Today, I am reading and commenting on  2 Chronicles 8-10.

I find it interesting that the leaders of Israel gathered at Shechem to make Rehoboam king after the death of Solomon.  I also find it interesting that they sent for Jeroboam, who had fled to Egypt to avoid Solomon’s wrath.  The passages do not give us a clear idea about how Jeroboam incurred Solomon’s anger, but the fact that Solomon had put Jeroboam in charge of his forced labor and that Jeroboam was the one who led the Israelites to request Rehoboam lower the taxes Solomon had imposed suggests that Jeroboam had previously campaigned for Solomon to lower taxes.  Which brings me to Rehoboam’s response to the people’s demand.  The different advice he received from his father’s advisers versus what he received from his companions indicates the two different approaches a government can take.  The first recognizes that a government’s job is to serve the needs of the people.  The second believes that people are to serve the government.  If Rehoboam had chosen to use his kingship to serve his people, the Northern Tribes would not have split off from the Southern Tribes.  Instead he chose to believe that his people existed to serve him.  By taking that approach Rehoboam attempted to put himself in the place of God.  Those of us who are called to positions of leadership need to remember that the job of a leader is to serve those whom he leads by showing them how they can better serve God.

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

Today, I am reading and commenting on  2 Chronicles 8-10.

In today’s passage, chapters 8 and 9 are written to highlight Solomon’s wealth, power, and wisdom.   In particular, chapter 8 discusses how he used the wealth he acquired to strengthen Israel by building fortified cities and settling Israelites into border territories.  Chapter 9 illustrates how word of his knowledge and wisdom spread far and wide, with the Queen of Sheba coming to see for herself that the rumors were true.  Perhaps I am reading too much into it, but in the account here, and in the one in 1 Kings, the Queen of Sheba comes to Jerusalem after Solomon had partnered with Hiram of Tyre to send a trading fleet into the Arabian Sea.  This is significant because the best sources I can find place the kingdom of Sheba as being on the Arabian Peninsula in the area where Yemen is today.  With such a location, Sheba would have traded with the east coast of Africa and with India.  Reading the descriptions of Solomon’s trade fleets suggests that they also traded with the east coast of Africa (perhaps as far south as modern South Africa) and with India.   It is likely that Solomon was taking goods obtained from the lands along the western Mediterranean, transporting them overland the short distance to the Red Sea, then carrying them by boat to lands to the east.  The Queen of Sheba traveled to Jerusalem to determine what kind of threat this new trading empire was to her own country’s prosperity.  I believe her comments about Solomon’s wisdom indicate that she found Solomon intent on making mutually beneficial trades with all his subordinates encountered (after all, Solomon and his father before him had a mutually beneficial relationship with Tyre).

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

Today, I am reading and commenting on  2 Chronicles 8-10.

The story of the Queen of Sheba coming to visit King Solomon has caught the imagination of people over the centuries.  Yet, it is overall a rather minor story.  Much of the legend which has risen about it suggests that King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba were lovers.  However, there is nothing in the account of her visit to suggest that was the case.  Reading the account here today makes more sense out of her visit than any to which I had previously come.  In the account here, the Queen of Sheba’s visit follows immediately after Solomon had started sending ships out in to the Red Sea and from there to the Gulf of Persia.  Up until that point most of the trade from India, and points east going to the Mediterranean would have gone overland, or through places such as Sheba and overland to the Mediterranean.  Here was Solomon capturing both sides of that sea trade with ports on both the Mediterranean and the Red Sea.  The Queen of Sheba went to Jerusalem to figure out how she could keep her country from getting completely cut out of this trade.  To me, the story suggests that Solomon had both the wisdom to set up sea trading from ports on the Red Sea and to cut a deal with the established players in that trade (as he previously had done with Hiram of Tyre on the Mediterranean side).

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

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

Today, I am reading and commenting on 2 Chronicles 8-10.

The story about Rehoboam’s reaction to the challenge to his rule from the Northern Tribes contains multiple examples in what not to do when seeking power.  He did one thing right when he sought the advice of his father’s experienced counselors.  However, he completely defeated the point of such a wise act by ignoring their advice and taking that of his friends who told him what he wanted to hear.  The advice given to Rehoboam by his father’s advisers was good advice and that given by his friends was bad advice.  The elder advisers advised him to show humility while the younger ones advised arrogance.  So, we really have two mistakes in one.  He rejected advice from his elders in favor of that from his peers.  And he rejected advice to be humble in favor of advice to be arrogant.  Rarely is it a good idea to favor the advice of youth over that of experience, but it is never wise to choose arrogance over humility.