Have you heard the phrase “sin of omission?” Sitting back and doing nothing can be a sin. When we know to do something and don’t do it, that’s a sin.
Rehoboam,
Solomon’s son, became king of Judah and shortly after lost much of the kingdom
to Jeroboam (as we saw a few weeks ago). That didn’t seem to wake him up and
turn his heart fully back to God.
I Kings 14:21-24 21 Rehoboam son of Solomon was king in Judah. He was forty-one
years old when he became king, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the
city the Lord had
chosen out of all the tribes of Israel in which to put his Name. His mother’s
name was Naamah; she was an Ammonite.
22 Judah did evil in the eyes of the Lord. By the sins they committed they stirred up his
jealous anger more than those who were before them had done. 23 They also set
up for themselves high places, sacred stones and Asherah poles on
every high hill and under every spreading tree. 24 There
were even male shrine prostitutes in the land; the people engaged in all
the detestable practices of the nations the Lord had driven out before the Israelites.
Rehoboam tolerated all the sins
Judah committed. It never says he participated in idolatry, but he
didn’t stop the idol worship. In the above verses it says “Judah” did evil and
“they” setup high places. So, I don’t think he actively participated. When the
Bible talks about the evil of other kings, it says “Solomon did evil,” “Jeroboam
made two golden calves,” etc. However, Rehoboam sinned by tolerating all these
detestable things the kingdom of Judah did.