Unfair Labor Practices Used by God To Work His Plan - 1 Kings 10-13

1 Kings 12:6-11 (ESV)

Then King Rehoboam took counsel with the old men, who had stood before Solomon his father while he was yet alive, saying, “How do you advise me to answer this people?” And they said to him, “If you will be a servant to this people today and serve them, and speak good words to them when you answer them, then they will be your servants forever.” But he abandoned the counsel that the old men gave him and took counsel with the young men who had grown up with him and stood before him. And he said to them, “What do you advise that we answer this people who have said to me, ‘Lighten the yoke that your father put on us’?” And the young men who had grown up with him said to him, “Thus shall you speak to this people who said to you, ‘Your father made our yoke heavy, but you lighten it for us,’ thus shall you say to them, ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s thighs. And now, whereas my father laid on you a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke. My father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions.’”

The above story is the further story of the fall of Israel.   Solomon was a great king but in the end he served other gods. That was the beginning of Israel’s destruction.   Solomon’s son, Rehoboam was put in his place.   Soon after Solomon’s death the working class of the people came to Solomon, lead by Jeroboam.   We should think of Jeroboam as the head union steward who is coming to Rehoboam with a labor dispute.   The workers thought that Solomon had instituted some unfair labor practices and they wanted this corrected by the son.    God is going to use this to divide the kingdom and give ten tribes to Jeroboam and two tribes to Rehoboam.   God used a labor strike to disrupt leadership.  Because of Solomon’s sin, God allowed a conflict to foster hard feelings. He used those hard feelings to create the above situation.   Rehoboam should have listened to his father’s counselors.  They didn’t think Jeroboam and the working class’ request was out of line.    Instead, however, Rehoboam listened to the counsel of his young peers.   God would use this to divide the kingdom, something He previously told Jeroboam He would do (see chapter 11).    God used a labor dispute, the foolish counsel of youth and the ignorance of a king to bring about the split of Israel.   We have to remember that God is not the author of sin but at times He does allow sin to go free.  He uses unrestrained sin to create calamities He intended in order to bring about His greater purpose.   God is constantly bringing about His purpose and uses difficulties like the above to do so.  

Isaiah 45:5-7 (ESV)

I am the LORD, and there is no other,

besides me there is no God;

I equip you, though you do not know me,

that people may know, from the rising of the sun

and from the west, that there is none besides me;

I am the LORD, and there is no other.

I form light and create darkness;

I make well-being and create calamity;

I am the LORD, who does all these things.