Admit it, this is one of those King’s of Israel we don’t really know all that much about. I guess being the 4th king we don’t really care, just like no one really knows who the 4th president of the United States is except for Jeopardy winners and a few history buffs. But, there’s a lot to learn from King Rehoboam, so my Sunday School class got to learn all about the 4th and final king of united Israel.
Rehoboam is obviously king after his dad Solomon, and saw all of Solomon’s decisions good and bad.
King Rehoboam’s Folly, listening to bad advice
At the very beginning of Rehoboam’s reign, all of Israel came to him and said “Our burden was heavy under your father, please lighten it.”
King Rehoboam went to his father’s advisors and they said, “They’re right, your Dad drove them hard, lighten the load.”
Then he went to his friends, who I always picture as frat boys potentially drunk, “Dude, if they think your father made their lives hard, wait till you get a hold of them.”
**I’m sure they said, Dude, it’s right there in the original Hebrew.**
And so King Rehoboam did what any young man would do, he followed the advice he liked, and as a result half of Israel rebelled.
So, this was part of the area we focused on.
Fixing King Rehoboam’s problem: how to not take advice
We talked through the discussion questions, and while we could talk about the new king up in Northern Israel and his problems, right now that’s not what my kids were going to struggle with. They need to know how to ignore advice from a friend. Because 9 year old boys come up with spectacularly stupid ideas, and 7 year old girls can be hopelessly mean at times.
We brainstormed for a while, how to ignore advice and still remain friends, and here’s the results from the kids:
- “I’m sorry, I won’t follow the advice.”
- Give them candy (because to a young kid it’s all solved with candy)
- “No thank you, but I want to…….”
- Change the topic.
- Teach them why it’s a bad idea (that might have been my suggestion)
What advice would you add in?
King Rehoboam’s wisdom
King Rehoboam did one thing right. He fortified Judah’s walls after the Civil War.
Because this is wildly popular to do with my kids, we built a Lego city, and rebuilt the walls. The boys were especially happy when I said they could use anachronistic figures in their city.
They built away, and while they built, I cleaned, and cleaned the disaster zone that is my upstairs. I think any burglar coming into my house would die as they tripped over things. Forget an alarm system, my floor will do it all by itself.
After they built we talked about how those walls represent something else. They represent protection from temptations and from problems that might come. How can we rebuild our walls?
Other Resources for King Rehoboam
(amazon affiliate links)
Buck Denver Asks: What’s in the Bible? Volume Five – Israel Gets a King
Okay, aaaaaaannnnnnd that’s it. There’s not a whole lot on him, almost nothing. Zero, Zilch.
As always you can get the PDF by clicking on the picture up above or on: King Rehoboam’s Folly.
See what happens to the Northern kingdom in Kings of Northern Israel.
Ohh I so think we need to do this lesson.. my son was the one giving bad advice this week 🙁 So this would be a good way to bring it home the other way.. to show why it is bad to influence people to do something you know is wrong!
Oh that would be a good way to teach this, and could really drive the point home.
Of course, if Rehoboam’s father had followed God’s advice, Rehoboam might not have had to face the problems he did. Probably a good lesson for us as parents, too.
Very, very true. One of the sad things I’ve noticed in studying the kings of Israel and Judah is how rarely you get a good kind who is followed by another good king. It’s like the fathers did these great things, but they were too busy to parent their children and teach them the right thing.
I love the lesson you pulled from this Bible story!
Thanks! I think it’s one all of us have struggled with at some point.
Can you not just move to the UK, preferably next door to me, and then include my children in your children’s bible lessons?
Very tempting…….
Though you can just use the same materials. I’m putting it all up there for you to use 😉
You know, it seems to be a trend with rulers of today too – two good rulers rarely follow each other, regardless of what you consider to be “good”. Perhaps that explains a lot of what’s happening in the world. But I like the lesson about ignoring bad advice and how you made this Biblical story relevant to your kids. I have to ask daughter what she would do.
It really is, though in an elected government, I’d say it’s due to the fickleness of people. It certainly seems that way for President, one party is in control for 2 terms and then people tire of seeing that party in control so they vote for the other party (barring extreme stupidity or bungling on the part of the president).
My kids answers on what to do became progressively sillier after a while.