Wildside 12.01.19

Wildside December 1, 2019

Solomon’s Sin Divided the Kingdom

Bible Passage:

Main Point: God divided Israel into two kingdoms because Solomon sinned.

Key Passage:

Big Picture Question: Where does wisdom come from? Wisdom comes from God through His Word.

Small Group Opening

(10–15 minutes)

Large Group Bible Study

(25–30 minutes)

Small Group Activities

(25–30 minutes)

Leader BIBLE STUDY

King Solomon loved God. He received wisdom from the Lord and was dedicated to building His temple. But early on, we see hints that Solomon’s heart was not completely devoted to God. He married foreign wives who turned Solomon’s heart away from God. ()

Solomon gradually abandoned what he had believed. Israel had a history of turning away from God, and Solomon was no exception.

God was angry with Solomon. He had warned him twice not to turn to false gods. God planned to punish Solomon’s sin by taking the kingdom away from his family. God was going to take the kingdom from Solomon’s son Rehoboam—every tribe except for one. God graciously left one tribe for Rehoboam, keeping the promise He made to David. (See .)

God raised up enemies against Solomon. He set apart one of Solomon’s servants, Jeroboam, to become leader over 10 tribes of Israel. Parts of the tribe of Benjamin followed Jeroboam, and some followed Rehoboam. When Solomon died, all of Israel gathered to make Rehoboam their new king. They asked Rehoboam to lighten the burden of service Solomon had given them, but Rehoboam refused. In fact, he promised to make their work even harder.

Israel rebelled against Rehoboam and made Jeroboam king. Only the tribe of Judah stayed with Rehoboam. So the kingdom was divided into two kingdoms—the Northern Kingdom was called Israel (ruled by Jeroboam) and the Southern Kingdom was called Judah (ruled by Rehoboam).

Every king failed to lead God’s people perfectly. God had a plan to send them a better king, a perfect king. God would use the house of David—the single tribe He reserved for Rehoboam—to bring into the world His Son, Jesus, to become King over all of God’s people forever and lead them back to God.

The BIBLE Story

Solomon’s Sin Divided the Kingdom

King Solomon loved God, but he did not love God with his whole heart. Solomon had hundreds of wives, and many of them were from other nations. Solomon’s wives turned him away from God. Solomon began to worship the false gods that his wives worshiped. Solomon even built shrines where his wives could worship the false gods.

This made God angry. God said to Solomon, “Since you have done this, I will take the kingdom away from you. You will be king the rest of your life, but when your son becomes king, he will lose everything except for one tribe.”

Now God planned to make Solomon’s official, Jeroboam (JER uh BOH uhm), the king of most of Israel.

When Solomon died, his son Rehoboam (REE huh BOH uhm) became king. The people told Rehoboam, “Your father, Solomon, made us work too hard. We will gladly serve you if you make our work easier.”

Rehoboam thought about it and asked his friends for advice. Then he replied, “My father, Solomon, did not make you work hard enough! I’ll make you work even harder!”

This was not the response God’s people were hoping for. They did not want to serve a king like Rehoboam, so they made Jeroboam king. Only one tribe remained under Rehoboam’s rule, and that was the southern tribe of Judah.

Rehoboam did not like being king of only one tribe. He planned to attack the northern kingdom of Israel, but God sent a prophet to stop him. The prophet had a message from God: “Do not fight them; the people of Israel are part of your family. I am the Lord, and I am in control of what is happening.” So Rehoboam went home.

Now Jeroboam was the king of Israel. When the people of Israel traveled to Jerusalem to worship God at the temple, Jeroboam worried that they would start thinking of Rehoboam as their leader. So Jeroboam made two golden calves and made an announcement to the northern tribes.

“It is very inconvenient for you to travel all the way to Jerusalem to worship at the temple,” he said. “Look! These golden calves are the gods who brought your ancestors out of Egypt. You can worship them.”

What Jeroboam did was a sin! Those calves did not lead God’s people out of Egypt; God led His people out of Egypt. Jeroboam also built forbidden shrines and celebrated made-up festivals so Israel would seem like a better place to live than Judah. Jeroboam led all the people in worship to the false gods.

Christ Connection: King Solomon failed to lead God’s people perfectly. God’s people needed a better king, a perfect king! Through David’s family, God would send His own Son, Jesus Christ, to be a perfect King over God’s people forever. Jesus brings His people together and leads them back to God.

Small Group Opening

Session Title: Solomon’s Sin Divided the Kingdom

Bible Passage:

Main Point: God divided Israel into two kingdoms because Solomon sinned.

Key Passage:

Big Picture Question: Where does wisdom come from? Wisdom comes from God through His Word.

Welcome time

Greet each kid as he or she arrives. Use this time to connect to your group and make sure each student is checked in.

As kids arrive, invite them to share about a time they had a fight with a friend or sibling. How did the conflict affect their relationship? Did they repair the broken relationship? How?

Table Wars

Transition to large group

Large Group LEADER

Session Title: Solomon’s Sin Divided the Kingdom

Bible Passage:

Main Point: God divided Israel into two kingdoms because Solomon sinned.

Key Passage:

Big Picture Question: Where does wisdom come from? Wisdom comes from God through His Word.

Good morning. Remember the last couple weekends we have talked about Solomon. In review, raise your hand if you know the answer to the following questions.

Who asked for wisdom? (Solomon)

Where can we find Solomon’s collection of wise sayings? (the Book of Proverbs)

What did Solomon build? (the temple)

Tell the Bible story

Open your Bible to . Let’s watch the Bible story video “Solomon’s Sin Divided the Kingdom.”

Leader • What happened?! I thought King Solomon was the right king for Israel! God had made him wise, and he loved God! Unfortunately, Solomon did not love God with his whole heart. Over time, he started to turn away from God. Solomon worshiped false gods. This was exactly what God had told Solomon not to do! Solomon was king the rest of his life, and when he died, his son Rehoboam became king.

Israel was made up of 12 tribes. These were the families of the sons of Jacob. Many of the people did not like Rehoboam, so many of the tribes put Solomon’s official, Jeroboam, in charge. Israel split into two kingdoms.

Can anyone tell me what the two kingdoms were? (the Northern Kingdom of Israel and the Southern Kingdom of Judah) Who was the king of Judah? (Solomon’s son Rehoboam) Who was the king of Israel? (Solomon’s official, Jeroboam) Was Jeroboam a good king? (No, he led all the people in worship to the false gods; )

King Solomon failed to lead God’s people perfectly. God’s people needed a better king, a perfect king! Through David’s family, God would send His own Son. Who is God’s Son? (Jesus) Yes. God would send Jesus to be a perfect King over God’s people forever. Jesus brings His people together and leads them back to God.

Big picture question

Leader • Let’s review our big picture question. Where does wisdom come from? Any ideas? [Allow kids to respond.] Wisdom comes from God through His Word.

Key passage

Show the slide of the key passage, . Lead the boys and girls to read the verse.

Leader • The Book of Proverbs contains many wise sayings collected by Solomon. Where can we find the Book of Proverbs in the Bible? (in the middle, after Psalms)And where does wisdom come from? Wisdom comes from God through His Word. Great job. Let’s practice saying our key passage together.

Discussion starter video

Leader • Have you ever been part of a group that was divided? What happens when not everyone agrees? Watch this video.

Show the “Unit 11, Session 4” discussion starter video. Lead kids to discuss what makes a good leader. Point out that we must be careful about what leaders we follow. Not every leader is a good leader.

Leader • God sent Jesus to be a perfect King over God’s people forever. He always keeps His promises and does what is best. We can follow Him because we know that He is good!

Pray

Invite kids to pray before dismissing to small groups.

Leader • Lord God, we come to You aware of the consequences of our own sin. We can hear Solomon’s story and think he was foolish to turn from You, but we know that we are just like him. We are all sinners who had turned from You. Thank You for not leaving us in our sin. Thank You for sending Your Son, Jesus, to rescue us and give us eternal life. We love You, God. Amen.

Dismiss to small groups

Small Group LEADER

Session Title: Solomon’s Sin Divided the Kingdom

Bible Passage:

Main Point: God divided Israel into two kingdoms because Solomon sinned.

Key Passage:

Big Picture Question: Where does wisdom come from? Wisdom comes from God through His Word.

Key passage activity

Before the session, write the key passage on a long piece of paper. Do not include spaces between the words; let the letters run together. Make additional copies for every additional group of three or four kids.

Look up the key passage poster and lead kids to read it aloud together. If your group made posters for key words during the first session, ask four volunteers to hold up the posters as kids say the key passage. Remove the key passage poster and challenge kids to say using only the key words as prompts.

Form groups of three or four kids. Provide the prepared papers. Challenge kids to tear or cut the paper to separate the letters and gather the words of .

Look up the passage and allow kids to check their work. Then lead them to say the key passage aloud together. If time remains, mix up the separated words and invite kids to rearrange them in the correct order.

Bible story review

Form two teams of kids. Team members should sit together. Distribute Bibles. Instruct kids to turn to . Explain that you will ask a question about the Bible story. If a team thinks it knows the answer, all the players should stand. Call on the first team whose players are all standing. Kids may search for the answer in their Bibles.

How many wives did King Solomon have? (700, )

What did Solomon’s wives cause him to do? (turn away from God and worship other gods, )

How many times did God warn Solomon not to worship false gods? (two times, )

What were the consequences of Solomon’s sin? (God divided Israel into two kingdoms because Solomon sinned, )

What was the name of Solomon’s son? (Rehoboam, )

Who ruled over the northern kingdom? (Solomon’s official, Jeroboam; )

If neither team has the correct answer, provide the Scripture reference and guide them to look up the answer. Award a team one point for each correct answer. The team with the most points wins.

prayer

Distribute pencils and prayer cards. Instruct kids to write about a time they sinned. What were the consequences? Were any of their relationships affected? Encourage kids to write a short prayer, asking God to forgive their sin and restore their relationships affected by sin.

Say • God had warned Solomon not to turn to false gods, but Solomon still did. God divided Israel into two kingdoms because Solomon sinned, and He would have been right to take away Solomon’s kingdom completely. But God kept His promise to make David’s kingdom last forever.

Close in prayer or have a student pray for your group.