Historical

Rehoboam Reigns over Judah Only^(A)

11 When Rehoboam returned to Jerusalem, he gathered together 180,000 specially chosen soldiers from the households of Judah and Benjamin to fight against Israel and restore the kingdom to Rehoboam. ² But a message from the Lord came to Shemaiah, a man of God: ³ “Tell Solomon’s son Rehoboam, king of Judah and all of Israel in Judah and Benjamin: ⁴ ‘This is what the Lord says: “You are not to fight or even to approach your relatives in battle. Every soldier is to return to his own home, for this development comes from me.”’” So they listened to what the Lord had to say and called off their attack on Jeroboam.

⁵ Rehoboam continued to live in Jerusalem and built defensive fortification cities throughout Judah, ⁶ including Bethlehem, Etam, Tekoa, ⁷ Beth-zur, Soco, Adullam, ⁸ Gath, Mareshah, Ziph, ⁹ Adoraim, Lachish, Azekah, ¹⁰ Zorah, Aijalon, and Hebron. These were all fortified cities throughout Judah and Benjamin. ¹¹ He also strengthened the fortified cities, assigned officers to them, and stockpiled food, oil, and wine. ¹² He also stockpiled shields and spears in every city and fortified them greatly to secure his rule over Judah and Benjamin.

The Priests and Levites Support Rehoboam^(B)

¹³ The priests and descendants of Levi throughout Israel also supported him in their districts, ¹⁴ because the descendants of Levi left their pasture lands and their property to live in Judah and Jerusalem, since Jeroboam and his sons had excluded them from participating in priestly services to the Lord. ¹⁵ Jeroboam had appointed his own priests to serve at the high places and to serve the satyrs^[a] and calves that he had made. ¹⁶ As a result, anyone from all of the tribes of Israel who was determined to seek the Lord God of Israel followed the descendants of Levi^[b] to Jerusalem so they could sacrifice to the Lord God of their ancestors, ¹⁷ and they continued to strengthen the kingdom of Judah, supporting Solomon’s son Rehoboam for three years, by living^[c] the way David and Solomon did for three years.

Rehoboam’s Wives and Children

¹⁸ Rehoboam married Mahalath, the daughter of David’s son Jerimoth, along with Abihail, the daughter of Jesse’s son Eliab, ¹⁹ who bore him these sons: Jeush, Shemariah, and Zaham. ²⁰ After this he married Absalom’s daughter Maacah, who bore him Abijah, Attai, Ziza, and Shelomith. ²¹ Rehoboam loved Absalom’s daughter Maacah more than he did all of his wives and mistresses. (He married eighteen wives and 60 concubines, fathering 28 sons and 60 daughters.) ²² Later, Rehoboam appointed Abijah, his son from Maacah, as senior family leader among his brothers, since he intended to establish Abijah^[d] as king. ²³ Rehoboam^[e] was wise to distribute some of his children throughout all of the territories of Judah and Benjamin, placing them in all of the fortified cities. He allotted them abundant supplies of food and sought many wives for them.^[f]

Shishak Invades Judah^(C)

12 At the height of his power, after he had consolidated his rule, Rehoboam abandoned the Lord’s Law, along with all of Israel with him. ² Because he had been unfaithful to the Lord, during the fifth year of King Rehoboam’s reign, King Shishak of Egypt attacked Jerusalem ³ with 1,200 chariots and 60,000 cavalry. The Lubim, Sukkiim, and the Ethiopians who invaded from Egypt with Shishak^[g] were innumerable. ⁴ Shishak^[h] captured the fortified cities of Judah and invaded as far as Jerusalem.

⁵ Right then, Shemaiah the prophet approached Rehoboam and the princes of Judah who had gathered together in Jerusalem because of Shishak, and he told them, “This is what the Lord says: ‘You abandoned me, so I’ve abandoned you to Shishak.’”

⁶ In response, the princes of Israel and the king humbled themselves and declared, “The Lord is righteous.”

⁷ When the Lord observed that they had humbled themselves, the Lord spoke to Shemaiah, “They have humbled themselves, so I won’t destroy them. Instead, I’ll grant them some deliverance by not pouring out my indignation on Jerusalem, using Shishak to do it. ⁸ Nevertheless, they will become his slaves so they may learn to differentiate between what it means to serve me and to serve the kingdoms of these nations.” ⁹ So King Shishak of Egypt invaded Jerusalem and looted the treasure stores in the Lord’s Temple and in the royal palace. He took everything, including the golden shields that Solomon had made. ¹⁰ After this, King Rehoboam made shields out of bronze to take their place, committing them to the care and custody of the commanders of those who guarded the entrance to the royal palace. ¹¹ As often as the king entered the Lord’s Temple, the guards came and transported the shields^[i] to the Temple^[j] and then brought them back to the guard’s quarters. ¹² After he had humbled himself, the Lord stopped being angry with him, and did not destroy Rehoboam^[k] completely. Furthermore, conditions became good in Judah.

The Death of Rehoboam^(D)

¹³ King Rehoboam consolidated his reign in Jerusalem. Rehoboam was 41 years old when he began to reign, and he reigned for seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city that that Lord had chosen from all the tribes of Israel in which to establish his name. Rehoboam’s mother was Naamah from Ammon. ¹⁴ He practiced evil by not setting his heart to seek the Lord. ¹⁵ Now Rehoboam’s accomplishments, from first to last, are written in the records of Shemaiah the prophet and of Iddo the seer, enrolled by genealogy, are they not? ¹⁶ Later, Rehoboam died, as had his ancestors, and his son Abijah became king to replace him.

Abijah Succeeds Rehoboam^(E)

13 During the eighteenth year of the reign of^[l] King Jeroboam, Abijah became king over Judah. ² He reigned for three years in Jerusalem. His mother was Uriel’s daughter Micaiah from Gibeah.

A war started between Abijah and Jeroboam. ³ Abijah started the battle with an army of 400,000 specially chosen valiant soldiers, but Jeroboam opposed him with 800,000 specially chosen valiant soldiers. ⁴ Abijah stood on Mount Zemaraim in the hill country of Ephraim and announced:

¹³ But Jeroboam had sent an ambush to attack from the rear, so Israel was in front of Judah, with the ambush set in place behind them. ¹⁴ When the army of^[p] Judah turned around to look, they were being attacked from both front and rear, so they cried out to the Lord while the priests sounded their trumpets. ¹⁵ Then the army of Judah sounded a war cry, and God routed Jeroboam and the entire army of Israel in front of Abijah and Judah. ¹⁶ When the descendants of Israel ran away from the army of Judah, God handed them over to the army of Judah. ¹⁷ Abijah and his army defeated them in a tremendous slaughter that resulted in 500,000 special forces from Israel being slain. ¹⁸ And so the descendants of Israel were defeated at that time. The descendants of Judah were victorious because they trusted in the Lord God of their ancestors. ¹⁹ After this Abijah pursued Jeroboam and captured Bethel and its villages, Jeshanah and its villages, and Ephron and its villages.

Jeroboam’s Death and Asa’s Reign in Judah

²⁰ Jeroboam never recovered his strength for the rest of Abijah’s life. The Lord struck Jeroboam,^[q] and he died, ²¹ but Abijah continued to grow more powerful. He took fourteen wives for himself and fathered 22 sons and sixteen daughters. ²² The rest of Abijah’s accomplishments, his lifestyle and his memoirs are recorded in the Midrash^[r] of the Prophet Iddo. 14 ^1 [s]Then Abijah died, as had his ancestors, and he was buried in the City of David. Abijah’s^[t] son Asa reigned in his place, and during his lifetime the land enjoyed rest for ten years.

Asa Chooses to do What is Right^(F)

^2 [u]Asa practiced what the Lord his God considered to be right ³ by removing the foreign altars and high places, tearing down the sacred pillars, cutting down the Asherim,^[v] and ⁴ commanding Judah to seek the Lord God of their ancestors and to keep the Law and the commandments. ⁵ He also removed the high places and incense altars from all of the cities of Judah. As a result, the kingdom enjoyed rest under Asa’s leadership.^[w]

⁶ Asa^[x] built fortified cities throughout Judah while the land lay undisturbed, because the Lord had given him peace so that no one went to war against him during those years. ⁷ He had told Judah, “Let’s build up these cities, surrounding them with walls, towers, gates, and bars. The land still belongs to us, because we have kept on seeking the Lord our God. We have sought him out, and he has given us rest all around us.” So the people built and prospered. ⁸ Asa kept a standing army of 300,000 soldiers from Judah equipped with large shields and spears, as well as 280,000 soldiers from Benjamin, also bearing shields and wielding bows. All of them were valiant soldiers.

Ethiopia Invades and is Repulsed

⁹ Sometime later, Zerah the Ethiopian went to war against him at Mareshah with an army of one million troops and 300 chariots. ¹⁰ Asa went out to engage him in battle, and they drew up their battle lines at Mareshah in the Zephathah Valley. ¹¹ Asa cried out to the Lord his God, telling him, “Lord, there is no one except for you to help between the powerful and the weak. So help us, Lord God, because we’re depending on you and have come against this vast group in your name. Lord, you are our God. Let no mere mortal man defeat you!”

¹² So the Lord defeated the Ethiopians right in front of Asa and Judah, and the Ethiopians ran away. ¹³ Asa and his army pursued the Ethiopians^[y] as far as Gerar. So many Ethiopians died that their army could not recover, because it had been shattered in the Lord’s presence and in the presence of his army. The Israelis^[z] carried off a lot of plunder, too. ¹⁴ They attacked all the cities that surrounded Gerar, because fear of the Lord had overwhelmed them. The Israelis spoiled all the cities, because there was a lot to plunder in them. ¹⁵ They also attacked the tents of those who owned livestock and carried off lots of sheep and camels. Then they returned to Jerusalem.