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the single brick

2 Chronicles 10:1-19

2 Chronicles 10:1 Then Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all Israel had gone to Shechem to make him king.
2 Chronicles 10:2 When Jeroboam son of Nebat heard about it — for he was in Egypt where he had fled from King Solomon’s presence — Jeroboam returned from Egypt.
2 Chronicles 10:3 So they summoned him. Then Jeroboam and all Israel came and spoke to Rehoboam:
2 Chronicles 10:4 “Your father made our yoke harsh. Therefore, lighten your father’s harsh service and the heavy yoke he put on us, and we will serve you.”
2 Chronicles 10:5 Rehoboam replied, “Return to me in three days.” So, the people left.
2 Chronicles 10:6 Then King Rehoboam consulted with the elders who had attended his father Solomon when he was alive, asking, “How do you advise me to respond to this people?”
2 Chronicles 10:7 They replied, “If you will be kind to this people and please them by speaking kind words to them, they will be your servants forever.”
2 Chronicles 10:8 But he rejected the advice of the elders who had advised him, and he consulted with the young men who had grown up with him, the ones attending him.
2 Chronicles 10:9 He asked them, “What message do you advise we send back to this people who said to me, ‘Lighten the yoke your father put on us’?”
2 Chronicles 10:10 Then the young men who had grown up with him told him, “This is what you should say to the people who said to you, ‘Your father made our yoke heavy, but you, make it lighter on us! ‘ This is what you should say to them: ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s waist!
2 Chronicles 10:11 Now therefore, my father burdened you with a heavy yoke, but I will add to your yoke; my father disciplined you with whips, but I, with barbed whips.'”
2 Chronicles 10:12 So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam on the third day, just as the king had ordered, saying, “Return to me on the third day.”
2 Chronicles 10:13 Then the king answered them harshly. King Rehoboam rejected the elders’ advice
2 Chronicles 10:14 and spoke to them according to the young men’s advice, saying, “My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to it; my father disciplined you with whips, but I, with barbed whips.”
2 Chronicles 10:15 The king did not listen to the people because the turn of events came from God, in order that Yahveh might carry out his word that he had spoken through Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam son of Nebat.
2 Chronicles 10:16 When all Israel saw that the king had not listened to them, the people answered the king: What share do we have in David? We have no inheritance in the son of Jesse. Israel, each to your tent; David, look after your own house now! So, all Israel went to their tents.
2 Chronicles 10:17 But as for the Israelites living in the cities of Judah, Rehoboam reigned over them.
2 Chronicles 10:18 Then King Rehoboam sent Hadoram, who was in charge of the forced labor, but the Israelites stoned him to death. However, King Rehoboam managed to get into his chariot to flee to Jerusalem.
2 Chronicles 10:19 Israel is in rebellion against the house of David until today.

the single brick

It was one decision that Rehoboam made that led to division and rebellion and the dissolution of Israel. He decided to listen to the wrong counselors. They encouraged him to make the heavy yoke even heavier. The older men had advised Rehoboam that if he only listened and responded to the appeal of his people he could keep the nation together. But the king’s choice was with the younger men, his own peers. Spiritual leadership is like that too. We must be very careful to make wise choices, because some mistakes cannot be easily mended with a simple apology. An entire house can be destroyed by the removal of a single brick.

LORD, help us to make right decisions. May we take the needs of everyone into consideration before we choose.