Spoke 11 linksymbol 11th Century AD
1 Kings, Micah, 2 Timothy
And Ahijah caught the new garment that was on him, and rent it
in twelve pieces: And he said to Jeroboam, Take thee ten pieces: for
thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel, Behold, I will rend the kingdom out
of the hand of Solomon, and will give ten tribes to thee:
(But he shall have one tribe for my servant David's sake, and for Jerusalem's sake, the
city which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel:)1 Kings 11.30f (Spoke 11, Cycle 1)
A Heavy Yoke
The division of the Eastern and Western branches of the one holy and apostolic Church in the Eleventh
Century (1054 AD) corresponds to the
division of the Northern and Southern tribes in the Kingdom of Israel in the Eleventh Book, I Kings.
The reason for the division
involved a wanton use of power over others, as explained in I Kings (I quote the
whole of chapter 12):
I Kings 12.1 And Rehoboam went to Shechem: for all Israel were come to Shechem to
make him king.
2 And it came to pass, when Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who was yet in Egypt,
heard of it, (for he was fled from the presence of king Solomon, and Jeroboam dwelt in Egypt;)
3 That they sent and called him. And Jeroboam and all the congregation of Israel came, and
spake unto Rehoboam, saying,
4 Thy father made our yoke grievous: now therefore make thou the grievous service of thy father, and
his heavy yoke which he put upon us, lighter, and we will serve thee.
5 And he said unto them, Depart yet for three days, then come again to me.
And the people departed.
6 And king Rehoboam consulted with the old men, that stood before Solomon his
father while he yet lived, and said, How do ye advise that I may answer this people?
7 And they spake unto him, saying, If thou wilt be a servant unto this people this day,
and wilt serve them, and answer them, and speak good words to them, then they will
be thy servants for ever.
8 But he forsook the counsel of the old men, which they had given him, and consulted with the young
men that were grown up with him, and which stood before him:
9 And he said unto them, What counsel give ye that we may answer this people,
who have spoken to me, saying, Make the yoke which thy father did put upon us lighter?
10 And the young men that were grown up with him spake unto him, saying, Thus
shalt thou speak unto this people that spake unto thee, saying, Thy father made our
yoke heavy, but make thou it lighter unto us; thus shalt thou say unto them, My little
finger shall be thicker than my father's loins.
11 And now whereas my father did lade you with a heavy yoke, I will
add to your yoke: my father hath chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with
scorpions.
12 So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam the third day, as the king had appointed, saying,
Come to me again the third day.
13 And the king answered the people roughly, and forsook the old
men's counsel that they gave him;
14 And spake to them after the counsel of the young men, saying, My father made your
yoke heavy, and I will add to your yoke: my father also chastised you with whips,
but I will chastise you with scorpions.
15 Wherefore the king hearkened not unto the people; for the cause was from the LORD,
that he might perform his saying, which the LORD spake by Ahijah the Shilonite unto Jeroboam
the son of Nebat.
16 So when all Israel saw that the king hearkened not unto them, the people answered the
king, saying, What portion have we in David? neither have we inheritance in the
son of Jesse: to your tents, O Israel: now see to thine own house, David. So Israel
departed unto their tents.
17 But as for the children of Israel which dwelt in the cities of Judah, Rehoboam reigned over
them.
18 Then king Rehoboam sent Adoram, who was over the tribute; and all
Israel stoned him with stones, that he died. Therefore king Rehoboam made speed to get
him up to his chariot, to flee to Jerusalem.
19 So Israel rebelled against the house of David unto this day.
Now the really incredible thing is that the language of an unacceptable yoke is used
by modern Greek Orthodox in their discussion of the Schism, as quoted below.
Both the Greek Orthodox and the Roman Catholic Churches agree on the many causes leading up to the
Great Schism of 1054, such as differences in languages, geography, and politics. They also agree in that the
breaking point was brought on by the hubris of the opponent in abrogating undue powers over the other. The
Roman Catholics assert that the Orthodox had usurped the authority rigthtly due only
to the See of Saint Peter while the Orthodox assert that it was the Catholics who were attempting to
inappropriately impose their
authority over the four Eastern Sees. There is a fundamental difference though - the Greek Othodox
demanded equality while the Roman Catholic demanded supremacy. Here is a comparison of the main points
as presented by the
Roman Catholic  and the
Greek Orthodox :
| Catholic View |
Othodox View |
|---|
| The rivalry and hatred arose from several causes. Undoubtedly the first, the
root of all the quarrel, was the advance of the See of Constantinople. We have
seen that four Eastern patriarchates were to some extent contrasted to the one
great Western unity. Had there remained four such unities in the East, nothing
further need have followed. What accentuated the contrast and made it a rivalry
was the gradual assumption of authority over the other three by the patriarch of
Constantinople. It was Constantinople that bound together the East into one
body, uniting it against the West. It was the persistent attempt of the
emperor's patriarch to become a kind of Eastern pope, as nearly as possible
equal to his Western prototype, that was the real source of all the trouble.
|
The Bishop of Rome, even today in the 20th century, insists that he has a
primacy of jurisdiction over all Churches, including the Patriarchs of the East.
He claims they should be subject to him since "he is not only Bishop of Rome and
the Patriarch of the West but also the Vicar of Christ on Earth, the successor
of St. Peter, and the Supreme Pontiff". Pope Pius XII in 1955 called upon the
"Uniat" Church to use its utmost to bring the Orthodox Churches to the "fold".
The Eastern Orthodox is told that it would not be necessary to change any of the
teachings or customs of the Orthodox Church but to submit himself under the
Pope's jurisdiction; that is, to lose every right of freedom and independence.
In other words, unconditional surrender under the Pope's yoke is asked. But the
principles of the democratic government of the Eastern Orthodox Church is its
very foundation. The "Conscience of the Church" is its supreme authority and the
infallible guidance to proclaim the truth of Salvation, as was the case for
centuries for the Western Church, too. The question as to the supremacy of the
Pope was the main cause of the separation of the Eastern and Western Churches.
|
The correlation between History and the structure of the Canon is astounding - it includes not only a
description of the main event, but even the reasons for it! Exactly the same phenomenon is seen in
the description of the Sixteenth Century Reformation, where both the event and the reason for it
appear on Spoke 16. A full exploration of the reasons for the split can be read in
Mosaic's excellent series of
articles called Schism: The Origins of Christian Disunity .
The Yoke of Christ
Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and
ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
Matthew 11
The link between the Eleventh Century and the idea of the Yoke caused me to
recall the words of Christ from Matthew 11 which are in in stark contrast to the yoke recomended by Rehoboam's younger counsellors:
And he said unto them, What counsel give ye that we may answer
this people, who have spoken to me, saying, Make the yoke which thy father did put upon
us lighter? And the young men that were grown up with him spake unto him, saying,
Thus shalt thou speak unto this people that spake unto thee, saying, Thy father made
our yoke heavy, but make thou it lighter unto us; thus shalt thou
say unto them,
My little finger shall be thicker than my father's loins.
We have a near KeyLink between Matthew 11 and I Kings based on the simple set (light*, yoke) [Verify],
which selects only the two passages quoted above, and the parallel passage in 2 Chronicles 10.10:
| Thematic Link Set (Light*, Yoke) | PBible( 11 )  PMatthew( 11 ) |
This is the power of the correlation between History and the bwheel: I discovered this strong thematic
link between I Kings and the Inner Cycle of Matthew based on the connection between I Kings and the Eleventh
Century. Such is the awesome power of God's revelation!
|
Bible Wheel Forum
Schism of East and West