Rehoboam Obama

If you believe that the Bible was inspired by God and that it has been preserved these thousands of years for us by God, did you ever wonder why He had the prophets and scribes write all the history of the Israelites? (This is in the section of the Bible that most people call the Old Testament.) There are many details included in that history covering some eight hundred years. Why did God see fit to preserve those details?

The answer is in two parts: 1. God preserved those stories and details for us to teach us valuable lessons about how God deals with His people and 2. If we learn the lessons taught in those stories we can better understand our own world and the people in it.

Human nature never changes; governments rise and fall, technology advances, cultures change, grow and dissipate but human nature never changes.

There is a story in the Bible that has great application to our time – right now, in 2010, some three thousand years after this story happened.

You can read the story in I Kings chapter 12 or II Chronicles chapter 10 but I will summarize it for you here.

After the Israelites entered the “promised land” and subdued the territory under King David, his son Solomon reigned for 40 years. This was the height of Israelite civilization with the nation acquiring great wealth and fame. It is said that all the eating utensils in King Solomon’s palace were of pure gold and that silver was so common in the kingdom as to be essentially worthless.

Part of this wealth was acquired because of the heavy taxes that were laid upon the Israelite people as well as upon the nations surrounding them. During this “golden age” the people did not complain because of the great cities and buildings constructed by Solomon.

When Solomon died and his son Rehoboam became king at the age of 41, the people approached him and asked that the heavy taxes be lifted. The taxes were not needed for construction and there were no major wars going on. It was a reasonable request.

Rehoboam sent the people away for three days so he could make his decision.

He called together the old statesmen and advisors who had advised his father Solomon and they told him:

"If you will be kind to these people and please them and give them a favorable answer, they will always be your servants." NIV 2 Chronicles 10:7

Rehoboam the consulted with the young men his own age among whom he had grown up and who were part of his “entourage” (to use the term currently in vogue to describe the group of friends and advisors surrounding today’s famous people).

Their advice was quite different from Solomon’s former advisors and officials:

"Tell the people who have said to you, `Your father put a heavy yoke on us, but make our yoke lighter'--tell them, `My little finger is thicker than my father's waist [“loins” – KJV]. My father laid on you a heavy yoke; I will make it even heavier. My father scourged you with whips; I will scourge you with scorpions.'" NIV 2 Chronicles 10:10-11

Without being too graphic, you can readily see that the first sentence in their advice was a crude, physical statement of derision and pride though the NIV translators cleaned it up a bit.

Even so, Rehoboam followed his sycophants’ advice and when the leaders of Israel returned after three days, the Bible quotes Rehoboam as speaking the last two sentences verbatim. And that’s exactly what he tried to do: he raised their taxes and sent out his minions to attempt to collect the taxes and force the people to work harder.

What was the result?

The Israelites stoned “Adoniram, who was in charge of forced labor” and Rehoboam barely escaped with his own life. Then they split the 12 – tribed kingdom into two parts, one part consisting of ten tribes leaving the other part consisting of just Rehoboam’s tribe and one other tribe as his kingdom. Those ten tribes never again paid taxes to Rehoboam and the two nations – Israel and Judah – were at near constant war until they both were overrun by other nations.

Barack “Rehoboam” Obama campaigned as one who would heal the nation – one who would reduce taxes for most of the population and relieve the burdens placed on our nation’s people including the onerous tax burden. Nearly 50% of the income of most Americans was going to pay local, state and Federal taxes. His campaign managers knew a winning message when they heard one.

The pundits and commentators in the major newspapers and on television supported Obama more openly than any other candidate for public office in our lifetime. They advised him in their columns, speeches and broadcasts to stay in the center of the political spectrum – to be a “man of the people” and lauded his promises of reducing taxation for most Americans.

So how did he govern after he was elected? He too listened to his sycophants rather than the elder statesmen he could have called upon.

Within 30 days in office (February 9, 2009) he signed a bill raising taxes on cigarettes; some 25% of adults in America smoke and most of them are low to middle income people. He signed a small one-year rebate of taxes while promising to let former President George W. Bush’s tax cuts expire at the end of 2010. He signed the “stimulus” bill burdening our country with almost a trillion dollars of spending; much of that money was given to his supporters including the labor unions and other similar groups. Most recently he essentially forced the Democrat controlled Congress to pass “healthcare reform” that will pass on taxes amounting to several thousand dollars per year to all but the lowest income groups and he did so with polls showing an overwhelming majority of the American people did not want the bill to pass.

Previous Presidents and Congress had already created an onerous burden of taxation and regulation on the American people and American businesses.

Obama has followed in the footsteps of Rehoboam; he has made our “yoke” heavier and the scourge and whips of regulations will increase immensely under these new government bureaucracies.

Human nature never changes.

The conclusion is obvious.

Clay Willis

Acworth, Georgia

March 29, 2010