LESSONS FROM KING REHOBOAM

REHOBOAM

Rehoboam was Solomons son who succeeded his father. His mother was an Amonitess. Rehoboam goofed right from the beginning by listening to young people. He lost the other 10 tribes to Jeroboam as a result of his insensitivity like himself instead of listening to God fearing elderly ones. His reign was described as wicked. He reigned for 17years.

LESSONS

Leaders  should not surround themselves with those who will simply fan their ego and prompt them to oppress their subjects. Having young godless people as advisers can lead to licentiousness and doom for the nation. Never take your subjects for granted. During his reign idolatry prevailed, sodomy and other abominations practiced by nations around them was reported, king shushak of Egypt also attacked Jerusalem and took away the treasures in the house of God and the king’s palace.

JOTHAM, KING OF JUDAH.

 2 chron 27

Jotham was 25years old when he became king and he reigned for 16years. He did what was right like his father Uzziah. However, his reformation was not complete. He did not carry it into the temple of God and the people were still corrupt and were sacrificing to idols. During his reign, he built gates and towers and he  subdued the ammonites. He was mighty because he walked in the way of the Lord.

LESSONS

a)     When leaders follow the Lord, the Lord will strengthen them and established them.

b)    Leaders should always try to turn the heart of the people back to God, they should leave no stone unturned. Partial reformation cannot save a nation.

STILL ON KING SOLOMON

Solomon further demonstrated his love for God by building the temple. He prepared the best of materials, timber from tyre, costly stones, gold, silver and other things set aside by David his father for the temple. Solomon followed the specifications and used the best masons and craftsmen. He knew God deserved the best and he gave his best for the house of God. He spent 7years building it. At the dedication of the temple, the Lord filled the temple with his presence; the cloud filled the temple that even the priests could not minister. Solomon dedicated the temple with a heart moving prayer, asking God to bless, the place with his presence and to honor every prayer  offend there by both strangers and indigenes.

Solomon started well but in order to consolidate his kingdom, he shifted from his reliance on God to reliance on self. He began marrying strange wives, the daughter of pharaoh, and other women from Moab, Ammon and Sidon and the land of the Hittites to maintain a good relationship with their kingdom. To satisfy these women, he built temples for their gods. He married 300 hundred wives and had 700 concubines. Unfortunately, these women turned his heart from God. He worshipped Astarte the goddess of Sidon and Milcom the god Ammon. Solomon needed not to have fallen into this pit, but he did not heed the Lord’s warning. God had already forbidden the children of Israel to many shenges because of the tendency to fall into pagan worship and idolatry that characterizes these shenge women. Solomon let down his guard and he fell. Great indeed was the fall. Even though he realizes it much later, but it was too late, the deed has been done. The seeds were sown already and the trend followed through the life of Israel as a nation.

 

LESSONS

A good start is not an indication or a guarantee of a great end. A leaders safeguard is only in continuous connection to God. Following and obeying his commandments every moment. The devil capitalizes on our weaknesses, he comes in through the loopholes and messes up our lives. Our only safety is in relying on God. One would not have expected Solomon in all his wisdom to fall into the temptation of adultery and idolatry but he did. “let him that stands, take heed lest he falls, No man, no leader is immune to temptation.

God would have established his throne in Israel forever as promised in 1 kings 9:5, if he had walked in the integrity of heart and in uprightness.

 

KING SOLOMON

 

And Solomon became the king of Israel. He sat upon the throne of his father. David charged him to follow the Lord and to keep His commandments so that the promise of God can be fulfilled in his life. He was also charged to reward Joab, Ishmael and Barzillai according to the deeds of each one of them. Solomon did not take vengeance immediately, but he rather allowed each one to prove himself. Even Adonijah his brother who he could have killed immediately to secure the kingdom to himself, he still gave him a chance until Adonijah requested for the hand of Abishag the Shunamite, David’s last wife. This probably was symbolic in their culture and hence Solomon’s reaction. The story shows Solomon’s willingness to give others a second chance. He did not act based on first offence, he instructed Shimel not to depart from Jerusalem but 2 years later, Shimel went against his instructions and that spelt his doom. Adonijah probably still eyeing the throne, asked Abishag as wife and that nailed him.

 

 

LESSON:

Leaders should not act or judge based on a tip from others, there is always a need to give them along rope to pull. Many leaders will ignore or remove everyone who has not supported their candidacy for a position as soon as they secure that position.  Some will even make an enemy of those classes of people but not Solomon, he gave them the opportunity to have a rethink. Solomon loved the Lord and God gave him the opportunity to ask for whatever he desired. Solomon did not ask for gold or silver, neither did he ask for the head of his enemies, he only asked for understanding heart to judge Gods people. Solomon realized his ignorance, inexperience and weakness. He knew that only God will give him the wisdom to rule the great nation of Israel, he must have remembered leaders like Moses and knew he would only succeed with God on his side giving him a daily dose of heavenly wisdom. God was pleased with Solomon; He did not only give him extraordinary wisdom but also riches, and honor that there was none other comparable to him in the history of Israel. Solomon wrote many words of wisdom which are still very relevant today. These words written in the book of proverbs and Ecclesiastes touch on every facet of life. They will  guide every leader, every young man and woman who will take them seriously.

God is interested in sound and fair judgment. He expects every leader to pursue farmers and to depend on Him. So many intrigues play out in human systems and organizations. A leader who will succeed must rely on God for wisdom, he must seek earnestly after fairness in judgment and the Lord will prosper him as he did Solomon. When we rely on our own strength and judgment, we are bound to fail because our judgment is taunted with error and sin.

David’s Last Days

David’s song of thanksgiving in 2samuel 22:1-51 was a celebration of God’s grace in his life. It was a summary of his life. In spite of David’s sin, he still claimed righteousness and uprightness because he understood God’s forgiveness. He understood God’s grace. God say “even though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow, even though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool”.

LESSON: No matter how deep we have been in sin, the lord is ready to forgive us and start all over with us if we are repentant. He will remember our sins no more and before him, we shall be perfect.

David also summarized God’s expectation of every leader in 2sam 23:3-4 “He that ruleth over men must be just, ruling with the fear of God and he shall be as the light of the morning”.

 

David made another fatal mistake towards the end of his life. He requested that a census be carried out in Israel. Every attempt by Joab and his cabinet members to dissuade him failed. He went ahead with his plans only to realize his foolishness after the deed was done. He repented whole heartedly again but the consequences followed. David was asked to choose the punishment out of three options; he chose to fall into the hands of God because he knew God is merciful. About 70,000 people were destroyed in the pestilence before God stayed the hand of the angel of destruction.   

LESSON: When leaders fail to listen to advice especially on issues that may affect followers, if and when it backfires, the impact is not only on the leaders but also on the followers. Leaders should therefore give thoughtful consideration and seek God’s face before embarking on such projects.

They should not turn deaf ears to the advice of the people because no man is infallible. The end of David’s life, Adoniyah started projecting himself as king. David was not ignorant of it but he never rebuked him. This again shows the permissiveness of David as a father. Not until Nathan and Bathsheba approached him did he take a decisive action to pronounce Solomon king after him.

 

David loved God with all his heart. Even though God did not allow him to build a temple for Him as he desired, yet he made all the necessary preparations in terms of materials, systems and procedure. All of which he carefully handed over to his son Solomon.

David was indeed a man after God’s heart. He fallible, made many mistakes but this man like Joab clung to God all through saying “I will not let you go until you bless me”. God indeed blessed, gave him a son to sit on his throne, God was faithful to his covenant to David all through. Through this sinful but repentant man, Jesus came unto the world and was called the son of David. What a privilege, the lord is faithful.

To all leaders who like David will submit to God’s leading and chastisement God will be faithful as he was to his servant David.   

Evil in David’s Family

 

          David’s son Ammon burning with passion for his half sister Tamar was advised by his friend Jonadab to fake sickness and request for Tamar to come and attend to him. The king, ignorant of Ammon’s motive agreed and sent Tamar to Ammon. Ammon raped his sister and sent her out. Absalom the full blood brother of Tamar though seething with anger held his peace and waited for a good opportunity to revenge.

Two years later, Absalom hatched his plans, He commanded his servants to kill Ammon while all the king’s son were holding a party in his house. The king was devastated but Absalom ran away. Not long after this, David’s heart began o yearn for his son Absalom. Through the help of Joab, Absalom was allowed to come back to Jerusalem. Before long, Absalom conspired, usurped his father’s throne and David had to flee from Jerusalem. Absalom came to Jerusalem and on the rooftop of the palace and in the presence of all the people he laid with his father’s wives. Some of David’s close friends like Ahictophel deflected to Absalom. Ahitophel being the grandfather of Bathsheba probably had an axe to grind with David. It was an opportunity to revenge. Other friends like Hushai, remained faithful, some flee with him. However, this was also an opportunity for those who had been waiting to get their pound of flesh to do so. One of them was Shimel, the son of Gera who cast stones at David because he took the place of his kinsman Saul.

 

On the long run, Absalom was defeated; he was killed against the wishes of David his father. And David returned back to the palace.

LESSON:

1.     Sow to the wind and you reap a whirl wind. David had an illicit affair with Bathsheba and also planned the death of (Uriah) Bathsheba’s husband. The repercussion was enormous; David lost three promising sons; Bathsheba’s son, Ammon and Absalom. Tamar, his daughter was defiled; his wives were defiled through incest. What he did to another in secret was done to him openly. David was traumatized by his son’s conspiracy and his sins came to the open. The penalty is usually always serious when a leader------- disobeys God. Moses too struck the rock in annoyance, and lost the opportunity to step into the earthly Canaan. Leaders and administrators should be careful of bringing reproach to the name of the lord.

2.     A leader has many friends when he is in power, but you can only know your real friends when challenges come.

3.     David loved his children to a fault, while the Bible recorded that David was wroth with Ammon for raping his sister, there was no record of any punishment meted to him. Even though, Absalam was after David’s life, David never wanted him dead when Absalam was in exile after killing Ammon, David wanted him back 2 samuel 13:39. Joab noticed it and set up the

4.     David made a hasty decision concerning the case of Mephibosheth and Ziba. He heard only one side of the story.

5.     David was decisive when Sheba led a revolt against the king, David sent his men after him, Sheba was killed and the revolt came to an end. Leaders sometimes have to be decisive and pro active when it comes to quenching evil before it spreads.

 

MORE LESSONS FROM KING DAVID AND THE AMMONITES.

Bathsheba settled into David’s household, she had a son for David and everything seemed normal until God sent Nathan to David. David was confronted with his sin indirectly and he condemned himself. David repented, immediately he was forgiven but the consequences followed him.

LESSONS:

a)     The guilty are also very quick to judge and condemn others. David condemned the rich man in Nathan’s parable without thinking about his own sins as well. As leaders and administrators let us remember that we are not perfect too as we pass judgment on our subordinates and followers.

b)    We may assume that God has overlooked our sins because he is silent but a sinner cannot go unpunished. Leaders in particular cannot afford to indulge in sin. In 2samuel 12:14 Nathan said that David had given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme because of his sin. Followers look up to leaders for example, but when they give bad example they encourage followers to do likewise or at best to ridicule the God we serve.

c)     God forgave David but the consequences followed him, the child died and a circle of evil started within David’s family.

d)    In it all, David surrendered to God and face his lot with patience and humility.

The loving kindness of the lord, his long suffering and forgiving grace was demonstrated in the birth of Solomon in this relationship. This Solomon later became a favoured one in the sight of God.