#557 Throw It Back That Shiny Thing

Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all Israel had come to Shechem to make him king. 2 And as soon as Jeroboam the son of Nebat heard of it (for he was in Egypt, where he had fled from King Solomon), then Jeroboam returned from Egypt. 3 And they sent and called him. And Jeroboam and all Israel came and said to Rehoboam, 4 “Your father made our yoke heavy. Now therefore lighten the hard service of your father and his heavy yoke on us, and we will serve you.” 5 He said to them, “Come to me again in three days.” So the people went away.

6 Then King Rehoboam took counsel with the old men,[a] who had stood before Solomon his father while he was yet alive, saying, “How do you advise me to answer this people?” 7 And they said to him, “If you will be good to this people and please them and speak good words to them, then they will be your servants forever.” 8 But he abandoned the counsel that the old men gave him, and took counsel with the young men who had grown up with him and stood before him. 9 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 on us’?” 10 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 you lighten it for us’; thus shall you say to them, ‘My little finger is thicker than my father's thighs. 11 And now, whereas my father laid on you a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke. My father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions.’”

12 So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam the third day, as the king said, “Come to me again the third day.” 13 And the king answered them harshly; and forsaking the counsel of the old men,14 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 disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions.” 15 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.

16 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 went to their tents. 17 But Rehoboam reigned over the people of Israel who lived in the cities of Judah. 18 Then King Rehoboam sent Hadoram,[b] who was taskmaster over the forced labor, and the people of Israel stoned him to death with stones. And King Rehoboam quickly mounted his chariot to flee to Jerusalem. 19 So Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David to this day. 2 Chronicles 10 ESV

Sister Passage 1 Kings 12 Scorpion

God had already told Jeroboam that he would reign over a part of the kingdom. This meeting actually takes place in the northern kingdom, and though Rehoboam is by the laws of primogeniture the natural successor to Solomon, the meeting is not in Jerusalem and they have called for Jeroboam. Their determination of fitness, their willingness to continue the Davidic rule across the tribes, hangs not in the issues of his father's character, the apostasy of the nation, but the tax. Lighten our load, your father's policies and pomp have become to heavy a burden. Now the prophet Samuel had warned of such, 

He said, “These will be the ways of the king who will reign over you: he will take your sons and appoint them to his chariots and to be his horsemen and to run before his chariots. 12 And he will appoint for himself commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and some to plow his ground and to reap his harvest, and to make his implements of war and the equipment of his chariots. 13 He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. 14 He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive orchards and give them to his servants. 15 He will take the tenth of your grain and of your vineyards and give it to his officers and to his servants. 16 He will take your male servants and female servants and the best of your young men and your donkeys, and put them to his work. 17 He will take the tenth of your flocks, and you shall be his slaves. 18 And in that day you will cry out because of your king, whom you have chosen for yourselves, but the Lord will not answer you in that day.”

The Lord Grants Israel’s Request

19 But the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel. And they said, “No! But there shall be a king over us, 1 Samuel 8: 11-19

Rehoboam is not his father, he is not that established as a leader, and it has already been decided in his heart that he deserves their allegiance without question. He just needs the resonance of his social bubble, his favorite news channel, someone to agree with him. The elders that have counselled his father for years do not say what he wants to hear, so he goes to his young friends. These may have been his half brothers, other princes as well, who lived off the fat of the land and the backs of others. Solomon had many wives, so his offspring were probably many as well. Whoever these men were they were yet boys in understanding, but they were the echo chamber he wanted. My father taxed you this much, his thigh is like my little finger, I will chastise you with scorpions. In other words, you don't have the right to be heard, to complain, and since you did, I will give you something to cry about. He wanted to rule without question, to be a tyrant, to sustain a large government, a ruling class that had no issues with the burdens of others but saw them as a necessary sacrifice to themselves. It was the worst sort of advice, and the family that justified forced labor would never turn down the idea of more slavery, more taxes or the unconditional worship of rulers. He doesn't see himself as a public servant, he sees the crown as the inauguration of a god. 

The people did not accept him, the kingdom split, and he was too delusional still to comprehend it. I know, I will send out my bull dog, my mastiff, the driver of the forced labor. If they didn't like the heavy hand of my father, who was three times the politician I am, they didn't like the sound or believe the weight of it in my own voice, then I will send out Hadoram. They will fear him for he is experienced in this, yeah that will work. The people answered. 

But Jesus called them to him and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. 26 It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant,[c] 27 and whoever would be first among you must be your slave,[d] 28 even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Matthew 20: 25-28