Two Kings of a Divided Kingdom

When Nahash king of the Ammonites died, David sent envoys to his son Hanun to offer condolences, repaying the kindness Nahash had shown him. Swayed by his officials, Hanun humiliated the envoys, and then, driven by fear, started a war himself and paid a heavy price.

Years later, when Solomon died and Rehoboam came to the throne, an opportunity was given once more: the people asked him to lighten the heavy taxes and forced labor laid upon them. Rehoboam set aside the counsel of the older advisers, followed the young men instead, and declared that he would rule the people even more harshly; as a result the kingdom was torn in two. Jeroboam, too, had been given his throne by God and had received a promise like the one made to David, yet he feared that the people’s hearts would turn back toward the temple in Jerusalem, so he made golden calves and opened the way to idolatry.

When God warned of judgment, that judgment would fall only on those who stayed where they were; it was a chance to escape it by turning back. Rehoboam and Jeroboam alike let that chance slip through fear and a sense of their own inadequacy, and Jeroboam’s kingdom fell after twenty-four years. A heart that trusts God without doubting and waits on him is the way to be remembered as David is.