When the people saw that Rehoboam was determined to seek his own interests and not the good of the people, the ten tribes turned away from him and went back to their tents. Only the tribes of Judah and Benjamin followed Rehoboam. After this Rehoboam sent Adoram to collect the taxes, but the men of Israel stoned him to death, and Rehoboam had to flee for his life to Jerusalem. The ten tribes then set up Jeroboam as their king, fulfilling the word of the prophet Ahijah. How sure are the words of God, and His government upon those who forsake Him! We cannot escape it.
Rehoboam then gathered Judah and Benjamin together to fight against the ten tribes, in an attempt to bring them back to his kingdom, but the Lord sent a prophet commanding him not to do this. He must submit to the government of God in the matter, for God had allowed it. There is a great lesson in this for us. Sometimes God may bring His government upon us because of our failure, and then we try to escape it. We fight against it, as it were, but it is no use. Although God’s grace never changes — and here it was His grace that left the tribes of Judah and Benjamin with Rehoboam for David’s sake — but this does not alter His government. In times like this we need to look to the Lord for grace to humble ourselves under His mighty hand, for only by humbling ourselves can we cast our cares upon Him, knowing that He cares for us (1 Peter 5:6, 7). The word of the Lord was, “This thing is from Me”— precious words of comfort when our own failure has brought down the rod!
There is also a principle here as to any attempt being made to heal divion among the people of God by han efforts. Neither force nor compromise will do in these things, for in reality the ten tribes as a whole never returned to God’s center, nor to God’s king at Jerusalem. We know that indiduals came back in the time of Asa (2 Chron. 15:9, 10), and also in the reign of Hezekiah (2 Chron. 30:5-12), but never a whole tribe or tribes. Nertheless it is encouraging to see that faith always recognized the twelve tribes as one, even in their darkest days (Ezra 8:35; Acts 26:7). In the future millennial day they will be united again, never to be divided into two kingdoms any more (Ezekiel 37:22). This has its lesson its us in this church period too. What sad divisions there have been among the people of God in our day, but we are not told to look for a healing of them. Yet we believe that God still has a center, as He did in Israel’s day even after the division, and individuals are exercised from time to time to be restored, and gathered there. In God’s center the Lord is in the midst, and His authority according to His Word is owned. Human efforts to heal divisions have always led to compromise, for divisions do not come by chance they are allowed in the government of God, and are the result of the giving up of some principle of truth. It is not enough therefore, for different companies to just come together, as though there were not a cause, for it is God’s assembly, and His unity is never maintained at the expense of His truth.
No doubt these tribes that went off under Jeroboam could say that they were offended, and stumbled by Rehoboam’s ways, but this did not make it right for them to reject God’s center and authority. If we have our eyes upon men we are sure to be misled, but with our eyes upon the Lord, all is well. It is only in His light that we see light for our path (Psalm 36:9).
ML 03/11/1956