Saturday, September 6, 2014

Saturday, September 6, 2014

1 Kings 12:1-20

We have an interesting passage from Kings today. I’m finding more and more that reading the Hebrew scriptures in piecemeal fashion is inadequate (though necessary in some contexts, like Sunday morning worship). Yet I’m also become more aware of the intriguing and powerful nature of the narratives. So today I will go a little bit into some stories that bookend today’s passage. 

The passage we have today provides details around the splitting up of Israel into two kingdoms into North and South. Under David (around 1000 BCE) there was unity, prosperity, and faithfulness to Yahweh, the God of the Israelite people. David, even with his faults (and he made some big mistakes), is an important and beloved figure. After David comes the reign of his son, Solomon (I had the opportunity of preaching a bit on him a few weeks ago.) Solomon, known for his wisdom, had a successful run, overall. He was rich and oversaw amazing building projects, most importantly the Temple in Jerusalem. But, like his father, he was not perfect (he seems to have fallen under the influence of his many foreign wives, and abandoned exclusive worship of Yahweh; see 1 Kings 11). His reign ended badly. 

In our story today, we have his successor, Rehoboam, making a fool of himself. He is clearly not a humble ruler, as we see how willing he is to ignore the advice of his experienced advisors, and instead goes with the aggressive, insulting strategy of his younger counselors. [Interesting that we can detect a couple ‘voices’ at play in 1 Kings: one (theological) attributes Solomon’s fall to disobeying God, while another voice (sociological) puts the blame on the way Solomon overburdened his labourers.] Rehoboam becomes king of the Southern Kingdom, which is smaller and less fertile, but, importantly, includes Jerusalem and the Temple.

Jeroboam (it can be confusing due to the similarity of their names, like ‘Cory’ and ‘Corey’ in our day!), who had been taking refuge in Egypt, then becomes ruler of the Northern Kingdom. I think there are deliberate allusions to Moses here. Jeroboam comes returns from Egypt, like Moses, to lead the people out of burdensome servitude to Rehoboam (who echoes Pharaoh). Jeroboam comes across really positively in our passage. But... if you keep reading, Jeroboam ends up placing two calf idols in the  Northern Kingdom (again, echoing the exodus story), one at the northern tip of the country, and another at the south. So even Jeroboam comes across badly. The Northern Kingdom didn’t last too long; it was conquered by the Assyrians in 722 BCE, but the South lasted longer. My Old Testament professor, Walter Deller, though, pointed out to our class that the more fascinating stories in Kings tend to take place in the North, and God was certainly active in the lives of the people. It is believed by many scholars that Kings is part of the ‘Deuteronomic History,’ which was a movement based in Jerusalem (the Southern Kingdom), so it was in the interest of the writers/editors to make the North look bad, as a sort of warning for the Southern Kingdom to remain faithful. (Though in 587/586 BCE Jerusalem was sacked by the Babylonians.) 

So what can we take away from today’s reading and whatever it is that I’ve come up with here? Well, my interest in the history of Israel, and the Biblical writers’ handling of it has been roused in my reading and research, and I hope yours has, too. I’m surprised at how quickly things went downhill after King David. It might help us to understand people’s expectations for the Davidic Messiah in Jesus’ day. People were looking to reclaim that glory, that security and prosperity, something that is so difficult to achieve and sustain. No wonder Jesus did not fit the image of ‘Messiah’ that many had. While most may have been looking for someone to lead a united rebellion against the occupying Roman forces, Jesus came with a message of peace and humility (though I would argue that this is precisely a rebellion against Rome and its values!). 

As we Anglicans struggle with the issue of unity, I hope that the reading of our stories can serve to remind us of the importance of modeling our lives on Christ, and of the limitations of schism. Remember, the Northern and Southern Kingdoms both had their heroes and villains (or someone, like Jeroboam who started off well and ended terribly), and in the end, both Kingdoms fell to their enemies. 

- Matthew Kieswetter