Sometimes you just feel like, “Every man to his tents”. You’ve had enough. What’s in front of you is overwhelming. You’re taken aback by the events of the times and just feel you have to get away from it all.

Of course, “Every man to his tents” was expressed close to 3000 years ago by commoners in ancient Israel after their utter disillusionment with “the house of David” which had ruled them with the blessing of God for so long.

King David’s grandson, Rehoboam, had neither the heart of his grandfather David or the wisdom of his father Solomon. He exposed himself as a shallow, heartless neophyte and the people of Israel came to say “What have we to do with the house of David?” “Every man to his tents!” That’s how it is now, in many ways.

The institutions, individuals, symbols and beliefs that so many have held fundamental for generations are now often crumbling to dust. The political parties that held the allegiance of millions, even many of the denominations that were the hitching posts of millions, have morphed into some new, strange, alien thing.

So, “Every man to his tents”. And is this all bad? Maybe not. For those sincerely seeking truth, this is a time of turning away from the images and forms of the present day and turning back to “your tents”, to a time with your family and a time to reassess in your heart “What the heck is going on!” And also asking ourselves profoundly “What should we be holding on to?” is actually an act and mercy of God, when that question becomes paramount.

I think millions are turning to their tents, away from the confusion of present debates and the cacophony of media disputations. It looks like a defeat to turn away to your tents. But maybe there you’ll find, as you pause, ponder and move away from the din and discord of the present, that there you’ll actually be better able to hear the “still, small voice” of God, like Elijah did when he fled alone to a mountain and there heard God’s voice. (I King 18:36).

That period of time just after King Solomon was actually a very significant time. It was at the end of God’s mighty blessings on a united Israel, which reached its zenith in King David and then continued with his son Solomon afterwards.

But there’s much truth in the statement that the influence of one mighty man of God seems seldom to reach beyond the second generation of his followers. In King David’s case, God actually gave him a son, Solomon, who did very much to follow in the footsteps of his father David. And the reign of Solomon, after David, was pretty much the zenith of Israel’s power, close to 3000 years ago.

But God has no grandchildren. Solomon’s sons were far from the sample they’d seen in their dad and grandfather. The commoners of Israel soon sensed it and there comes the phrase, “ever man to his tents.” The music wasn’t playing anymore. Those who’d spoken to them the Word of God for several generations were now, in their children, no longer doing that.

So, “Every man to his tents”. It turned out that the individuals of Israel had to each themselves sort out the new situation and find for themselves a new, personal channel of truth as the former channels, their Godly kings, had ceased to be the oracles and shepherds of God.

But was God dead? No, of course not. And this time of each individual withdrawing to his tent was the way and hand of God to draw His people back closer to Himself. The time of the united kingdom of Israel was at its end. What actually was happening was a huge transition in the nature and composition of the believers in the God of Abraham. Had He abandoned them? No. But there was fundamentally no longer a truly Godly king to be led by, as there had been for 80 years in the realms of David and Solomon.

But the Lord was still there. And perhaps in the lowly individual tents of the Jews back then multitudes were drawn closer to the Lord than they’d ever been.

There were really no prophets yet, as there later came to be. But they had the words of David and Solomon to feast upon and to grow in as they adjusted to the new times they were living in, after Israel broke up into the 10 tribes of the north and the tiny rump remnant in the south, the 2 tribes of Judah and Benjamin.

Does this mean anything for today? Very many in these times are feeling the same, “Every man to his tents!” They find no affinity with the divisions and the shenanigans of the present because they find no underlying truth or direction in it, compared to times just a few years back.

So they abandon social media, abandon denominations and/or political parties and they come to the same conclusions folks did after King Solomon. “What have we to do with the house of David?!” Or in our times, “What have we to do with the political parties or even denominations that formerly spoke the truth and led the way forward but now are overtaken by darkness?”

Head to the hills! Go off grid! Or for some, just really withdrawing from all the tumult and shallowness of the present evil world and seeing if you can’t at least find some peace and sanity in your heart by withdrawing to “your tent”.

I say, “More power to them.” There are certainly times for this. Pulling back, turning away from the frolicking, foaming, foolish, frivolous present and searching alone in your tent and in your heart to find that still small voice which can cause you to rise above the confusion of this present world.

Feel you need to withdraw to your tents? Could be a good idea. Maybe you’ll come back a much better person for it, with a clearer vision of the present realities of God as He speaks to you, away from the battle. We certainly all need tent time, especially when those we followed and looked to turn out to no longer be the instruments of God and truth.