73. Rehoboam's Great Sin

King Rehoboam

There was none who followed the house of David, but the tribe of Judah only. 1 Kings 12:20.    We might insert here that this statement includes also the tribe of Benjamin as we notice in the next verse, he gathered all the house of Judah with the tribe of Benjamin. 12:21.

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. 14:21.

No self-respecting king would simply allow ten of his tribes slip away without at least trying to stop them, so when Rehoboam came to Jerusalem, he gathered all the house of Judah with the tribe of Benjamin, a hundred and eighty thousand warriors, to fight against the house of Israel, to bring the kingdom again to Rehoboam the son of Solomon.  So that Israel and Judah together would have only one king.

The Word of God came to Shemaiah the man of God, saying, Speak to Rehoboam the son of Solomon, king of Judah, ... so says Jehovah, You shall not go up, nor fight against your brothers the sons of Israel. 12:21-22.  

It was the Lord Himself who had promised this whole land to the one nation: Israel.  Why, then,  would Jehovah tell the grandson of David not to go and keep the promised land as one unit?  Jehovah continues, For this thing is from Me. And they listened to the Word of Jehovah and turned to go back, according to the Word of Jehovah. 12:21-24.  Rehoboam was still new to the throne and at this juncture, he was still open to the counsel of Jehovah.

The reason Rehoboam, and his army was not to attack Israel was because of a promise Jehovah had made Jeroboam.  Behold, I will tear the kingdom out of the hand of Solomon (Rehoboam was Solomon's son), and will give ten tribes to you, but he shall have one tribe for My servant David's sake, and for Jerusalem's sake, the city which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, because they have forsaken Me, and have worshiped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, Chemosh the god of the Moabites, and Milcom the goddess of the sons of Ammon, and have not walked in My ways, to do what is right in My eyes.   

Oh, Church of Christ, open your eyes!  Turn from your selfish pleasures and evil practices.   Jehovah is keeping track!

Judah, under the leadership of Rehoboam,  did evil in the sight of Jehovah, and they provoked Him to jealousy with their sins which they had committed, above all that their fathers had done. 14:22.   While we were studying the Book of Judges we noticed many of the inhumane atrocities that were committed in Israel, now we read that the people of Judah sinned above all that their fathers had done.  

How low can humanity sink?  Now they also built ... images, and Asherahs, (statues of licentious female gods), on every high hill and under every green tree. 14:23. 

They worshipped their selfish pleasures wherever they went.   So much like many who claim to be Christians but get divorced over the slightest provocation; and then remarry (Christ called this, adultery).

The Sodomites

And also the sodomite was in the land.14:24.  They were given up to vile affections (as those idolaters mentioned in Rom.1:26, Rom.1:27), for there were sodomites in the land (1Ki.14:24), men with men working that which is unseemly, and not to be thought of, much less mentioned, without abhorrence and indignation. They dishonoured God by one sin and then God left them to dishonour themselves by another. Matthew Henry.  

Judah was the nation that Jehovah had chosen to be His special people; a people who would honour His holy name.  In our own time, The Church of Christ is to be "that special people", but there are some among us, who call themselves Christians, who condone the wicked practice of sodomy.  They not only condone it, but they also push for worldwide acceptance of it.  

As little as a generation ago there were still sermons being preached against homosexuality, but now that so many people have "come out of the closet" preachers don't talk about it anymore, because it is not "politically correct".

Have preachers forgotten that the church is not to follow the waywardness of the public; her call is to lead the public to holy living.

Asa, the third King of Judah, after Solomon, did what was right in the eyes of Jehovah, as David his father did. And he took away the sodomites (homosexuals) out of the land. 1 Ki 15:11-12.  The leaders of the western world, today, have not got the "guts" or the wisdom needed to even preach against it.

The urgent call is for Christians of North America to humble themselves and to eradicate that cancerous sin that has invaded the Church.  Billy Graham once said words to this effect: If God doesn't punish America for its sexual perversions, He will need to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah for treating them unfairly.  Spaceship Theology by Ike Fehr: Abraham the Host.