Scripture Reading: 1 Kings 11:9-13, 29-37; 12:1-331 Kings 13; 1 Kings 14:1-31a
There are many different ways of understanding the Bible. Brother Nee said that the kind of Bible you have is according to the kind of person you are. Every denomination and group has its own way of understanding the Bible. The Pentecostals know the Bible in their way, interpreting it without any governing principles. Roman Catholics know the Bible according to the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church. The inner-life people understand the Bible in their particular way. Fifty years ago Brother Nee and I considered the Brethren teachings to be the best, and during the years I have often consulted John Nelson Darby's Synopsis of the Books of the Bible. But in the past few years, in preparing for the life-studies on Job and the books of history, I did not consult the Brethren teachings. In these years the Lord has shown us something higher and more profound — God's eternal economy, the center and reality of which are Christ as the embodiment of the processed Triune God and the church as the organic Body of Christ. For the carrying out of His economy, God is dispensing Himself into us.
The divine dispensing is revealed in the book of Ephesians. The Brethren stress God's choosing and predestinating us in Ephesians 1, yet they do not point out that God's selection and predestination are organic matters. Verse 4 says that God has chosen us in Christ to be holy. To be holy means to be God in life and in nature but not in the Godhead. In the entire universe, only God is holy. God can make us holy only by dispensing His holy nature — that is, His holy element — into our being. When God regenerated us, He dispensed Himself into us as the holy element. Verse 5 says that God predestinated us unto sonship. This means that God has predestinated us to be His sons by dispensing. According to Ephesians 1 the church is the issue of the Triune God's dispensing and the ascended Christ's transfusing. In the last ten years the Lord has brought me to understand the Bible in this way.
Nearly all fundamental teachings are good. We appreciate these teachings and have built upon them. However, they have also delayed us and veiled us. Many fundamental teachers have become contented with the fundamental teachings, and we also have become somewhat contented with our understanding of the Bible. If fundamental teachings become a tradition to us, we will not seek to improve our knowing of the Bible. Brother Nee was never content with these teachings. He always pioneered to see something further.
Our vision concerning the revelation of the Bible is that God wants to re-create man. Created man was not the goal of God's purpose but only a step. God created man with His hand; He will re-create man with His life. He put created man in front of the tree of life, indicating that He wanted to re-create man by regenerating man. Eventually, the regenerated man becomes Christ's bride and increase (John 3:29-30). Some Christians see regeneration in John 3, but they do not realize that in John 3 regeneration is for the producing of Christ's bride and increase. This shows that there are different levels in understanding the Bible.
With this in mind, let us now go on to consider the division of the kingdom of Israel and the reigns of Rehoboam over Judah and of Jeroboam over Israel.
In 1 Kings 11:9-13, 29-37 we have an account of the division of the kingdom of Israel.
This division was due to the fall and corruption of Solomon (vv. 9-13). In verse 11 Jehovah said to Solomon, "Because you have done this and have not kept My covenant and My statutes, which I commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom away from you and give it to your servant."
The kingdom of God's elect was split into two: the southern kingdom, the kingdom of Judah, of one tribe (vv. 13, 36) and the northern kingdom, the kingdom of Israel, of ten tribes (v. 35). Judah was genuine, but Israel was a division in apostasy.
The reign of Rehoboam over Judah was a reign over just one tribe (v. 43b; 12:1-24; 14:21-31a).
Rehoboam, a son of Solomon, was born of an Ammonitess (14:21, 31).
Rehoboam continued the reign after Solomon (11:43b).
In 12:1-24 we see that Rehoboam suffered the division of the kingdom and lost ten tribes.
The division of the kingdom and the loss of ten tribes were caused by Jeroboam's rebellion. There were certain factors in the heart of the people that caused them to rebel, and Jeroboam took advantage of these factors to instigate the people's revolt (vv. 1-3).
Jeroboam took Solomon's extraordinary luxurious life and his heavy levying on the people as the cause of his rebellion (vv. 4-5).
Verses 6 through 15 show us the foolishness of Rehoboam in facing the situation. Rehoboam took counsel with the elders who had attended Solomon his father. However, he forsook their counsel and instead followed the counsel of the young men who had grown up with him, refusing Jeroboam's request to lighten the yoke that Solomon had placed upon them.
Verses 16 through 20 tell us that the revolt burst out. Israel rebelled against the house of David (v. 19) and they made Jeroboam king over all Israel (v. 20).
Rehoboam struggled to wage war against Jeroboam, but he was stopped by God (vv. 21-24).
Rehoboam was enthroned when he was forty-one years of age, and he reigned over Judah for seventeen years (14:21). Under his reign the people of Judah did evil in the sight of Jehovah, above all the sins which their fathers had committed, and provoked God to jealousy (vv. 22-24). In the fifth year of his reign, Rehoboam was defeated and robbed by the king of Egypt (vv. 25-28).
Rehoboam fought with Jeroboam continually. When Rehoboam died he was buried with his fathers in the city of David (vv. 29-31a; 15:6).
Jeroboam reigned over Israel of ten tribes (11:26-40; 12:1-20, 25-33; 13:1—14:20a).
Jeroboam was an able servant of Solomon (11:26-28).
Jeroboam was ordained by God to reign over ten tribes of Israel (vv. 11-13).
The reign of Jeroboam was foretold by Ahijah the prophet (vv. 29-39). Ahijah took the new garment that was upon him and tore it into twelve pieces. Then he said to Jeroboam, "Take ten pieces for yourself; for thus says Jehovah, the God of Israel, I am now tearing the kingdom out of the hand of Solomon and giving the ten tribes to you" (v. 31).
Solomon sought to kill Jeroboam, and Jeroboam fled to Egypt and stayed there until the death of Solomon (v. 40).
As we have pointed out, Jeroboam instigated the rebellion against King Rehoboam, the son of Solomon (12:1-19).
Jeroboam was enthroned by the people of the ten tribes of Israel (v. 20).
In 12:25-33 and 13:33-34 we have an account of the apostasy of Jeroboam.
Jeroboam made two calves of gold, putting one in Bethel and the other in Dan, in order to distract his people from worshipping God in Jerusalem (12:25-30). God had ordained that His people come together three times a year in Jerusalem. Jeroboam was afraid that the ten tribes would return to their rightful king if they went to worship God in Jerusalem. Thus, he set up two worship centers, saying that it was not convenient to travel to Jerusalem. The excuse of convenience also is used to justify today's denominations. Jeroboam's apostasy broke God's ordination of having one unique worship center in the holy land for keeping the unity, the oneness, of the children of Israel (Deut. 12:2-18). This became a great sin and caused the people to worship idols.
Jeroboam built a temple at the high places and appointed priests from among the common people who were not of the tribe of Levi (1 Kings 12:31). Whereas God had ordained that the tribe of Levi would be the priests, Jeroboam appointed common people to be priests.
Jeroboam ordained a feast in the eighth month, on the fifteenth day of the month, like the feast that was in Judah (v. 32a), doing what he had devised in his own heart. He might have told the people that it was not necessary for them to go to Jerusalem in order to have a feast.
Jeroboam offered sacrifices on the altar at Bethel to the calves that he had made, and he placed in Bethel the priests of the high places (vv. 32b-33a).
In his apostasy Jeroboam ordained a feast for the children of Israel, and, although he was not a priest, he went up to the altar to burn incense (v. 33b).
The apostasy of Jeroboam in the above five items could be considered a type of the apostasy of today's Christianity.
First Kings 13:1-32 is a record of God's judgment on the altar at Bethel made by Jeroboam. This judgment was carried out by a man of God from Judah (vv. 1-10). This man of God was then deceived by an old prophet to take the way against God's commandment and was torn apart by a lion (vv. 11-32).
In 14:1-18 we have Ahijah's prophecy concerning the tragic ending of Jeroboam. Jeroboam sent his wife in disguise to see Ahijah the prophet in Shiloh, hoping to get some good news concerning his son Abijah (vv. 1-5). Instead of giving good news, Ahijah the prophet, in a prophecy from God, told the wife of Jeroboam that because of Jeroboam's evils in his apostasy, God would destroy Jeroboam and his whole family as a man sweeps dung until it is all gone (vv. 6-18).
Jeroboam reigned twenty-two years over the ten tribes of Israel. His life was ended by the severe punishment of God (vv. 19-20a).
