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“All Israel with Him”, July 14
2 Chronicles 12
It came to pass, when Rehoboam had established the kingdom, and had
strengthened himself, he forsook the law of the Lord, and all Israel with
him.
2 Chronicles 12:1
.
The extravagance of Solomon’s reign during his apostasy had led him to tax
the people heavily and to require of them much menial service.... Had Rehoboam
and his inexperienced counselors understood the divine will concerning Israel,
they would have listened to the request of the people for decided reforms in
the administration of the government. But in the hour of opportunity that came
to them during the meeting in Shechem, they failed to reason from cause to
effect....
The pen of inspiration has traced the sad record of Solomon’s successor
as one who failed to exert a strong influence for loyalty to Jehovah. Naturally
headstrong, confident, self-willed, and inclined to idolatry, nevertheless, had he
placed his trust wholly in God, he would have developed strength of character,
steadfast faith, and submission to the divine requirements. But as time passed,
the king put his trust in the power of position and in the strongholds he had
fortified. Little by little he gave way to inherited weakness, until he threw his
influence wholly on the side of idolatry....
How sad, how filled with significance, the words, “And all Israel with him”!
The people whom God had chosen to stand as a light to the surrounding nations
were turning from their Source of strength and seeking to become like the
nations about them. As with Solomon, so with Rehoboam—the influence of
wrong example led many astray. And as with them, so to a greater or less degree
is it today with everyone who gives himself up to work evil—the influence of
wrongdoing is not confined to the doer. No man liveth unto himself. None perish
alone in their iniquity. Every life is a light that brightens and cheers the pathway
of others, or a dark and desolating influence that tends toward despair and ruin.
We lead others either upward to happiness and immortal life, or downward to
sorrow and eternal death. And if by our deeds we strengthen or force into activity
the evil powers of those around us, we share their sin
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Prophets and Kings, 88-94
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