Day 17: Rehoboam

The king answered the people harshly. Rejecting the advice given him by the elders, he followed the advice of the young men... — 1 Kings 12:13-14

Rehoboam appears in Jesus’s genealogy in Matthew 1:7. He was the son of Solomon and initially reigned over Judah and Israel after Solomon’s death. However, during his reign – and due to his actions – the kingdom was divided around the tenth century BC between Judah in the south and Israel in the north.

We can summarize his behaviour toward the people of God in these lines:

• He did not heed the counsel proposed to him by his father Solomon’s advisors. Rather, as king, he listened to and acted on the advice of his young peers.
• He did not serve and help the people of Israel. Rather, he treated them roughly and harshly, imposing forced labor upon them to serve himself.
• He caused Israel to rebel against his government, dividing the kingdom.
• Under his watch, Judah did what was evil in the sight of the LORD.

Could it be, then, that Rehoboam appears in Jesus’s genealogy to bring us hope, as the driving idea of these Advent devotionals intends? I don’t think so. In fact, I think the opposite! The inclusion of Rehoboam among Jesus’s ancestors is strictly due to kinship. In essence, Rehoboam is the antithesis of Jesus. And that’s where I want to focus: on the contrast. Through the tension between one character and another, we find hope seeing the kind of king that Jesus is.

The Gospel of Luke presents Jesus in the same land that Rehoboam ruled almost a thousand years earlier, called Galilee in the first century (Luke 7:11–17). There, passing through the village of Nain, Jesus sees a funeral procession – a widowed mother on her way to bury her only son. The widow’s situation of loss, vulnerability and social risk touches Jesus. He is deeply moved. Animated by that compassion – which is “suffering with” or “suffering alongside” – Jesus addresses the widow’s grief with words of tenderness and comfort. Then He uses His authority to command resurrection and life to the deceased young man and restores him to his mother. Faced with this miracle, those present recognized great power wielded for good. “They were all filled with awe and praised God. ‘A great prophet has appeared among us,’ they said. ‘God has come to help his people’” (Luke 7:16).

The contrast between Jesus in first-century AD Palestine and Rehoboam in tenth-century BC Israel is striking:

• In the same land where Rehoboam delivered harsh words to God’s people contrary to God’s will, Jesus is recognized as a prophet who brings words and realities of abundant life in the name of Yahweh.
• In the same land where Rehoboam refused to act as a servant of the people, Jesus is recognized as the one who comes to help the people on behalf of God.
• In the same land where Rehoboam treated its inhabitants with brusqueness, inconsideration and coercion, Jesus treated them with compassion and tenderness in the power of God.
• In the same land where Rehoboam divided the kingdom, Jesus united the inhabitants of Palestine and neighbouring nations by inviting them to be part of God’s kingdom through faith in Him.

What child is this we remember in Advent? It is this Jesus – attentive, empathetic, compassionate, gentle, acquainted with suffering, powerful in restoring life, worthy of our faith and our following. This is who draws near to us in Advent.

In Argentina and much of Latin America, daily life reflects the attitudes of Rehoboam. Governments serve the leaders, not the people; churches peddle religious wares rather than form communities of care and worship; policies pit against rather than pull together; and public words wound and manipulate to preserve power rather than heal and encourage to promote unity. On a continent whose rulers have lost credibility and do not provide inspiring leadership models, Jesus, the antithesis of Rehoboam, is who we need.

May we all encounter Jesus, the hope of Advent. Amen.