1 Kings 11:7-8 On a hill east of Jerusalem, Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the detestable god of Moab, and for Molek the detestable god of the Ammonites. He did the same for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and offered sacrifices to their gods.

1 Kings 11:11 “Since this is your attitude and you have not kept my covenant and my decrees, which I commanded you, I will most certainly tear the kingdom away from you”

1 Kings 12:1 Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all Israel had gone there to make him king.

1 Kings 12:5 Rehoboam answered, “Go away for three days and then come back to me.” So the people went away.

1 Kings 12:6 Then King Rehoboam consulted the elders who had served his father Solomon during his lifetime. “How would you advise me to answer these people?” he asked.

1 Kings 12:7 They replied, “If today you will be a servant to these people and serve them and give them a favorable answer, they will always be your servants.”

1 Kings 12:8-9 But Rehoboam rejected the advice the elders gave him and consulted the young men who had grown up with him and were serving him. He asked them, “What is your advice?”

1 Kings 12:10-11 The young men... replied, “These people have said to you, ‘Your father put a heavy yoke on us, but make our yoke lighter.’ Now tell them, ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s waist. My father laid on you a heavy yoke; I will make it even heavier. My father scourged you with whips; I will scourge you with scorpions.’”

1 Kings 12:19 So Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David to this day.

There is Wisdom in Age and Experience.

Leadership is Servanthood

1 Kings 11:31 This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘See, I am going to tear the kingdom out of Solomon’s hand and give you ten tribes.

1 Kings 11:38 If you do whatever I command you and walk in obedience to me and do what is right in my eyes by obeying my decrees and commands, as David my servant did, I will be with you. I will build you a dynasty as enduring as the one I built for David and will give Israel to you.

God Said: You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath... You shall not bow down to them or worship them. Jeroboam Said: It will be better if we have golden idols to represent God and inspire our worship. It gives us something real that we can see and touch.

God Said: the Lord had said to David and to his son Solomon, “In this temple and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put my Name forever. (2 K 21:7) Jeroboam Said: “It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem.” We can worship in Bethel, in Dan, or anywhere we want to put a ‘high place’.

God Said: From among all the Israelites, I have given the Levites... to do the work at the tent of meeting on behalf of the Israelites and to make atonement for them. (Numbers 8:19) Jeroboam Said: Anyone who wants to be a priest I will consecrate for the high places, whether you are a Levite or not.

God Said: If you do whatever I command you... and do what is right in my eyes by obeying my decrees and commands, as David my servant did,... I will build you a dynasty as enduring as the one I built for David (1 K 11:37-38) Jeroboam Said: “The kingdom will now likely revert to the house of David. If these people go up to offer sacrifices at the temple of the Lord in Jerusalem, they will... kill me and return to King Rehoboam.”

Whatabunchofidiots Syndrome

1 Kings 8:27 “But will God really dwell on earth? The heavens, even the highest heaven, cannot contain you. How much less this temple I have built!”

1 Kings 13:33 Jeroboam did not change his evil ways, but once more appointed priests for the high places from all sorts of people. Anyone who wanted to become a priest he consecrated for the high places.

Who’s Judging Who?

Matthew 6:19-21 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth,... But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven,... For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

Matthew 6:24 “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”

Luke 12:33-34 “Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will never fail... For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

1 Timothy 6:6-8 But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.

1 Timothy 6:9-10 Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.

1 Timothy 6:10-11 Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness.

Jeroboam Failed to Believe God’s Promise

Romans 3:28 For we maintain that a person is justified by faith apart from the works of the law.

1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

Ephesians 2:8-9 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.