Meanwhile, Back in Judah

1 Kings 14:21-31

²¹ Now Rehoboam the son of Solomon reigned in Judah. Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city that the Lord had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, to put his name there. His mother’s name was Naamah the Ammonite.

²² And Judah did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and they provoked him to jealousy with their sins that they committed, more than all that their fathers had done.

²³ For they also built for themselves high places and pillars and Asherim on every high hill and under every green tree,

²⁴ and there were also male cult prostitutes in the land. They did according to all the abominations of the nations that the Lord drove out before the people of Israel.

²⁵             In the fifth year of King Rehoboam, Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem.

²⁶ He took away the treasures of the house of the Lord and the treasures of the king’s house. He took away everything. He also took away all the shields of gold that Solomon had made,

²⁷ and King Rehoboam made in their place shields of bronze, and committed them to the hands of the officers of the guard, who kept the door of the king’s house.

²⁸ And as often as the king went into the house of the Lord, the guard carried them and brought them back to the guardroom.

²⁹ Now the rest of the acts of Rehoboam and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?

³⁰ And there was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam continually.

³¹ And Rehoboam slept with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of David. His mother’s name was Naamah the Ammonite. And Abijam his son reigned in his place.

Splendor and wealth are fleeting. Within 5 years of the death of Solomon, the richest and most powerful King Israel had ever known, the nation is completely devastated by Egyptian invaders. Why? Because the leadership abandoned the God who had blessed Solomon with his wealth and power. Their wealth was carried off into Egypt and Israel is never restored to that position ever again. They had it all and lost it all because they would not remain faithful to the God who loved them. While Jeroboam is leading the Northern Kingdom into idolatry, Rehoboam is doing the same thing in the Southern Kingdom. As a result, God sends Shishak, leader of Egypt into both nations not so much to conquer as to pillage. The glory and splendor that once was Israel is now gone into the hands of their ancient enemies. Based on the biblical account and the archaeological data from ancient Egypt, it is clear that Shishak swept through much of both Israel and Judah, taking heavy spoil. Historically, Shishak lists 150  cities that he took in the campaign.

It is important to note here that God did not wait generations to try and bring the people back into alignment with His will. It was a mere five years into the reign of Rehoboam that He sends a warning to the people to stop their idolatrous ways. Instead of bowing before their mighty God, they had adopted the pagan ways of the people who had lived in the land before them. This led to idol worship and even the practice of providing male prostitutes at the temple for the people to “enjoy” as they came to worship. Nowhere does this make the list of worship practices God had instituted. This is why He had called the people to drive out all of those who inhabited the land they were given. He knew that His children would be susceptible to pagan practices if they were surrounded by them.

It is common and natural for us to participate in the practices of the people who surround us. My dad always used to tell me that you became like the people you hung around with; if they were smokers, you would be more likely to smoke; if they like to curse or swear, you would more likely to curse and swear; if they like to drink to excess, you would be more likely to drink to excess. At the time, I thought he was being a little extreme (as I often did with my dad.) But he wasn’t wrong (as I later learned). God knew this was true of His children as well. That is why He told them to eliminate those who did not believe in Him from the land. Their influence would damage the faith of His children. And that is exactly what happened because they neglected to obey Him on that point. While they did indeed conquer Israel (back in the book of Joshua), they failed to drive all of the pagans out and thus they remained under their godless influence. Now, in today’s reading, they are quickly becoming “like them”. God, being gracious and unwilling to easily let His people slip away, tries to get their attention through the armies of Egypt.

God uses many things to get our attention. Unfortunately, we are far more responsive to the negative than we are to the positive. So what generally gets our attention has to hurt a little (or maybe a lot.) When those things happen, our first response needs to be “Yes Lord, what is Your will for me.” Perhaps an even better approach might be to say that on a daily basis rather than waiting for the negative to happen. That doesn’t mean bad things won’t happen to you. They will. But you will be in a much better position of humble acceptance and have a far more willing and malleable heart. They are valuable tools in the hands of God and will serve you well.