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Episode 591: In this episode, we delve into the specifics of 1 Kings 12, where the people of Israel approach Rehoboam, asking him to lighten the heavy burdens imposed by his father. Instead of heeding the advice of the older, wiser men who suggested a more servant-hearted approach, Rehoboam opts for a harsh response, declaring that he will make their burdens even heavier. This decision leads to a significant backlash, with the northern tribes rejecting his rule and ultimately crowning Jeroboam as their king.
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You're listening to The Bible Guys, a podcast where a couple of friends talk about the Bible in fun, in practical ways. Hey, good morning everyone, Welcome to The Bible Guys. My name is Jeff. Well, my name is Jeff. Oh see, I didn't know how you're going to react. And you, Chris? Is that it? Yeah, it's a rough, rough start to the show today. It's not going to be any better than this people. No, no, no, my name is Chris, This is Jeff. We are the Bible Guys, and we just want to thank you for faithfully tuning in. Yes, it's going to be a good day. It is a good good day. Yeah. In fact, we're going to start off with a really fun segment called would you rather? Oh? Which is? I think? I think your favorite is your favorite? Yeah, because it's just always fun. Everybody else's favorite is what made Chris mad this week? And when you sing good morning? No oh yeah, yeah that's true. Okay, I'll take the first one. Would you rather, Jeff, always have a mullet haircut. Or always have a man bun mullet haircut? Oh you don't have to think twice about that. Well, not even twice, not even for a second. And by the way, if you're a person who has a man bun cut it, I'm sure it looks cut it. The thing is a man bun. I was about to say, I was about saying, no offense or it looks good on you though, No, but you're like, get rid. Of get rid of it. Yeah. Yeah, both of these are bad choices, but there's one that's a significantly worse choice in the. Oh, my goodness, tell us how you really feel. So here's how I feel. I think mullet haircut guy, Yeah, drives a big pickup truck, has cut off sleeves. Well, there's a reason why there's a stereotype. And he's like, right, right, just right here, hold my beer, I'm going to go do this thing, right right, He's just gonna And I think that the man bun guy is sitting in a coffee shop sip sipping on a cha right right and with extra foam. Right and he and he's and he's probably not a guy that you would hang out with. HM anyways in general, Yes, yeah, well you me. You're talking about me specifically, not actually not our listeners. Actually I'm talking about. Me too specifically to be honest with you. Okay, so hey, I've hung out with people's want to say it, but we have a friend. We have a friend who wears a man bun sometimes. I used to wear a man bun sometimes. Oh yeah, he was a great guy. Yeah he got a couple. All right. They just make bad choices, that's all. You look at a person and go, you're really really great guy. He just make a band. I just wondering if we should start this over. He's listening. He knows. You know. Would you rather never be able to use the internet again? Or never be able to watch TV or movies again? Oh? That ball. I like movies, but it's the it's the internet. That's that is it, and this is never and it's for you only. Okay, I'm gonna say I I'd rather never be able to watch movie or TVs. Wow, why are you going to try to watch movies on the internet? There it is? Yeah, I see, but it says you can't watch them anyways. No, I'm not looking for a workaround. I just think that there's no way I could selfishly make an entertainment choice over a over a you know what, the world choice? No, it's for you. It just says you, Oh, I want the Internet for my life, for your life. Yes, yeah, yeah, Well I lived for forty years without the Internet. It's true, right, not forty. Thirty thirty something years. Well it came out in like ninety four. Yeah, well I didn't start using it till ninety seven. There you go. So yeah, so yeah, okay that was that was a terrible one. Yeah right, yeah, yeah, yeah, so I would go I would go without the Internet. Holy Christmas, I think the world's better without it. Okay, okay. Would you rather live in a world where everyone has to wear roller skates or where everyone has to hop everywhere like frogs? Oh? Roller skates? Oh? Definitely? First of all, hopping everywhere like frogs? Have you ever tried that? No? I have not. I mean I've hopped like a frock before. But I mean, like tried to. Try working out like where where they make you do lunges, even. You would be like this, Yeah, your quads just ridiculous. Would you rather have a voice that only sounds like a chipmunk or have a voice that sounds like a cartoon character. By the way, chipmunks who talk are. Cartoon cartoon characters. That's correct, Yes, So did you. Ever see a person groove? Were you right around a bit? Yeah? Squeak, squeak, squeakable, right, all right. Two is I would have to pick cartoon character because Chipmunk is it's pretty rough. For me too, that's pretty rough. What cartoon character would you choose a voice of? Uh? Johnny Bravo a very much, he's got the Elvis voice. One okay, all right, I was gonna say, what's the rooster onnhorn? Leghorn? Yeah, but he always repeats that'd be terrible. That's great, okay, And then I'm reading the last one. Would you rather have your eyebrows constantly sing? What would you rather have your eyebrows constantly sing? I have the tiger? Or have your belly button randomly play elevator music? That is one of the strangest. This may be a new low on this show. That is what do you think? Wow? Holy I would say eyebrows singing the tiger, not. Me, because everybody is gonna be fixating on your eyebrows. At least in the ard button. You can just hide it. Yeah, it'd be people would think you had like a little speaker. Yeah, yeah, it's just like and you can fall asleep to elevator music be hard at like two o'clock in the monc. You're not sick, you be that song at least elevator music. You know it's it's sort of in the background. Yeah, just being the baker. Okay, I'm going to change my answer. Well, no, you can't elevate a music. I can't. No, No, I'm struggling for the rest of my life. I would have ever thought that I would have chosen to go without movies and you would chose to go out of the internet. People to predicted the opposite of that. Yeah, I just I was trying to. Be practical, trying to be practical, and you're like, we don't need it, we don't need it, we don't want it, we don't want it. I'm an old fuddy duddy. That's a super cool word. Yeah. Did you ever see Jingle all the Way? Yes, where he says we don't have any turbo Man's but we have their sidekick Booster, and the mail man goes, we don't want it, Yeah, we. Don't want it. Well, so here's the thing with my choice. If I hadn't seen Jingle all the Way, I could what Oh, but with your choice. You can never see it again. Yeah, well it's in my mind. Yeah, just keep rehearsing it over and over again. Way back in movies constantly play back in my mind. Anyway, So there's an amazing thing that happened. What's that we had been talking about? How we thought we would go back and revisit yep, Proverbs chapter thirty one. Oh, and we're not today. Oh Solomon dies. He slipped up and died on us. Oh, so we skipped it apparently, so our listeners should read Proverbs thirty one. You know what that is a divided opinion and speaking of dividing. Oh, we're going to be talking about how the Northern and the Southern kingdoms are divided. Okay, so we're going to continue this. Okay, very good. Yes, terrible transitions is one of our big goals. Yes, twenty twenty five. Yesccomplished it today. Yes, yes, and last week we did last week too. Okay. So we are in First Kings, chapter twelve, and Solomon has died. Wow, that the nation had been held together under his very strong rule. Yes, but it starts to crumble very quickly. Yeah. And so there's two guys in this story Raya Boem and Jeroboam. I love how those names are awful. Yes, so Raya Boem. It sounds like twins, like people are being cute with twins. That's correct, Yeah, ray Boham and Jeroboe Yeah okay, so don't do that to your. Kids, like you know, you name your kids like Jillian and Joel. Yes, there you go, they're paternal. Or like George and George and George and George and Daryl brother Darryl. Was George Foreman named like five of his kids George. That's great, that's crazy, that's awesome. Okay. Anyways, here we go. In First Kings, chapter twelve, verse one, it says Rae Boham went to Shechem, where all Israel had gathered to make him king. And when Jeroboam, son of Nebat, heard of this, he returned from Egypt, for he had fled to Egypt to escape from King Solomon. Okay, so Raya Baoam is Solomon's son. Jeroboam is the guy that God said, hey, you're going to take Solomon's place. Remember when we talked about that a few weeks ago. So the leaders of Israel summoned him and Jereboam and the whole assembly of Israel went to speak with Raya Boham. Your father was a hard master, They said, lighten the harsh labor demands and heavy taxes that your father imposed on us, and then we will be your loyal subjects. Raya Boam replied, give me three days to think this over and then come back from my answer. So the people went away. Then King Raye Boham discussed the matter with the older man who had counseled his father Solomon. What's your advice? He asked, how should I answer these people? And the older counselors replied, if you are willing to be a servant to these people today and give them a favorable answer, they will always be your loyal subjects. But Raye Boham rejected the advice of the older man and instead asked the opinion of the young men who'd grown up with him and were now his advisers. What's your advice? He asked them, how should I answer these people who want me to lighten the burden imposed by my father. The young man replied, this is what you should tell those complainers who want a lighter burden. My little finger is thicker than my father's waist. Yes, my father laid heavy burdens on you, but I'm going to make them even heavier. My father beat you with whips, but I will beat you with scorpions. Three days later, Jereboam and all the people returned to hear Raye Bauham's decision, just as the king had ordered. But Rey Boham spoke harshly to the people, for he rejected the advice of the older counselors and followed the council of his younger advisers. He told the people, my father laid heavy burdens on you, but I'm going to make them even heavier. My father beat you with whips, but I will beat you with scorpions. So the king paid no attention to the people, and this turn of events was the will of the Lord for fulfill the Lord's message to Jereboam's son of Nebat through the prophet Ahijah from Shiloh. When all Israel realized that the king had refused to listen to them, they responded down with the dynasty of David, we have no interest in the son of Jesse. Back to your homes, Israel. Look out for your own house, oh David, so the people of Israel returned home, but Ray Boham continued to rule over the Israelites who lived in the towns of Judah. King Rae Boham Adam and Niram, who was in charge of the labor force to restore order, but the people of Israel stoned him to death. When this news reached King Raa Boam, he quickly jumped into his chariot and fled to Jerusalem, and to this day, the northern times of Israel have refused to be ruled by a descendant of David. When the people of Israel learned of Jeroboam's returned from Egypt, they called an assembly and made him king over all Israel, so only the tribe of Judah remained loyal to the family of David. Wow and Benjamin just a bunch of So Judah and Benjamin teamed up together because remember we talked about that, I think one of the other episodes, how Benjamin is always kind of lumped in with Judah as such a tiny little and surrounded by I. Think maybe you you're trying a long time ago back. Yeah, okay, yeah, yeah, there's just a bunch of bickering and politics. And it's a shame. He didn't have to have this happen, right, So Raye Boham is Solomon's son and becomes king after Solomon dies, and Jeroboam is the guy that God had already told through the prophet, Hey, you're going to be the next king, but was hiding out in Egypt. So Raa Bauam should not have been king. He was never going to be king except for the fact that God had told Jerebo or had told Solomon, Hey, listen, you're going to lose your kingdom because you're building these temples to false gods to appease your wives, and so he said, but to honor your father, I'm not going to take it from you, but your family will not rule all of Israel. I'm just going to leave you Judah, and what's the other little tribe, Benjamin Benjamin. Yeah, Judah, Benjamin, you're going to keep and the other ten are going to leave you. And sure enough, here it is. This is when it happens. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, I mean, there's all these little notes. Here in the Life of Clesian study Bible, and it says Rare Boham was made king at Shechem about thirty five miles north of Jerusalem. It would have been normal to anoint. The new king in Jerusalem the capital city, but Reeboam saw trouble brewing with Jerobom and went north to try to maintain good relations with the northern tribes. He probably chose Shechem because it was an ancient location for making covenants see Joshua twenty four. Yeah. When the kingdom divided, Shecham became the capital of the Northern Kingdom for a short time. Yeah. Yeah, Shechem was an important town. Samuel worked out of there. There were a lot of you know, it was a secondary city to Jerusalem. So if Jerusalem wasn't available, then Shechem would be the next natural leadership place. But you know, I think the sad thing here is rae Boam had a chance chance to take it if you had listened to a wise counsel. So as you read Solomon in Proverbs, Solomon says, hey, with with the multitude of counselors, there's safety. Solomon says with uh, with uh, you know, you make your plans and get good counsel and and God will guide your footsteps. And so there's so many, so many times when Solomon advises get good counsel. And so a lot of people think when they read that that just means get counsel. But clearly here there's good counsel and bad country. Right, right, right, So not all counsel is right. Yeah, not all your friends are are are have the kind of wisdom that you need to guide your life. I gotta I gotta tell you the uh. I just came across this, So you're you're literally saying this, I don't keep your thoughts if you had word to say. That, I have lots of funck. But I just literally came across this where this woman and this guy are getting a divorce and I've known them for years and years and years, and the wife is getting advice from all of her friends. I shouldn't say, oh, I should say a couple of her main friends, and they're encouraging divorce and it's bad. Advice, but it's all based on their lives. So in other words, like her friends have been through divorce, and you know they're talking about oh yeah, freedom and you know, you deserve to be free again and all these kinds of things. And so they're basically feeding this advice. And so the guy who's my friend comes to me and says, hey, what can I do? Like? What can I do? Like? She's not getting the right advice, and I'm not sure there's much that I can do. So I'm going to try. I'm going to try my very best to speak. You know, hopefully my voice carries weight in her life. But I'm just thinking to myself, geez, it is so important to put yourself around right kind of friends, not only for advice, but just for influence, I mean everything, because it does. It doesn't just start with one piece of advice, right, it is. It permeates. It's the tapestry of our lives that that that just get woven together and every little subtle thing that we pick up. It has to do with walking with wise men shall be wise. It has to do with, you know, surrounding yourself with godly people, the influences of our lives to inspire us and lead us versus those who would drag us down, you know, being around people that you want to be like. I mean, these are all really important principles that we should put into place, and we need to recognize that there are negative influences. And we may say ourselves we're strong, we won't listen to them. We won't left their lives influence ours, but inevitably, over time, sometimes you just you just don't recognize it. Yeah, well, it's it's amazing to me how clusters of friends go through divorce. Right, Have you ever noticed that? It's amazing how you watch a group of friends and they're all really close, and then all of a sudden, one one gets divorced, and then not long after, another one gets divorced, and then another one, and then they're all cheering on the last one that hasn't gotten divorce yet. Right, it's amazing. Oh, come and be free. Right now, we're all miserable, and we're all drinking too much, and we're all out on the party scene, and we're all neglecting our kids, and we're all right, all that stuff's happening too, But misery loves company, loves it, and so so we want you to be miserable too. We don't want to be happy. And you know, it goes back to that phrase. I say it all the time. My dad used to say it all the time. You either are right now or as soon shall be, just like the crowd you run with. And so if you want what the people around you are getting keep hanging out with them. If you don't want what they then you need are living. Then you need to live a different life, right, and you get different group of friends. So anyways, he had this opportunity and instead he kind of, uh, this is an opportunity for servant leadership. So I think that the greatest thing. You read what the old men said, right, the old man said, if you're willing to be a servant to these people today and give them a favorable answer, they'll always be your loyal subjects. Now, I would not say that. I think that the people always know what's best for them, right. The people people don't always know what's best, not really, But in this situation, it wouldn't have been hard for Raybaum to look at it and go, they're right. My dad has worked these people hard for forty years. This has been a really hard time. He collected heavy taxes because he built this giant temple. He also built, you know, one of the richest buildings ever made. He also built the palaces. He also you know, built all these other cities and infrastructure. He taxed them hard, and he worked them very hard. So if rea Baum had thought, you know, what I'm gonna I'm gonna step it back a little. You know, he's not saying I'm not going to tax you anymore. He's not saying I'm not going to expect you to produce and continue to build the kingdom. But if he decided, okay, you know what, the other wise men who also knew my father, they're recommending, Hey, let's let's s dial it back a tick. Let's you take fifteen percent off. And I think the people would have went, okay, thank you. You know, you gave us a margin. We get Fridays off, now we're Saturdays off instead. He says, did you ever get whipped with a scorpion? Yeah, exactly, you thought whipper. Yeah, my little finger is thicker than my father's waist, right, that's what he's saying. I'm way tougher than my dad. And so this idea of servant leadership, there is something to that. If you're a leader, whether what almost everybody has leadership or influence over somebody, whether it's your children or your grandchildren, or your neighbor or your coworkers or whatever. Servant leadership serving your people will elevate you. Taking from your people will eventually cause your people to rebel against you. And so it's not about the power. And that's the shame here is he trades leadership for the false promise of power. Yeah, he thinks power is leadership and it's not. Well you remember that little tiny book by John Maxwell, The Servant Leader. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it's such a small book. I mean we're talking like you can sit down and read that at a lunch break, right and uh. And basically it talks about the different types. Of leaders and uh and and and there's. The people who think that the title is the leadership, right, Like like if I have a title, you know, then then I have leadership. And then and then he goes through these different styles of leadership and and basically the whole point of the book is is that the strongest version and the most healthy version of leadership is servant leadership. Right. And and you know, a leader serves the people. The leader is willing to serve by example all these different kinds of things and uh. And then but in that book, there's a quote that says, if you if you what does it say? It says, if you're if you're leading and no one's following your you're merely taking a walk. Let me say that if you're if you're leading and no one is following, you're merely just taking a walk, which which means like, uh, yeah, you can have a position. But go ahead and try to influence your people in any given way and try to say, hey, guys, follow me, we're doing this thing. And if nobody you know, supports you, if nobody loves you and you're in that role I don't mean loves you in gentlemen, in that role and nobody wants to join you, then you're just a person out taking a walk. Man. So finding a group of people who are consistently successful in the area that's important to you to have some experience yep, that are older than you, that have lived longer than you, that have seen this problem multiple times before and navigated it successfully. Those are the wise people you want to get advice from. You're peers who've only seen it once or twice and may or may not have been successful at it. This doesn't say that Jero Boehme's peers knew anything about this at all, and they were all a bunch of princes right with silver spoons in their mouth kind of people, right. So you need practical wisdom from people who've done it and seen it and know how to navigate through it. And so Solomon says, you know, in a multitude of counselors, there's wisdom, and that multitude doesn't mean you need lots and lots of counselors. What you need is a group of counselors who have wisdom in specific areas that can guide you forward and then trust them. You know, sometimes people will come in and they'll want to ask me advice, and I'll usually ask who else are you talking to? And if they give me, oh, I'm getting advice from these people and these people and these people and these people, I like to know what you have to say. I'll always say they're probably right, you should do what they do, right. I don't really have any interest in spending the next hour trying to pour out wisdom and then have you just pick and choose. So I typically don't give you know. Or if you come in and you ask, and then I ask you, well who else you're getting advice from and you say, well, this person, this person, this person, I'll say, well, here's what I do, pop pop pop, And I'm not going to give you a whole lot of time. But the person who comes and goes listen, I think that you have experience in this area, and I think that you have success in this area, and I want to duplicate that as much as possible. What would you do that kind of person go? Okay, Now that person's leaning in to my wisdom. The Book of Proverbs says that wisdoms like a deep well and a godly person will draw it out. Wells don't splash on you, right or you walking by us a well, it doesn't splash on you. You have to reach in and get it when somebody's really digging into your wisdom, and then to do it. So I think that there's something about that for me as well. That often I'll look around and instead of getting twenty five opinions, I'm not taking a bunch of votes and then getting and then making my decision based on the average of the votes. I think that's always going to give you a dumb answer, So instead it's going to give you a c answer. Instead, I try to find the wisest person I know in that area, or the wisest couple of people that I know in that area, and then I will go and say I will do what you tell me to do. What should I do? And then they'll go, well, you know, and usually wise people won't take exactly what to do. They'll tell you how to think right, Well, in this situation, this is what I'd be thinking, right, and then you kind of start to chart it out. So then once I get how to think from them, I'll come back and say, this is my plan. Do you see anything dangerous with that? Might go? Watch out for this, take advantage of that, and then execute right. And there's some I think if Jerobaohm had done that, he wouldn't have lost his kingdom. Now, God had told Raya Boham the kingdom's being divided, so it was going to happen, but it happened because Raa Baham made dumb decisions right, right. And by the way, this is a monumental event because this marks the beginning of the division of the kingdoms that will last for centuries. Oh, centuries and centuries and centuries. You're exactly right. Yeah, so it's huge. So sometimes bad advice can cost not only you but your kingdom for generations. Yeah for sure. Well that is all the time we have, so hopefully we will See you next time on the Bible Guys.