I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on 1 Kings 11-12.

    Solomon had many wives and many of them were from peoples whom God had commanded the Israelites not to take wives. This was in contravention of God’s commands to the people of Israel in two ways. First, the one I already mentioned and second in Deuteronomy 17:17 God commanded that the future kings of Israel not take many wives. No matter how you interpret it, seven hundred counts as “many”. Solomon married some of his many wives to maintain control over the territories his father, David, had conquered and avoid wars. Except it did not work out that way as the next part of the passage shows us. We see that even the Pharaoh, whose daughter was Solomon’s first wife, supported those who mounted rebellion against Solomon. One can debate whether it was the many wives he took which undermined Solomon’s diplomatic efforts or his worshiping their gods. However, in either case, it was Solomon’s failure to faithfully follow God’s commands which led to the rebellions against his rule.

    Despite the prophecies which predicted that the northern tribes would secede from the kingdom because of Solomon’s sins, Rehoboam had an opportunity to prevent that from happening. When Rehoboam went to Shechem to be crowned Jeroboam led the people to demand that Rehoboam reduce the tax and other demands Solomon’s government had placed upon the people. Rehoboam first asked the advice of his father’s advisers, men who had advised Solomon while he imposed the burdens the people were now asking to be lifted. Solomon’s advisers told Rehoboam something he did not want to hear, a true leader is the servant of those he leads. When a leader demonstrates that his actions are intended to serve the best interests of those who follow him, they will follow him anywhere. Rehoboam did not like their answer, so he asked his contemporaries, the friends he had grown up with, their advice was that he should tell the people that he was king and they were to serve his interests not the other way around. Rehoboam took the advice of his friends rather than that of his father’s advisers.
    Rehoboam made two mistakes here. First, he failed to recognize that the true role of a leader is to serve the interests of his followers. This resulted from the second mistake, he listened to the advice of those who told him what he wanted to hear instead of what he needed to hear. How can we tell the difference? It is not always this easy, but in this case the older, more experienced advisers told him why he should follow the course they were recommending while the younger advisers just told him to just do as he pleased. There are other clues about whose advice was better. The advice he rejected came from the older, more experienced advisers. The advice he took came from advisers who owed their position to him liking them, from being fun to be around, not from making good decisions.