The Sin of Yarob‘am
Part 1: No Taxation Without Representation
Jeroboam fights with his cousin
David and Solomon have established the whole Kingdom of Israel, the combined lands of all 12 tribes brought into the favor of Elohim as a single nation. This is the first time this has happened since the tribes split up and went to their own lands shortly after entering the land. Even under King Saul, the nation was not fully united.
Solomon has died and Rehoboam has become the new King. But the Northern tribes (Israel) has realized that all the glory of everything is in Jerusalem and they conceive in their hearts that they do not have any portion of the wealth of the capital city.
1 Kings 12:3b-4 — …And Yaroḇ‛am and all the assembly of Yisra’ĕl came and spoke to Reḥaḇ‛am, saying, 4) “Your father made our yoke hard, and now, lighten the hard service of your father, and his heavy yoke which he put on us, then we serve you.”
The Northern tribes have called “their” king, Yarob’am back from where he had been hiding from Solomon in Egypt. He met with “his” people and then took their complaint before Rehoboam in Jerusalem.
Rehoboam asked his elders what to do. They suggested being lenient and merciful.
That wasn’t right in the eyes of Rehoboam.
1 Kings 12… 8) But he ignored the advice the elders gave him, and consulted the young men who had grown up with him, who stood before him.
Instead, he asked the young men who were his “yes men” in court. They said this:
… 10) And the young men who had grown up with him spoke to him, saying, “Say this to this people who have spoken to you, saying, ‘Your father made our yoke heavy, but you make it lighter on us.’ Say this to them, ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s waist! 11) And now, my father laid a heavy yoke on you, but I add to your yoke; my father flogged you with whips, but I, I flog you with scourges!’”
He listened to the wrong advice.
… 14) and he spoke to them according to the advice of the young men, saying, “My father made your yoke heavy, but I add to your yoke; my father flogged you with whips, but I, I flog you with scourges!”
Yarob’am and the Northern Tribes (all except for Yehudah, a portion of the Levites and a portion of Benyamin) turned against him and away from Jerusalem. I’m certain there were a lot in both lands that chose the opposite side of the debate for one reason or another.
Now, there is a critical verse sandwiched into this story that is mandatory reading and vitally essential in understanding the entire series that follows — all the way to today!
… 15) So the sovereign did not listen to the people, for the turn of events was from יהוה, in order to establish His word, which יהוה had spoken by Aḥiyah the Shilonite to Yaroḇ‛am son of Neḇat.
Remember Pharaoh’s hardened heart?
The Father allowed the same with Rehoboam — BECAUSE — it would lead to the fulfillment of the plan — the prophecy — spoken in… Torah.
… 16) And all Yisra’ĕl saw that the sovereign did not listen to them. Then the people answered the sovereign, saying, “What portion do we have in Dawiḏ? And there is no inheritance in the son of Yishai. To your mighty ones, O Yisra’ĕl! Now, see to your own house, O Dawiḏ!” So Yisra’ĕl went to their tents. {Footnote: Heb. Elohim, which the Scribes (Sopherim) later on emended to read “tents.” And that carried into later translations.} 17) But as for the children of Yisra’ĕl who dwelt in the cities of Yehuḏah, Reḥaḇ‛am [still] reigned over them.
The Northern tribe had their own gods, ones of stone, and wood, and metal. They had no eyes to see, no ears to hear, no voice to speak. They could neither do evil, nor good. Then the Northern tribes heard the “threat” of Rehoboam, they returned to their old idols (like the Galatians were doing in Sha’ul’s day) and rebelled against the kingdom the Almighty had established in David.
V18–23 lay out that Rehoboam was going to go wipe them all out and be their king by force. But the Father sent his messenger, a prophet named Shemayah {H8098 שְׁמַעיָה Shma`Yah (shem-aw-yaw’) — Yah has heard}, who told him:
… 24) Thus said יהוה, “Do not go up or fight against your brothers the children of Yisra’ĕl. Let every man return to his house, for this matter is from Me.”’” So, they obeyed the word of יהוה, and turned back, according to the word of יהוה.
Remember, this is ALL according to the plan of Elohim. Rehoboam, even though he was a flagrant fathead and full of himself, DID listen to the Word of Elohim when the prophet brought it to him. This is in accordance with prophecy.
Now we come to it. Yarob’am decided that he needed to rule over his newly acquired nation his way. He needed to prevent the people under his authority from returning to Jerusalem in obedience to the Father — whom they still worshiped alongside their idols — for the three annual Feasts of YHVH. He feared that if they did that, they would return to Yehudah as their sovereign kingdom.
… 26) And Yaroḇ‛am said in his heart, “Now the reign shall return to the house of Dawiḏ. 27) “If these people go up to do slaughterings {sacrifices} in the House of יהוה at Yerushalayim, then the heart of this people shall turn back to their master, Reḥaḇ‛am sovereign of Yehuḏah, and they shall kill me and go back to Reḥaḇ‛am sovereign of Yehuḏah.”
To stop his people from returning to Jerusalem to serve YHVH in obedience, even if they were also still committing spiritual adultery with whatever old false idol they already had, the king did this:
… 28) So the sovereign took counsel and made two calves of gold, and said to the people,
“It is too much for you to go up to Yerushalayim.
See, your mighty ones, O Yisra’ĕl, which brought you up from the land of Mitsrayim!”
… 29) And he set up one in Bĕyth Ěl, and the other he put in Dan. 30) And this matter became a sin, for the people went before the one as far as Dan 31) And he made the house of high places, and made priests from all sorts of people, who were not of the sons of Lĕwi.
Let’s lay these out:
- He had two golden calf idols created (oh, not this again! Don’t they ever learn?)
- He set them up as the Elohim of Israel — even going so far as to give those pieces of metal credit for the things the Almighty Yeho’Vah did for them in the past!
- He set up high places — Asher’im poles, pillars to idols, statues of Molech and Chemosh and Ba’al
- He appointed his own priests that were not Levites or trained in service to Yeho’Vah
And these are NOT all. He went on.
… 32) And Yaroḇ‛am performed a festival on the fifteenth day of the eighth new moon, like the festival that was in Yehuḏah, and he offered on the slaughter-place. So, he did at Bĕyth Ěl, slaughtering to the calves that he had made. And at Bĕyth Ěl he appointed the priests of the high places which he had made. 33) And he made offerings on the slaughter-place which he had made at Bĕyth Ěl on the fifteenth day of the eighth new moon, in the new moon which he had devised in his own heart. And he performed a festival for the children of Yisra’ĕl, and offered on the slaughter-place and burned incense.
→ Do you see what he did?
In addition to the idolatry and violations of the order of the priesthood according to the Father, he did an even greater sin:
He CHANGED the times of YHVH and created his OWN feasts.
… Uh, oh… Where’s he going with this.
You already know where that goes, but this is part of a greater lesson. The lessons you learn along the way only build up to the bigger lesson within.
But since you asked…
Here is a man who appoints himself king (you have to go back to read about this during Solomon’s reign). He reasserts his authority in defiance to the true king in the ordained kingly line — regardless of how huge of a fathead Rehoboam was — what does Sha’ul say about the governments over us? <1 Tim 2:2; Rom 13:1–7>
He realizes that he must assert his authority over his people to prevent them from returning to the true sovereign of Israel. So, he creates a whole army of fake gods to worship — starting with the 2 golden calls, a return to Egypt — along with all the fake practices and rituals and doctrines and dogmas. He assigns to the fake idols all of the glories of YHVH — gave away His credit to another. Then he says to the people, “I don’t want you to follow the OLD WAYS of YHVH. Therefore, I am going to give you NEW holy days to celebrate in ways that my new (fake) priests will design for you.”
OUCH!
→ Did I just recap the passage of Scripture or explain EXACTLY what Christianity did?
Or… both?
The sin of Yarob’am is he considered himself more authoritative than YHVH, gave away the Father’s glory to another, created fake holy days, AND taught others to follow his new made up ways through men who reveled in the power and glory of men.
Replace ONE word (and modify the pronouns appropriately) in the above paragraph with: Pope, or Christianity, or (your denomination), or you, and this paragraph still applies. Easter, Christmas, Valentine’s, Halloween, All-Saints, and on and on. If you are not Catholic and not familiar with what is inside a Catholic (or EOC) sanctuary/church, you may not fully appreciate the level of idolatry within Catholicism (less so, in the form of icons in the EOC).
The MANY deny that the fake holy days they celebrate are fake.
Just as those that followed Yarob’am, they are convinced that the traditions handed down to them from the authority and through their fathers are appropriate. When presented with the Scriptures that overwhelmingly contrast the non-Scriptural, false, made-up worship rituals added into the faith, the MANY prefer to deny the validity of the Scripture rather than release their false traditions.
Next in this mini-Series: Jeroboam Makes Things Worse
Originally published at https://aminoapps.com.
