Jeroboam was from the tribe of Ephraim . Ephraim was Joseph’s second son whom Jacob blessed against
the will of Joseph- the father . Gen .48:13,17,18,19. No doubt , Jeroboam was
from the blessed tribe.
Solomon was the King of
Israel according to the will of God . There was a promise of God for David. God said “If your descendants follow my
decrees and covenant your offspring will
rule the nation” 2 samuel 7:16.
This was God’s promise
to David . It is true that during the
time of Solomon’s regime there was excess. The book of Deuteronomy
( Deut 17: 16,17) prescribes the
norm of a king . King Solomon exceeded all the limits prescribed there in the book of
Moses . Here ,Jeroboam , the official of
Solomon rebelled against the king
. He had organized the people of Israel for
a defection against Solomon under the pretext of King’s excess . God
never approves any one to act on behalf Him without His approval. As far as
people of Israel is concerned it was a relief for them to do something
against the excess they had suffered . Jeroboam’s action was something acceptable to them . They must have
thought ,after all Jeroboam does something against evil practices of the King
Solomon. Jeroboam was an official (
Overseer)in Kings elaborated work force .Seeing his movement against him, the
king was upset. Jeroboam had seen the
subtle danger ahead of him and ran away
to Egypt . During the time of
Rehoboam’s coronation as King ,he came
back to Israel to have treaty with Solomon’s son – the new king of Israel . Jeroboam represented on behalf of the people of Israel
.Their request seems to be very simple and genuine 1 king 12:1-7 . They should be exempted from
heavy tax his father Solomon imposed on them during his regime . ( Edited on 5th March )
King Rehoboam was young and reckless person ( 1
King 12: 10,11), the nation was divided in to two .God had his own Judgment for injustice . He never want man’s help until He desires so.God never expects man’s social work on His behalf .Under the
initiative of Jeroboam the nation was
divided ;ten tribes were with Jeroboam and two tribes were with Rehoboam . It was a deliberate faction instigated by Jeroboam .During Solomon’s reign there were many
actions that God never approved .
However , in order to keep his promise to David his father , God has kept His promise .
Solomon’s evil deeds are marked in 1 King 11: 3-6 .
Jeroboam’s greed for position and
organized rebellion against God was even
worst than that of Solomon’s evil deeds . When the nation was divided , Jeroboam built shrines on high places and appointed
priests from all sorts of people, even though they were not Levites.
1 King 12: 26-32. The motive behind his actions are quite transparent . He
wants position and fame at any cost .He did abominable things to God.
Dear Child of God , let us confirm our movement on line with Holy Spirit
of God . No one has any authority to take God’s mission in hand . Our sovereign God is always true and
He never tells anything contrary to His word
and Spirit . Is mushrooming of Churches- a phenomena of division or expansion
? In His grace, God expects corrections from individuals . Paul had mentioned
something out of pain , he mentioned, there are two types of evangelists .
(Phil 1: 15-18 ) It is true that some preach Christ
out of envy and rivalry, but others out of goodwill. The latter do so in love,
knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. The former preach Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely,
supposing that they can stir up trouble for me while I am in chains.
But what does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from
false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because of this I rejoice.
Please have the discernment as to how God views our ministry . Paul the apostle
, didn’t mind it for his own sake .But
what about you and me ? Would you ever
think ,how God views our ministry ?
No comments:
Post a Comment