The Living Bible (141 page)
Authors: Inc. Tyndale House Publishers
Tags: #BIBLES / Other Translations / Text
All the leaders of Israel came to Shechem for Rehoboam’s coronation.
2-3
Meanwhile, friends of Jeroboam (son of Nebat) sent word to him of Solomon’s death. He was in Egypt at the time, where he had gone to escape from King Solomon. He now quickly returned, and was present at the coronation, and led the people’s demands on Rehoboam:
4
“Your father was a hard master,” they said. “Be easier on us than he was, and we will let you be our king!”
5
Rehoboam told them to return in three days for his decision.
6
He discussed their demand with the old men who had counseled his father Solomon.
“What shall I tell them?” he asked.
7
“If you want to be their king,” they replied, “you will have to give them a favorable reply and treat them with kindness.”
8-9
But he rejected their advice and asked the opinion of the young men who had grown up with him. “What do you fellows think I should do?” he asked. “Shall I be easier on them than my father was?”
10
“No!” they replied. “Tell them, ‘If you think my father was hard on you, just wait and see what I’ll be like!’ Tell them, ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s loins!
11
I am going to be tougher on you, not easier! My father used whips on you, but I’ll use scorpions!’”
12
So when Jeroboam and the people returned in three days to hear King Rehoboam’s decision,
13
he spoke roughly to them; for he refused the advice of the old men
14
and followed the counsel of the younger ones.
“My father gave you heavy burdens, but I will give you heavier!” he told them. “My father punished you with whips, but I will punish you with scorpions!”
15
So the king turned down the people’s demands. (God caused him to do it in order to fulfill his prediction
*
spoken to Jeroboam by Ahijah the Shilonite.)
16
When the people realized what the king was saying, they turned their backs and deserted him.
“Forget David and his dynasty!” they shouted angrily. “We’ll get someone else to be our king. Let Rehoboam rule his own tribe of Judah! Let’s go home!” So they did.
17
The people of the tribe of Judah, however, remained loyal to Rehoboam.
18
Afterwards, when King Rehoboam sent Hadoram to draft forced labor from the other tribes of Israel, the people stoned him to death. When this news reached King Rehoboam, he jumped into his chariot and fled to Jerusalem.
19
And Israel has refused to be ruled by a descendant of David to this day.
Upon arrival at Jerusalem, Rehoboam mobilized the armies of Judah and Benjamin, 180,000 strong, and declared war against the rest of Israel in an attempt to reunite the kingdom.
2
But the Lord told Shemaiah the prophet,
3
“Go and say to King Rehoboam of Judah, Solomon’s son, and to the people of Judah and of Benjamin:
4
“‘The Lord says, Do not fight against your brothers. Go home, for I am behind their rebellion.’” So they obeyed the Lord and refused to fight against Jeroboam.
5-10
Rehoboam stayed in Jerusalem and fortified these cities of Judah with walls and gates to protect himself: Bethlehem, Etam, Tekoa, Beth-zur, Soco, Adullam, Gath, Mareshah, Ziph, Adoraim, Lachish, Azekah, Zorah, Aijalon, and Hebron.
11
He also rebuilt and strengthened the forts, and manned them with companies of soldiers under their officers, and stored them with food, olive oil, and wine.
12
Shields and spears were placed in armories in every city as a further safety measure. For only Judah and Benjamin remained loyal to him.
13-14
However, the priests and Levites from the other tribes now abandoned their homes and moved to Judah and Jerusalem, for King Jeroboam had fired them, telling them to stop being priests of the Lord.
15
He had appointed other priests instead who encouraged the people to worship idols instead of God and to sacrifice to carved statues of goats and calves, which he placed on the hills.
16
Laymen, too, from all over Israel began moving to Jerusalem where they could freely worship the Lord God of their fathers and sacrifice to him.
17
This strengthened the kingdom of Judah, so King Rehoboam survived for three years without difficulty; for during those years there was an earnest effort to obey the Lord as King David and King Solomon had done.
*
18
Rehoboam married his cousin
*
Mahalath. She was the daughter of David’s son Jerimoth and of Abihail, the daughter of David’s brother Eliab.
19
Three sons were born from this marriage—Jeush, Shemariah, and Zaham.
20
Later he married Maacah, the daughter of Absalom. The children she bore him were Abijah, Attai, Ziza, and Shelomith.
21
He loved Maacah more than any of his other wives and concubines (he had eighteen wives and sixty concubines—with twenty-eight sons and sixty daughters).
22
Maacah’s son Abijah was his favorite, and he intended to make him the next king.
23
He very wisely scattered his other sons in the fortified cities throughout the land of Judah and Benjamin, and gave them large allowances and arranged for them to have several wives apiece.
But just when Rehoboam was at the height of his popularity and power he abandoned the Lord, and the people followed him in this sin.
2
As a result, King Shishak of Egypt attacked Jerusalem in the fifth year of King Rehoboam’s reign
3
with 1,200 chariots, 60,000 cavalrymen and an unnumbered host of infantrymen—Egyptians, Libyans, Sukkiim, and Ethiopians.
4
He quickly conquered Judah’s fortified cities and soon arrived at Jerusalem.
5
The prophet Shemaiah now met with Rehoboam and the Judean leaders from every part of the nation (they had fled to Jerusalem for safety) and told them, “The Lord says, ‘You have forsaken me, so I have forsaken you and abandoned you to Shishak.’”
6
Then the king and the leaders of Israel confessed their sins and exclaimed, “The Lord is right in doing this to us!”
7
And when the Lord saw them humble themselves, he sent Shemaiah to tell them, “Because you have humbled yourselves, I will not completely destroy you; some will escape. I will not use Shishak to pour out my anger upon Jerusalem.
8
But you must pay annual tribute to him. Then you will realize how much better it is to serve me than to serve him!”
9
So King Shishak of Egypt conquered Jerusalem and took away all the treasures of the Temple and of the palace, also all of Solomon’s gold shields.
10
King Rehoboam replaced them with bronze shields and committed them to the care of the captain of his bodyguard.
11
Whenever the king went to the Temple, the guards would carry them and afterwards return them to the armory.
12
When the king humbled himself, the Lord’s anger was turned aside and he didn’t send total destruction; in fact, even after Shishak’s invasion, the economy of Judah remained strong.
13
King Rehoboam reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city God had chosen as his residence after considering all the other cities of Israel. He had become king at the age of forty-one, and his mother’s name was Naamah the Ammonitess.
14
But he was an evil king, for he never did decide really to please the Lord.
15
The complete biography of Rehoboam is recorded in the histories written by Shemaiah the prophet and by Iddo the seer and in
The Genealogical Register.
There were continual wars between Rehoboam and Jeroboam.
16
When Rehoboam died he was buried in Jerusalem, and his son Abijah became the new king.
Abijah became the new king of Judah in Jerusalem in the eighteenth year of the reign of King Jeroboam of Israel. He lasted three years. His mother’s name was Micaiah (daughter of Uriel of Gibeah).
Early in his reign war broke out between Judah and Israel.
3
Judah, led by King Abijah, fielded 400,000 seasoned warriors against twice as many Israeli troops—strong, courageous men led by King Jeroboam.
4
When the army of Judah arrived at Mount Zemaraim, in the hill country of Ephraim, King Abijah shouted to King Jeroboam and the Israeli army:
5
“Listen! Don’t you realize that the Lord God of Israel swore that David’s descendants would always be the kings of Israel?
6
Your King Jeroboam is a mere servant of David’s son and was a traitor to his master.
7
Then a whole gang of worthless rebels joined him, defying Solomon’s son Rehoboam, for he was young and frightened and couldn’t stand up to them.
8
Do you really think you can defeat the kingdom of the Lord that is led by a descendant of David? Your army is twice as large as mine, but you are cursed with those gold calves you have with you that Jeroboam made for you—he calls them your gods!
9
And you have driven away the priests of the Lord and the Levites and have appointed heathen priests instead. Just like the people of other lands, you accept as priests anybody who comes along with a young bullock and seven rams for consecration. Anyone at all can be a priest of these no-gods of yours!
10
“But as for us, the Lord is our God and we have not forsaken him. Only the descendants of Aaron are our priests, and the Levites alone may help them in their work.
11
They burn sacrifices to the Lord every morning and evening—burnt offerings and sweet incense; and they place the Bread of the Presence upon the holy table. The gold lampstand is lighted every night, for we are careful to follow the instructions of the Lord our God; but you have forsaken him.
12
So you see, God is with us; he is our leader. His priests, trumpeting as they go, will lead us into battle against you. O people of Israel, do not fight against the Lord God of your fathers, for you will not succeed!”
13-14
Meanwhile, Jeroboam had secretly sent part of his army around behind the men of Judah to ambush them; so Judah was surrounded, with the enemy before and behind them. Then they cried out to the Lord for mercy, and the priests blew the trumpets.
15-16
The men of Judah began to shout. And as they shouted, God used King Abijah and the men of Judah to turn the tide of battle against King Jeroboam and the army of Israel,
17
and they slaughtered 500,000 elite troops of Israel that day.
18-19
So Judah, depending upon the Lord God of their fathers, defeated Israel, and chased King Jeroboam’s troops, and captured some of his cities—Bethel, Jeshanah, Ephron, and their suburbs.
20
King Jeroboam of Israel never regained his power during Abijah’s lifetime, and eventually the Lord struck him and he died.
21
Meanwhile, King Abijah of Judah became very strong. He married fourteen wives and had twenty-two sons and sixteen daughters.
22
His complete biography and speeches are recorded in the prophet Iddo’s
History of Judah.