And I will for this afflict the seed of David, but not for ever.' Solomon sought therefore to kill Jeroboam; but Jeroboam arose, and fled into Egypt, unto Shishak king of Egypt, and was in Egypt until the death of Solomon. Now the rest of the acts of Solomon, and all that he did, and his wisdom, are they not written in the book of the acts of Solomon? And the time that Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel was forty years. And Solomon slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David his father; and Rehoboam his son reigned in his stead.

12 And Rehoboam went to Shechem; for all Israel were come to Shechem to make him king. And it came to pass, when Jeroboam the son of Nebat heard of it - for he was yet in Egypt, whither he had fled from the presence of king Solomon, and Jeroboam dwelt in Egypt, and they sent and called him - that Jeroboam and all the congregation of Israel came, and spoke unto Rehoboam, saying: 'Thy father made our yoke grievous; now therefore make thou the grievous service of thy father, and his heavy yoke which he put upon us, lighter, and we will serve thee.' And he said unto them: 'Depart yet for three days, then come again to me.' And the people departed. And king Rehoboam took counsel with the old men, that had stood before Solomon his father while he yet lived, saying: 'What counsel give ye me to return answer to this people?' And they spoke unto him, saying: 'If thou wilt be a servant unto this people this day, and wilt serve them, and answer them, and speak good words to them, then they will be thy servants for ever.' But he forsook the counsel of the old men which they had given him, and took counsel with the young men that were grown up with him, that stood before him. And he said unto them: 'What counsel give ye, that we may return answer to this people, who have spoken to me, saying: Make the yoke that thy father did put upon us lighter?' And the young men that were grown up with him spoke unto him, saying: 'Thus shalt thou say unto this people that spoke unto thee, saying: Thy father made our yoke heavy, but make thou it lighter unto us; thus shalt thou speak unto them: My little finger is thicker than my father's loins. And now whereas my father did burden you with a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke; my father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions.' So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam the third day, as the king bade, saying: 'Come to me again the third day.' And the king answered the people roughly, and forsook the counsel of the old men which they had given him; and spoke to them after the counsel of the young men, saying: 'My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to your yoke; my father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions.' So the king hearkened not unto the people; for it was a thing brought about of the LORD, that He might establish His word, which the LORD spoke by the hand of Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat. And when all Israel saw that the king hearkened not unto them, the people answered the king, saying: 'What portion have we in David? neither have we inheritance in the son of Jesse; to your tents, O Israel; now see to thine own house, David.' So Israel departed unto their tents. But as for the children of Israel that dwelt in the cities of Judah, Rehoboam reigned over them.

As you can well imagine, Solomon was none too happy when he heard the news, most likely by prophet Ahijah, that the kingdom would split after he died and that Jeroboam would take the ten tribes out of the leadership of the family of David. So what was his best option? Kill Jeroboam! In order to save himself Jeroboam lit out for Egypt and laid low until he heard of Solomon’s death. At the time of Solomon’s death the people were hoping that the stern leadership of Solomon would depart from them upon the installation of his son Rehoboam. This lends credibility to Clarke’s commentary that alluded to Solomon growing more despotic and cruel the further he went into sin and apostasy. So when the people gathered at Shechem (the most beautiful place in all the Middle East) to crown Rehoboam king they thought it a good idea to try to appeal to the compassionate side of Rehoboam. They were asked to return in three days and their answer would be given. And so it came to be that three days later, most likely in the course of only one hour Rehoboam alienated the sage advisors of his father and the majority of Israel by taking the "advice"(?) of his peers and really lean on the people to get things done! There would be no lessening of the yoke that Solomon had put upon them, but instead, it would only increase!

Can you see how the political and religious climate was perfect for the split of the kingdom? Because of Solomon’s apostasy, he became cruel and unfeeling towards his people. Because of this unfeeling regard to his people, the people wished to be rid of his kind of rule. So, enters Jeroboam! When the people discovered what the kind of rule was going to be they revolted and said "Let’s get out of here! If this is the way we will be treated by one of our own brethren then we don’t want to be related, thank you very much!" And they left without officially crowning Rehoboam king.

Rehoboam! What in the world were you thinking? Why would you do such a thing? Or were you merely following in the footsteps of your father? Well, perhaps that was it. And so we leave our reading from Kings today knowing that the time and the sentiment of the people was just right to admit another leader other than the family of Solomon.

It is a sad lesson but albeit so true. When the leaders of a people are lost, each succeeding generation becomes lost as well and even more so. As we know it from the Word, it seemed to be only one sin which actually took down Solomon. How timely it is that we are in the midst of the days of Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread (which runs concurrently)! Leaven has always been likened to sin. Leaven is—

"A piece of dough salted and soured to ferment and relish a mass of dough for bread…the word is used figuratively in the New Testament for teachings." (Cruden’s Complete Concordance to the Old and New Testaments)

For all the bread-makers out there, you will know exactly of which I speak. One small amount of yeast, a leavening agent, will make a nice fluffy and tasty loaf of bread. Leave out the leaven and you’ve made some big crackers. It is the action of the leaven which gives one sin in a man’s life the characteristic figurative explosion of growing into more and ever consuming sin. And when you look at Solomon that is exactly what happened to him. The action of that one sin exploded in his life and psyche and by the time he died he was deeply into apostasy through the leading of his pagan wives. That is why Messiah urged His followers to get the leaven out! We also know that crackers without leaven last a whole lot longer on our kitchen counters than a loaf of leavened bread. Within days, depending on the weather or the temperature in the house, a loaf of bread can decay and start to mold. Leaven has always been a figurative term for sourness or decay and what is sin if it is not the very epitome of sourness and decay in our lives? We’ve already learned in the first five chapters of Leviticus that the only sacrifice that was allowed to be offered with leaven in the tabernacle was the offering of First Fruits. God distances Himself from the sourness and decay of sin.

Traditional Jewish observance of this cleaning of the leaven is more Biblical than Jewish, but thanks to our Jewish brethren it has been kept over the centuries of persecution and holocaust so that the body of Gentiles may participate in a form of worship that breaks free from the centuries of format based on the "leaven of the early spiritual leaders".

If there is one thing that we have in common with Jewish brethren it is that we both have been led down an errant path by our spiritual rabbis and leaders. Israel was led errant in those first centuries after Sinai (through the addition of men’s ordinances to the Torah) and later us, after the ascension of Messiah, when the Jewishness of our Messiah was erased and all connection to Israel was wiped out by the "church". We need not curse them or rail at it or allow ourselves pity for being "swindled" of the spiritual inheritance that was really ours. I sense that in my own experience when I felt angry and short-changed it may well have been a form of the grieving process. If so, then I have surely passed through it and now have accepted the loss of the false standard upon which I had built my whole life and no longer look for a place to lay blame. It is now a sad thing to see the so-called "church" figuratively on "life-support" because the "leaven" has exploded rampant through her in the corridors of time since that ascension of Messiah.

Pastor Gaylen told me about the Seder tradition of having a child look for the unleavened bread and it sure sounds like there are a lot of "eager beavers" in Surfside when not the traditional ‘one’, but four children find the buried unleavened bread! I think that the eagerness of the children in our midst might be a reflection of the type of eagerness in adult believers today who desire to worship God in Spirit and in Truth and who have found the richness of God’s Feast days instead of those foisted upon us by early church fathers. This tradition of the unleavened bread is part of the tradition of matzah tash. At the meal, a linen pouch with three sections is placed at each table. The matzah (unleavened bread) is placed in each section so that they are set apart yet they are one in the same container. Our Orthodox brethren hold that the three matzah represent the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob who are separate but together in unity. The practice at Orthodox Seders is to break the middle matzah in half and then hide it (in one of the white linen napkins) and send the children around the room looking for it. (This is how family oriented Judaism is—for not only are the children involved but the Seder is most usually held in their homes as well as public synagogues or banquet halls) In any event the child who finds the afikomen, that middle matzah which is broken, returns it only after receiving a forfeit or reward when they present it to the leader of the Seder (who is a rabbi or the father of the house)

One thing the rabbis of long ago didn’t realize when they started this tradition was that Yahweh would take it and use it to glorify Himself even more. The three matzah in the Messianic Seder still represent the patriarchs, but they also represent God in His tripartite nature, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. And the second matzah, the afikomen, is broken. Our Messiah was also broken for our sakes. As the afikomen is hidden inside the white linen napkin so our Messiah was hidden inside the tomb for three days and three nights. After the first Seder that my husband and I attended he couldn’t get over how everything that they did, even though it might have been a Jewish tradition—reflected all of the truths that he had learned about Messiah since becoming saved. So at this observance of Passover, Messianic Jews and Gentiles worshiping God as one people do not just celebrate the redemption of Israel from Egypt, but we also celebrate the redemption of mankind from the power of sin and the devil!

And the adventure continues…