steadfast love to move through our time. Heavenly Father, we thank you and praise you for the gift of life and breath. We thank you for your word. We bring before you our joys and our sorrows, our anxiety and our excitement, our calendars and our contingencies. God, would you meet us in this space now? Jesus help us abide and remain in you as we engage with your truth. And Holy Spirit, we ask you to move in and through this time in First Kings.

As we read your living word, may it read us and restore us to life with you. In Jesus' name, amen. All right, now, our passage today encapsulates 1st Kings chapter 12, verses 16 through 33. Leading up to this, Solomon's son, Rehoboam, took the throne and foolishly also took counsel of advisors to begin a harsh, tyrannical reign over God's people. verse 16 continues the narrative by describing the division that occurs amongst God's people in the wake of Rehoboam's ruthless rule. This division begins with Israel making a declaration of division against the king. Here's what we read in verse 16.

When all Israel saw that the king refused to listen to them, they answered the king. What share do we have in David? What part in Jesse's son? To your tents, Israel. Look after your own house, David. David. So the Israelites went home. All right. So here we see the people of God are just fed up. Just as King Rehoboam refused to listen to them, they refused to be ruled by him. And the division doesn't stop here, though. It escalates. Verses 18 through 19 described Rehoboam's attempt at enforcing

his rule and the violent response that ensues. Here's verse 18. Then King Rehoboam sent Adorum, who was a taskmaster over the forced labor, and all Israel stoned him to death with stones, and King Rehoboam hurried to mount his chariot to flee to Jerusalem. Now, the stoning at the dorm is a portent of future events. When God's people divide, the result isn't simply the lack of unity, but the loss of life. This is division that leads to death.

The author of First Kings wants to highlight the significance of this, So here's a summary statement here before the historical narrative continues. We read this in verse 19. So Israel has been in rebellion against the House of David to this day. So if God's people were given the choice to join or die, they're choosing death right here. And as the passage continues, this choice is amplified in verse 20, when Israel chooses a man named Jeroboam to rule over them as king. Now, let's zoom out just a little bit for context.

We were introduced to Jeroboam back in 1st Kings chapter 11 when Solomon noticed his talent for leadership and gave him a position of influence in his kingdom. Now, back in that introdux into Jeroboam, there is a prophecy that the kingdom would be split away from Solomon's son, Rehoboam, because of rampant, rebellious idolatry. And Jeroboam was told that he would reign over 10 tribes of Israel and that God would be with him as long as he maintained loyalty to God, to Yahweh, as the true creator

king over all things. Now, this prophecy back in 1st Kings 11, it created quite a stir, and Jeroboam had to flee to Egypt to save his life at the time. But now he's back. The people of Israel want a king besides Rehoboam, and Jeroboam is glad to take that seat. Now, there's a lot going on here. So I just want to pause really quickly and clarify where we are, who the characters are. Here at 1 Kings 12 verse 20, we're at a decisive moment of division. The United Kingdom of God's people is now split in two. Solomon's son, Rehoboam, rules over the southern kingdom of Judah, comprised of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin.

The new ruler that we just learned about, Jeroboam, reigns over the northern kingdom of Israel, comprised of the other ten tribes of God's people. Now, we've said earlier that this is a kind of division that leads to, to death. And as the narrative continues, that point is made very clear. Later in First Kings, we see how this death spreads literally through warfare between the northern and southern kingdoms. But here at the end of 1st Kings 12, in verses 25 through 33, there's a different kind of death that's put on display, and it is tragic. In verses 25 through 27, we get a window into Jeroboam's heart as he begins his

rule over the northern kingdom. He becomes paranoid about the people eventually going back to the temple at Jerusalem and offering sacrifices, and he worries that they'll eventually kill him and submit their loyalty to Rehoboam, his arrival. So instead of trusting and remaining loyal to God, Jeroboam takes matters into his own hands, and he creates yet another kind of division. But this time, the division is between the people and God. Jeroboam hatches a plan to build two calves made out of gold. He puts one in Bethel, and one in Dan. He builds temples. He creates new feasts for the people, making sacrifices to the golden calves that he made. Now, if you're familiar with the rebellion of God's people in Exodus, there's

some alarm bells going off. You know that this mention of the golden calves is bad. It's really, really bad. If the construction of these golden calves wasn't enough of a sign of Jeroboam's rebellion against God, then his words in verse 28 are the nail in the coffin. Here's what verse 28 says. Jeroboam says, you have gone up to Jerusalem long enough. Behold, your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt. He's saying that. He's talking about the golden calves. These words in this entire scene are a huge biblical hyperlink to Exodus 32,

when Aaron made a gold calf for God's people to worship while Moses was on Mount Sinai. The calves are a gross distortion from true worship, mimicking the pagan practice. of the surrounding nations. The calves aren't just wrong. They're rebellious. This is how far God's people have devolved in the division of the kingdom. Not only are they separated from one another, they're rebelling against their creator king, falling into the same pattern of idolatry as their ancestors. This rebellious moment with Jeroboam and the calves is so significant that it's brought up multiple times in historical books as they continue, and it's even cited as one of the key reasons for Israel's descent into exile in 2nd Kings Chapter 17. First Kings chapter 12 is showing us that

when God's people divide from one another, they also divide from God himself. Those two sides of division are powerfully interwoven. Israel's relationship with God isn't just on the decline here, it's dying. It's being killed by the divisive effects of pride. insecurity, fear, and idolatry. This chapter is a stark warning about the destructive power of division. It's kind of like the join or die political cartoon, only more severe and more significant. It's no surprise that many of the warnings in the New Testament center around the divisiveness that can destroy the life of the church. When the power of sin and God's enemy try to destroy something, they often attempt to do so by creating death by division. So what are the implications for God's people related to this passage in the era of the historical books?

And what are the implications for you and me today? This passage confronts us with a piercing yet uncomfortable question. Where are you experiencing a kind of death by division? Are there people in your local church community that you're cutting yourself off from with motives that resemble the insecurity of Jeroboam? Maybe out of pride, you're attempting to be able to be. to protect yourself. But in trying to keep yourself safe, you're actually straying from the one true God. And maybe you're leading other people astray too. What would it look like for you to fight against

the power of division? And instead, pray for the people you're inclined to separate from. Maybe you could even have an honest, life-giving conversation with that person. The only way that that's possible to cultivate that is with an ever-deepening dependence on God and his grace as the one who unites us to himself and love. Because when we're worshipping our Creator King, we slowly grow in seeing that he unites us with himself so that we can be united to one another as his people. If division leads to death, the gospel brings a union that leads to life. God, as we go into whatever you have for us today, would you make us a kind of people who fight for each other, not with each other? Unite our hearts so that we can be united as your people,

as your kingdom of truth and beauty, love, and justice flows through our shared life together. We ask this by your grace, for your glory, and your story. In Jesus' name, amen.