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1 Kings: Rejection of Wisdom

You can listen to this article: http://bit.ly/firstkings

Hey there! This is Vina once again. Now, as promised, this will be the 2nd episode of my 1 Kings Journal. In the first one, I’ve talked about God’s restorative mercy towards David through blessing Solomon, his oldest son with Bathsheba.


After Solomon’s reign, the united Kingdom of Israel was split into 2: the northern, which retained the name “Kingdom of Israel” and the southern kingdom, which is Judah. The narrative discusses interchangeably the succession of each kingdom which can be confusing. So patience is necessary!


As a recap, King Solomon valued wisdom so much that he asked it from God and God granted it to him. We saw the wonders and benefits of wisdom. Sadly, his son and successor, King Rehoboam rejected it. When the forced laborers asked him to lessen their load, he did not listen to the sound advice of the elders but instead to his younger advisors.


[Side Note: these forced laborers were his father’s workers in the construction of the temple and the palace.]


He rejected the elders’ advice and did not lessen the laborers’ load. He even mocked their leader. And so, this led the northern tribes to rebelled and Kingdom of Israel separated.


[Please note that there was a time before that Israel, under King Ish-boseth, Saul’s son, was separate from Judah who chose David as their king.]


You know, wisdom starts with the fear of the Lord and humility of heart. We reject prudence and just judgement because we are arrogant and self-centered. We cannot accept that we are wrong. We feel that we are always right. And we are really making ourselves gods: holy and infallible in our sight.


King Rehoboam and the other kings rejected wisdom. To be fair, King Asa of Judah and his son and successor, King Jehoshaphat had been faithful and committed to God. But there were also times they rejected Him, which were stated in more detail in 1 and 2 Chronicles.


Because the kings had no fear of the Lord, they went on to prostituting themselves and their people to false gods. By doing so, they had set an incorrect, unholy royal endorsement to idolatry.


They rejected wisdom and so, they, their families and their constituents suffered horrible consequences. The Kingdom of Israel had very unstable, brutal power-grabbing successions. The land could not be at peace and unnecessary bloodshed is the norm. These wars and political volatility took a great toll on the social, economic and psychological well being of the people.


The most notable king who rejected God and wisdom altogether in 1 Kings is King Ahab of Israel. King Ahab is the son of Omri who also usurped power from the previous King Zimri. King Ahab married Jezebel, a Canaanite princess. Like Solomon, he was indoctrinated by his wife to worshipping other gods, in particular, Baal.


When he was also deciding on what to do with Ben- Hadad, the King of Aram, he listened to his advisors who just echoed his mistaken conviction to let him go. King Ahab listened to people who would just build up his selfish ego and would not lift a finger to correct him. He had forgotten that it was God who delivered Ben-Hadad to him as a punishment for him and the Arameans for belittling God, limiting Him as “God of hills, not of valleys”.


Furthermore, when the prophet Micaiah told him not to attack Ramoth Gilead, he just dismissed it as biased. He remarked that the prophet was always against him, that he advised such because he had always hated the king. He did not see Micaiah as helpful and concerned. Because his ego was hurt, he thought that Michaiah was just really against him. The rejection of this wise warning has cost him his life. He was killed in the battle of Ramoth Gilead.


Wisdom really played a big part in 1 Kings. If we humble down and listen to her, we will reap abundant benefits. But if we don’t, we will have to face the equally bad outcomes of our choices.


Another thing I’ve learned from 1 Kings is that the good guys (aka those who follow God) usually do not have it all. A faithful person could just be at the background, working for evil people, such as Obadiah who was King Ahab’s in charge for the palace. I could just imagine how scared and vulnerable he was.


If the King and Queen would decide to kill him for his beliefs or remove him from work or make up things to make him suffer, they could easily do so. He might also be thinking that he was an imposter, doubting his faithfulness to God because he was serving a master who rejects God. I really believe that he was dealing with conflicting values.


Moreover, Elijah, the Tishbite had faced persecution, loneliness, fear and exhaustion. I could feel the weight of what he was facing when he said, “I am alone..”, “they are trying to kill me”.., “I am the only one left”..., “I am tired”..


I admire this person. Right from the time he was introduced in the Bible, he depended solely on God. God’s provision was so great in his life. After prophesying that there will be drought because of Ahab worshipping Baal, he fled and God sustained him by having the ravens feed him. He was also fed by a widow whose son he healed.


He also challenged and defeated Baal’s prophets when he had his offering burned up miraculously at Mt. Carmel. Moreover, he made it rain after the long, long drought. Queen Jezebel was angry at him for killing Baal’s prophets. When he fled from Jezebel, he was fed by an angel which strengthened him to travel 40 days and nights to Mt. Horeb. Upon which, he experienced great wind, then earthquake, then fire and after a gentle whisper, asking him: “What are you doing here, Elijah?”


His travel of 40 days and nights and his encounter with God on Mt. Horeb in that gentle whisper… This was reminiscent of Moses’ experience of God when Israel was about to enter a covenant with Him.


God not only provided for him and enabled him to perform miracles but he also listened to him and granted his requests. When Elijah asked for a successor, he sent him to Elisha.


The lives of Obadiah and Elijah. They came from different backgrounds. But both loved God. Their stories were full of misery and hardships.The world is not for us. We are not promised easy, comfy lives.


Sometimes, we feel scared and alone because the people surrounding us may not approve of us. We may be labeled as weird and we may have to cut off relationships. We may face discrimination or bias because of our beliefs. We might be forced to self- censor ourselves because of fear we will offend someone. And we may get tired believing, preaching, keeping our faith, defending God and just doing the things we do.


But then, God will strengthen and provide for us. We might not be guaranteed a tangible reward but a spiritual one. So we just hang in there.



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