Kings and Prophets 03

[0:01] Okay, we're in a study on the kings and we've been talking about King Solomon, who was the third king of a united Israel.

[0:15] And the fact that God gave him special wisdom and the type of wisdom that kind of made him outshine most of the other kings. But we'll also see that with all this wisdom and all the things that Solomon had at his reserve, he could also fall just like any other person does.

[0:37] And later on today we'll get into that and we'll see how his life also starts on a downward trend. But last week we left off, but we were talking about Solomon before we get into where he falls.

[0:51] He wrote some books and last week was in Proverbs, talking about some of the Proverbs. And this week we're also going to get into the other books that he wrote just a little bit.

[1:03] Not a verse-by-verse type study at all, just a brief examination of the Song of Solomon, Ecclesiastes. And then we'll get into the fall of Solomon.

[1:15] So last week we ended with the Proverbs. This week we'll talk some more about Proverbs. Proverbs talks about repentance in Proverbs 28.13. It says, He who conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them, he will find compassion.

[1:36] And I think that's a proverb we can take into the day's time and as far as coming to the Lord, confessing before him. It also talks of integrity and perversion.

[1:50] And Proverbs 10.9. He who walks in integrity walks securely, but he who perverts his ways will be found out. And I think we can see that today, too.

[2:02] We see it a lot of times in the news articles and stuff, all the great people we have in the country. And sometimes it turns out that they're not all that great to begin with, are they? And so, he who walks in integrity walks securely.

[2:19] If we walk that way, we don't have to worry about falling. If we tell the truth, we walk the way that God wants us to walk. Things are going to be well for us.

[2:30] They don't mean it's going to be perfect. But if we walk, if we have preferred ways, it will be found out eventually. Sometimes we wonder, well, when is this going to happen?

[2:43] But God will eventually deal with these people. Concerning parents and children, these are good Proverbs. Proverbs 1.8. Hear, my son, your father's instructions, and do not forsake your mother's teaching.

[2:57] What better thing to have for our kids and everything, to teach the kids to take the instruction they get from mom and dad, and it will benefit them the rest of their life.

[3:10] Proverbs 1.9. Indeed, they are a graceful wreath to your head and ornaments up around your neck. Keep your parents. Keep them in your heart. Even when you leave home, you get married, you have your own family, your parents.

[3:26] They're there for you. They've been there for you for your whole life. And a lot of us are mom and dads now, and you know how that is when you have kids, grandkids, great-grandkids.

[3:36] It all starts from parents. So it's great. Proverbs 17.25. A foolish son is a grief to his father and bitterness to her that bear him.

[3:49] Sometimes we have bitter sons and we have bitter daughters. We don't know what causes that. Sometimes it's just that. You have some children and sometimes they're great.

[4:05] They follow everything and sometimes you have kids that don't follow. But he's saying here a foolish son is a grief. And that is a grief. When we have kids and we have problems and it can really affect.

[4:20] Proverbs 18.22. This is a great one for us guys. He who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from the Lord.

[4:32] Ah, amen to that? Yeah. God ordained it. Man and woman. Man was created and woman was created for man.

[4:45] And that bonding is there and it should last forever. And sometimes it doesn't, but that's not God's plan. He allows divorce and all the other type stuff that goes that we have problems today in marriages.

[4:56] But his ordaining was the fact that man and woman would be together for the rest of their lives. And be there for each other. So, there's a lot of other Proverbs.

[5:10] There's other items that we can spread out through the Proverbs. Pride and humility. A lot of that talked there. Selfishness and greed. Envy. Drupulous and gluttony. Adultery.

[5:21] Wise and foolish talk. Slander and gossip. Truthfulness and lying. Power of the tongue. There's a lot that says in the Proverbs about the tongue.

[5:32] And boy, the tongue can get you in a lot of trouble. And I had somebody tell me once that, you know, you ought to listen. You got two ears.

[5:43] You only got one tongue. So, use these two before you use this one. And sometimes it will save you a lot of trouble. So, power of the tongue.

[5:54] Revenge. It talks about revenge. God will have his revenge. Don't take it yourself. Accurate weights and measures. Benevolence and generosity.

[6:06] Surety for another. That can be a big item, too. You know, sometimes we get in trouble. You know, sometimes we get in trouble. By not letting our children or friends or somebody go through financial problems that they're going through.

[6:19] And sometimes we jump in and say, okay, we'll take care of it. But you got to be careful. Because sometimes it just turns out bad. So, and that's something God foresaw.

[6:31] And he gave instructions in his word. And that's exactly what all these proverbs are about. So, Proverbs is a great book. What is it? There's 31 proverbs, right?

[6:43] Some people say if you read a proverb a day, for 31 days you've read the whole book of Proverbs. And you go back and start over. So, they're good sayings. You can take them.

[6:54] They're just things that help you live your life. So, Solomon also wrote the book of Song of Solomon. This book is basically a large poem, love poem. Solomon is the author and he wrote it sometime during the reign between 970 and 930 B.C.

[7:10] It's the story of a bridegroom who is in love with his bride. The story emphasizes the sanctity of marriage. And that is designed and blessed and consecrated in the eyes of the Lord.

[7:24] Now, I've got to admit, I find this book very difficult. I'm not a poem type guy. And to go through the Song of Solomon and get the exact meanings, I have difficulty with the language and the other things that's in that.

[7:41] But it's a good book. And it talks about the love that you have between a man and a woman. And how it starts out and how it goes into marriage and all those type things.

[7:56] So, I had trouble with it, but I'll try to give you a summary of it. Solomon, again, his rendering of this relationship with the two lovers in his courtship longing for affection while expressing their love for one another.

[8:08] And we see that in chapters 1 through 3. That's the beginning of the relationship. As you go through those first three chapters. Eventually, they come together in marriage.

[8:19] The groom extoring his bride's beauty before they consummate the relationship in chapters 3 through 5. So, we see that as that's going on.

[8:31] And he talks about all the beauty and the thing of his woman that he's a bride to be. And some very descriptive comments along that line.

[8:42] Finally, eventually they come together in marriage. Finally, she struggles with fear of separation when he reassures her, his bride, of his affection for her and their love for one another.

[8:54] Because she had doubts. And during these chapters, chapters 5 through 8, he goes through and explains and gives her confidence that he is there for her during this time.

[9:09] All this reinforces the theme of goodness of marriage. Some suggest the book also pictures in a more general way Christ's love for his bride and the church. From courtship to marriage to the assurance of love, Song of Solomon poetically presents a broad range of events and feelings in the days leading up to and during marriage.

[9:30] Offering encouragement toward a lasting love amid the petty jealousies and fears sure to threaten the strongest of these relationships. Now, that's a true fact too, isn't it?

[9:44] In these relationships, there's going to be problems. Petty jealousies, fears, all these things come into our life somewhere or another. So we should heed the song's words by continuing to value marriage as one of the fundamental principles of society.

[10:06] Appreciating the goodness and the beauty born out of the union of two people in holy matrimony. We've got a marriage class going on on Tuesday night that Nathan is leading.

[10:21] And it talks about the differences. Right off the bat, he makes the point. People, there is a difference between a man and a woman. Now, if you haven't gotten that, there's something wrong.

[10:36] There's definitely a difference between a man and a woman. And what is the main difference? It's the psyche of the fact that women want to hear about love.

[10:46] That is their language. Love. And we can see that, can't we? We can see it in the relationship with the husband. We see it in the relationship with the kids.

[10:58] The women are giving, loving. And that's their language. That's their sign. Now, how about men? What's our sign? Well, it's not that.

[11:12] Is it? A lot of times, you know, on the love aspect of marriage, it's usually the wife. And I'm not saying that's completely always true, but usually it's pretty much true.

[11:26] And the husband is more on honor and respect. The husband is the head of the house. He's out there making a living to make a living for the family and everything else.

[11:40] And he struggles with the fact, especially if he doesn't get respect at home. And that can be a very big problem. And, of course, there in Song of Solomon, we saw all the things about jealousy and hurting.

[11:53] All these things affect marriages. And in this class that we're doing, we see the crazy cycle. And the crazy cycle is during this time where a man is not giving the wife the loving language.

[12:08] Or the opposite, the woman is not giving the man honor and respect. And that just causes conflict. All kinds of conflict. So what he's trying to get to in this marriage class is to get to the other cycle, which is an energizing cycle.

[12:24] And that's when somebody finally tells you or you get to the facts, Hey, you've got a loving wife. Treat her that way.

[12:37] Ladies, you've got a husband that's providing and doing the best that he can do. Treat him that way. Give him the respect that he deserves. Yeah, maybe he's not doing it like somebody else is doing it for their family.

[12:50] But he's doing the best that he's doing for this family. So marriage, yeah, it's a great, great thing that God has created. And if we also look at the book of Malachi, it speaks about marriage and divorce.

[13:08] And we may get to that. We may not as we go through the prophets. But he had something to say about that. And the fact that, yeah, God does allow divorce or separation.

[13:20] But that's not his will. His will was the other. That's for life. And that's exactly what we commit to when we're before the preacher or the whoever that consummates a marriage.

[13:34] So it's a beautiful thing, marriage. So Solomon also wrote the book of Ecclesiastes. Is there anything about the book of Solomon before we leave?

[13:47] I know it's not a good study where it's in-depth at all. But it's a great book if you read it. Like I said, I have difficulty with it. But if you have that poetic nature, it's a good book, I'm sure.

[14:03] Okay, the next thing that he wrote, and I think he wrote all these things while he was, what I want to say, on a high. Those years that he had all this wisdom and all the great things were happening in his life.

[14:17] Maybe the book of Ecclesiastes he may have been writing during the latter part of it. Because now he's realizing that it looks like things are falling apart. And he's saying, wow, all these things are ahead.

[14:29] What is it? Vanity but vanity. And that's what we're going to see when we get into the book of Ecclesiastes. His reign as king of Israel lasted from around 970 to around 930.

[14:41] This book was likely written towards the end of his reign, approximately 935. It seems to be that he's looking back at how he lived his life. And that's what we'll see in this book.

[14:53] This book is of perspective. The narrative of the preacher, or Solomon, reveals the depression that eventually results from seeking happiness in worldly things.

[15:06] The book gives us a chance to see that the world through the eyes of a person who, the very wise, is trying to find meaning in temporary human things. And I think we see a lot of that today, too, don't we?

[15:19] Most every form of worldly pleasure is explored by the preacher, and none of them gives him a sense of meaning. Which meaning, he's going through the, starting to go through the bad times, and he can't find any meaning from what he had before.

[15:38] Just vanity of vanity. In the end, the preacher comes to accept that faith in God is the only way to find personal meaning. He decides to accept the fact that life is brief and ultimately worthless without God.

[15:54] The preacher advises the reader to focus on an eternal God instead of temporary pleasures. Some key verses. Ecclesiastes 1.2.

[16:05] Vanity of vanities. As a preacher, vanity of vanities. All is vanity. What's it for? Ecclesiastes 1.18. Ecclesiastes 1.18.

[16:16] For with much wisdom comes much sorrow. The more knowledge, the more grief. Is that what happened to Solomon? He had all this knowledge. And now he's thinking, hey, what was it for?

[16:31] We were reminded that striving after the world's wealth is not only vanity, but it does not satisfy. And we see that in Ecclesiastes 5.10. But even if we could attain it without Christ, would we lose our souls in what profit is there?

[16:48] And we see that in Mark 8.36. Ultimately, every disappointment and vanity described in Ecclesiastes has its remedy in who?

[17:03] Christ. We have the remedy in Christ. The wisdom of God and the only true meaning to be found in life. Ecclesiastes offers the Christian an opportunity to understand the emptiness and despair that those who do not know God grapple with.

[17:21] And we have that opportunity if we have Christ in your heart. We know what it means. And we also know how the people that do not have Christ in their life, how they grapple with daily problems that they're having and the situations that go through.

[17:38] Those who do not have a saving faith in Christ are faced with a life that will ultimately and become irrelevant. There is no salvation and no God.

[17:50] And not only is there no point to life, but no purpose or direction to it either. The world under the sun, apart from God, is frustrating, cruel, unfair, brief, and utterly meaningless.

[18:04] But with Christ, life is but a shadow of the glories to come in heaven. That is only accessible through him. Christ in our life makes all the difference in the world.

[18:19] Any questions about Ecclesiastes, the Song of Solomon, the Book of Proverbs, before we leave these books and get into Solomon's glory and where it starts fading.

[18:37] Okay? We're going to see that in 1 Kings chapter 11, if you'll turn there. So Solomon has had all these wonderful things happen to him, all the wisdom and all the stuff.

[18:58] If you think you are standing firm, be careful that you do not fall. It is an appropriate warning for both men and nations. Yet how often do we fall at the height of success?

[19:10] And the greater the height, the greater the fall. So now we see the picture-perfect story of Solomon's glory coming to an end. Ignoring the history of earlier Israelites, Solomon enters into forbidden marriages.

[19:27] With women of foreign extract and is soon influenced to worship their foreign gods, Solomon stands as a powerful reminder of how easy it is to turn from adoration to idolatry.

[19:40] So here in verses, in 1 Kings chapter 11, we see Solomon starting to turn from the Lord. In verse 1, Now the king of Solomon loved many foreign women, along with the daughter of Pharaoh, Moabite, Ammonite, Ananite, Sidonians, and Hittite women.

[20:01] Verse 2, From the nations concerning which the Lord said to the sons of Israel, You shall not associate with them, nor shall they associate with you, for they will surely turn your heart away.

[20:13] After their gods, Solomon held fast to these loves. All through scripture, God warned the people of Israel, Do not associate with other countries.

[20:29] Do not get into marriage relationships with women from other countries. Because what's going to happen? And we see it happen, and even today, we have that same concept, don't we?

[20:46] What is the concept today? I mean, when we have children and they get to the age where there may be a marriage involved, what do we want from our children? If we're Christians, we want them to have a relationship with another person that is also of the same faith.

[21:06] Because if you don't have that relationship, that, what I want to say, the bond between you as far as not only your love for each other, but also for your spiritual condition, it causes problems.

[21:23] And there's just no way around it. And I know that there's been ladies, or even men, that have other spouses that are not Christians.

[21:35] And sometimes they go to church for years without that spouse. And it's a sad thing, that they can't share something so important. So, you know, God, all the way back in the Old Testament, had the wisdom to show that, hey, don't mess somebody from foreign countries, or somebody that's not in the same type of spiritual relationship that you're in.

[22:01] Because that does nothing but cause troubles. So in verses 3, he had sundered, this one, it's hard to believe, he had sundered 700 wives, princesses, and 300 concubines, and his wives turned his heart away.

[22:18] No kidding. Could you imagine? They turned his heart away. All those women, I can imagine.

[22:30] sometimes we have a lot of trouble with just one, don't we? I think we better drop that one right there, hadn't we?

[22:46] But can you imagine? 700 wives, princesses, 300 concubines. Wow. This man must have thought he was just living the life, huh?

[22:56] Well, it wasn't the life, and he's going to find out. Verse 4, For when Solomon was old, his wives turned his heart away after other gods, and his heart was not wholly devoted to the Lord his God, and the heart of David his father had been.

[23:19] Five, For Solomon went after Astoroth, the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Malcom, the distasteful Ida, idol of the Amorites. So, he started taking up the things of the foreign women, the foreign gods.

[23:35] Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and did not follow the Lord fully, and David his father had done. Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh, the distasteful idol of Moab, on the mountain which is east of Jerusalem, and for Malak, the distasteful idol for the sons of Ammon.

[23:54] Thus, he did all these foreign wives who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods. So, here we go. He had all these foreign wives, and all of a sudden, he starts taking up all the religion, cults, or whatever, from these foreign wives, building temples for them, asteroids, all the things that these people worshipped.

[24:24] In verse 9, the Lord raises his adversaries against Solomon. Now, the Lord was angry with Solomon because his heart was turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice, and had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods, but he did not observe what the Lord had commanded.

[24:45] So, the Lord said to Solomon, because you have done this, and you have not kept my commandment and my statutes, which I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom from you, and will give it to your servant.

[25:00] Verse 12, nevertheless, I will not do it in your days for the sake of your father David. Does that sound familiar? But I will tear it out of the hand of your son.

[25:11] The same thing that happened to David. Yes. So, I was going to make a point on that, too. I think you're probably going to make it there. Same thing that happened to Noah. He didn't take it out on the son of Noah, but the grandson.

[25:24] Yeah. There's something in the culture about God loved David and he loved Noah. They had a close relationship. And if your son turns out bad, that's a bad reflection on you as the father.

[25:37] And I have always felt that way in my life. if my sons, depending on how they turn out, is a reflection on me. Oh. So, God did not take action on his son, on David's son, Solomon.

[25:52] He let him serve out his term. And also, same with Noah. He let Noah's son live out his life, but he did not take it out on his sin, so to speak, his falling away from God until he got to the grandson.

[26:08] That was interesting. I thought in the scripture how God worked that way. Yeah, a lot of times, he'd go to generation after that. I don't know. In this instance, Noah, he is going to be, he is going to take some things out on Jeroboam.

[26:25] Jeroboam. Not Jeroboam, but we'll get to it here before long. However, I will not tear away all the kingdom, but I will give one tribe to your son for the sake of my servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, which I have chosen.

[26:42] Then the Lord raised up several adversaries to Solomon. He had, the Lord raised up him and Edomite who fled from brutality of the Joab.

[26:53] You remember who Joab was? Joab was the general of David. And he created a lot of havoc. He was a great warrior. And he drove out a lot of these people that we're talking about during David's time.

[27:08] Verse 14, the Lord raised up an adversary to Solomon 15. For it came about when David was in Edom and Joab, the commander of the army, had gone up to bury the slain and had struck down every male in Edom.

[27:22] Another adversary was Rezan. God raised him up, a victim of David's conquest as a constant threat of brief encouragements into Israel's towns.

[27:34] Now it appears that a lot of these people now who are coming against Solomon were the same people that David conquered back in his time.

[27:44] Remember, there's a difference between David and Solomon in the fact that David was a warrior. And he fought many battles during his reign. And a lot of these battles are these people we're talking about now.

[27:56] And he defeated them. And over the years, they're gaining back strength and power and now they're starting to, they'll start coming after Solomon. So we see that.

[28:08] Verse 23, God also raised up another adversary to him. We did that one. 24, he gathered men to himself and became leader of the marauding band and David slew them of Zobah and they went to Damascus and stayed there and reigned in Damascus.

[28:27] So these are, all these adversaries that are coming now. So he was an adversary to Israel all the days of Solomon. Another was Jeroboam, talented and trusted.

[28:39] Now he's going to be marked by a prophet, Ahijah, as God's rod of justice, as the one who would split the kingdom from the sons of Solomon, Rehoboam.

[28:52] And we're going to see that as we go on here. Verse 26, then Jeroboam, the son of Nabat, Solomon's servant. Now the man, Jeroboam, was a violent warrior and when Solomon saw that the young man was industrious, he appointed him over all the forced labor of the house of Joseph.

[29:12] So now it's time to look at this prophet, Ahijah. Ahijah. The prophet whose home was in Shiloh is mentioned with this prophecy to Jeroboam and his chapter and again when Jeroboam became king and sends his wife to inquire about the prophet and we'll see that in chapter 15.

[29:36] Through Ahijah, God had a message that would change the kingdom of Israel forever. What do we have here as we're going through here?

[29:46] We have a united nation of Israel and we're going to soon see that that's going to be split apart. Verses 11, 29, and then it came to pass at that time when Jeroboam went out of Jerusalem that the prophet Ahijah, the Shilohite, found him in the way.

[30:06] Now Ahijah had clad himself with a new garment and they were alone, the two were alone in the field. Then Ahijah took hold of the new cloak which was on him and tore it into 12 pieces.

[30:20] He said to Jeroboam, take yourself 10 pieces for thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, behold, I will tear the kingdom out of the hands of Solomon and give you 10 tribes.

[30:35] Now we're talking about a prophet here. Why does God raise up these prophets? The prophet is to tell what's going to be happening and he's sending this prophet to tell Jeroboam that these are the things that are going to happen and he's going to split Israel and Jeroboam, you're going to be a big part of this split.

[31:03] Verse 31, he said to Jeroboam, take yourself 10 pieces for the, I did that one, 32, but he will have one tribe for the sake of my servant, David, and for the sake of Jerusalem, a city which I have chosen from all the tribes.

[31:17] And there he's talking about a rail bomb. He will only have the one or two tribes. Verse 33, because they have forsaken me, they have worshipped Astrod and other foreign gods and they have not walked in my ways doing what is right in my sight and observing my statutes and my ordinances as the father David did.

[31:39] Nevertheless, I will not take the whole kingdom out of his hand, but I will make him ruler all the days of his life for the sake of my servant, David, whom I chose, who observed my commandments and my statutes.

[31:53] So what he's saying here is a part of David's kingdom is going to last forever. And that was the promise that God made to David, right? So how's that going to happen if everything gets mixed up?

[32:07] So here he's saying, okay, I'm going to split. I'm going to give Jeroboam 10 tribes. We've got 12 tribes, but this is all right. And Rehoboam, you're going to get two tribes, which is Judah and Benjamin.

[32:24] Verse 35, I will take the kingdom from his son's hand and give it to you, even 10 tribes. But to his son, I will give the one tribe that my servant David may have lamp always before me in Jerusalem, the city where I have chosen for myself to put my name.

[32:41] I will take you and you shall reign over whatever you desire and you shall be king over Israel. Then it will be that you listen to all that I command you and walk in my ways and do what is right in my sight by observing my statutes and my commandments as my servant David did.

[33:00] Then will it be with you and build an enduring house as I built for David and I will give you Israel to you. Hey, this prophet was giving him good news.

[33:14] Jeroboam, we're going to have this split. You're going to have 10 tribes and if you follow God's commands, you're going to have everything.

[33:29] But we're going to see, he just not, did not do it, did he? Verse 39, thus I will afflict the descendants of David for this, but not always.

[33:42] Solomon sought therefore to put Jeroboam to death, but Jeroboam arose and fled Egypt and he was in Egypt until the death of Solomon. So we can see here, Solomon made Jeroboam a part of his kingdom and some of the things that was going on, it faded and Jeroboam had to leave and go to Egypt but he's going to be coming back.

[34:08] Thus the time that Solomon reigned in Jerusalem was all Israel was 40 years and Solomon slept with his fathers and was buried in the place of his, in the city of his father David and his son Rehoboam reigned in his place.

[34:23] He would be the fourth king of the united Israel. So turn to chapter 12 and this is where we're going to start seeing a division between Israel and Judah.

[34:39] The logical connection of the divinic dynasty was Solomon exceeding David and now Rehoboam the son of Solomon was assumed to be the next king.

[34:51] He was his son. So he, and now at this point we still have united Israel. Rehoboam was the only son of Solomon that we know by name.

[35:02] Solomon had 1,000 wives and concubines yet we read of only one son. That's kind of unusual too, isn't it? He got all these wives, all these concubines and God didn't seem necessary to mention any of them except one.

[35:20] It's difficult to believe that he had no other sons yet it is a fact that Rehoboam is the only one that's mentioned. So we don't know how many sons that he may have had.

[35:30] I'm sure he had a slew with that many wives and concubines. Just as Solomon experienced a rise to unprecedented heights of personal prosperity and security only to involve victim to a moral weakness and political conflict, so too his kingdom in the hands of his son Rehoboam is headed towards certain disaster.

[35:52] By attempting to levy even greater burdens than his father had apparently ordered in the later years of his life, Rehoboam will now cause rebellion among the people of Israel.

[36:07] And we see the plot thickening here. Only the tribes of Judah and Israel will remain with Rehoboam while the rest of Israel, all the northern tribes, will appoint a man by the name of Jeroboam to be their king.

[36:23] Under Rehoboam, the nation of Judah remains somewhat faithful to God, although he also turned Judah away from God as we'll see later. And I think as we start going through the kings, you're going to see how this works out.

[36:38] All the kings, almost all the kings, is irresolable bad kings. There's not going to be anything good about them. Now Judah, you're going to see most of them are good.

[36:51] They do, they don't follow God completely. We're going to see that in each one of them also. But, they are on the side of God.

[37:02] And we're going to see that. you're going to see the failures of some of these kings of Judah also. You're going to see the northern tribe are all bad.

[37:18] Judah, God uses them. Well, God uses all of them, but he uses them for a different purpose. Under Rehoboam, the nation of Judah remains somewhat faithful to God.

[37:31] However, in the north Jeroboam quickly leads Israel into idolatry. And over the next 25 years, Israel will prove to be so wicked that even self-proclaimed prophets of God will be seen lying to each other.

[37:45] Some of the Levites and others who are righteous in Israel are faced for southward to join with the people of Judah. So we see as this starts to take place, some of the Levites and other people that know God, they want to get out of Israel and get down to Judah.

[38:06] And that's the thing we're going to see. The division is permanent and the fall is great. Civil conflict will last for years, as well as wars and foreign enemies who are quick to notice the vulnerability of those of this once unified, broken people.

[38:22] And Israel, as well as Judah, will turn its face to idolatry. Wow. Here we go again. It's just a recurring theme, isn't it, of the Old Testament.

[38:36] Reading chapter 12, 1 through 5, the elders of Israel offer Rehoboam, the throne of Israel, first king of the northern tribe.

[38:48] And I think there is going to be 19 kings on the northern side of Israel. And I think there are going to be 20 on the Judah side as we go through.

[39:02] And Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all Israel had gone to Shechem to make him king. So it happened, when Jeroboam, the son of Abab, heard it, he was still in Egypt, for he had fled from the presence of King Solomon that they sent and called him.

[39:19] Then Jeroboam and the whole assembly of Israel came and spoke to Rehoboam saying, your father made a yoke heavy, now therefore lighten the burdensome service of your father in his heavy yoke.

[39:31] This is what they were telling to right. So the council were upset with Rehoboam and they told him and we're going to see that he goes for council and he's going to go to council with an older group of people and he's also going to go to get council from a younger group of people and we're going to see how that works out.

[40:00] And also have some emphasis on things today and that's in church leadership, other type of leaderships. Wisdom comes from older men.

[40:12] And the country we're in right now, right now looks like supposedly a lot of wisdom is from the college kids. You know, not the older leaders but the college kids are becoming the ones that are being listened to.

[40:24] Just like Roboam, you listen to the young ones here and he got in big trouble. Yep, we're going to see that and how it works out. Oh, yes it did.

[40:38] Then King Rehoboam consulted the elders who stood before his father Solomon while he still lived and he said, how do you advise me to answer these people? And they spoke to him saying, if you will be a servant to these people today and serve them and answer them and speak good words to them, then they will be your servants forever.

[40:58] Good wisdom, I think. Hey, treat them good. Wisely, Rehoboam asked the counsel of these elders experienced men that they seemed to advise Solomon well.

[41:11] So it was fitting that Rehoboam asked for their advice. The elders knew that Rehoboam was not Solomon and could not expect the same from his people that Solomon did. Rehoboam had to relate to the people based on who he was, not on who his father was.

[41:27] If he showed kindness and servant's heart to the people, they would love and serve him forever. This was good advice. And that's the advice that they got from the older elders or whoever they had there that was with them.

[41:42] Verses 8-11, the council Rehoboam younger advisors, but he rejected the advice which the elders had given him and exalted the younger men who had grown up with him, who stood before him, and he said to them, what advice do you give?

[42:00] How should we answer the people who have spoken to me, saying, lighten the yoke what your father has put on us? Then young men who had grown up with him spoke to him, saying, thus you should speak to this people, who have spoken to you, saying, your father made our yoke heavy, but you make it lighter on us.

[42:20] Thus you shall say to them, my little fingers shall be thicker than my father's waist, and now whereas my father put a heavy yoke on you, I will add to your yoke.

[42:31] My father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scourges. chastise and this is the advice that he got from the young generation.

[42:43] Solomon built this big palace and temple and everything and his son said, well I can do more than my dad did. I can build two or three palaces and whatever and so forth and that will take more of your taxes.

[42:56] chapter verse 15, so Jeroboam and all the people came to to so Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam the third day as the king had directed saying, come back to me the third day.

[43:19] Then the king answered the people roughly and rejected the advice which the elders had given him and he spoke to them according to the advice of the young men saying, my father made your go, kevi, but I had to give you go.

[43:32] My father chastised you with whips but I will chastise you with scourges. So the king did not listen to the people for the turn of events was from the Lord that he might fulfill his word which the Lord had spoken to Ahijah the prophet to Jeroboam the son of Nabat as we read earlier in chapter 11.

[43:54] So now this is the picture of where the split starts and I guess we're running out of time here so we'll start that next week in the chapter well the next chapter chapter 12.

[44:09] So any questions before we dismiss this morning? Okay. Have a good week.