II Chronicles 12:7: “”And when the Lord saw that they humbled themselves the word of the Lord came to Shemaiah saying: they have humbled themselves, then I will not destroy them.”
Solomon’s administrative policies developed some dangerous principles. His ambition for the magnificence and fame of Jerusalem had led him to inaugurate a system of levies and taxes that really angered the people. He developed foreign alliances that filled his court with foreign customs and religions. Solomon’s wisdom did not hold his ambition in check. This ambition blinded him to the sufferings of his people and the rising rebellion in the land. Before his death the unified kingdom of David had begun to disintegrate. Damascus was the first to break away and secure it’s independence from Solomon.
After Solomon died, his son Rehoboam ascended to the throne. However, before his coronation, the assembly requested certain reforms in the policies established by his father Solomon. These reforms would have eased the burden of the people but it would have also reduced the wealth, luxury, and ease of the king and his court. It would have forced Rehobaom to rid the court of its foreign religions and cultures. The old sages encouraged Rehobaom to yield to the request of the people. They saw first hand the evils of his father’s course. They knew that rebellion was brewing and they advised Rehobaom to back off. Rehoboam was 41 years old and he and the other young advisors were not about to give us their material wealth to ease the rebellion, instead they decided to tighten the screws on the people. Rebellion came and civil war was about to break out between Rehobaom and the Northern 10 tribes of Israel.
Just before the battle broke out Shemaiah the prophet came to Rehobam with a last minute prophecy. If Rehoboam and his staff would humble themselves before God He would prevent an all out war, however, the kingdom would be split.
Here we have a king who was raised and influenced in idolatry, who was in total rebellion against God, yet when he was about to pay for a huge mistake, God gave him a way out, if he would humble himself before Him. This humbling yourself before God seems to carry a lot of clout with God. We learn that Rehoboam did humble himself before God and war was prevented. So what is involved in this humbling yourself before God?
The word for humble is kana’ where we get the word Canaan. It is a word which is sometimes rendered as merchants. This is a picture of bundling or packaging your wares on a camel and taking them to market. A merchant will invest his wealth in his products, and then sell them for a profit. What he receives in return he will invest in more products but with the profit he will purchase what he needs to live.
This is what we do when we humble ourselves to God. We invest in God all that we have. He in return gives us what we need to live on. Humbling ourselves before God is an act of faith. We are giving him all our security, trusting him to take care of us. Our trust is in him, not the arm of the flesh for our security.
Most of us could write a book on the faithfulness of God and all the many little miracles He has done throughout our lives. Yet, when we come up against a crisis, it is as if we throw that biography away and we begin to tremble and look to the arm of the flesh to deliver us rather than look at all the miracles of the past and the way God delivers us. God only asked Rehoboam for one thing, just to trust in him and depend upon Him for all his security and when he did, he was delivered from a bloody war. He is asking the same from us and how it must break His heart when we look to the arm of the flesh rather than his lovingkindness for our security.
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