Following the death of Solomon, the people of Israel, all tribes, gather in Shechem for a form of national assembly to witness to the coronation of Rehoboam, Solomon's son. Hearing of this, Jeroboam returns from Egypt to be a part of this dialogue. It seems that Jeroboam is held in high enough esteem that he speaks for the northern tribes and asks how Rehoboam is going to treat his fellow Israelites. Rehoboam asks for some time to formulate his response.
1 Kings 12 is a turning point for Israel, as they await the response of Rehoboam. Seeking counsel, Rehoboam calls together his father's advisors and asks their opinion. They respond by telling Rehoboam to go easy on the people, treat them with respect now and they will respect your reign. Obviously this is not what Rehoboam wants to do, so he seeks counsel of younger advisers, perhaps even his childhood friends, who are far more interested in being "tough." They tell Rehoboam to basically threaten the rest of Israel into submission.
Well, when this message is relayed to the people, the call is to return to their "tents" which is a call to arms. Jeroboam is raised by the northern tribes to be their leader and king, while Rehoboam returns to Jerusalem and raise his army to go to war. It would seem that Israelite will seek the blood of Israelite until the word of God comes.
Shemaiah carries word to Rehoboah that what is happening is God's will, and that Rehoboam must not go to war. Rehoboam is obedient to this word and returns home. Jeroboam, on the other hand, lacks this obedience. Fearing that the people of Israel will go to Jerusalem to worship at the temple and then be swayed to Rehoboam, Jeroboam creates his own shrine complete with golden calves for the people to worship. So while Rehoboam starts out not so well in his reign, he at least has listened to the word of God, unlike Jeroboam. For this reason, God will remain faithful to the house of David and they will remain in power. The north will be a place of much palace intrigue and bloodshed, a story will be hear about soon.
It is hard to make sense of 1 King 13, there is so much going on, so let me just summarize. A prophet from Judah comes north and proclaims judgment against the altars that Jeroboam has built. Jeroboam is convinced and asks the prophet to come home with him but the prophet will not. On his way home, another prophet from the north seeks out the first prophet, and invites him home. The first prophet tells the northern prophet that he is not to eat in the north, but the northern prophet announces that God has sent him to offer assistance to the prophet from Judah. So he eats with the northern prophet who then is told by God that the prophet from Judah should not have eaten and will be judged. Eventually the prophet from Judah is killed by a lion.
The moral of this whole story is that the judgment against the altar of the north will come true. I know, a round about way of saying but that is scripture for ya.
1 Corinthians 14
Paul now moves on to worship, where it seems that, again, divides have developed in the community, this one over speaking in tongues. In Corinth, and in the modern day church, those who spoke in tongues used this as a sign that they were of greater spiritual abilities and then distanced themselves from others in the community. Like elsewhere in the community, Paul must now heal this breach.
Paul recognizes speaking in tongues is a gift of the Spirit but as in all things, it is the gifts that build up the community in love, that are to be pursued. To speak in tongues allows one to communicate with God, so Paul would see this gift used in private prayer not in corporate worship. Instead, he elevates the gift of prophecy as appropriate for corporate worship as well as to proclaim the message to unbelievers. This is a Spiritual gift that will build up the community, therefore it is an expression of love, which is the greatest gift.
Before leaving the chapter, we must deal with the verses at the close, which command women to be silent during worship. Much work has been done to determine how this passage fits into the whole of the text. Part of the issue is how does this passage relate to previous instructions of the role of women in worship, who are able to speak in worship, as well as the reality that we know that women have always played a role in churches that Paul has founded or worked in.
The best rationale for this passage is that it was placed here by a follower of Paul and not Paul himself. Paul's work is always thorough in moving from thought to thought and here it is just dropped into this chapter without any rhyme or reason. The fact that it contradicts an earlier statement of Paul also speaks against Paul's authorship of the passage. Most likely, a follower of Paul placed this text in here to deal with a specific problem that had developed, which we do not know what it was.
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