But the word of Jehovah came to Shemaiah the man of God, saying,
Rehoboam has mustered 180,000 fighting men to force the ten tribes back under his rule. At that moment God speaks — not to the army, but to a prophet. What follows turns a civil war into a lesson about accepting God's hand in a loss you brought on yourself.
(Where these writers quote "brethren," the ESV reads "relatives.")
The verse calls Shemaiah "the man of God." The word comes to him, not to the king. One writer sees this as a kindness to a collapsing kingdom.
It should be noted that the role of the prophet becomes more and more prominent as the kingship falls into ruin... Now here is Shemaiah, who turns Rehoboam from his plans of war. The role of the prophet was a great grace. It allowed relations between God and His people to continue despite the ruin. Above all the prophet was the mouthpiece for the Word of God. God addressed this Word to him, and he could say, "Thus says the Lord."
Delivering it took nerve.
Shemaiah (whose name means "heard of the Lord"), a man of God, brought the message from the Lord not to fight against Israel. They obeyed, and there was no war... Shemaiah must have been a very courageous man to stand in front of a gathered army of 180,000 men, an angry king and an angry people, and declare a message that must have been very unwelcome. And one cannot help admiring the gracious submission of king and people.
The message that follows calls him king of Judah, not king of Israel. Rehoboam still had an army, and force looked like the answer.
Force may still work. There is the army, one hundred and eighty thousand strong: it will soon make these troublemakers feel its unbeatable power. Might must make right, if right cannot be shown any other way. But "the God of peace," who loves His people even when they are misguided and in error, warns the king of Judah (note the deliberate limiting of his title, 2 Chron. 11:3) by the word of the man of God, Shemaiah.
The division was real. But the reason for standing down goes back to what God had already said to Solomon.
However, he has to learn, and all Israel with him, that despite the division the ten tribes are still their "brethren." They are not to "go up nor fight against" them... God had rebuked Solomon for his worldliness and disobedience to the Word of God, and said to him, "Since this has been done by you... I will tear the kingdom from you." Now that the blow has fallen, God can say to Rehoboam, "This thing is done by Me." To seek to undo the evil of Solomon may be right; to ignore the governmental acts of God is certainly wrong.
Reuniting the nation sounds like a worthy aim. But the split was God's own sentence on Solomon's sin.
Under the government of God this division of the kingdom was the punishment for the sins of Solomon (1 Kings 11:33). Rehoboam's folly brought it about, and it therefore had to stand. To fight, then, to bring back the unity of the nation, however good the purpose might seem, was to fight against God. Rehoboam ought to have been thankful that God's love to David had left him even two tribes.
Rehoboam is the one who provoked the revolt, so he is not the man to punish it.
Rehoboam would fight (2 Chronicles 11), but God stops him. It was his own fault, and it was not fitting for him to fight... The man who is guilty of a fault is not the man who can rightly or fairly rebuke another. In any case, he must be thoroughly humbled about his own fault before he is in a moral condition to do it. The Lord therefore disciplined Rehoboam: He tied his hands and would not even let him punish his rebellious subjects.
One writer marks the limits of the ban.
God did not forbid His people to seek a righteous way of reconciliation. He did not forbid them to find out why the breach had happened, or to confess their failure together. But He did forbid them to fight with their brethren... Where there has been general failure, it is just as well that everyone drop the sword and go to their knees.
- Sin — the split punished Solomon's sin, and Rehoboam's folly brought it about.
- Sent — with the kingship in ruins, God keeps contact through a prophet who can say, "Thus says the Lord."
- Brothers — the ten tribes remain brothers; the division changes the map, not the family.
- From Me — since God's own hand made the breach, a war to undo it would have been war against Him.
- Knees — drop the sword, but keep seeking peace and owning the failure.
Speak unto Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, king of Judah, and unto all Israel in Judah and Benjamin, saying,
God sends Shemaiah with a message for two named parties: Rehoboam, "king of Judah," and "all Israel in Judah and Benjamin." Both titles raise a question — why is Rehoboam no longer king of Israel, and why does the name Israel now belong to the two tribes that stayed?
Rehoboam had an army of 180,000 and a plan to take back what he had lost. One writer sees meaning in the way God limits his title here.
It must have been clear to him now that the rebellion was very real and serious. It was not a passing wave of discontent that would soon die away by itself and be forgotten. But a loss this huge, and results so terrible and unexpected, are not easy to accept. Force may still work. There is the army, one hundred and eighty thousand strong. Might must make right, if right cannot be shown any other way. But "the God of peace," who loves His people even when they are misguided and in error, warns the king of Judah (note the intentional limit of his title, 2 Chron. 11:3) by the word of the man of God, Shemaiah.
Here the name Israel belongs to Judah and Benjamin. One writer, weighing the same wording a chapter later, ties the name to loyalty and not to size.
Why is it said here, "all Israel with him," when the ten tribes had forsaken the law and the temple, led by Jeroboam's priests? Perhaps Judah is called Israel because it stayed true to David's house, and so was still on covenant ground. The ten tribes had left it, and in moral terms they were no longer Israel. So the name here belongs only to the two tribes that clung to the house of David and to the temple.
Shemaiah had to carry this message to a nation already under arms.
Shemaiah (heard of Jehovah), a man of God, brought the message from the Lord not to fight against Israel. They obeyed, and the war never happened. Many Israelites who were true to Jehovah, as well as all the priests and Levites, remained in the kingdom of Judah. As failure had come in, prophecy at once reappeared. Shemaiah must have been a very courageous man. He stood in front of a gathered army of 180,000 men, an angry king and an angry people, and declared a message that must have been most unwelcome. And one cannot help admiring the gracious submission of king and people.
God names the king here as "the son of Solomon." One writer links the division back to God's earlier word to Solomon, and still calls the ten tribes "brethren."
However, he has to learn, and all Israel with him, that the ten tribes are still their "brethren" despite the division. They are not to "go up nor fight against" them. Moreover Shemaiah, the man of God, tells Rehoboam why they must stop. It is because God says, "This thing is from Me." God had rebuked Solomon for his worldliness and disobedience to the Word of God, and said to him, "Since this has been your practice … I will surely tear the kingdom from you." Now that the blow has fallen, God can say to Rehoboam, "This thing is from Me." To seek to undo the evil of Solomon may be right; to ignore the governmental acts of God is certainly wrong.
Reuniting the nation was not a wicked wish. Yet pressing it would have cost Rehoboam dearly.
2 Chronicles 11 tells us two important facts. Rehoboam had thought to bring the ten tribes back under the yoke of obedience. But in doing so, he would have been opposing God's governmental dealings with Judah. The prophet Shemaiah turns him away from this decision. It would have led to his ruin, and it would have had the most serious consequences for the tribe of Judah. The eyes of the Lord were still resting on that tribe, despite His judgments.
The prohibition was specific. It closed one door and left others open.
But read that Old Testament story with care. God did not forbid His people to seek a righteous way of reconciliation. He did not forbid them to find out why the breach had happened, or to confess their failure together. He did forbid them to fight with their brethren. I wish we had all learned the lesson that this part of the story teaches so clearly. Where there has been general failure, it is as well to drop the sword and for all to go to their knees.
- Named — God calls him king of Judah, not king of Israel. The title itself admits the loss his army meant to reverse.
- Reframed — God calls the loyal two tribes "all Israel." The name follows faithfulness to David's house and the temple, not numbers.
- Related — the tribes that broke away are still "brethren." Division changed the map, not the family tie.
- Restrained — wanting unity was right. Winning it back by force would have opposed God's own act, and Shemaiah's word saved Rehoboam from that ruin.
- Redirected — God forbids the sword, but not reconciliation, honest confession and prayer. That is the door left open.
Thus saith Jehovah Go not up, nor fight with your brethren; return every man to his house; for this thing is from me. And they hearkened to the words of Jehovah, and returned from going against Jeroboam.
The kingdom has just split, and Rehoboam has gathered 180,000 fighting men to force the ten tribes back under his rule. One sentence from God, carried by the prophet Shemaiah, stops the whole army and turns a political disaster into a divine act.
The words "this thing is from me" reach back past Rehoboam's folly to his father's sin. One writer sets them beside what God had already said to Solomon — some older translations read "this thing is done of me":
He has to learn, and all Israel with him, that despite the division the ten tribes are still their "brothers." They are not to "go up nor fight against" them. What is more, Shemaiah, the man of God, tells Rehoboam why they must stop. It is because God says "This thing is done of Me." God had rebuked Solomon for his worldliness and disobedience to the Word of God, and said to him, "Because this is done by you … I will tear the kingdom from you." Now that the blow has fallen, God can say to Rehoboam "This thing is done of Me." To seek to undo the evil of Solomon may be right; to ignore the governmental acts of God is certainly wrong.
This also explains the speed of the collapse — why a whole nation swung away behind a runaway servant:
"This thing is done of me." This explains how ten tribes, as if with one mind, so suddenly threw off their loyalty to the house of David. A fugitive servant no sooner blows his trumpet than they follow him. It was the judgment of the Lord, announced in Solomon's day, carried out in the days of his son.
Rehoboam's aim was not itself wrong.
There is no question that it was in line with God's thoughts that the people should be one. They had been one at the beginning of God's ways with them. In the day to come they will be one again, according to the word of the prophet… So it might look as if Rehoboam was right in his efforts to end the division and unite the people of God.
But once God has named the split as His own act, the campaign changes target:
Under the government of God this division of the kingdom was the punishment for Solomon's sins, brought on by the folly of Rehoboam. So it had to stand. To fight, then, to bring back the unity of the nation, good as the purpose might seem, was to fight against God. Rehoboam ought to have been thankful that God's love to David had left him even two tribes.
God does not call the ten tribes traitors. He calls them family. (The ESV says "relatives"; older translations say "brethren," and the writers quoted here use that word.) Notice who sends the warning, and what He is called:
But "the God of peace" loves His people even when they are misguided and in error. He warns the king of Judah by the word of the man of God, Shemaiah.
Another writer measures that mercy by what the battle would have cost:
It was mercy on God's part to send this message, for otherwise there might have been a terrible slaughter with no problem resolved at all.
Delivering this word took nerve, and receiving it took humility.
It required courage to deliver such a message while the great preparations for war were under way. Rehoboam and the people obeyed and did not go to war… And the LORD also blessed the king and his people for believing the Word and being obedient. He always blesses when there is obedience.
Standing down was not the same as doing nothing.
From now on Rehoboam stays inside the smaller area the division has left him, for we read that "he lived in Jerusalem." Does this mean he settles down to quiet ease and inaction? Does he stop caring about the interests of the people of God? Far from it. At once we read that he becomes a builder… As we might say today, he "strengthened the things that remained." He also provided "store of food, and of oil, and of wine." He provided food for the people of God.
Commentators apply this to splits among Christians today. Notice what God forbids here — and what He does not:
But look closely at that Old Testament story. God did not forbid His people to seek a righteous way of reconciliation, or to find out why the break had happened, or to confess their failure together. What He did forbid was fighting with their brothers… Where all have failed, it is best to drop the sword and for everyone to go to their knees.
- Cause. The split was judgment for Solomon's disobedience; Rehoboam's folly was only the occasion.
- Claim. God takes responsibility for it — "this thing is from me" — so attacking the ten tribes meant fighting God Himself.
- Kinship. God still calls the rebels brothers, and He loves His people even when they are wrong.
- Obedience. Shemaiah spoke to an armed nation, and Rehoboam listened. Obedience brought blessing where war would have brought ruin.
- Rebuilding. The king bowed to God's hand, then built, fortified and fed what remained. The answer to division is not the sword but strengthening what is left.