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Chapter 12: The Political and Religious Schism
1 Kings 12:1-5 ~ The Assembly at Shechem and the appeal of the Northern Tribes
See the parallel passage in 2 Chronicles chapter 10. When Solomon died, his son Rehoboam, the son by the Ammonite princess Naamah (1 Kng 14:31), was appointed to succeed his father on the throne of Israel. One might assume that Rehoboam's coronation has taken place in Jerusalem like his father (1 Kng 1:32-40), but it appears that the northern tribes requested a Sacred Assembly at Shechem in the territory of Ephraim to affirm the kingship of Rehoboam. A similar assembly took place at Mizpah when Saul was chosen to rule Israel (1 Sam 10:17-27) and for David who had already been chosen of king of Judah when the elders of Israel came to him at Hebron to offer him the kingship of all Israel (2 Sam 5:1-4). Shechem was centrally located and was therefore a suitable site for tribal gatherings, and its history made it the ideal place for making political and religious covenants. It was also not a city controlled by the powerful tribe of Judah, Rehoboam's tribe.
Rehoboam's reply to their request is to give him three days before he gives them his answer. The three days may be literal or may simply refer to a short period of time.
Rehoboam
1 Kings 12:6-11 ~ Rehoboam seeks advice
Question: Rehoboam consulted what two groups of men? Whose advice does he follow?
Answer: He consulted the advisors of his father and his own friends. He rejected the sound advice of his father's advisors in favor of his friends.
1 Kings 12:20-25 ~ The political schism
See the parallel passage in 2 Chronicles chapter 11. The tribe of Judah remained loyal to Rehoboam and so did the tribe of Benjamin (verses 17 and 21). It was either out of loyalty to the House of David that the tribe of Benjamin remained as part of the kingdom of Rehoboam, or because they were not strong enough to break away from the much larger tribe of Judah just south of Benjaminite territory that included the city of Jerusalem, the royal capital and residence of the king.
Question: Rehoboam intended to go to war to keep the kingdom intact, but what was Yahweh's command through His prophet Shemaiah? What was God's reason for the command? See 1 Kng 11:39.
Answer: God forbade Rehoboam and the tribes of Judah and Benjamin to go to war against their Israelite "brothers." It was God's doing that the kingdom should be divided, and the reason was to humble the descendants of David.
1 Kings 12:26-33 ~ The religious schism
What began as a political schism now becomes a religious schism. Jeroboam realizes that as long as the northern tribes are worshiping at the Jerusalem Temple that the House of David will have influence over them and that influence will undermine his authority.
Question: What three things did Jeroboam initiate to discourage worship of Yahweh at the Jerusalem Temple?
Answer:
- He set up idols in other places of worship
- He instituted his own priesthood
- He instituted his own feast day
Jeroboam set up two major shrines: one at Bethel in central Israel and the other at Dan on the northern border. Notice that the place name "Bethel" will be mentioned nine times in this episode; nine is the symbolic number of judgment in Scripture (12:29, 30, 32 twice, 33 twice; 13:1, 4, and 10). Bethel, a place name meaning "place/house of God," was an Ephraimite town about fourteen miles north of Jerusalem (Josh 16:1; 1 Chr 7:28). This former "place of grace" will become a place of divine judgment.
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CHALLENGE: “Matthew’s genealogy of Jesus contradicts Luke’s. Matthew says Shealtiel’s father was Jeconiah, while Luke says it was Neri (Matt. 1:12; Luke 3:27). Similarly, Matthew says Joseph’s father was Jacob, while Luke says it was Heli (Matt. 1:16; Luke 3:23).”
DEFENSE: There are multiple explanations, given how Israelite genealogies worked.
Hebrew and Aramaic didn’t distinguish between fathers, grandfathers, and so on. All male ancestors were called “fathers” (see Day 106). Consequently, since one person can be descended from another by more than one line (see Day 85), both Jeconiah and Neri could have been Shealtiel’s “father” (male ancestor) if one genealogy skipped a generation. The same is true of Jacob and Heli with respect to Joseph.
Alternately, adoption (legal rather than biological descent) may have been involved. Shealtiel may have had a legal and a biological father. The same is true of Joseph. This is particularly relevant because of the levirite marriage custom, which required that if a man died childless, his brother was to marry the widow and father a son who was legally attributed to the line of the dead man (Deut. 25:5–6). The levir (Latin, “brother-in-law”) thus supplied a son for his deceased brother.
Given the ancient mortality rate, this situation was common. It is not surprising if it occurred more than once in the millennium between David and Jesus in their family tree.
It may have happened with respect to Shealtiel, and we have early testimony that it did happen with respect to Joseph. Early Christian writer Julius Africanus (c. A.D. 160–240) reported a tradition from Jesus’ surviving relatives in his day regarding the fatherhood of Joseph.
According to Jesus’ family, Joseph’s grandfather Matthan (mentioned in Matthew) married a woman named Estha, who bore him a son named Jacob. After Matthan died, Estha married his close relative Melchi (mentioned in Luke) and bore him a son named Heli. Jacob (mentioned in Matthew) and Heli (mentioned in Luke) were thus half brothers. When Heli died childless, Jacob married his widow and fathered Joseph, who was biologically the son of Jacob but legally the son of Heli (see Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History 1:6:7).
Regardless of which explanation is true, the fact that multiple explanations exist indicates that no contradiction has been shown.
Jimmy Akin, A Daily Defense: 365 Days (Plus One) to Becoming a Better Apologist
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