Historical

Chapter 11

^1 (A)On his arrival in Jerusalem, Rehoboam assembled the house of Judah and Benjamin—one hundred and eighty thousand elite warriors—to wage war against Israel and restore the kingdom to Rehoboam. ² However, the word of the Lord came to Shemaiah, a man of God: ³ Say to Rehoboam, son of Solomon, king of Judah, and to all the Israelites in Judah and Benjamin: ⁴ “Thus says the Lord: You must not go out to war against your kinsmen. Return home, each of you, for it is I who have brought this about.” They obeyed the word of the Lord and turned back from going against Jeroboam.

Rehoboam’s Works.^{[a] 5} Rehoboam took up residence in Jerusalem and built fortified cities in Judah. ⁶ He built up Bethlehem, Etam, Tekoa, ⁷ Beth-zur, Soco, Adullam, ⁸ Gath, Mareshah, Ziph, ⁹ Adoraim, Lachish, Azekah, ¹⁰ Zorah, Aijalon, and Hebron; these were fortified cities in Judah and Benjamin. ¹¹ Then he strengthened the fortifications and put commanders in them, along with supplies of food, oil, and wine. ¹² In every city were shields and spears, and he made them very strong. Thus Judah and Benjamin remained his.

Refugees from the North. ¹³ Now the priests and Levites throughout Israel presented themselves to him from all parts of their land, ¹⁴ for the Levites left their assigned pasture lands and their holdings and came to Judah and Jerusalem, because Jeroboam and his sons rejected them as priests of the Lord.^{(B) 15} In their place, he himself appointed priests for the high places as well as for the satyrs and calves he had made.^{(C) 16} After them, all those, of every tribe of Israel, who set their hearts to seek the Lord, the God of Israel, came to Jerusalem to sacrifice to the Lord, the God of their ancestors. ¹⁷ Thus they strengthened the kingdom of Judah and made Rehoboam, son of Solomon, prevail for three years; for they walked in the way of David and Solomon three years.

Rehoboam’s Family. ¹⁸ Rehoboam married Mahalath, daughter of Jerimoth, son of David and of Abihail, daughter of Eliab, son of Jesse. ¹⁹ She bore him sons: Jehush, Shemariah, and Zaham. ²⁰ After her, he married Maacah, daughter of Absalom, who bore him Abijah,^(D) Attai, Ziza, and Shelomith. ²¹ Rehoboam loved Maacah, daughter of Absalom, more than all his other wives and concubines; he had taken eighteen wives and sixty concubines, and he fathered twenty-eight sons and sixty daughters. ²² Rehoboam put Abijah, son of Maacah, first among his brothers, as leader, for he intended to make him king. ²³ He acted prudently, distributing his various sons throughout all the districts of Judah and Benjamin, in all the fortified cities; and he gave them generous provisions and sought an abundance of wives for them.

Chapter 12

Rehoboam’s Apostasy. ¹ Once Rehoboam had established himself as king and was firmly in charge, he abandoned the law of the Lord, and so did all Israel with him.^{(E) 2} So in the fifth year of King Rehoboam, Shishak, king of Egypt, attacked Jerusalem, for they had acted treacherously toward the Lord.^{(F) 3} He had twelve hundred chariots and sixty thousand horsemen, and there was no counting the army that came with him from Egypt—Libyans, Sukkites,^[b] and Ethiopians. ⁴ They captured the fortified cities of Judah and came as far as Jerusalem. ⁵ Then Shemaiah^(G) the prophet came to Rehoboam and the commanders of Judah who had gathered at Jerusalem because of Shishak, and said to them: “Thus says the Lord: You have abandoned me, and so I have abandoned you to the power of Shishak.”

⁶ Then the commanders of Israel and the king humbled themselves saying, “The Lord is in the right.” ⁷ When the Lord saw that they had humbled themselves, the word of the Lord came to Shemaiah: Because they have humbled themselves, I will not destroy them; I will give them some deliverance, and my wrath shall not be poured out upon Jerusalem through Shishak. ⁸ But they shall be his servants. Then they will know what it is to serve me and what it is to serve the kingdoms of the earth. ^9 (H)Thereupon Shishak, king of Egypt, attacked Jerusalem and took away the treasures of the house of the Lord and the treasures of the house of the king. He took everything, including the gold shields that Solomon had made. ¹⁰ To replace them, King Rehoboam made bronze shields, which he entrusted to the officers of the attendants on duty at the entrance of the king’s house. ¹¹ Whenever the king visited the house of the Lord, the attendants would carry them, and then return them to the guardroom. ¹² Because he had humbled himself, the anger of the Lord turned from him so as not to destroy him completely; in Judah, moreover, there was some good.

¹³ King Rehoboam was firmly in power in Jerusalem and continued to rule. Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city in which, out of all the tribes of Israel, the Lord chose to set his name. His mother’s name was Naamah, the Ammonite.^{(I) 14} He did evil, for he had not set his heart to seek the Lord. ^15 (J)The acts of Rehoboam, first and last, are recorded in the history of Shemaiah the prophet and of Iddo the seer (his family record). There were wars between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all their days. ¹⁶ Rehoboam rested with his ancestors; he was buried in the City of David. His son Abijah^[c] succeeded him as king.

Chapter 13

War Between Abijah and Jeroboam. ^1 (K)In the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam, Abijah became king of Judah; ² he reigned three years in Jerusalem. His mother was named Micaiah, daughter of Uriel of Gibeah. There was war between Abijah and Jeroboam.

^3 [d]Abijah joined battle with a force of four hundred thousand picked warriors, while Jeroboam lined up against him in battle with eight hundred thousand picked and valiant warriors. ⁴ Abijah stood on Mount Zemaraim, which is in the highlands of Ephraim, and said: “Listen to me, Jeroboam and all Israel! ⁵ Do you not know that the Lord, the God of Israel, has given David kingship over Israel forever, to him and to his sons, by a covenant of salt?^{[e] 6} Yet Jeroboam, son of Nebat, the servant of Solomon, son of David, arose and rebelled against his lord!^{(L) 7} Worthless men, scoundrels, joined him and overcame Rehoboam, son of Solomon, when Rehoboam was young and inexperienced, and no match for them. ⁸ But now, do you think you are a match for the kingdom of the Lord led by the descendants of David, simply because you are a huge multitude and have with you the golden calves which Jeroboam made you for gods? ⁹ Have you not expelled the priests of the Lord, the sons of Aaron, and the Levites, and made for yourselves priests like the peoples of other lands? Everyone who comes to consecrate himself with a young bull and seven rams becomes a priest of no-gods. ¹⁰ But as for us, the Lord is our God, and we have not abandoned him. The priests ministering to the Lord are sons of Aaron, and the Levites also have their offices. ¹¹ They sacrifice burnt offerings to the Lord and fragrant incense morning after morning and evening after evening; they set out the showbread on the pure table, and the lamps of the golden menorah burn evening after evening; for we observe our duties to the Lord, our God, but you have abandoned him. ¹² See, God is with us, at our head, and his priests are here with trumpets to sound the attack against you. Israelites, do not fight against the Lord, the God of your ancestors, for you will not succeed!”

¹³ But Jeroboam had an ambush go around them to come at them from the rear; so that while his army faced Judah, his ambush lay behind them. ¹⁴ When Judah turned and saw that they had to battle on both fronts, they cried out to the Lord and the priests sounded the trumpets. ¹⁵ Then the Judahites shouted; and when they shouted, God struck down Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah. ¹⁶ The Israelites fled before Judah, and God delivered them into their power. ¹⁷ Abijah and his people inflicted a severe defeat upon them; five hundred thousand picked men of Israel fell slain. ¹⁸ The Israelites were humbled on that occasion, while the Judahites were victorious because they relied on the Lord, the God of their ancestors. ¹⁹ Abijah pursued Jeroboam and seized cities from him: Bethel and its dependencies, Jeshanah and its dependencies, and Ephron and its dependencies. ²⁰ Jeroboam did not regain power during Abijah’s time; the Lord struck him down and he died, ²¹ while Abijah continued to grow stronger. He married fourteen wives and fathered twenty-two sons and sixteen daughters.

Death of Abijah. ^22 (M)The rest of the acts of Abijah, his deeds and his words, are recorded in the midrash of the prophet Iddo. ²³ Abijah rested with his ancestors; they buried him in the City of David and his son Asa succeeded him as king. During his time, the land had ten years of peace.

Chapter 14

Asa’s Initial Reforms. ^1 (N)Asa did what was good and right in the sight of the Lord, his God. ² He removed the illicit altars and the high places, smashed the sacred pillars, and cut down the asherahs. ³ He told Judah to seek the Lord, the God of their ancestors, and to observe the law and the commandment. ⁴ He removed the high places and incense stands from all the cities of Judah, and under him the kingdom had peace. ⁵ He built fortified cities in Judah, for the land had peace and no war was waged against him during these years, because the Lord had given him rest. ⁶ He said to Judah: “Let us build these cities and surround them with walls, towers, gates and bars. The land is still ours, for we have sought the Lord, our God; we sought him, and he has given us rest on every side.” So they built and prospered.

The Ethiopian Invasion.^{[f] 7} Asa had an army of three hundred thousand shield- and lance-bearers from Judah, and from Benjamin two hundred and eighty thousand who carried bucklers and were archers, all of them valiant warriors. ⁸ Zerah the Ethiopian advanced against them with a force of one million men and three hundred chariots, and he came as far as Mareshah.^{(O) 9} Asa went out to meet him and they drew up for battle in the valley of Zephathah, near Mareshah. ¹⁰ Asa called upon the Lord, his God: “Lord, there is none like you to help the powerless against the strong. Help us, Lord, our God, for we rely on you, and in your name we have come against this multitude. You are the Lord, our God; do not let men prevail against you.”^{(P) 11} And so the Lord defeated the Ethiopians before Asa and Judah, and the Ethiopians fled. ¹² Asa and those with him pursued them as far as Gerar, and the Ethiopians fell until there were no survivors, for they were crushed before the Lord and his army, which carried away enormous spoils. ¹³ Then the Judahites conquered all the cities around Gerar, for the fear of the Lord was upon them; they plundered all the cities, for there was much plunder in them. ¹⁴ They also attacked the tents of the cattle-herders and carried off a great number of sheep and camels. Then they returned to Jerusalem.