M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

Israel and Rehoboam

12 Rehoboam went to Shechem. For all Israel had come to Shechem to make him king. ² Now Jeroboam the son of Nebat was still in Egypt where he had run away from King Solomon. When Jeroboam heard the news, he returned from Egypt. ³ They sent for him. Then Jeroboam and all the people of Israel came and said to Rehoboam, ⁴ “Your father made our load heavy. Take away some of the hard work and heavy load your father put on us, and we will serve you.” ⁵ Rehoboam said to them, “Leave for three days. Then return to me.” So the people left.

⁶ King Rehoboam spoke with the leaders who had worked for his father Solomon while he was still alive. He asked them, “What answer do you think I should give to these people?” ⁷ They said to him, “Help these people today. Serve them. Answer them with good words. If you do, then they will be your servants forever.” ⁸ But Rehoboam turned away from the wise words the leaders gave him. Instead he spoke with the young men who grew up with him and stood by him. ⁹ He said to them, “What answer do you say we should give to these people who have said to me, ‘Take away some of the heavy load your father put on us’?” ¹⁰ The young men who grew up with him said, “This is what you should say to these people who said to you, ‘Your father made our load heavy. Now you take some of the load from us.’ You should say to 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 Then 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 And the king was hard in his answer to them. For he turned away from the wise words the leaders had given him. ¹⁴ He spoke to them as he had been told by the young men. He said, “My father made your load heavy. I will add to your load. My father punished you with whips. But I will punish you with scorpions.” ¹⁵ So the king did not listen to the people. The Lord had let this happen, that He might keep His Word, which the Lord spoke through Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat.

¹⁶ All Israel saw that the king did not listen to them. So they said to the king, “What share do we have in David? We have no share in the son of Jesse! To your tents, O Israel! Now look after your own house, David!” So Israel went to their tents. ¹⁷ But as for the people of Israel who lived in the cities of Judah, Rehoboam ruled over them. ¹⁸ Then King Rehoboam sent Adoram, who ruled over those who were made to work, and all Israel killed him with stones. So King Rehoboam got on his war-wagon in a hurry to go to Jerusalem. ¹⁹ So Israel turned against the family of David to this day. ²⁰ When all Israel heard that Jeroboam had returned, they sent for him to meet with the people and made him king of all Israel. Only the family of Judah followed the family of David.

²¹ When Rehoboam came to Jerusalem, he gathered all the family of Judah and the family of Benjamin. He gathered together 180,000 chosen men of war to fight against the family of Israel and return the nation to Rehoboam the son of Solomon. ²² But the Word of God came to Shemaiah the man of God, saying, ²³ “Speak to Solomon’s son Rehoboam king of Judah, and to all the family of Judah and Benjamin, and to the rest of the people. Tell them, ²⁴ ’This is what the Lord says. “You must not go up and fight against your brothers the sons of Israel. Every man return to his house. For I have let this thing happen.”’” So they listened to the word of the Lord, and returned, as the Lord told them.

Jeroboam’s Gold Calves

²⁵ Then Jeroboam built Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim, and lived there. And he went out from there and built Penuel. ²⁶ Jeroboam said in his heart, “Now the nation will return to the family of David. ²⁷ If these people go up to give gifts in the house of the Lord at Jerusalem, then their hearts will turn to their lord Rehoboam king of Judah. They will kill me and follow Rehoboam king of Judah.” ²⁸ So the king asked the leaders what he should do. And he made two calves of gold. Then he said to the people, “It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Here are your gods, O Israel, that brought you up from the land of Egypt.” ²⁹ He put one in Bethel, and the other in Dan. ³⁰ Now this thing became a sin. For the people went to worship in front of them, even as far as Dan. ³¹ Jeroboam made houses on high places. He made religious leaders from among all the people, who were not of the sons of Levi.

Worship of Calves at Bethel

³² He made a special supper on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, like the special supper which is in Judah. And he gave gifts on the altar. He did the same in Bethel, giving gifts to the calves he had made. And he placed in Bethel the religious leaders of the high places he had made. ³³ Then he went up to the altar he had made in Bethel on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, a day he chose in his own heart. He made a special supper for the people of Israel, and went up to the altar to burn special perfume.

It Is Christ Only—Not the Things You Do

3 So now, my Christian brothers, be happy because you belong to Christ. It is not hard for me to write the same things to you. It is good for you. ² Watch out for false teachers. Watch out for sinful men. They want you to depend on the religious act of becoming a Jew for your hope. ³ The act of becoming a Jew has nothing to do with us becoming Christians. We worship God through His Spirit and are proud of Jesus Christ. We have no faith in what we ourselves can do. ⁴ I could have reason to trust in the flesh. If anyone could feel that the flesh could do something for him, I could. ⁵ I went through the religious act of becoming a Jew when I was eight days old. I was born a Jew and came from the family group of Benjamin. I was a Jewish son of Jewish parents. I belonged to the group of the proud religious law-keepers. ⁶ I followed my religion with all my heart and did everything I could to make it hard for the church. No one could say anything against the way I obeyed the Law.

Christ Must Be Lord of Our Lives

⁷ But I gave up those things that were so important to me for Christ. ⁸ Even more than that, I think of everything as worth nothing. It is so much better to know Christ Jesus my Lord. I have lost everything for Him. And I think of these things as worth nothing so that I can have Christ. ⁹ I want to be as one with Him. I could not be right with God by what the Law said I must do. I was made right with God by faith in Christ. ¹⁰ I want to know Him. I want to have the same power in my life that raised Jesus from the dead. I want to understand and have a share in His sufferings and be like Christ in His death. ¹¹ Then I may be raised up from among the dead.

¹² I do not say that I have received this or have already become perfect. But I keep going on to make that life my own as Christ Jesus made me His own. ¹³ No, Christian brothers, I do not have that life yet. But I do one thing. I forget everything that is behind me and look forward to that which is ahead of me. ¹⁴ My eyes are on the crown. I want to win the race and get the crown of God’s call from heaven through Christ Jesus. ¹⁵ All of us who are full-grown Christians should think this way. If you do not think this way, God will show it to you. ¹⁶ So let us keep on obeying the same truth we have already been following.

¹⁷ Christian brothers, live your lives as I have lived mine. Watch those who live as I have taught you to live. ¹⁸ There are many whose lives show they hate the cross of Christ. I have told you this before. Now I tell you again with tears in my eyes. ¹⁹ Their god is their stomach. They take pride in things they should be ashamed of. All they think about are the things of this world. In the end they will be destroyed. ²⁰ But we are citizens of heaven. Christ, the One Who saves from the punishment of sin, will be coming down from heaven again. We are waiting for Him to return. ²¹ He will change these bodies of ours of the earth and make them new. He will make them like His body of shining-greatness. He has the power to do this because He can make all things obey Him.

Rooms for the Religious Leaders

42 Then he brought me to the outside open space toward the north. He brought me to the rooms which were on the other side of the open space and the building to the north. ² The building whose door faced north was as long as 100 cubits and as wide as fifty cubits. ³ Over from the place in the inner open space which was as wide as twenty cubits, and over from the stone floor in the outer open space, was a walkway on the three floors, one above the other. ⁴ In front of the rooms was an inside walkway as wide as ten cubits and as long as 100 cubits. Their doors were on the north. ⁵ The upper rooms were smaller because the walkways took more away from them than from the rooms on the first and second floors of the building. ⁶ For the rooms on all three floors had no pillars like the other buildings on the grounds. So the upper rooms were smaller than the ones on the first and second floors. ⁷ There was an outside wall built beside the rooms toward the outer open space. It was in front of the rooms for fifty cubits. ⁸ The rooms next to the outer open space were as long as fifty cubits, and those over from the Lord’s house were as long as 100 cubits. ⁹ Below these rooms was a door on the east side, as one goes into them from the outer open space.

¹⁰ There were rooms in the width of the wall of the open space toward the east, over from the other open space and the other building. ¹¹ These rooms had a walkway in front of them, and they were like the rooms on the north. They had the same length and width. The ways out of them were the same, and the doors were made the same way. ¹² And like the doors of the rooms on the south side, there was a door at the beginning of the walkway in front of the wall toward the east, as one goes into them.

¹³ Then he said to me, “The north rooms and the south rooms, over from the other open space, are the holy rooms where the religious leaders who go near the Lord eat the most holy things. There they will lay the most holy things, the grain gift, the sin gift, and the guilt gift. For the place is holy. ¹⁴ When the religious leaders go in, they are not to go out into the outer open space from the holy place without leaving behind the clothes they wear while they do the Lord’s work, for these are holy. They must put on other clothes before they go near the places that are for the people.”

¹⁵ When he had finished showing me the lengths and widths of the inner house, he brought me out through the east gate. And he showed me the lengths of all the open space around the house. ¹⁶ He showed me with his stick that the east side was as long as 500 sticks. ¹⁷ The north side was as long as 500 sticks. ¹⁸ The south side was as long as 500 sticks. ¹⁹ And the west side was as long as 500 sticks. ²⁰ He showed me the length of the four sides. It had a wall all around it, as long as 500 sticks and as wide as 500 sticks. This wall divided what was holy from what was not.

God Judges

94 O Lord, the God Who punishes, God Who punishes, let Your light shine! ² Rise up, You Judge of the earth. Pay what is owed to the proud. ³ How long will the sinful, O Lord, how long will the sinful be full of joy? ⁴ They pour out proud words. All those who do wrong, talk about themselves as if they are great people. ⁵ They crush Your people, O Lord. They bring trouble upon Your chosen nation. ⁶ They kill the woman whose husband has died and the stranger. They kill the children who have no parents. ⁷ And they say, “The Lord does not see. The God of Jacob does not care.”

⁸ Listen, you foolish ones among the people. You fools, when will you understand? ⁹ He Who made the ear, does He not hear? He Who made the eye, does He not see? ¹⁰ He Who punishes nations so they might give up sin, will He not speak strong words to them? Is He not the One Who teaches man all he knows? ¹¹ The Lord knows the thoughts of man. He knows that they are empty.

¹² Happy is the man who is punished until he gives up sin, O Lord, and whom You teach from Your Law. ¹³ You give him rest from days of trouble, until a hole is dug for the sinful. ¹⁴ For the Lord will not turn away from His people. He will not leave His chosen nation. ¹⁵ For what is decided will be right and good. And all those whose hearts are right will follow it. ¹⁶ Who will rise up for me against the sinful? Who will take a stand for me against those who do wrong?

¹⁷ If the Lord had not been my help, my soul would soon have been among the dead. ¹⁸ When I said, “My foot is going out from under me,” Your loving-kindness held me up, O Lord. ¹⁹ When my worry is great within me, Your comfort brings joy to my soul. ²⁰ Can a sinful throne that brings trouble by its laws be a friend to You? ²¹ They join together against the life of those who are right and good. They send those who are not guilty to their death. ²² But the Lord has been my strong place, my God, and the rock where I am safe. ²³ He has brought back their own sin upon them and will destroy them for their wrong-doing. The Lord our God will destroy them.