Setting a Bad Example – 1 Kings 14:21-31

An argument has been made of late that when we elect someone to office it doesn’t matter if their character is bad. What matters is their platform or their ability to appoint supreme court justices, etc. But we will never fail to suffer the consequences of immoral leadership.

Judah, the southern kingdom, recently separated from the northern ten tribes of Israel and still seating a Davidic descendant on the throne, is no exception to the rule of the consequences of immoral leadership.

Now Rehoboam the son of Solomon reigned in Judah. Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city that the LORD had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, to put his name there. His mother’s name was Naamah the Ammonite. And Judah did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, and they provoked him to jealousy with their sins that they committed, more than all that their fathers had done. For they also built for themselves high places and pillars and Asherim on every high hill and under every green tree, and there were also male cult prostitutes in the land. They did according to all the abominations of the nations that the LORD drove out before the people of Israel.

In the fifth year of King Rehoboam, Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem. He took away the treasures of the house of the LORD and the treasures of the king’s house. He took away everything. He also took away all the shields of gold that Solomon had made, and King Rehoboam made in their place shields of bronze, and committed them to the hands of the officers of the guard, who kept the door of the king’s house. And as often as the king went into the house of the LORD, the guard carried them and brought them back to the guardroom.

Now the rest of the acts of Rehoboam and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? And there was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam continually. And Rehoboam slept with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of David. His mother’s name was Naamah the Ammonite. And Abijam his son reigned in his place. (1 Kings 14:21-31, ESV)

Solomon’s son, Rehoboam, has a relatively short reign, dying at age 57. During his reign Judah, the southern kingdom, does evil by committing idolatry, provoking God to jealousy. This is the legacy of Solomon, who has led his people by example in worshiping false gods. Yahweh knows that He is the best One for His people to worship and that they bring destruction on themselves otherwise, so He “jealously” yearns for them, but at the same time does not hesitate to discipline them, sending Egypt to plunder them the way Israel plundered Egypt 400 or more years before when they left.

So now Judah has become like the nations God drove out before them. This was God’s judgment on these nations and now it seems Judah is just as guilty and deserving of exile from the land. His brother Israel, the northern kingdom, has become his enemy and they are in constant battle. They too have succumbed to idolatry. The people of God are in a very bad place and ungodly leadership played a big role in that.

Wherever you lead you play a role in the spiritual health of those you lead. Your example makes a difference. Perhaps you are not leading at all and God is telling you to. That bad place you see people in is a place God wants to use you to lead them out of. Something must be done. Will you do it? A favorite preacher of mine, Bill Hybels, talks about God giving us a Popeye moment (please watch it), where, like Popeye, we see a situation that is wrong and say, “That’s all I can stands and I can’t stands no more” and uses us to lead change. God wants to be our spinach to empower us to do something about it.