Rehoboam
( ם עָבְחַרְ = "he enlarges the
people") Solomon his father had dreams of grandure for his son. He, like
many fathers, imagined his son would continue his work and grow the kingdom
even further. Hence his name…But Rehoboam falls short of the name given to him.
Solomon had taxed the people for many reasons,
the largest being his many wives’ needs. When it came to Rehoboam’s reign, the
people begged “Your father made our yoke heavy. Now therefore lighten the hard
service of your father and his heavy yoke upon us, and we will serve you."
After consulting with the Wise council, and his
“school” buddies. Rehoboam decided that he would multiply the taxes and pain of
the people. – He did this for a very strange reason, “For
my littlest finger is thicker than my father's loins.” Dr. Sandra Richter
pointed out that this is a great euphemism to say Rehoboam’s “man part” was
larger than his father’s thigh, or so he wanted to "prove."
When the rule of Rehobo'am was established and
was strong, he forsook the law of the LORD, and all Israel with him. (1Ch 12:1)
And Judah
did what was evil in the sight of the LORD
And when
all Israel heard that Jerobo'am had returned, they sent and called him to the
assembly and made him king over all Israel.
Here’s a profound thought that I’ve equated to
this passage for my own life. As New Testament believers we are called many names.
2 Cor. 5:20 – Ambassadors
John 8:31 – Disciples
Acts 11:26 – Christians
1 Peter 2:9 – Royal Priesthood
If you think through the names that the Lord and
Apostles had given to believers of Christ, before you and I were even born,
then we must heed our names unlike Rehoboam. So some simple questions.
Do you represent Christ correctly as an
ambassador represents a country?
Do you represent Christ as a student (disciple)
models his master?
Do you represent Christ as the namesake of
Christian (Christ-like-ones)?
Do you represent the Lord as a Holy servant of
the lord like a priest?
Our
Heavenly father has ambitions for us as his believers, but do we live up to our
namesake?
If we do
not properly represent as we should, there will be another Jeroboam עָבְרָיָ ם– "he
pleads the people's cause" to replace us. We are to
plead for those that we minister to. They shouldn’t need someone else.
So in
all you say in do. Live as Christ. – “For me to live is Christ and to die is
gain.”
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