JUNE 2

JEROBOAM CONTINUES IDOLATRY.   1Kgs.13:33,34   

Even after this, Jeroboam did not change his evil ways, but once more appointed priests for the high places from all sorts of people. Anyone who wanted to become a priest he consecrated for the high places. This was the sin of the house of Jeroboam that

led to its downfall and to its destruction from the face of the earth.

 

JEROBOAM'S SON SICK. 1Kgs.14:1-4.

   At that time Abijah son of Jeroboam became ill and Jeroboam said to his wife, "Go, disguise yourself, so you won't be recognized as the wife of Jeroboam. Then go to Shiloh. Ahijah the prophet is there — the one who told me I would be king over this people. Take ten loaves of bread with you, some cakes and a jar of honey, and go to him. He will tell you what will happen to the boy." So Jeroboam's wife did what he said and went to Ahijah's house in Shiloh. Now Ahijah could not see; his sight was gone because of his age.

 

 PROPHECY AGAINST JEROBOAM. 1Kgs.14:5-16      

But the lord had told Ahijah, "Jeroboam's wife is coming to ask you about her son, for he is ill, and you are to give her such and such an answer. When she arrives, she will pre­tend to be someone else."

So when Ahijah heard the sound of her footsteps at the door, he said, "Come in, wife of Jeroboam. Why this pretense? I have been sent to you with bad news. Go, tell Jeroboam that this is what the lord, the God of Israel, says: 'I raised you up from among the people and made you a leader over my people Israel. I tore the kingdom away from the house of David and gave it to you, but you have not been like my servant David, who kept my commands and followed me with all his heart, doing only what was right in my eyes. You have done more evil than all who lived before you. You have made for yourself other gods, idols made of metal; you have provoked me to anger and thrust me behind your back.

 

" 'Because of this, I am going to bring disaster on the house of Jeroboam. I will cut off from Jeroboam every last male in Israel — slave or free. I will burn up the house of Jeroboam as one burns dung, until it is all gone. Dogs will eat those belonging to Jeroboam who die in the city, and the birds of the air will feed on those who die in the country. The lord has spoken!'

 

"As for you, go back home. When you set foot in your city, the boy will die. All Israel will mourn for him and bury him. He is the only one belong­ing to Jeroboam who will be buried, because he is the only one in the house of Jeroboam in whom the lord, the God of Israel, has found any­thing good.

"The lord will raise up for himself a king over Israel who will cut off the family of Jeroboam. This is the day! What? Yes, even now.d And the lord will strike Israel, so that it will be like a reed swaying in the water. He will uproot Israel from this good land that he gave to their forefathers and scatter them beyond the River/ because they provoked the lord to anger by making Asherah poles And he will give Israel up because of the sins Jeroboam has committed and has caused Israel to commit."

JEROBOAM'S SON DIES. 1Kgs.14:17,18

Then Jeroboam's wife got up and left and went to Tirzah. As soon as she stepped over the threshold of the house, the boy died. They buried him, and all Israel mourned for him, as the lord had said through his servant the prophet Ahijah.

 

In Judah

REHOBOAM FORTIFIES JUDAH. 2 Chron. 11:5-12

Rehoboam lived in Jerusalem and built up towns for defense in Judah: Bethlehem, Etam, Tekoa, Beth Zur, Soco, Adullarji, Gath, Mareshah, Ziph, Adoraim, Lachish, Azekah, Zorah, Aijalon and Hebron. These were fortified cities in Judah and Benjamin. He strengthened their defenses and put commanders in them, with supplies of food, olive oil and wine. He put shields and spears in all the cities, and made them very strong. So Judah and Benjamin were his.

 

REHOBOAM'S FAMILY. 2 Chron. 11:18-23

 Rehoboam married Mahalath, who was the daughter of David's son Jerimoth and of Abihail, the daughter of Jesse's son Eliab. She bore him sons: Jeush, Shemariah and Zaham. Then he mar­ried Maacah daughter of Absalom, who bore him Abijah, Attai, Ziza and Shelomith. Rehoboam loved Maacah daughter of Absalom more than any of his other wives and concubines. In all, he had eighteen wives and sixty concubines, twenty-eight sons and sixty daughters.

Rehoboam appointed Abijah son of Maacah to be the chief prince among his brothers, in order to make him king. He acted wisely, dispers­ing some of his sons throughout the districts of Judah and Benjamin, and to all the fortified cities. He gave them abundant provisions and took many wives for them.

 

JUDAH TURNS TO IDOLATRY. 1Kgs. 14:22-24 , 2 Chron. 12:1,14

ch After Rehoboam's position as king was established and he had become strong, he and all Israel.? with him abandoned the law of the lord. He did evil because he had not set his heart on seeking the lord. Ks Judah did evil in the eyes of the lord. By the sins they committed they stirred up his jealous anger more than their fathers had done. They also set up for themselves high places, sacred stones and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every spreading tree. 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.

 

INVASION FROM EGYPT. 2 Chron. 12:2-4 [1Kgs. 14:25 ]

Because they had been unfaithful to the lord, Shishak king of Egypt attacked Jerusalem in the fifth year of King Rehoboam. With twelve hundred chariots and sixty thousand horsemen and the innumerable troops of Libyans, Sukkites and Cushites'1 that came with him from Egypt, he captured the fortified cities of Judah and came as far as Jerusalem.

 

SHEMAIAH EXPLAINS REASON. 2 Chron. 12:5-8

 Then the prophet Shemaiah came to Rehoboam and to the leaders of Judah who had assembled in Jerusalem for fear of Shishak, and he said to them, "This is what the lord says, 'You have abandoned me; therefore, I now abandon you to Shishak.'"

The leaders of Israel and the king humbled themselves and said, "The lord is just."

When the lord saw that they humbled themselves, this word of the lord came to Shemaiah: "Since they have humbled themselves, I will not destroy them but will soon give them deliverance. My wrath will not be poured out on Jerusalem through Shishak. They will, however, become subject to him, so that they may learn the difference between serving me and serving the kings of other lands."

 

GOLD SHIELDS TAKEN. 2 Chron. 12:9-11 [1Kgs. 14:26-28 ]

When Shishak king of Egypt attacked Jerusa­lem, he carried off the treasures of the temple of the lord and the trea­sures of the royal palace. He took everything, including the gold shields Solomon had made. So King Rehoboam made bronze shields to replace them and assigned these to the commanders of the guard on duty at the entrance to the royal palace. Whenever the king went to the lord's tem­ple, the guards went with him, bearing the shields, and afterward they returned them to the guardroom.

 

JUDAH NOT ALL BAD. 2 Chron. 12:12

Because Rehoboam humbled himself, the lord's anger turned from him, and he was not totally destroyed. Indeed, there was some good in Judah.

 

CONSTANT WAR WITH ISRAEL. 1Kgs. 14:30 [15:6; 2 Chron. 12:15b ]

There was continual warfare between Rehoboam and Jeroboam.

 

RECORD OF REHOBOAM'S REIGN.  2 Chron. 12:13,15a [1Kgs.14:21,29  ]

King Rehoboam established him­self firmly in Jerusalem and continued as king. 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.

As for the events of Rehoboam's reign, from beginning to end, are they not written in the records of Shemaiah the prophet and of Iddo the seer that deal with genealogies?

 

DEATH OF REHOBOAM. 2 Chron. 12:16 [1Kgs. 14:31]

Rehoboam rested with his fathers and was buried in the City of David. And Abijah his son succeeded him as king.

 

ABIJAH KING OF JUDAH. 1Kgs. 15:1,2 2 [Chron. 13:l,2a ]          

In the eighteenth year of the reign of Jero­boam son of Nebat, Abijah' became king of Judah, and he reigned in Jerusalem three years. His mother's name was Maacah a daughter of Abishalom

 

WAR BETWEEN JUDAH AND ISRAEL. 2 Chron. 13:2b,3 [1Kgs. 15:7b ]

There was war between Abijah and Jeroboam. Abijah went into battle with a force of four hundred thou­sand able fighting men, and Jeroboam drew up a battle line against him with eight hundred thousand able troops.

 

ABIJAH'S MESSAGE TO JEROBOAM. 2 Chron. 13:4-12

Abijah stood on Mount Zema-raim, in the hill country of Ephraim, and said, "Jeroboam and all Israel, lis­ten to me! Don't you know that the lord, the God of Israel, has given the kingship of Israel to David and his descendants forever by a covenant of salt? Yet Jeroboam son of Nebat, an official of Solomon son of David, rebelled against his master. Some worthless scoundrels gathered around him and opposed Rehoboam son of Solomon when he was young and indecisive and not strong enough to resist them.

 

"And now you plan to resist the kingdom of the lord, which is in the hands of David's descendants. You are indeed a vast army and have with you the golden calves that Jeroboam made to be your gods. But didn't you drive out the priests of the lord, the sons of Aaron, and the Levites, and make priests of your own as the peoples of other lands do? Whoever comes to consecrate himself with a young bull and seven rams may become a priest of what are not gods.

 

"As for us, the lord is our God, and we have not forsaken him. The priests who serve the lord are sons of Aaron, and the Levites assist them. Every morning and evening they present burnt offerings and fragrant incense to the lord. They set out the bread on the ceremonially clean table and light the lamps on the gold lampstand every evening. We are observ­ing the requirements of the lord our God. But you have forsaken him. God is with us; he is our leader. His priests with their trumpets will sound the battle cry against you. Men of Israel, do not fight against the lord, the God of your fathers, for you will not succeed."

 

JUDAH SURVIVES AMBUSH. 2 Chron. 13:13-20a

Now Jeroboam had sent troops around to the rear, so that while he was in front of Judah the ambush was behind them. Judah turned and saw that they were being attacked at both front and rear. Then they cried out to the lord. The priests blew their trumpets and the men of Judah raised the battle cry. At the sound of their battle cry, God routed Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah. The Israelites fled before Judah, and God delivered them into their hands. Abijah and his men inflicted heavy losses on them, so that there were five hundred thou­sand casualties among Israel's able men. The men of Israel were subdued on that occasion, and the men of Judah were victorious because they relied on the lord, the God of their fathers.

Abijah pursued Jeroboam and took from him the towns of Bethel, Jeshanah and Ephron, with their surrounding villages. Jeroboam did not regain power during the time of Abijah.

 

ABIJAH'S FAMILY 2 Chron. 13:21

. But Abijah grew in strength. He married fourteen wives and had twenty-two sons and sixteen daughters.

 

ABIJAH'S CHARACTER.  1Kgs. 15:3-5

He committed all the sins his father had done before him; his heart was not fully devoted to the lord his God, as the

 

 

 

heart of David his forefather had been. Nevertheless, for David's sake the LORD his God gave him a lamp in Jerusalem by raising up a son to succeed him and by making Jerusalem strong. For David had done what was right in the eyes of the LORD and had not failed to keep any of the lord's commands all the days of his life—except in the case of Uriah the Hiltite.

 

DEATH OF ABIJAH. 2 Chron. 13:22 14:1a [1 Kgs. I5:7a,8a ]      

The other events of Abijah's reign, what he did and what he said, are written in the annotations of the prophet Iddo- And Abijah rested with his fathers and was buried in the City of David.