May the mumbling commence!
Well, well, well… the sins of the father and grandfather
are not only visited on the son / grandson but they are also the only ones that
the Chronicler records. Apparently,
Rehoboam does not get treated with kid gloves or rose-colored glasses like
Solomon and David. Read from Second
Chronicles chapter eleven:
Rehoboam married his cousin Mahalath, the daughter of
David's son Jerimoth and of Abihail, the daughter of Eliab. (Eliab was one of
David's brothers, a son of Jesse.) Mahalath
had three sons – Jeush, Shemariah, and Zaham.
Later Rehoboam married another cousin, Maacah, the
daughter of Absalom. Maacah gave birth to Abijah, Attai, Ziza, and
Shelomith. Rehoboam loved Maacah more than any of his
other wives and concubines. In all, he had eighteen
wives and sixty concubines, and they gave birth to twenty-eight sons and sixty
daughters. Rehoboam made Maacah's son Abijah chief among
the princes, making it clear that he would be the next king. Rehoboam also wisely gave responsibilities to
his other sons and stationed them in the fortified cities throughout the land
of Judah and Benjamin. He provided them with generous provisions and arranged for
each of them to have several wives. (Verses 18-23)
Rehoboam had eighteen wives and sixty concubines. He did not outdo his father Solomon by a long
shot, but his multiple marriages are recorded by the Chronicler. Maybe it was another sign why the kingdom of
Israel was torn from Rehoboam…
I also find it interesting that the Chronicler recorded
the number of sons and daughters… and that the number of daughters more than
doubled the number of sons. Though it
probably happened to other families (having many more daughters than sons), it
went unrecorded. Interesting indeed…
And Rehoboam encouraged and opened the way for his sons
to have multiple wives as well. The
Chronicler sees and records many of the warts of Rehoboam. So much for the wisdom of the Davidic
dynasty!
Speaking of human wisdom in comparison with godly
wisdom, read from First Corinthians chapter one:
I know very well how foolish the message of the cross
sounds to those who are on the road to destruction. But we who are being saved
recognize this message as the very power of God. As the Scriptures say,
"I will destroy human wisdom and discard their most
brilliant ideas."
So where does this leave the philosophers, the
scholars, and the world's brilliant debaters? God has made them all look
foolish and has shown their wisdom to be useless nonsense. Since God in his
wisdom saw to it that the world would never find him through human wisdom, he has used our foolish preaching to save
all who believe. God's way seems
foolish to the Jews because they want a sign from heaven to prove it is true.
And it is foolish to the Greeks because they believe only what agrees with
their own wisdom. So when we
preach that Christ was crucified, the Jews are offended, and the Gentiles say
it's all nonsense. But to those called by God to salvation, both Jews and Gentiles, Christ
is the mighty power of God and the wonderful wisdom of God. This "foolish" plan of God is far wiser than the wisest of human
plans, and God's weakness is far
stronger than the greatest of human strength. (Verses 18-25)
Human wisdom and strength is exposed as the house of
cards that it is. God’s weakness is far
stronger than human strength. God’s
foolishness is far wiser than “wise” human plans.
Let’s embrace the weakness of a sacrificed Messiah. Let’s embrace the foolishness of God opening Godself
to scorn and abuse and death. It is the
mighty power of God. It is the wonderful
wisdom of God. Praise the Lord!
Enough mumbling for now…
Peace Out
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