The bad days that started with Solomon got even worse after he died. The kingdom went from Saul, to David, to David’s son Solomon, to Solomon’s son Rehoboam. That’s when everything went crazy. And not a good “our two dogs just had puppies!” crazy; more like “our two dogs just destroyed our kitchen and won’t listen to anything we say!” crazy.

Rehoboam was a young man when he became king, and he quickly faced a test of wisdom. Many of the people said to Rehoboam, “Your father was harsh to us. He taxed us a lot, and made us do hard labor, and treated us almost like slaves. If you will ease up just a bit, we will serve you faithfully.” Rehoboam asked for three days to think about their request.

Rehoboam first asked the old men what to do. They told Rehoboam to be kind to the people and look out for their best interests, and the people would be loyal to him. Then Rehoboam asked the young men, the friends he grew up with, what to do. They told Rehoboam that the only way the people would serve him was if he showed them who was boss. So Rehoboam determined to treat the people even more harshly than Solomon had done.

It’s not always the case that old people are wiser than young people, but it’s true more often than young people would like to think. With more life comes more experience and oftentimes more wisdom. Rehoboam should have listened to the elders of Israel, but—like a lot of young men and women—he listened to his friends (who were just as clueless as he was) when he should have listened to those who knew better.

On the third day the people came back for an answer. “My father disciplined you with whips,” Rehoboam said, “but I will discipline you with scorpions.” Sounds painful (for the people and for the scorpions). Not surprisingly, Rehoboam’s decision was not very popular. The people rebelled against Rehoboam and the house of David. Many of them followed Jeroboam instead. He had been a servant of Solomon and was a rival to Rehoboam’s throne. He was even worse than Rehoboam and made two golden calves for the people to worship (as if one hadn’t been sinful enough!).

From that day on, the nation of Israel was split in two. Ten tribes in the north followed Jeroboam. They were called Israel. Two tribes in the south followed Rehoboam. They were called Judah. The people of God were now divided—the tragic result of two sinful men and the righteous punishment from one holy God. Finding a good king was proving to be more difficult than anyone—except for Samuel and the Lord—had imagined.