The Bible in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) - Day 162: Rehoboam Seeks Counsel (2023)

Episode Date: June 11, 2023

Fr. Mike explains why it's better to seek counsel from those who don't necessarily always agree with us, using the experience of Rehobo′am as an example. He also touches on the failed leadership of Jerobo′am as he leads his people into false places of worship and idolatry. Today's readings are 1 Kings 12, 2 Chronicles 10-11, and Song of Solomon 1. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/bibleinayear. Please note: The Bible contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.

Hi, my name is Father Mike Schmitz, and you're listening to the Bible in a Year podcast, where we encounter God's voice and live life through the lens of Scripture. The Bible in a Year podcast is brought to you by Ascension. Using the Great Adventure Bible timeline, we'll read all the way from Genesis to Revelation. Discovering how the story of salvation unfolds and how we fit into that story today. It is day 162. We are beginning a new period, time period, the period of the divided kingdom. We'll be here for the next 21 days in the period of the divided kingdom. It is,

if you've listened to the podcast with Jeff and myself talking about this time period of the divided kingdom, there are lots of ups and downs. There are lots of people, there are lots of names. You thought First Chronicles was rough. This is going to be not rough in terms of names, but in terms of there's a lot of action both in the north, in the new kingdom of Israel, and in the south, in the new kingdom of Judah. And so we're launching in today. It's, as I said, day 162. We're reading from 1 Kings chapter 12 and 2 Chronicles 10 and 11. Now, when we hear this, when you read 1 Kings 12 and 2 Chronicles 10, you're going to say, wait, did you literally just say the exact same thing? Are you reading the same thing? Because it sounds very similar,

at least at first. And so just keep that in mind. It's going to be kind of the same story, the story of the division of the kingdom told immediately. And then actually today, we're also introducing a new book, the book of the Song of Solomon, chapter one. As always, the Bible translation that I'm reading from is the Revised Standard Version, the Second Catholic Edition. I'm using the Great Adventure Bible from Ascension. If you want to download your own Bible in a Year reading plan, you can visit ascensionpress.com slash Bible in a Year.

You can also subscribe to this podcast if you like. If that's the kind of thing that, if that's the kind of person you are, a subscriber, then go ahead and click subscribe. It is day 162. We're reading 1 Kings 12, 2 Chronicles 10 and 11, and Song of Solomon chapter 1. The first book of Kings chapter 12. The northern tribes secede. Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all Israel had come to Shechem to make him king. And when Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, heard of it,

for he was still in Egypt whither he had fled from King Solomon, then Jeroboam returned from Egypt. And they sent and called him, and Jeroboam and all the assembly of fled from King Solomon. Then Jeroboam returned from Egypt, and they sent and called him. And Jeroboam and all the assembly of Israel came and said to Rehoboam, Your father made our yoke heavy. Now therefore, lighten the hard service of your father and his heavy yoke upon us, and we will serve you. He said to them, Depart for three days, then come again to me. So the people went away. Then King Rehoboam took counsel with the old men who had stood before Solomon his father while he was yet alive alive saying, how do you advise me to answer this people? And they said to him, if you will be a servant to this people today and serve them and speak good words to them when you answer them, then they will be your servants forever.

But he forsook the counsel, which the old men gave him and took counsel with the young men who had grown up with him and stood before him. And he said to them, What do you advise, that we answer this people who have said to me, Lighten the yoke that your father put upon us? And the young men who had grown up with him said to him, Thus shall you speak to this people who said to you, Your father made our yoke heavy, but please lighten it for us. Thus you shall say to them, My little finger is thicker than my father's loins. And now, whereas my father laid upon you a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke. My father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions. So Jeroboam and all the people came

to Rehoboam the third day, as the king said, come to me again the third day. And the king answered the people harshly and forsaking the counsel counsel which the old men had given him, he spoke to them according to the counsel 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 scorpions. So the king did not listen to the people, for it was a turn of affairs brought about by the Lord that he might fulfill his word, which the Lord spoke by Ahijah the Shillanite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat. Jeroboam reigns over Israel. And 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. To your tents, O Israel, look now to your own house, David. So Israel departed to their tents. But Rehoboam reigned over the sons of Israel who dwelt in the cities of Judah. Then King Rehoboam sent Aduram, who was taskmaster over the forced labor, and all Israel stoned him to death with stones. And King Rehoboam made haste to mount his chariot to flee to Jerusalem. So Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David to this day. And when all Israel heard that Jeroboam had returned, they sent and called

him to the assembly and made him king over all Israel. There was none that followed the house of David, but the tribe of Judah only. When Rehoboam came to Jerusalem, he assembled all the house of Judah and the tribe of Benjamin, a hundred and eighty thousand chosen warriors to fight against the house of Israel to restore the kingdom to Rehoboam, the son of Judah and the tribe of Benjamin, 180,000 chosen warriors to fight against the house of Israel, to restore the kingdom to Rehoboam, the son of Solomon. But the word of God came to Shemaiah, the man of God. Say to Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, king of Judah, and to all the house of Judah and Benjamin and to the rest of the people, thus says the Lord, you shall not go up or fight against your kinsmen, the sons of Israel. Return every man to his home, for this thing is from me.

So they listened to the word of the Lord and went home again according to the word of the Lord. Jeroboam's Golden Calves Then Jeroboam built Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim and dwelt there. And he went out from there and built Penuel. And Jeroboam said in his heart, Now the kingdom will turn back to the house of David if this people go up to offer sacrifices in the house of the Lord at Jerusalem. Then the heart of this people will turn again to their Lord, to Rehoboam, king of Judah. And they will kill me and return to Rehoboam, the king of Judah.

So the king took counsel and made two calves of gold. And he said to the people, You have gone up to Jerusalem long enough. Behold, your gods, O Israel, who brought you up So the king took counsel, and made two calves of gold, and he said to the people, You have gone up to Jerusalem long enough. Behold, your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt. And he set one in Bethel, and the other he put in Dan. And this thing became a sin, for the people went to the one at Bethel, and to the other as far as Dan. He also made houses on high places, and appointed priests from among all the people who were not of the Levites. And Jeroboam appointed a feast on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, like the feast that was in Judah, and he offered sacrifices upon the altar. So he did in Bethel, sacrificing to the calves that he had made. And he placed in Bethel the priests of

the high places that he had made. He went up to the altar which he had made in Bethel on the fifteenth day in the eighth month, in the month which he had devised of his own heart. And he ordained a feast for the sons of Israel, and went up to the altar to burn incense. The second book of Chronicles, chapter 10. The revolt against Rehoboam. Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all Israel had come to Shechem to make him king. And when Jeroboam the son of Nebat heard of it, for he was in Egypt whither he had fled from King Solomon, then Jeroboam returned from Egypt, and they sent and called him. And Jeroboam and all Israel came and said to Rehoboam, Your father made our yoke heavy.

Now therefore lighten the hard service of your father and his heavy yoke upon us, and we will serve you. He said to them, Come to me again in three days. So the people went away. Then 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? And they said to him, If you will be kind to this people, and please them, and speak good words to them, then they will be your servants forever. But he forsook the counsel which the old men gave him, and took counsel with the young men who had grown up with him, and stood before him. And he said to them, What do you advise that we answer this people who have said to me, Lighten the yoke that your father put upon us? And 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 please

lighten it for us. Thus shall you say to them, My little finger is thicker than my father's loins. And now, whereas my father laid upon you a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke. My father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions. So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam the third day, as the king said, come to me again the third day. And the king answered them harshly and forsaking the counsel of the old men, King 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 chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions. So 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. And 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 departed to their tents. But Rehoboam reigned over the sons of Israel who dwelt in the cities of Judah. Then King Rehoboam sent Hadaram,

who was taskmaster over the forced labor, and the sons of Israel stoned him to death with stones. And King Rehoboam made haste to mount his chariot to flee to Jerusalem. So Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David to this day. Chapter 11. Judah and Benjamin Fortified When Rehoboam came to Jerusalem, he assembled the house of Judah and Benjamin, a hundred and eighty thousand chosen warriors, to fight against Israel to restore the kingdom to Rehoboam.

But the word of the Lord came to Shemaiah, the man of God. Say to Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, king of Judah, and to all Israel in Judah and Benjamin, thus says the Lord, you shall not go up or fight against your brethren. Return every man to his home for this thing is from me. So they listened to the word of the Lord and returned and did not go against Jeroboam. Rehoboam dwelt in Jerusalem, and he built cities for defense in Judah. He built Bethlehem, Etam, Tekoa, Betzur, Soko, Adulam, Gath, Mareshah, Ziph, Aduraim, Lachish, Azekah, Zorah, Aijalon, and Hebron, fortified cities which are in Judah and in Benjamin. He made the fortresses strong and put commanders in them and stores of food, oil, and wine.

And he put shields and spears in all the cities and made them very strong. So he held Judah and Benjamin. Priests and Levites support Rehoboam. And the priests and the Levites that were in all Israel presented themselves to him from all places where they lived. For the Levites left their common lands and their holdings and came to Judah and Jerusalem, because Jeroboam and his sons cast them out from serving as priests of the Lord. And he appointed his own priests for the high places and for the satyrs and for the calves which he had made. And those who had set their hearts to seek the Lord God of Israel came after them from all the tribes of Israel

to Jerusalem to sacrifice to the Lord, the God of their fathers. They strengthened the kingdom of Judah, and for three years they made Rehoboam the son of Solomon secure, for they walked for three years in the way of David and Solomon, The wives of Rehoboam. Rehoboam took as wife Mahalath, the daughter of Jeremoth, the son of David, and of Abigail, the daughter of Eliab, the son of Jesse. And she bore him sons, Jaush, Shemariah, and Zaham. After her, he took Maaka, the daughter of Absalom,

who bore him Abijah, Atai, Zizah, and Shalemith. Rehoboam loved Ma'akah, the daughter of Absalom, above all his wives and concubines. He took 18 wives and 60 concubines, and had 28 sons and 60 daughters. And Rehoboam appointed Abijah, the son of Ma'akah, as chief prince among his brothers, for he intended to make him king. And he dealt wisely, and distributed some of his sons through all the districts of Judah and Benjamin in all the fortified cities. And he gave them abundant provisions, and procured wives for them. The Song of Solomon, Chapter 1. Song of the Bride and Her Companions. The Song of Songs, which is Solomon's. Oh, that you would kiss me with the kisses of your mouth. For your love is better than wine.

Your anointing oils are fragrant. Your name is oil poured out. Therefore, the maidens love you. Draw me after you. Let us make haste. The king has brought me into his chambers. We will exult and rejoice in you. We will extol your love more than wine. Rightly do they love you. I am very dark, but comely. O daughters of Jerusalem, like the tents of Kadar, like the curtains of Solomon. Do not gaze at me because I am swarthy, because the sun has scorched me. My mother's sons were angry with me. They made me keeper of the vineyards, but my own vineyard I have not kept. Tell me, you whom my soul loves, where you pasture your flock, where you make it lie down at noon? For why should I be like one who wanders besides the flocks of your companions?

If you do not know, O fairest among women, follow in the tracks of the flock, and pasture your kids besides the shepherds' tents. I compare you, my love, to a mare of Pharaoh's chariots. Your cheeks are comely with ornaments, your neck with a string of jewels. We will make you ornaments of gold studded with silver. While the king was on his couch, my nard gave forth its fragrance. My beloved is to me a bag of myrrh that lies between my breasts. My beloved is to me a cluster of henna blossoms in the vineyards of Ein Gedi. Behold, you are beautiful, my love. Behold, you are beautiful. Your eyes are doves. Behold, you are beautiful, my beloved, truly lovely. Our couch is green. The beams of our house are cedar. Our rafters are pine.

Father in heaven, we give you praise and glory. We thank you for all these three books, for Kings, for Chronicles, and now for this first turn into the book of the Song of Solomon. We ask that you please open our hearts to be able to praise your name, open our minds to be able to just grasp the reality of what happened with the divided kingdom of Israel and how that can happen in our own lives as well. Because without you, we are divided. Without you, we are always prone. We are prone to fail. And so be with us this moment and every moment. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. So as we noted, 1 Kings 12 and 2 Chronicles 10 and 11

are kind of the same story. When I say kind of the same story, they're the same story. Remember that Chronicles, again, going back to this, 1 Kings is telling the story kind of like in real time, right? It's written closer to the source, closer to the actual events happening. Chronicles is what happens after the exile of the people of Israel, at this point now, the people of Judah, being exiled to the place of Babylon and returning. And so the emphasis is going to be, they're telling the same story as we noted, but the emphasis is going to be slightly different. Now in this 1 Kings 12 and 2 Chronicles 10 and 11. The story is, I mean, it's, it's the same. Um, we get a little bit more of Rehoboam being smart and fortifying the cities in Judah and Benjamin. And that's

really good. But other than that, and also we have a little bit of his, his legacy, right? We have hit the names of his wives and the names of some of his sons, but here's the thing to keep in mind in this story. We, we have some common commonalities between both accounts in chapter 12 of 1 Kings and chapter 10 and 11 of 2 Chronicles. Here they are. So Rehoboam, he's the son of Solomon. Jeroboam, remember he was the one that was predicted or prophesied that he would be the next king. Rehoboam did not have to in many ways. He didn't have to. He wasn't fated. He wasn't out of control. It was prophesied that he would be foolish and he was foolish,

but he didn't have to be. And this is one of those mysteries of free will and God's foreknowledge and grace, like all that mystery of how does that all work together? But here's the story. Rehoboam asks for counsel. He asked for time to be able to figure out what to do because the people, all the people, even including Jeroboam, came to Rehoboam and said, okay, your father Solomon made it really hard for us. Yes, he's really wise. Yes, he built a lot of stuff. Yes, he accomplished a lot of things. But you know what? He didn't accomplish all those things. In fact, it was the people that were under him that accomplished all these things. It was that he basically created slave labor among his subjects, right?

Among the citizens of his kingdom. And so please, unlike your father Solomon, give us a break. And this is so interesting because when Rehoboam takes counsel with the old men, they say, yeah, exactly. You know what? If you just go easy on them, they will love you forever. But when he takes counsel with the young men who grew up with them, they say, no, no, no, you got to let your authority be known. You got to come down on them. And this is so

interesting because where do we look to for counsel is the big question. Do I look to those sources of wisdom or do I look to the people who agree with me? That is such a tendency and temptation every single one of us has. Do I look to those people who agree with me? That is such a tendency and a temptation that every single one of us has. Do I look to those people who they might actually know something more than I know? Those old men, those old women, those people who have lived more of life before me, or do I just go to the people that I grew up with?

Jeff will always say, like his re-abom went to his high school buddies and like, hey, what do you guys think? Oh, bro, you need to go, you know, be even harder on them than your father was. Do I just appeal to those who agree with me or do I seek counsel from those who actually have some wisdom to offer me?

In this case, Rehoboam, he did not seek counsel. Well, he sought counsel, but he did not take counsel from those who actually had wisdom to offer him. Instead, he took the counsel of people who just simply told him what he wanted to hear, people who were just like him. And we can learn more from people who are not like us than people who are just like us, right? That seems to make sense, at least. We can learn more from people who have wisdom rather than just people who happen to agree with us. So what happens? Rehoboam

tells him, yeah, my father, he whipped you with whips. I'll whip you with scorpions, which doesn't win a lot of friends apparently. And so Jeroboam and the 10 tribes of the north secede and they established their own kingdom. So from now on, we talk about the kingdom of Israel. That's the 10 tribes in the north. And in the south, we talk about the kingdom of Judah. And that's two tribes in the south and the tribes of Benjamin and the tribe of Judah.

Those are the two united. So when we talk about the northern kingdom, that's those 10 tribes. In the southern kingdom are those two tribes. In the northern kingdom, that's Jeroboam, for right now at least. And in the southern kingdom, it's Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, the grandson of King David. So that's really important. Now, here's what Jeroboam realized, the one in the north. Jeroboam realized that if the people of Israel, like all the people of Israel, not the kingdom anymore, but the people of Israel, if they're in the north and they have to, every single time they go to worship, they go to Jerusalem, to the temple, their hearts are going to turn

back to God. Their hearts are going to belong not just to God himself. They're going to belong to God's anointed, who is Rehoboam, the king of the south, right? So I'll try to remind you again and again, Jeroboam in the north, Rehoboam in the south. And so what's Jeroboam in the north do? He builds these places of worship in Bethel and in Dan, in the northern part of the new kingdom of Israel in Dan and in the southern part of the new kingdom of Israel in Bethel the southern part of the new kingdom of Israel in

Bethel. And then what's he do? He sets up golden calves. My gosh, if we haven't learned this lesson yet for crying out loud, right? That never do that. Never, ever do that. And yet the first thing he does essentially as the new king of the 10 tribes in the north is he leads the people into idolatry. And not only that, but he takes from among any tribe priests. So the Levitical priests, they, a lot of them just simply move to the southern kingdom, right, of Judah and Benjamin. And so, I mean, some of them stay up north, but we're going to see what happens there. But he not only establishes false places of worship, he establishes false worship under a false priesthood. And this is going to be a massively important theme because

the people of Israel are called to be people that give God glory. They're called to be people who give God their hearts before anything else. And here in this case, what's happening that those Northern tribes, that Northern kingdom of Israel immediately led by Jeroboam immediately are led into idolatry and things don't really get any better from here, here on out. Um, God will send them prophets and we're going to read those prophets and he sends prophets to the South as well. Um, but it's remarkable as we go through the prophets for the next, I mean, it's going to be months and months of this story. As we go through the prophets, how rarely people listen to God's word, how rarely people

listen to God's word. And so we're on that journey because that's us as well. So often we do not listen to the word of God when he's speaking to us so clearly. So one last note on the Song of Solomon. So essentially when it comes to Song of Songs in your Great Adventure Bible, you can see this as the note on the first page, but it says that there are three basic ways that historically people have read the Song of Songs or Song of Solomon. And the first is an allegory, right? It's for the Jews, it was relationship between God and his chosen people, Israel. For Christians, it's between Jesus, the bridegroom, and the church,

the bride. That's the first way of reading the Song of Songs. So it's God wooing his beloved, who is the people of Israel or the church. Now, the second way is it's human love poetry. And that is a way to read this. It's simply, it's another way to say it is erotic love poetry, which is one of the reasons why people didn't read the Song of Songs, or they weren't allowed to read the Song of Songs until they were of a certain age and a certain maturity level, because it is somewhat racy in those terms. And the third way of reading

the Song of Solomon is admitting the literal sense of the book. They say that it's to be taken in, it's called type, which is basically a prefigurement, right? Or a foreshadowing of the union of Christ and his church or God and Israel. And so as Catholics, as modern day Christians, we can read it in all those ways because it is all three of those things. And in many ways, we want to not only acknowledge the goodness of human love, and that's in the Bible, enshrined in the Bible, is that love between man and woman. So, so beautiful, so powerful, so life-defining, but also that love between our God and us, his people. Initially, the people of Israel,

and now in the age of the church, all those who belong to him through baptism. And so, as you read this love story, this love poetry, it's going to have some really interesting images. Like they're going to be even more. For example, there's behold in verse 15 of chapter one, behold, you're beautiful, my love. Behold, you're beautiful. That sounds good. That makes sense. Your eyes are doves. Oh, okay. It's going to get kind of, I want to say weirder, but it's going to get a little weirder, get a little more poetic. We'll say it like that. Not only your eyes are doves, but other, other things. It'll be fun. You guys, as we go through this in the next few days, we have roughly eight days that we're going to go through the song of Solomon one day for each chapter, as well as continuing tomorrow with first Kings and second Chronicles.

So let's keep praying for each other as we're on this journey, this next phase. And we just finished our Messianic Checkpoint, second one yesterday. And now we're launching into this new time period, the divided kingdom on this journey through the Bible. So let's pray for each other. I am praying for you. Please pray for me. My name is Father Mike. I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. God bless. you