Daily Readings and Thought for August 17th. “SO THE KING TOOK COUNSEL”
An important lesson from our reading of 1 Kings 12 is how different people âtook counsel.â Solomon was dead and the leaders of the people came to his son Rehoboam saying, âYour father made our yoke heavy. Now therefore lighten the hard service of your father ⌠and we will serve you.â [v.4]  Itâs rather like people telling a political party to lighten our tax burden and we will vote for you! Solomonâs burden must have been heavy with all the things he had undertaken to build, not just the Templre and his own house! Ecclesiastes ch. 2 illustrates some of the other things. These all needed financing.Â
Rehoboam âtook counsel with the old menâ who had served with his father and they say, âspeak good words to them.â [v.7] Â Â But Rehoboam then asks the young men who had grown up with him and they gave the opposite advice – so he âabandoned the counsel that the old men gaveâ [v.8] and responded âaccording to the counsel of the young men.â [v.8]Â
  This results in a rebellion and the formation of a separate kingdom of the 10 northern tribes who appoint Jeroboam as their king; he had been their spokesman before Rehoboam. Now it is Jeroboamâs turn to seek counsel and he âsaid in his heart, âNow the kingdom will turn back to the house of David. If this people go up to offer sacrifices in the temple ⌠at Jerusalem, then the heart of this people will turn again ⌠they will kill me and return to Rehoboamâ.â [v.26,27] âSo the king (Jeroboam) took counselâ [v.28] and as a result he made âtwo calves of goldâ for the people in the north to worship as the âgods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.â [v.28].
  Tomorrow we will read of the condemnation âa man of Godâ came and made to him because he did this! There was no attempt by any of those seeking counsel to seek it from the Lord. In Jeremiah we read today of how âKing Zedekiah sent for Jeremiahâ for his counsel, but the prophet said, âIf I give you counsel, you will not listen to me.â [Ch.38 v.15]
How few seek counsel from God in our days! If they would carefully read his Scriptures that is where they would find counsel, but as Paul wrote to the Romans, quoting from Psalm 36, âthere is no fear of God before their eyesâ [ch. 3 v.18] Let us make sure the fear, that is, the awe of God is in our minds – of what God must be, so we can say, at the Judgement Seat, we constantly took counsel from his word to guide our lives.