Two Kings of a Divided Kingdom

This passage covers the case of Ammon, which misread David's kindness and chose war, and the story of Rehoboam, who after Solomon's death refused the people's demands and split the kingdom. It also sheds light on the foolish decision of Jeroboam, who, though he had received God's promise, chose idolatry to protect his own position.

The sermon points out that the failures these figures experienced were not simply fate, but the result of wrong judgments that grew out of their own sense of inferiority and suspicion. In particular, it emphasizes that God's warnings and judgment are in the end a Father's pleading for repentance and turning back, and it urges us not to distort the true nature of our circumstances but to choose with discernment.

So that we do not repeat the mistakes of the two kings, who doubted God's love and his choosing and rushed headlong down the path of sin, how must we discern and choose by faith?