Continuing our series on the Biblical Art of War, let us examine the issue of righteous rebellion.  Does God ever authorize rebellion, and if so, what are the limitations and terms of that authorization?  As some unprincipled people use the example of Jeroboam’s rebellion as an example, let us examine the reasons provided in the Bible for Jeroboam’s rebellion being authorized but also for his own behavior being condemned.  Let us remember that God’s concern is not the security and comfort of people in power but rather the obedience of His people to His ways.  In examining Jeroboam’s rebellion today, let us focus on the essential aspect of religious infedelity, the often neglected part of Jeroboam’s rebellion but its core issue for God, and pass over the issue of taxes and exploitation for another day.

The Religious Justification For Jeroboam’s Rebellion

We must at first concede that Jeroboam’s rebellion was authorized, even commanded, by God.  Most rebellions are not, and are rather caused by the ambitious desires of power hungry men, but the fact that God sometimes commands rebellion means that we must understand the true religious grounds of legitimacy and not consider legitimacy a matter merely of holding office and position.  The conduct of authorities must be taken into consideration, as will be shortly seen.

1 Kings 11:26-28 gives the preparation of Jeroboam for a position of authority:  “Then Solomon’s serant, Jeroboam the son of Nebat, an Ephraimite from Zereda, whose mother’s name was Zeruah, a widow, also rebelled against the king.  And this is what caused him to rebel against the king:  The man Jeroboam was a mighty man of valor, and Solomon, seeing that the young man was industrious, made him the officer over all the labor force of Joseph.”

Here we see the beginning of the “apology” of Jeroboam, justifying his rebellion.  Students of the Bible and of ancient near east texts will realize that the justifications of rebellion by appealing to heavenly power was not unknown either in the Bible or in other nations of the Ancient Near East.  For example, the template of the “Apology of Hattusili” justifies his rebellion against his nephew in the vein of propaganda, predictably showing all of the blame as belonging to the misrule of his nephew [1].  The Bible, though, gives its justification for rebellion a more balanced flavor, showing the specific human mistakes of people on both sides even as it gives limited justification for rebellion.  For example, the last half of 1 Samuel forms an “Apology” for David, but a much less one-sided one than the Apology of Hattusili.  If we see a one-sided apology for rebellion that completely looks over unethical behavior and selfish desire for power on the side of the apologists while painting the opponents with all kinds of accusations of being satanically inspired and wicked beyond measure, we know that we are dealing with a heathen justification and not a biblically obedient one.

Moving right along, we see the justification of Jeroboam’s rebellion in 1 Kings 11:29-40:  “Now it happened at that time, when Jeroboam went out of Jerusalem, that Ajijah the Shilonite met him on the way; and he had clothed himself with a new garment, and the two were alone in the field.  Then Ajijah took hold of the new garment that was on him, and tore it into twelve pieces. And he said to Jeroboam, “Take for yourself ten pieces, for thus says the Lord, the God of Israel:  ‘Behold, I will tear the kingdom out of the hand of Solomon and will give ten tribes to you (but he shall have one tribe for the sake of My servant David, and for the sake of Jerusalem, the city I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel), because he has [that is, Solomon, according to the Syriac] forsaken Me, and worshiped Astoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, Chemosh the god of the Moabites, and Milcom the god of the people of Ammon, and have not walked in My ways to do what is right in My eyes and keep My statues and My judgments, as did his father David.  However, I will not take the whole kingdom out of his hand, because I have made him ruler all the days of his life for the sake of My servant David, whom I chose because he kept my commandments and my statutes.  But I will take the kingdom out of his son’s hand and give it to you–ten tribes.  And to his son I will give one tribe, that My servant David may always have a lamp before Me in Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen for Myself, to put My name there.  So I will take you, and you shall reign over all your heart desires, and you shall be king over Israel.  Then it shall be, if you heed all that I command you, walk in My ways, and do what is right in My sight, to keep My statues and My commandments, as My servant David did, then I will be with you and build for you an enduring house, as I built for David, and will give Israel to you.  And I will afflict the descendants of David because of thus, but not forever.'”  Solomon therefore sought to kill Jeroboam.  But Jeroboam arose and fled to Egypt, to Shishak the king of Egypt, and was in Egypt until the death of Solomon.”

Let us examine what this justification for rebellion entailed.  First, God inspired his prophet Ahijah to perform a “symbolic action” to show Jeroboam that God was granting him ten tribes to rule because Solomon had followed heathen religious beliefs and abandoned the exclusive worship of God according to His statues and His commandments.  The justification over and over again states how David was faithful and was granted an enduring house and rule over Jerusalem for his descendants because of obeying God’s laws and commandments.  Jeroboam was given the chance to be another ruler like David if he showed the same faithfulness to God as David did.  His territorial extent was limited to prevent him from taking over the kingdom of Israel from David’s house, and was made conditional on his obedience to God, who was giving him this kingdom, with the warning that its continued hold for his family depended on his obedience and faithfulness.  The justification, and its limitations, were very clear to Jeroboam, and his time in exile in Egypt, like the exile of David in Gath, ought to have impressed upon him the need to rely on God.

Jeroboam Is Found Not Worthy

However, Jeroboam was not faithful as David was, despite being told over and over again that Biblical legitimacy of authority is not based on family line or the possession of offices but on one’s faithfulness to God and obedience to Him.  Jeroboam acted in his insecurity to set up a rival religious system and therefore He was pronounced as unfaithful.  Those who seek to divide the people of Israel (physical or spiritual) to secure their own position and power and to claim loyalty and a base of support for one’s self and one’s own ambitions are condemned by God as faithless traitors, just as Jeroboam was for his unbelief and his rebellion against the commanded religious unity of Israel.

This sin of Jeroboam is told in 1 Kings 12:25-33, a sin so massive that it is repeated over and over again in the accounts of the kings of Israel, none of whom met the high standard of righteousness of a David or Josiah or Hezekiah, or even the “mostly righteous” status of an Asa or Jehoshaphat:  “Then Jeroboam built Shechem in the mountains of Ephraim and dwelt there.  And he went out from there and built Penuel.  And Jeroboam said in his heart, “Now the kingdom may return to the house of David:  If these people go up to offer sacrifices in the house of the Lord at Jerusalem, then the heart of this people will turn back to their lord, Rehoboam, king of Judah, and they will kill me and go back to Rehoboam, king of Judah.”  Therefore the king asked advice, made two calves of gold, and said to the people, “It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem.  Here are your gods, O Israel, which brought you up from the land of Egypt!”  And he set up one in Bethel, and the other he put in Dan.  Now this thing became a sin, for the people went to worship before the one as far as Dan.  He made shrines on the high places, and made priests from every class of people, who were not of the sons of Levi.  Jeroboam ordained a feast on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, like the feast that was in Judah, and offered sacrifices on the altar.  So he did at Bethel, sacrificing to the dalves that he had made.  And at Bethel he installed the priests of the high places which he had made. So he made offerings on the altar which he had made at Bethel on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, in the month which he had devised in his own heart.  And he ordained a feast for the children of Israel, and offered sacrifices on the altar and burned incense.”

Let us examine what Jeroboam’s sin entailed and why he sinned so.  First, let us note that his sin was the same as Aaron’s sin in Exodus 32, setting up the “golden calf” worship.  In deliberately turning away the worship of Israel from God’s “centralized” system in Jerusalem to a “decentralized” system of local priests running their own high places without adherence to the laws and commandments of God for who should and who should not be a minister or how God should be worshiped according to the biblical standard, but one that would support his reign and combine church and state in the usual fashion of the heathen realms of the ancient Middle East (where religion gave legitimacy to the corrupt authoritarian monarchy and where the monarchy favored the corrupt aristocratic priesthood with land and money), Jeroboam flagrantly sinned against God.

Let us also note the reason why Jeroboam sinned–insecurity and a desire to consolidate his rule rather than accept God’s authority over him.  Jeroboam figured that because he was the king he got to make the rules–not understanding that in a godly realm it is God who makes the rules that the king is to not depart from either to the right or to the left (Deuteronomy 17:14-20).  If you desire the justification of God you have to behave according to His commandments and statutes and laws.  You cannot use the justification of divine support without submitting to divine authority, which any ordinary citizen who is a man of God can hold corrupt leaders accountable to (1 Samuel 2:27-36, 1 Kings 13:1-10).  Because Jeroboam sought to ensure his rule by forming his own religious organization to remove the loyalty of the people from their proper place to himself personally, God pronounced judgment on him.  Let us not behave likewise ourselves and so place ourselves under God’s judgment.

Conclusion

In concluding our analysis of the religious justification of godly rebellion, let us examine that for God obedience to His way of life is more important than title or position, and that God promises the longevity of power will follow faithful obedience.  Nonetheless, we must act in faith and obedience and let God reward rather than seek to make ourselves physically and emotionally secure through the corruption of religion in order to justify our rule.  Doing so will bring upon ourselves the judgment that we ourselves served in replacing other corrupt leaders–as Jeroboam replaced Solomon as ruler over the northern tribes of Israel but showed himself just as faithless to God, and therefore with just as ephemeral a rule for his own dynasty.  If we wish to form enduring institutions, we must do so in obedience to God’s ways, and not in unrighteous rebellion for power and prestige and position.  God ultimately only allows for righteous realms and institutions to endure, for He is the Ruler of the entire universe, all of whose inhabitants must give account to Him and show themselves obedient to His commandments, statutes, and laws.

[1] Trevor Bryce, The Kingdom of the Hittites (Oxford, UK:  Oxford University Press, 2005), 246-247.