1 Kings

The book of 1 Kings.

12. Rehoboam Becomes King; The Kingdom Divided

1 Samuel 12:19 And all the people said to Samuel, “Pray for your servants to the Lord your God, that we may not die, for we have added to all our sins this evil, to ask for ourselves a king.” 20 And Samuel said to the people, “Do not be afraid; you have done all this evil. Yet do not turn aside from following the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart. 21 And do not turn aside after empty things that cannot profit or deliver, for they are empty. 22 For the Lord will not forsake his people, for his great name's sake, because it has pleased the Lord to make you a people for himself. 23 Moreover, as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by ceasing to pray for you, and I will instruct you in the good and the right way. 24 Only fear the Lord and serve him faithfully with all your heart. For consider what great things he has done for you. 25 But if you still do wickedly, you shall be swept away, both you and your king.”

Our sin gets us into trouble as individuals. Sin also gets entire countries into trouble. The only way out is repentance and the love of God. In the modern day, the believing church (regardless of their nationality) is the people God has made for himself. If those of us in the church don’t fear God and serve him faithfully with all our heart, we can’t count on anything we do in this life lasting. Instead we’ll just have rotten fruit to be swept away. Don’t set your heart on empty things that lead away from God. Remember the great things God has done for you!

For the Israelites, it was in some ways too late. The first king chosen, Saul, sinned against God and had his blessing taken away.

13. The Man of God and the Idolatry of Jeroboam

1 Sam 13:13 And Samuel said to Saul, “You have done foolishly. You have not kept the command of the Lord your God, with which he commanded you. For then the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever. 14 But now your kingdom shall not continue. The Lord has sought out a man after his own heart, and the Lord has commanded him to be prince over his people, because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you.”

Here we learn an important principle: the ruler who keeps God’s commands perfectly will win an eternal kingdom.

We should sympathize with Saul here. God, too, has called us to be kings and rulers in some sense. And yet we’ve broken his commandments anyway. Thankfully, our hope doesn’t rest on our own ability to keep those commandments. God has given an eternal kingdom to Christ — he is the ruler who keeps God’s commands perfectly. And he shares that kingdom with us by our faith.

Saul decided that he didn’t want to obey when God commanded him to destroy the good things of the Amalekites. He wanted to keep some things for himself, and figured he could make it up to God with a token sacrifice. That’s uncomfortably close to the sort of deals we try to make up all the time. We think “I can disobey God a little bit here but I’ll make it up to him by doing something else good.” That’s the sort of sin you lose your kingdom over.

15. Reigns of Abijam and Asa in Judah

1 Sam 15:22 And Samuel said,

“Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices,

    as in obeying the voice of the Lord?

Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice,

    and to listen than the fat of rams.

23 For rebellion is as the sin of divination,

    and presumption is as iniquity and idolatry.

Because you have rejected the word of the Lord,

    he has also rejected you from being king.”

Don’t presume that you can come up with your own way to please God when you are rebelling against the things he has plainly stated in the scriptures. It’s not wrong to desire some power and authority, since that’s part of what we’re called to as men, but obeying God is the only way we can hope to hold onto it. God has taken away entire kingdoms before from disobedient men—why should you be surprised if he takes something small away from you?

Discussion Questions

Is there anything we see out in the world that unbelievers have that we’re tempted to envy?

When we fail to follow God’s commands, does he always take away our authority like he did with Saul?

(Sin has consequences. A business owner still remains a business owner when he sins; a father still remains a father when he sins… usually. But at a certain point enough unconfessed sin can accumulate that the business is lost, or a family gets broken apart.)

What does it mean for us to be men after God’s own heart?