“Thus I hated all the fruit of my labor for which I had labored under the sun, for I must leave it to the man who will come after me. And who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will have control over all the fruit of my labor for which I have labored by acting wisely under the sun. This too is vanity” (Ecclesiastes 2:18-19).

How true those words turned out to be for Solomon. For when his son Rehoboam became king, he instantly began tearing down all that his father and grandfather had built. And he did it by making the most basic of mistakes any leader can make – forgetting that the essence of all good leadership is service.

That’s what the older generation of Rehoboam’s advisors told him: “If you will be a servant to this people today, will serve them, grant them their petition, and speak good words to them, then they will be your servants forever” (I Kings 12:7). Unfortunately, he chose to listen to younger men, who told him that he needed to inspire fear in his followers instead (I Kings 12:10-11).

So, when Rehoboam turned to threats instead of negotiation, the northern tribes just took off. They chose another king for themselves, and left Rehoboam to rule over Jerusalem and the 2,000 square miles around it – about twice the size of Claiborne and Warren counties put together. Some kingdom.

But this passage doesn’t just provide a poignant negative example of effective leadership. No, it also gives us a reminder that God always keeps His word. For years earlier, God had warned Solomon that if he embraced other gods, his sons would lose the kingdom he tried to bequeath to them (I Kings 11:11-13). And that’s exactly what happened.

So, whose folly was worse – the father’s or the son’s? And how foolish would any of us be to follow either of their examples?

I Kings 12:12-17 (NASB)

12 Then Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam on the third day as the king had directed, saying, “Return to me on the third day.”
13 And the king answered the people harshly, for he forsook the advice of the elders which they had given him,
14 and he spoke to them according to the advice of the young men, saying, “My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to your yoke; my father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions.”
15 So the king did not listen to the people; for it was a turn of events from the LORD, that He might establish His word, which the LORD spoke through Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat.
16 When all Israel saw that the king did not listen to them, the people answered the king, saying, “What portion do we have in David? We have no inheritance in the son of Jesse; To your tents, O Israel! Now look after your own house, David!” So Israel departed to their tents.
17 But as for the sons of Israel who lived in the cities of Judah, Rehoboam reigned over them.