{"id":2330,"date":"2023-05-21T12:26:20","date_gmt":"2023-05-21T17:26:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/biblicalpath.com\/?p=2330"},"modified":"2023-05-21T12:26:20","modified_gmt":"2023-05-21T17:26:20","slug":"a-divided-kingdom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/biblicalpath.com\/index.php\/2023\/05\/21\/a-divided-kingdom\/","title":{"rendered":"A Divided Kingdom"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"728\" src=\"http:\/\/biblicalpath.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/Web-Verse-192-Proverbs-12-15-1024x728.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2331\" srcset=\"http:\/\/biblicalpath.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/Web-Verse-192-Proverbs-12-15-1024x728.jpg 1024w, http:\/\/biblicalpath.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/Web-Verse-192-Proverbs-12-15-300x213.jpg 300w, http:\/\/biblicalpath.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/Web-Verse-192-Proverbs-12-15-768x546.jpg 768w, http:\/\/biblicalpath.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/Web-Verse-192-Proverbs-12-15.jpg 1112w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong>\u201cThe way of a fool <em>is<\/em> right in his own eyes: but he that hearkeneth unto counsel <em>is<\/em> wise.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong>Proverbs 12:15<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The following is an excerpt from \u201c<strong><em>The Biblical Path of Life<\/em><\/strong>\u201d Year Two, Quarter One \u2013 Lesson 1:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201c\u2026 We must remember what God had told King Solomon before he died: because he had allowed his heart to be turned from God to idols, God would rend the kingdom away from his son \u2013 all but two tribes. His son would only be allowed to rule two tribes because of the promise God had made to David. \u201c<strong>13b. \u2026 I will stablish the thr<\/strong><strong>one<\/strong><strong> of his kingdom for ever. 15. But my mercy shall not depart away from him, as I took <em>it<\/em> from Saul, whom I put away before thee. 16. And thine house and thy kingdom shall be established for ever before thee: thy thr<\/strong><strong>one<\/strong><strong> shall be established for ever<\/strong>\u201d (2 Samuel 7:13b, 15\u201316). Even before King Solomon died, he knew and understood that his son would only be allowed to rule over two tribes. God had already chosen Jeroboam to rule the other ten tribes (see 1 Kings 11:29\u201337).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWhen the people came together to make Rehoboam king, Jeroboam and all of Israel came and spoke to Rehoboam. They wanted Rehoboam to lighten the burden that King Solomon had placed upon the people. If he would lighten that burden, the people would serve him. Rehoboam sought counsel; first from the old men who had advised King Solomon, and then with the young men he had grown up with \u2014 his friends. The old men\u2019s counsel was to lighten the burden upon the people. The young men\u2019s advice was to make the people\u2019s burden much heavier. Read 1 Kings 12:3\u201319 for the complete events. Especially take not of 1 Kings 12:19: \u201c<strong>Wherefore the king hearkened not unto the people; for the cause was from the LORD, that he might perform his saying\u2026.<\/strong>\u201d From that verse, we understand this was God\u2019s plan \u2014 the people would revolt against Rehoboam, but we can also understand that is was because of the foolishness of Rehoboam\u2019s decision. \u201c<strong>So <\/strong><strong>Israel<\/strong><strong> rebelled against the house of David unto this day<\/strong>\u201d (1 Kings 12:19).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt was at this time in history that the kingdom divided becoming two separate kingdoms \u2014 the Northern Kingdom (Israel) and the Southern Kingdom (Judah). Rehoboam ruled over the Southern Kingdom, Judah (containing only two tribes) because that was the tribe from which Rehoboam, Solomon, and David came. Jeroboam ruled over the Northern Kingdom, Israel, which were the remaining ten tribes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIn the New Testament Jesus tells us, \u201c<strong>And if a kingdom be divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand<\/strong>\u201d (Mark 3:24).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>\u201cA Deeper Path:<\/strong> After learning of King Rehoboam, we can see that one of the foolish things he did that cost him the majority of his kingdom was taking the wrong counsel. He chose the counsel of his friends instead of the counsel from the older, wiser men who had counseled his father. Read some of the words his father had written before Rehoboam even became king \u2014 words Rehoboam had probably read, or at the very least, had heard:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>\u201c<strong>Where no counsel <em>is<\/em>, the people fall: but in the multitude of counsellors <em>there is<\/em> safety<\/strong>\u201d (Proverbs 11:14). Do you think Rehoboam would have lost most of his kingdom if he had taken the older men and the people\u2019s counsel?<ul><li>\u201c<strong>The way of a fool <em>is<\/em> right in his own eyes: but he that hearkeneth unto counsel <em>is<\/em> wise<\/strong>\u201d (Proverbs 12:15).<\/li><\/ul><ul><li>\u201c<strong>Hear counsel, and receive instruction, that thou mayest be wise in thy latter end<\/strong>\u201d (Proverbs 19:20).<\/li><\/ul>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Do you remember what we learned in Psalm 1:1a? \u201c<strong>Blessed <em>is<\/em> the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly \u2026<\/strong>\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201c\u2026 We continue learning about King Rehoboam in 1 Kings 14:21-31. King Rehoboam began to reign when he was 41 years old, and he reigned 17 years in Jerusalem \u201c<strong>\u2026 the city which the LORD did choose out of all the tribes of Israel, to put his name there \u2026<\/strong>\u201d (1 Kings 14:21). And Judah did evil in the sight of the Lord. They continued worshiping idols and \u201c<strong>\u2026 they did according to all the abominations of the nations which the LORD cast out before the children of <\/strong><strong>Israel<\/strong>\u201d (1 Kings 14:24b). In the fifth year of King Rehoboam\u2019s reign, Shishak, king of Egypt, came up against Jerusalem and stole the treasures of the king\u2019s house and all of the shields of gold that King Solomon had made. Another interesting thing to note: \u201c<strong>And there was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all <em>their<\/em> days<\/strong>\u201d (1 Kings 14:30). King Rehoboam died, and his son, Abijam, reigned in his stead. Abijam ruled Judah for three years. The next king was Abijam\u2019s son, Asa (see 1 Kings 15:8).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>\u201cA Deeper Path:<\/strong> See the fool Rehoboam became in disregarding his father\u2019s teachings. Remember that we learned that much of the Proverbs was written from a father (King Solomon) as instruction to his son (Rehoboam). \u201c<strong>7. The fear of the LORD <em>is<\/em> the beginning of knowledge: <em>but<\/em> fools despise wisdom and instruction. 8. My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother: 9. For they <em>shall be<\/em> an ornament of grace unto thy head, and chains about thy neck<\/strong>\u201d (Proverbs 1:7-9).\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong><em>Do you learn from history, recognizing the importance of seeking counsel from God\u2019s Word?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cThe way of a fool is right in his own eyes: but he that hearkeneth unto counsel is wise.\u201d Proverbs 12:15 The following is an excerpt from \u201cThe Biblical Path of Life\u201d Year Two, Quarter One \u2013 Lesson 1: \u201c\u2026 We must remember what God had told King Solomon before he died: because he had [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[319],"tags":[940,938,245,1115,257,243,796,746,1116,568,244,753],"class_list":["post-2330","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-excerpt-from-the-biblical-path-of-life","tag-counsel","tag-excerpt","tag-fool","tag-hearkeneth","tag-king-solomon","tag-knowledge","tag-lesson-1","tag-quarter-one","tag-rebelled","tag-rehoboam","tag-wise","tag-year-two"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/biblicalpath.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2330","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/biblicalpath.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/biblicalpath.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/biblicalpath.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/biblicalpath.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2330"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/biblicalpath.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2330\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2332,"href":"http:\/\/biblicalpath.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2330\/revisions\/2332"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/biblicalpath.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2330"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/biblicalpath.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2330"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/biblicalpath.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2330"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}