Rehoboam Rules

10 Then Rehoboam went to Shechem. All Israel had come to Shechem to make him king. ² When Jeroboam the son of Nebat heard about it, he returned from Egypt. For Jeroboam had run to Egypt to get away from King Solomon. ³ And the people sent for him. Jeroboam and all Israel came to Rehoboam and said, ⁴ “Your father gave us a heavy load to carry. So now make our work easier than your father made us work. Do not let our load be as heavy as the one he put on us. And we will work for you.” ⁵ Rehoboam said to them, “Come to me again in three days.” So the people left.

⁶ Then King Rehoboam spoke with the leaders who had served his father Solomon while he was still alive. He said, “Tell me, how do you think I should answer these people?” ⁷ They said to him, “If you will be kind to these people and please them and speak good words to them, they will be your servants forever.” ⁸ But Rehoboam would not listen to the wise words of the leaders. He spoke with the young men who grew up with him and served him. ⁹ He said to them, “Tell me, how do you think I should answer these people who have said to me, ‘Do not let our load be as heavy as the one your father put on us’?” ¹⁰ The young men who grew up with him said to him, “Say this to the people who said to you, ‘Your father made our load heavy, but you make it easier for us.’ Tell them, ‘My little finger is bigger around than my father’s body! ¹¹ My father gave you a heavy load. I will add to your load. My father punished you with whips. But I will punish you with scorpions.’”

¹² So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam on the third day, as the king had told them, saying, “Return to me on the third day.” ¹³ The king answered them with strong words. King Rehoboam did not listen to the wise words of the leaders. ¹⁴ Instead he listened to the words of the young men. And he said to them, “My father made your load heavy, but I will add to it. My father punished you with whips, but I will punish you with scorpions.” ¹⁵ So the king did not listen to the people. God made this happen so that He might make His Word come true which He spoke through Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat.

¹⁶ All Israel saw that the king did not listen to them. So the people said to the king, “What share do we have in David? We have no share in the son of Jesse. Every man to your tents, O Israel! Now look to your own house, David!” So all Israel left and went to their tents. ¹⁷ But Rehoboam ruled over the people of Israel who lived in the cities of Judah. ¹⁸ Then King Rehoboam sent Hadoram, the man who made the people work. But the people of Israel killed him with stones. So King Rehoboam got on his war-wagon in a hurry, to go to Jerusalem. ¹⁹ Israel has been against the family of David to this day.

11 When Rehoboam came to Jerusalem, he gathered together the family of Judah and Benjamin. There were 180,000 chosen men of war gathered to fight against Israel to make Rehoboam their king again. ² But the word of the Lord came to Shemaiah the man of God, saying, ³ “Speak to Rehoboam the son of Solomon, king of Judah. And speak to all Israel in Judah and Benjamin. Tell them, ⁴ ‘This is what the Lord says, “You must not go up to fight against your brothers. Every man return to his house. For I have made this happen.”’” So they listened to the word of the Lord and returned. They did not go against Jeroboam.

Rehoboam Makes the Cities Strong

⁵ Rehoboam lived in Jerusalem and built strong cities in Judah. ⁶ He built Bethlehem, Etam, Tekoa, ⁷ Beth-zur, Soco, Adullam, ⁸ Gath, Mareshah, Ziph, ⁹ Adoraim, Lachish, Azekah, ¹⁰ Zorah, Aijalon, and Hebron. These are strong cities with walls, in Judah and in Benjamin. ¹¹ He made the strong places stronger. He put leaders in them, and stores of food, oil, and wine. ¹² And he put battle-coverings and spears in every city and made them very strong. So he kept Judah and Benjamin.

Religious Leaders and Levites Come to Judah

¹³ The religious leaders and the Levites who were in all Israel joined with Rehoboam from all places where they lived. ¹⁴ The Levites left their fields and land and came to Judah and Jerusalem. For Jeroboam and his sons had stopped them from working as religious leaders for the Lord. ¹⁵ He chose religious leaders of his own for the high places, for the goat-gods and for the calves which he had made. ¹⁶ Those from all the families of Israel who set their hearts on following the Lord God of Israel came after them to Jerusalem. They came to give gifts in worship to the Lord God of their fathers. ¹⁷ They made the nation of Judah strong, and gave strength to Rehoboam the son of Solomon for three years. For they walked in the way of David and Solomon for three years.

Rehoboam’s Family

¹⁸ Then Rehoboam married Mahalath. She was the daughter of Jerimoth the son of David, and of Abihail the daughter of Eliab the son of Jesse. ¹⁹ She gave birth to Rehoboam’s sons: Jeush, Shemariah, and Zaham. ²⁰ After her he married Maacah the daughter of Absalom. She gave birth to his sons: Abijah, Attai, Ziza, and Shelomith. ²¹ Rehoboam loved Maacah the daughter of Absalom more than all his other wives and women who acted as his wives. For he had taken eighteen wives and sixty women who acted as his wives. He was the father of twenty-eight sons and sixty daughters. ²² Rehoboam chose Maacah’s son Abijah to be the head leader among his brothers. For he wanted to make him king. ²³ And he acted with wisdom. He spread some of his sons to every strong city in all the lands of Judah and Benjamin. He gave them much food, and found many wives for them.

Egypt Takes Judah

12 When King Rehoboam’s nation had been made strong, he and all Israel turned away from the Law of the Lord. ² After Rehoboam had been king for five years, King Shishak of Egypt came to fight against Jerusalem. This happened because they had not been faithful to the Lord. ³ Shishak came with 1,200 war-wagons and 60,000 horsemen. And the people who came with him from Egypt were too many to number. There were Libyans, Sukkites, and Ethiopians. ⁴ He took the strong cities of Judah and came as far as Jerusalem. ⁵ Then Shemaiah the man of God came to Rehoboam and the princes of Judah who had gathered at Jerusalem because of Shishak. He said to them, “The Lord says, ‘You have left Me. So I have left you to Shishak.’” ⁶ So the princes of Israel and the king put away their pride and said, “The Lord is right and good.”

⁷ The Lord saw that they had put away their pride. And the word of the Lord came to Shemaiah, saying, “They have put away their pride. I will not destroy them. But I will give them some help. My anger will not be poured out on Jerusalem by the power of Shishak. ⁸ But they will be made to work for him. In this way they may learn the difference between My work and the work of the kings of the countries.”

⁹ So King Shishak of Egypt came and fought against Jerusalem. He took the riches of the Lord’s house and the riches of the king’s house. He took everything. He even took the battle-coverings of gold which Solomon had made. ¹⁰ King Rehoboam made battle-coverings of brass in their place. And he put them in the care of the captains of the soldiers who watched the door of the king’s house. ¹¹ Every time the king went into the house of the Lord, the soldiers came and carried the coverings. Then they returned them to the soldiers’ room. ¹² When Rehoboam put away his pride, the Lord’s anger turned away from him. He was not destroyed. And things were good in Judah.

The End of Rehoboam’s Rule

¹³ So King Rehoboam became strong in Jerusalem and ruled. He was forty-one years old when he began to rule. And he ruled in Jerusalem for seventeen years. This was the city the Lord had chosen from all the families of Israel to put His name there. The name of Rehoboam’s mother was Naamah the Ammonitess. ¹⁴ And he did what was sinful, because he did not follow the Lord with all his heart.

¹⁵ The acts of Rehoboam, from first to last, are written in the writings of Shemaiah the man of God and of Iddo the man who told what would happen in the future. Wars were always being fought between Rehoboam and Jeroboam. ¹⁶ Rehoboam died and was buried in the city of David. His son Abijah became king in his place.

Abijah’s Rule in Judah

13 Abijah became the king of Judah in the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam. ² He ruled for three years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Micaiah the daughter of Uriel of Gibeah. And there was war between Abijah and Jeroboam. ³ Abijah began the battle with an army of powerful soldiers, 400,000 chosen men. Jeroboam came ready for battle against him with 800,000 chosen men who were powerful soldiers.

⁴ Then Abijah stood on Mount Zemaraim in the hill country of Ephraim, and said, “Listen to me, Jeroboam and all Israel! ⁵ Do you not know that the Lord God of Israel gave the rule over Israel forever to David and his sons by an agreement of salt? ⁶ But Jeroboam the son of Nebat, the servant of Solomon the son of David, went against his lord the king. ⁷ And men of no worth gathered around him. They were bad men who were too strong for Rehoboam the son of Solomon. Rehoboam was young and weak and could not stand against them. ⁸ So now you plan to stand against the power of the Lord through the sons of David. You think you can because you have many people and the gold calves Jeroboam made you for gods. ⁹ Have you not driven out the religious leaders of the Lord, the sons of Aaron and the Levites? And have you not made religious leaders for yourselves like the people of other lands? Whoever comes to make himself holy with a young bull and seven rams becomes a religious leader of false gods. ¹⁰ But as for us, the Lord is our God. We have not left Him. The sons of Aaron are working for the Lord as religious leaders. And the Levites are doing their work. ¹¹ Every morning they give burnt gifts and burn special perfume to the Lord. The holy bread is set on the clean table. And the gold lamp-stand with its lamps is ready to light every evening. For we do the work of the Lord our God. But you have left Him. ¹² Now see, God is with us at our head. His religious leaders are ready to blow the horns, to sound the call to battle against you. O sons of Israel, do not fight against the Lord God of your fathers. For you cannot win.”

¹³ But Jeroboam had sent soldiers to come from behind. So Israel was in front of Judah, and soldiers were behind them also. ¹⁴ When Judah looked, they saw that the battle was both in front of them and behind them. So they cried to the Lord, and the religious leaders blew the horns. ¹⁵ Then the men of Judah sounded a war cry. And when they sounded the war cry, God began destroying Jeroboam and all Israel around Abijah and Judah. ¹⁶ The men of Israel ran away from Judah. God gave them into their hand. ¹⁷ Abijah and his people killed many of them. There were 500,000 chosen men of Israel killed. ¹⁸ So the sons of Israel were set back at that time. The sons of Judah were strong because they trusted in the Lord, the God of their fathers. ¹⁹ Abijah went after Jeroboam. He took from him the cities of Bethel with its towns, Jeshanah with its towns, and Ephron with its towns. ²⁰ Jeroboam did not become strong again in the days of Abijah. And the Lord destroyed him, and he died.

²¹ But Abijah became very strong. He married fourteen wives, and became the father of twenty-two sons and sixteen daughters. ²² Now the rest of the acts of Abijah, and his ways and his words, are written in the story of Iddo the man of God.