A Lesson from King Rehoboam

The worst nuclear accident took place at Chernobyl on April 26, 1986.  It shouldn’t have happened.  The University of Pacific Review (Winter, 1991) gave this account: “There were two electrical engineers in the control room that night, and the best thing that could be said for what they were doing is they were ‘playing around’ with the machine.  They were performing what the Soviets later described as an unauthorized experiment.  They were trying to see how long a turbine would ‘free wheel’ when they took the power off it.  Now, taking the power off that kind of a nuclear reactor is a difficult, dangerous thing to do, because these reactors are very unstable in their lower ranges.  In order to get the reactor down to that kind of power, where they could perform the test they were interested in performing, they had to manually override six separate computer-driven alarm systems.  One by one the computers would come up and say, ‘Stop!  Dangerous!  Go no further!’  And one by one, rather than shutting off the experiment, they shut off the alarms and kept going.  You know the results: nuclear fallout that was recorded all around the world, from the largest industrial accident ever to occur in the world.”

Thirty operators and firemen died within three months due to radiation poisoning.  Many more died over time.  And the area around Chernobyl became a wasteland for the next several decades. 

This tragedy happened because two men took more interest in their own entertainment than in the wellbeing of multitudes of people who worked or lived around them.

When concern for others is lacking, horrible things happen.

King Solomon did many great things.  He expanded the borders of Israel to the largest they have ever been.  He built a magnificent temple to honor God.  He established strong fortresses in every corner of the nation.  He constructed beautiful buildings.  But Solomon’s great accomplishments came at a heavy price.  The people were taxed steeply, and people were conscripted into Solomon’s labor force.  It was a difficult time for the common person in Israel. 

When Solomon died, his 41-year-old son Rehoboam succeeded him as King of Israel.  The weary citizens of the land came to him and pleaded with him, “Your father made our yoke heavy.  Now therefore lighten the hard service of your father and his heavy yoke that he placed on us, and we will serve you” (2 Chronicles 10:4).  Rehoboam turned to the older persons who had attended Solomon, and he asked them, “How do you advise me to answer this people?”  They answered him, “If you will be kind to this people and please them, and speak good words to them, then they will be your servants forever.”  That, however, is not what Rehoboam wanted to hear, so he turned, instead, to young men who had grown up with him.  They told Rehoboam, “Thus you should speak to the people who said to you, ‘Your father made our yoke heavy, but you must lighten it for us’; tell them, ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s loins.  Now, whereas my father laid on you a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke.  My father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions’” (verses 6-11).

Like the men who overrode the computer-driven alarm system at Chernobyl, Rehoboam overrode the wisdom of the older advisers.  The consequences were as tragic.  Ten northern tribes rebelled against Rehoboam, dividing the nation of Israel forever. 

When concern for others is lacking, horrible things happen.

General Norman Schwarzkopf observed, “The main ingredient of good leadership is good character.  This is because leadership involves conduct, and conduct is determined by values.  You may call these values by many names.  ‘Ethics,’ ‘morality,’ and ‘integrity’ come to mind, but this much is clear: Values are what makes us who we are.” 

Rehoboam valued the expansion of his wealth over concern for his people.  What he got from this was the anger of the citizens and the collapse of the nation.

Mark Labberton points out, “Biblical wisdom is:

• The truth and character of God
• Lived
• In context.

When all three of those elements converge, we have the makings of wisdom.  When any of them is lacking, we have the beginnings of folly.”

It leaves us wondering: What great things might have happened in the nation of Israel if the truth and character of God had been lived out in context in the life of Rehoboam.  As it was, though, integrity and compassion were lacking in the heart of the king.  As a result, folly abounded and tragedy ensued. 

If we can learn anything from the life of King Rehoboam, let it be this: Compassion and integrity are needed in the character of a leader.  When compassion for others is lacking, horrible things happen.