Intermediate Level, Block 7—Kingdom Degrading
Week 63
The Division of the Kingdom of Israel
Point to Emphasize: We want to be those who keep our hearts turned to God.
Reference Reading: 1 Kings 11:9-13, 29-37
Memory Verse: If you love Me, you will keep My commandments. (John 14:15)
Story Sample
Today we are going to talk about three people: King David, King Solomon, and a man called Jeroboam. Some of the stories we tell you in children’s meeting are exciting, and some are happy, but today’s story is a little serious. It is the story of how God’s people became divided.
But before we talk about the division, we want to talk about these three people. We’ve talked a lot about King David, right? What do you remember about him? Good! Of all the things we know about David, one thing is very important to remember: David had a heart for God. The Bible tells us that he “fully followed Jehovah.” David was really precious to God.
Do you remember the name of King David’s son? Right! Solomon. Solomon was responsible for some amazing things—he even built God’s house! But, sad to say, in the end, Solomon did not follow God as well as his father. Even though he followed God when he was young, Solomon turned away from God when he was old. He turned so far away from God that he built a place to worship idols, that is, other gods! How could this be? How could the king of God’s people build a place to worship gods other than Jehovah? The king who had built God’s house was now building a place to worship idols?
This reminds me of when we are all here in children’s meeting. We all start really happy, singing together, and happily following all the instructions from the serving ones. But then, little by little, one child may decide to turn their heart away from the serving ones and do their own thing. This child is dividing themselves from the group, making their own little group and what they are really saying is, “We don’t want to do that, we want to do this instead!” When I was young, I started my own little group and divided myself from the serving ones. We ended up having a sad time and not enjoying what the rest of the children were doing. When my mom came to pick me up, I had to tell her what I had done. I couldn’t even believe how quickly I had changed from following the serving one to turning my heart away and dividing myself from them. [Storyteller, add personal example of turning away from instructions and dividing yourself from someone causing loss.]
God had given Solomon some specific instructions, but he failed to keep them. His heart went after other things. Do you think God was happy about this? No, He was not; God was angry. This was a serious offense to Him. God had given His people very specific commandments regarding how to worship Him and to worship only Him. So the Bible tells us that Jehovah became angry with Solomon, because his heart turned away from Jehovah the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice, and who had commanded him concerning this very matter, not to go after other gods. But Solomon did not keep that which Jehovah had commanded. And Jehovah said to Solomon, “Because you have done this and have not kept My covenant and My statutes, which I commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom away from you and give it to your servant.” God was going to give the kingdom to someone else to rule—to Solomon’s servant—because Solomon had done such a terrible thing.
Let’s come back to King David for a minute. Do you remember what we said about David having a heart for God? Well, God remembered that, too. Even while God was angry with Solomon, he remembered Solomon’s father, David. And God decided that since David had honored Him so much, there would still be some Israelites who were ruled by the descendants of David. Furthermore, God would wait for Solomon’s son to be king. This shows how much our heart matters to God. Even when God was angry at Solomon, He could not forget David’s precious heart.
Because of his disobedience, King Solomon would still lose the kingdom. To see how that happened, we have to talk about a third person: a man called Jeroboam. When Jeroboam was young, he was a hard worker, and King Solomon saw that. Because Jeroboam was so capable, King Solomon put him in charge of certain things. Do you remember God had told Solomon that He would give the kingdom to his servant? That servant was Jeroboam. When Solomon’s son Rehoboam was king, Solomon’s servant Jeroboam led a rebellion. Ten tribes joined in this rebellion, and in the end, the children of Israel were divided into two kingdoms. In the south was the kingdom of Judah, which was ruled by the descendants of David. And in the north was the kingdom of Israel, the rebellious ten tribes and their king, Jeroboam. The kingdom of Israel in the north turned farther and farther away from God. King Jeroboam led his people to worship idols and to ignore things that God had asked them to do. Eventually, God’s people were completely divided.
This divided situation among His people made God very unhappy. When you are older and read about this time it will make you sad, too. But the situation could have been so good if only Solomon would have continued to keep his heart turned to God by keeping God’s Word. As we grow, we can be those who keep our heart turned to God by keeping His Word.