2 Chronicles 10-12: The King's Burden

A divided kingdom reveals what harsh power takes and what humble mercy restores. We trace Rehoboam’s fateful choice, Shishak’s invasion, and the hope of a different King whose burden is light.

• Solomon’s legacy and a nation on edge
• Rehoboam’s counsel choice and the split
• Jeroboam’s idols and the Levites’ migration
• Fortified cities versus a softened heart
• Shishak’s invasion, loss of gold, bronze shields
• Humility that stays judgment
• The contrast between the burdens from this world and from Jesus

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Chapters

• 0:00 Holiday Greeting And Setup
• 0:58 Context From Solomon To Division
• 2:23 Rehoboam’s Choice And Civil Split
• 4:26 Fortified Cities And Priests Defect
• 6:30 Idolatry, Family Politics, And Drift
• 7:38 Shishak Invades And Humbling
• 9:16 Bronze Shields And Mixed Legacy
• 12:07 The Burden Of Kings Versus Christ

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:23

Hey, this is the Out Loud Bible Project Podcast, and this is Mike. If you're keeping up to date with me as these episodes come out, you'll know that today is Christmas, and you're listening to this episode around Christmas time, in which case, Merry Christmas. If you have been kind of binging up to this point and trying to catch up starting from the beginning or further back, well, welcome. You've made it this far. It's probably not Christmas for you, uh, which is okay. I if you're looking for a a heavily Christmas-themed episode, this is not it. We're going to continue our story in 2 Chronicles 10 through 12 today. But I will say, as is often the case with the Old Testament, there are many shadows of Jesus. There are many stories that point to the need for a savior or the coming savior or uh a kind of a taste of what Jesus as the coming king is like. And we can certainly find these elements in today's story. We'll talk more about that at the end of this episode, and perhaps even more in the Living Out Loud episode to come. But uh let's get into 2 Chronicles 10 through 12. Last time Solomon had been establishing his reign as the wealthiest and most wise king of Israel, and frankly, king who ever lived anywhere. But as faithful as Solomon was at the beginning of his reign to establish the temple and point people's hearts toward God, toward the end of his reign he drifted. He drifted away from God, he got more selfish, he got more lazy, and the people consequently follow the king as they do. And well, there were consequences. Now God did promise David that there would always be a king in his line of descendants. And so while God was going to punish Solomon's line by ripping the kingdom away from him, he didn't rip it away from him completely for David's sake. He gave one of the tribes, Judah, and a friendly relation with the tribe of Benjamin to Solomon, and the rest of the kingdom he gave to another king, and we have this civil war. We have this divided kingdom, the north and the south. The north, which they will call Israel or Samaria, and the south, which they'll call Judah, or the southern kingdom, or by its capital Jerusalem. The southern kingdom is being given to Solomon's son Rehoboam, and the northern kingdom is going to be given to someone else, with a confusingly similar name, but no relation. We're going to find out more about that as we read here today. It's a confusing and tumultuous time for the people of Israel, but uh let's see how it pans out here in 2 Chronicles 10 through 12 in the New English Translation. Rehoboam traveled to Shechem, for all Israel had gathered in Shechem to make Rehoboam king. When Jeroboam, son of Nebat, heard the news, he was still in Egypt, where he had fled from King Solomon. Jeroboam returned from Egypt, and they sent for him, and Jeroboam and all Israel came and spoke to Rehoboam, saying, Your father made us work too hard. If you lighten the demands he made and don't make us work as hard, we'll serve you. He said to them, go away for three days and then return to me. So the people went away. King Rehoboam consulted with the older advisers who had served his father Solomon when he had been alive, and he asked them, How do you advise me to answer these people? They said to him, If you are fair to these people, grant their request and are cordial to them, they'll be your servants from this time forward. But Rehboam rejected their advice and consulted the young advisers who served him, with whom he had grown up. He asked them, How do you advise me to respond to these people who said to me, Lessen their demands your father placed on us? Well the young advisers with whom Raboam had grown up, said to him Say this to the people who said to you, Oh, your father made us work hard, now lighten our burdens. Say this to them. I'm a lot harsher than my father. My father imposed heavy demands on you, I'll make him even heavier. My father punished you with ordinary whips, well, I'll punish you with whips that really sting your flesh. Okay, so I think this translation softens it a little bit. If you go back to even the NIV, the NIV says, tell him, My little finger is thicker than my father's waist. My father laid on you a heavy yoke, I'll make it even heavier. My father scourged you with whips, I'll scourge you with scorpions. Right? So a little bit more, a little bit more dramatic, a little bit more fun. Anyway, back to the NET. Jeroboam and all the people reported to Rehboam on the third day, just as the king had ordered when he said, Return to me on the third day. The king responded to the people harshly. He rejected the advice of the older men and followed the advice of the younger ones. He said, My father imposed heavy demands on you. I'll make him even heavier. My father punished you with ordinary whips, I'll punish you with whips that really sting your flesh. The king refused to listen to the people because God was instigating this turn of events so that he might bring to pass the prophetic announcement he had made through Ahijah the Shilohite to Jeroboam, son of Nebad. Now when all Israel saw that the king refused to listen to them, the people answered the king, we have no portion in David, no share in the son of Jesse. Return to your homes, O Israel. Now look after your own dynasty, David. So all Israel returned to their own homes. Reboam continued to rule over the Israelites who lived in the city of Judah. King Rhaboam sent Hadaram, the supervisor of the work crews out after them, but the Israelites stoned him to death. King Rhaboam managed to jump into his chariot and escape to Jerusalem. So Israel has been in rebellion against the Davidic dynasty to this very day. When Rahboam arrived in Jerusalem, he summoned one hundred and eighty thousand skilled workers from Judah and Benjamin to attack Israel and restore the kingdom to Raboam. But the Lord's message came to the prophet Shemiah, say this to King Raboam, son of Solomon of Judah, and to all the Israelites in Judah and Benjamin. The Lord says this, do not attack and make war with your brothers. Each of you go home, for I have caused this to happen. They obeyed the Lord and called off the attack against Jeroboam. Rahoboam lived in Jerusalem. He built up these fortified cities throughout Judah, Bethlehem, Etam, Tekoa, Bethzor, Soko, Adullum, Gath, Marisha, Ziph, Adoraim, Lakish, Azica, Zorah, Igelon, and Hebron. These were the fortified cities in Judah and Benjamin. He fortified these cities and placed officers in them, as well as storehouses of food, olive oil, and wine. In each city there were shields and spears, and he strongly fortified them. Judah and Benjamin belonged to him. The priests and Levites who lived throughout Israel supported him, no matter where they resided. The Levites even left their pasture lands and their property behind and came to Judah and Jerusalem, for Jeroboam and his sons prohibited them from serving as the Lord's priests. Jeroboam appointed his own priests to serve at the worship centers and to lead in the worship of the goat idols and calf idols he had made. Those among all the Israelite tribes who were determined to worship the Lord God of Israel followed them to Jerusalem to sacrifice to the Lord God of their ancestors. They supported the kingdom of Judah and were loyal to Rehoboam son of Solomon for three years. They followed the edicts of David and Solomon for three years. Raboam married Mahaleth the daughter of David's son Jeremoth and of Abbail, the daughter of Jesse's son Eliab. She bore him sons named Jaush, Shemariah, and Zaham. He later married Makah, the daughter of Absalom. She bore to him Abijah, Ati, Ziza, and Shelumath. Rehoboam loved Makkah, daughter of Absalom, more than his other wives and concubines. He had eighteen wives and sixty concubines. He fathered twenty eight sons and sixty daughters. Rahaboam appointed Abijah, son of Makah, as the leader over his brothers, for he intended to name him his successor. He wisely placed some of his many sons throughout the regents of Judah and Benjamin in the various fortified cities, and he supplied them with abundant provisions and acquired many wives for them. After Rahabam's rule was established and solidified, he and all Israel rejected the law of the Lord. Because they were unfaithful to the Lord, in Rehoboam's fifth year, King Shishak of Egypt attacked Jerusalem. He had twelve hundred chariots, sixty thousand horsemen, and an innumerable number of soldiers who accompanied him from Egypt, including Libyans, Suckites, and Kushites. He captured the fortified cities of Judah and marched against Jerusalem. Shemiah, the prophet, visited Rehoboam and the leaders of Judah who were assembled in Jerusalem because of Shishak. He said to them, This is what the Lord says, You've rejected me, so I've rejected you and will hand you over to Shishak. The leaders of Israel and the king humbled themselves and said Oh the Lord is just. And when the Lord saw that they humbled themselves, the Lord's message came to Shemiah, They've humbled themselves. So I will not destroy them. I'll deliver them soon. My anger will not be unleashed against Jerusalem through Shishak, yet they will become his subjects, so they can experience how serving me differs from serving the surrounding nations. King Shishak of Egypt attacked Jerusalem and took away the treasures of the Lord's temple and of the royal palace. He took everything, including the gold shields that Solomon had made. King Rehoboam made bronze shields to replace them and assigned them to the officers of the royal guard who protected the entrance to the royal palace. Whenever the king visited the Lord's temple, the royal guards carried them and then brought them back to the guard room. So when Rahboam humbled himself, the Lord relented from his anger and did not annihilate him. Judah experienced some good things. King Rahoboam solidified his rule in Jerusalem. He was forty-one years old when he became king, and he ruled for seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city the Lord chose from all the tribes of Israel to be his home. Rahoboam's mother was an Ammonite named Nama. And he did evil because he was not determined to follow the Lord. The events of Rahboam's reign from start to finish are recorded in the annals of Shemiah the prophet and of Ido the Seer, that include genealogical records. There were wars between Raboam and Jeroboam continually. Then Rahboam passed away and was buried in the city of David. His son Abijah replaced him as king. And we'll follow that story next time. But for now, I'd like to talk about this idea of burdens. Remember at the beginning, Rahboam was trying to figure out, oh, how do I answer these people who want me to take it easier on them than my father did? And Raboam thought that he was being a pretty tough guy to say, no, I'm a tougher king than my dad. My dad was soft on you, which obviously looks foolish to us, but and he was certainly being influenced by God to bring about a situation that God wanted to bring about. But this idea of burdens and the burdens that were placed on you before and the burdens that are going to be placed on you now was kind of continued when God said, Okay, I'm not going to let the king of Egypt destroy you. However, I am going to make the king of Egypt put burdens on you so that you can realize the difference between the burdens that human kings and authorities put on you versus the kind of burdens that I put on you. You think it's hard to follow me? Well, how how about you try following another king of the earth? Fast forward, that's exactly what Jesus came to earth to do, to show us what a true king is like. Because we had been under the burden of the authorities of this world for far too long. We were crushed under the burden of sin and the enslavement of that Satan has placed on us in this world. Jesus came to break that burden to show you what following a true king is like. It reminds me of what Jesus said in Matthew 11, 28 through 30. He said, Come to me, all who are weary and heavy laden, my yoke is easy and my burden is light. He's not saying there is no burden of following Jesus. There certainly are. However, compared to what you've been living under, compared to the darkness that has been weighing on your soul, compared to the hopelessness that you've been living in as you've been trying to live on your own in this world under the rule of Satan in your life, man, Jesus' burden is easy. You don't have to take and live under the burden that you've were born into. Jesus came to provide us a new way, a new rule under him that results in lighter burdens, and we can go to him whenever we're feeling overwhelmed or burdened by this world. Are you willing to take him up on that offer? Are you gonna continue to struggle under the burden that you think you deserve or think that you've been handling fine this whole time, or the burden that you don't think there is an alternative to? Will you take him up on his offer? That's the thinking out loud thought for the day.