M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

Israel Refuses to Follow Rehoboam

12 Rehoboam went to the city of Shechem. All the Israelites had gone there to make him king. ² Jeroboam heard about it. He was the son of Nebat. Jeroboam was still in Egypt at that time. He had gone there for safety. He wanted to get away from King Solomon. But now he returned from Egypt. ³ So the people sent for Jeroboam. He and the whole community of Israel went to Rehoboam. They said to him, ⁴ “Your father put a heavy load on our shoulders. But now make our hard work easier. Make the heavy load on us lighter. Then we’ll serve you.”

⁵ Rehoboam answered, “Go away for three days. Then come back to me.” So the people went away.

⁶ King Rehoboam asked the elders for advice. They had served his father Solomon while he was still living. Rehoboam asked them, “What advice can you give me? How should I answer these people?”

⁷ They replied, “Serve them today. Give them what they are asking for. Then they’ll always serve you.”

⁸ But Rehoboam didn’t accept the advice the elders gave him. Instead, he asked for advice from the young men. They had grown up with him and were now serving him. ⁹ He asked them, “What’s your advice? How should I answer these people? They say to me, ‘Make the load your father put on our shoulders lighter.’ ”

¹⁰ The young men who had grown up with him gave their answer. They replied, “These people have said to you, ‘Your father put a heavy load on our shoulders. Make it lighter.’ Now tell them, ‘My little finger is stronger than my father’s legs. ¹¹ My father put a heavy load on your shoulders. But I’ll make it even heavier. My father beat you with whips. But I’ll beat you with bigger whips.’ ”

¹² Three days later Jeroboam and all the people returned to Rehoboam. That’s because the king had said, “Come back to me in three days.” ¹³ The king answered the people in a mean way. He didn’t accept the advice the elders had given him. ¹⁴ Instead, he followed the advice of the young men. He said, “My father put a heavy load on your shoulders. But I’ll make it even heavier. My father beat you with whips. But I’ll beat you with bigger whips.” ¹⁵ So the king didn’t listen to the people. That’s because the Lord had planned it that way. What he had said through Ahijah came true. Ahijah had spoken the Lord’s message to Jeroboam, the son of Nebat. Ahijah was from Shiloh.

¹⁶ All the Israelites saw that the king refused to listen to them. So they answered the king. They said,

So the Israelites went home. ¹⁷ But Rehoboam still ruled over the Israelites living in the towns of Judah.

¹⁸ Adoniram was in charge of those who were forced to work hard for King Rehoboam. The king sent him out among all the Israelites. But they killed Adoniram by throwing stones at him. King Rehoboam was able to get away in his chariot. He escaped to Jerusalem. ¹⁹ Israel has refused to follow the royal family of David to this day.

²⁰ All the Israelites heard that Jeroboam had returned. They sent for him. They wanted him to meet with the whole community. Then they made him king over the entire nation of Israel. Only the tribe of Judah remained true to David’s royal family.

²¹ Rehoboam arrived in Jerusalem. He brought together 180,000 capable young men from Judah and the tribe of Benjamin. He had decided to go to war against Israel. Solomon’s son Rehoboam wanted his fighting men to get the kingdom of Israel back for him.

²² But a message from God came to Shemaiah. He was a man of God. God said to him, ²³ “Speak to Solomon’s son Rehoboam, the king of Judah. Speak to all Judah and the tribe of Benjamin. Also speak to the rest of the people. Tell all of them, ²⁴ ‘The Lord says, “Do not go up to fight against the Israelites. They are your relatives. I want every one of you to go back home. Things have happened exactly the way I planned them.” ’ ” So the fighting men obeyed the Lord’s message. They went home again, just as he had ordered.

Golden Calves at Bethel and Dan

²⁵ Jeroboam built up the walls of Shechem. It was in the hill country of Ephraim. Jeroboam made Shechem his home. From there he went out and built up Peniel.

²⁶ Jeroboam thought, “My kingdom still isn’t secure. It could very easily go back to the royal family of David. ²⁷ Suppose the Israelites go up to Jerusalem to offer sacrifices at the Lord’s temple. If they do, they will again decide to follow Rehoboam as their master. Then they’ll kill me. They’ll return to King Rehoboam. He is king of Judah.”

²⁸ So King Jeroboam asked for advice. Then he made two golden statues that looked like calves. He said to the people, “It’s too hard for you to go up to Jerusalem. Israel, here are your gods who brought you up out of Egypt.” ²⁹ He set up one statue in Bethel. He set up the other one in Dan. ³⁰ What Jeroboam did was sinful. And it caused Israel to sin. The people came to worship the statue at Bethel. They went all the way to Dan to worship the statue that was there.

³¹ Jeroboam built temples for worshiping gods on high places. He appointed all kinds of people as priests. They didn’t even have to be Levites. ³² He established a feast. It was on the 15th day of the eighth month. He wanted to make it like the Feast of Booths that was held in Judah. Jeroboam built an altar at Bethel. He offered sacrifices on it. He sacrificed to the calves he had made. He also put priests in Bethel. He did it at the high places he had made. ³³ He offered sacrifices on the altar he had built at Bethel. It was on the 15th day of the eighth month. That’s the month he had chosen for it. So he established the feast for the Israelites. And he went up to the altar to sacrifice offerings.

Do Not Trust in Who You Are or What You Can Do

3 Further, my brothers and sisters, be joyful because you belong to the Lord! It is no trouble for me to write about some important matters to you again. If you know about them, you will have a safe path to follow. ² Watch out for those dogs. They are people who do evil things. When they circumcise, it is nothing more than a useless cutting of the body. ³ But we have been truly circumcised. We serve God by the power of his Spirit. We boast about what Christ Jesus has done. We don’t put our trust in who we are or what we can do. ⁴ I have many reasons to trust in who I am and what I have done. Someone else may think they have reasons to trust in these things. But I have even more.

⁵ I was circumcised on the eighth day. I am part of the people of Israel. I am from the tribe of Benjamin. I am a pure Hebrew. As far as the law is concerned, I am a Pharisee. ⁶ As far as being committed is concerned, I opposed and attacked the church. As far as keeping the law is concerned, I kept it perfectly.

⁷ I thought things like that were really something great. But now I consider them to be nothing because of Christ. ⁸ Even more, I consider everything to be nothing compared to knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. To know him is worth much more than anything else. Because of him I have lost everything. But I consider all of it to be garbage so I can know Christ better. ⁹ I want to be joined to him. Being right with God does not come from my obeying the law. It comes because I believe in Christ. It comes from God because of faith. ¹⁰ I want to know Christ better. Yes, I want to know the power that raised him from the dead. I want to join him in his sufferings. I want to become like him by sharing in his death. ¹¹ Then by God’s grace I will rise from the dead.

¹² I have not yet received all these things. I have not yet reached my goal. Christ Jesus took hold of me so that I could reach that goal. So I keep pushing myself forward to reach it. ¹³ Brothers and sisters, I don’t consider that I have taken hold of it yet. But here is the one thing I do. I forget what is behind me. I push hard toward what is ahead of me. ¹⁴ I push myself forward toward the goal to win the prize. God has appointed me to win it. The heavenly prize is Christ Jesus himself.

Following Paul’s Example

¹⁵ So all of us who are grown up in the faith should see things this way. Maybe you think differently about something. But God will make it clear to you. ¹⁶ Only let us live up to what we have already reached.

¹⁷ Brothers and sisters, join together in following my example. You have us as a model. So pay close attention to those who live as we do. ¹⁸ I have told you these things many times before. Now I tell you again with tears in my eyes. Many people live like enemies of the cross of Christ. ¹⁹ The only thing they have coming to them is death. Their stomach is their god. They brag about what they should be ashamed of. They think only about earthly things. ²⁰ But we are citizens of heaven. And we can hardly wait for a Savior from there. He is the Lord Jesus Christ. ²¹ He has the power to bring everything under his control. By his power he will change our earthly bodies. They will become like his glorious body.

The Rooms for the Priests

42 Then the man led me north into the outer courtyard of the temple. He brought me to the rooms that were across from the inner courtyard. They were across from the outer wall of the temple on the north side. ² The rooms were in a building north of the temple. The building had a door that faced north. It was 175 feet long. It was 88 feet wide. ³ One row of rooms was next to the inner courtyard. The other row was across from the sidewalk of the outer courtyard. Each room was 35 feet long. Walkways in front of each row faced each other on all three floors. ⁴ Between the two rows was an inner sidewalk. It was 18 feet wide and 175 feet long. Each of the rooms had a door on the north side. ⁵ The rooms on the top floor were narrower than the others. The walkways took up more space from these rooms. The walkways took up less space from the rooms on the other two floors. ⁶ The courtyards had pillars. But the rooms on the top floor didn’t. So their floor space was smaller than the space in the rooms on the other floors. ⁷ The building had an outer wall. It was even with the outer row of rooms and with the outer courtyard. The wall continued east of the outer row for 88 feet. ⁸ So there were two rows of rooms. The row next to the outer courtyard was 88 feet long. The one closest to the temple was 175 feet long. ⁹ The first floor of the building had an entrance on the east side. It led to the outer courtyard.

¹⁰ There were also two rows of rooms in a building next to the south side of the inner courtyard. The building was across from the south wall of the outer courtyard. ¹¹ Between the two rows was an inner sidewalk. The rooms were like the ones in the north building. They were as long and wide as the rooms on the north. The doorways of the rooms on the south were like the ones on the north. ¹² People entered the south rooms through the doorway at the east end of the inner sidewalk. The south wall continued east of the outer row of rooms.

¹³ The man said to me, “The north and south rooms face the inner courtyard. They are the priests’ rooms. That is where the priests who approach the Lord will eat the very holy offerings. They will also store them there. That includes the grain offerings, sin offerings and guilt offerings. This place is holy. ¹⁴ The priests who enter these holy rooms must leave behind the clothes they served in. Then they can go into the outer courtyard. The clothes they served in are holy. So the priests must put other clothes on. They have to do that before they go near the places where other people go.”

¹⁵ The man finished measuring what was inside the temple area. Then he led me out through the east gate. He measured all around the area. ¹⁶ He measured the east side with his measuring rod. It was 875 feet long. ¹⁷ He measured the north side. It was 875 feet long. ¹⁸ He measured the south side. It was 875 feet long. ¹⁹ Finally, he turned and measured the west side. It was 875 feet long. ²⁰ So he measured the area on all four sides. It had a wall around it. The wall was 875 feet long and 875 feet wide. It separated what was holy from what was not.