Voltage and Current Stability in a Voltage Divider
simulate this circuit &ndash; Schematic created using CircuitLab
Figure 1. Equivalent circuit and example of operating point.
If your load is resistive then the two circuits can be made equivalent (but you'd need to recalculate your R5 value). In general you'll see the arrangement of 1a in transistor biasing circuits, etc. As shown in 1b the equivalent circuit has a better controlled maximum voltage with the output impedance being the parallel combination of R1 and R2.
1c's operating point will depend on the gain of Q1 and will vary from device to device - even in the same batch of components. Using 1a to bias the transistor will result in a much better defined operating point much less reliant on the gain of the transistor.