Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Evening Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/ev/ev20030511.htm

1 AND 2 KINGS: ENJOYING GOD'S BLESSINGS IN AN APOSTATE ERA
Part VIII: Discerning From Disciplinary Trials God's Critique Of Our Sin
(1 Kings 11:9-13, 14-40 with 1 Kings 3:1; 4:26 and Deuteronomy 17:14-17)
  1. Introduction
    1. When God disciplines the believer for sin, He does not "play a guessing game" with him, but communicates clearly in the discipline so as to instruct the believer on where he needs to repent.
    2. This fact is clearly illustrated in God's discipline of Solomon in 1 Kings 11 as follows:
  2. Discerning From Disciplinary Trials God's Critique Of Our Sin, 1 Kings 11; 3:1; 4:26; Deut. 17:14ff.
    1. When Solomon turned his heart from worshiping the Lord to follow after pagan gods (1 Kings 11:9), God punished Solomon by raising up rival human rulers to plague him as follows (1 Kings 11:14-40):
      1. God stirred up a rival ruler from the south in Hadad of Edom to punish Solomon, 1 Kings 11:14-22:
        1. God allowed Hadad, a descendant of the king of Edom, to escape alive as a little boy the purge of Joab when he defeated the Edomites during King David's reign, 1 Kings 11:14-17.
        2. Hadad's helpers fled down from Edom which is southeast of the Dead Sea until they came to the land of Midian, and from there they crossed the Gulf of Aqaba into the Sinai Peninsula, picking up more helpers from Paran there until they finally settled in Egypt with Pharaoh's blessing, 11:18-20;
        3. The Macmillan Bible Atlas, p. 67, maps 102 and 103.
        4. When David died, regardless of his good life in Egypt, God allowed Hadad to be motivated to get revenge, and thus he began to oppose Solomon's rule from the south of Israel, 1 Kings 11:21-22.
      2. God stirred up a rival ruler from the north in Rezon of Syria to punish Solomon, 1 Kings 11:23-25:
        1. Rezon was a rebel and runaway servant of the king of Zobah north of Israel, 1 Kings 11:23.
        2. When David defeated Zobah, and then overcame the Syrians who had tried to come to the help of Zobah, Rezon gained control of Damascus in the power vacuum, and controlled the city as a formidable and spiteful foe of Israel, 1 Kings 11:24-25 with 2 Samuel 8:3-8.
        3. Thus, God stirred up Rezon from the north to plague Solomon as a rival ruler against his rule.
      3. God stirred up a rival ruler from within Solomon's nation in Jeroboam to punish Solomon, 11:26-40:
        1. Solomon conscripted many forced laborers in Israel to built up various areas in the city, 11:26-27.
        2. In the process, he saw an able leader among these laborers in Jeroboam, so he put him in charge of the workers from the large group of workers from Joseph's tribes of Ephraem and Manasseh, 11:28.
        3. Yet, the prophet, Ahijah approached Jeroboam with the same news given to Solomon, that God would rend from Solomon's son all but one tribe and hand Israel to Jeroboam, 11:29-39; 11:9-13.
        4. Thus, Solomon tried to kill Jeroboam, so Jeroboam fled to Egypt's pharaoh for refuge, 11:40.
    2. If we examine Solomon's sin that produced God's disciplinary response, we note this PUNISHMENT fit Solomon's SIN so he could identify the sin and more readily desire to repent of it (as follows):
      1. Solomon had gone after false gods due to the influence of his pagan wives, cf. 1 Kings 11:1-3.
      2. Well, Solomon had married these wives initially to arrange for peace treaties with foreign nations so as to preserve his reign from rival ruling opposition, cf. 1 Kings 3:1.
      3. Also, Solomon had multiplied horses to himself in order to establish a strong military force of offset threats of rival rulers from other nations, cf. 1 Kings 4:26.
      4. However, God had specifically WARNED Israel's kings not to multiply wives or horses to themselves, meaning they were to trust in God for the security of their administrations, Deut. 17:14-17.
      5. Thus, as Solomon had looked to errant WAYS to offset the threat of rival rulers on his administration, ways that led to his departure from the Lord, God then stirred up what Solomon had most wanted to avoid in disciplining Solomon -- trouble with rival rulers on three fronts at once!
Lesson: When Solomon used BIBLICALLY ERRANT METHODS to SECURE his RULE, God's DISCIPLINE actually FINGERED that SIN by PLAGUING Solomon with what had concerned him MOST in the FIRST place -- his CONCERN about CHALLENGING OPPONENTS to his REIGN!

Application: (1) If we are TROUBLED on SEVERAL FRONTS with TRIALS over things that MOST CONCERN us, we must CHECK to see if GOD is FINGERING some SIN, and IF so, REPENT! (2) In such trials, we should check our METHODS and DEVOTION to GOD to be sure they are upright!