M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

Some of the People Rebel against Rehoboam

(2 Chronicles 10.1-19)

12 Rehoboam went to Shechem where everyone was waiting to crown him king.

² Jeroboam son of Nebat heard what was happening, and he stayed in Egypt,^[a] where he had gone to hide from Solomon. ³ But the people from the northern tribes of Israel sent for him. Then together they went to Rehoboam and said, ⁴ “Your father Solomon forced us to work very hard. But if you make our work easier, we will serve you and do whatever you ask.”

⁵ “Give me three days to think about it,” Rehoboam replied, “then come back for my answer.” So the people left.

⁶ Rehoboam went to some leaders who had been his father's senior officials, and he asked them, “What should I tell these people?”

⁷ They answered, “If you want them to serve and obey you, then you should do what they ask today. Tell them you will make their work easier.”

⁸ But Rehoboam refused their advice and went to the younger men who had grown up with him and were now his officials. ⁹ He asked, “What do you think I should say to these people who asked me to make their work easier?”

¹⁰ His younger advisors said:

Here's what we think you should say to them: “Compared to me, my father was weak.^{[b] 11} He made you work hard, but I'll make you work even harder. He punished you with whips, but I'll use whips with pieces of sharp metal!”

¹² Three days later, Jeroboam and the others came back. ¹³ Rehoboam ignored the advice of the older advisors. ¹⁴ He spoke bluntly and told them exactly what his own advisors had suggested: “My father made you work hard, but I'll make you work even harder. He punished you with whips, but I'll use whips with pieces of sharp metal!”

^15-19 (A) When the people realized that Rehoboam would not listen to them, they shouted: “We don't have to be loyal to David's family. We can do what we want. Come on, people of Israel, let's go home! Rehoboam can rule his own people.”

Adoniram^[c] was in charge of the forced labor, and Rehoboam sent him to talk to the people. But they stoned him to death. Then Rehoboam ran to his chariot and hurried back to Jerusalem.

So the people from the northern tribes of Israel went home, leaving Rehoboam to rule only the people from the towns in Judah. Ever since that day, the people of Israel have opposed David's family in Judah. All of this happened just as the Lord's prophet Ahijah had told Jeroboam.

²⁰ When the Israelites heard that Jeroboam was back, they called everyone together. Then they sent for Jeroboam and made him king of Israel. Only the people from the tribe of Judah^[d] remained loyal to David's family.

Shemaiah Warns Rehoboam

(2 Chronicles 11.1-4)

²¹ After Rehoboam returned to Jerusalem, he decided to attack Israel and take control of the whole country. So he called together 180,000 soldiers from the tribes of Judah and Benjamin.

²² Meanwhile, God told Shemaiah the prophet ²³ to give Rehoboam and everyone from Judah and Benjamin this warning: ²⁴ “Don't go to war against the people from Israel—they are your relatives. Go home! I am the Lord, and I made these things happen.”

Rehoboam and his army obeyed the Lord and went home.

Jeroboam Makes Religious Changes

²⁵ Jeroboam rebuilt Shechem in Ephraim and made it a stronger town, then he moved there. He also fortified the town of Penuel.

^26-27 One day, Jeroboam started thinking, “Everyone in Israel still goes to the temple in Jerusalem to offer sacrifices to the Lord. What if they become loyal to David's family again? They will kill me and accept Rehoboam as their king.”

^28 (B) Jeroboam asked for advice and then made two gold statues of calves. He showed them to the people and said, “Listen everyone! You won't have to go to Jerusalem to worship anymore. Here are your gods^[e] who rescued you from Egypt.” ²⁹ Then he put one of the gold calves in the town of Bethel and the other in the town of Dan. ³⁰ The people sinned because they started going to these places to worship.

³¹ Jeroboam built small places of worship at the shrines^[f] and appointed men who were not from the tribe of Levi to serve as priests. ^32-33 (C) He also decided to start a new festival for the Israelites on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, just like the one in Judah.^[g] On that day, Jeroboam went to Bethel and offered sacrifices on the altar to the gold calf he had put there. Then he assigned the priests their duties.

Being Acceptable to God

3 Finally, my dear friends, be glad that you belong to the Lord. It doesn't bother me to write the same things to you that I have written before. In fact, it is for your own good.

² Watch out for those people who behave like dogs! They are evil and want to do more than just circumcise you. ³ But we are the ones who are truly circumcised, because we worship by the power of God's Spirit^[a] and take pride in Christ Jesus. We don't brag about what we have done, ⁴ although I could. Others may brag about themselves, but I have more reason to brag than anyone else. ^5 (A) I was circumcised when I was eight days old,^[b] and I am from the nation of Israel and the tribe of Benjamin. I am a true Hebrew. As a Pharisee, I strictly obeyed the Law of Moses. ^6 (B) And I was so eager I even made trouble for the church. I did everything the Law demands in order to please God.

⁷ But Christ has shown me that what I once thought was valuable is worthless. ⁸ Nothing is as wonderful as knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. I have given up everything else and count it all as garbage. All I want is Christ ⁹ and to know that I belong to him. I could not make myself acceptable to God by obeying the Law of Moses. God accepted me simply because of my faith in Christ. ¹⁰ All I want is to know Christ and the power that raised him to life. I want to suffer and die as he did, ¹¹ so that somehow I also may be raised to life.

Running toward the Goal

¹² I have not yet reached my goal, and I am not perfect. But Christ has taken hold of me. So I keep on running and struggling to take hold of the prize. ¹³ My friends, I don't feel I have already arrived. But I forget what is behind, and I struggle for what is ahead. ¹⁴ I run toward the goal, so I can win the prize of being called to heaven. This is the prize God offers because of what Christ Jesus has done. ¹⁵ All of us who are mature should think in this same way. And if any of you think differently, God will make it clear to you. ¹⁶ But we must keep going in the direction that we are now headed.

^17 (C) My friends, I want you to follow my example and learn from others who closely follow the example we set for you. ¹⁸ I often warned you that many people are living as enemies of the cross of Christ. And now with tears in my eyes, I warn you again ¹⁹ that they are headed for hell! They worship their stomachs and brag about the disgusting things they do. All they can think about are the things of this world.

²⁰ But we are citizens of heaven and are eagerly waiting for our Savior to come from there. Our Lord Jesus Christ ^21 (D) has power over everything, and he will make these poor bodies of ours like his own glorious body.

The Sacred Rooms for the Priests

42 ^1-2 After the man and I left the temple and walked back to the outer courtyard, he showed me a set of rooms on the north side of the west building.^[a] This set of rooms was 50 meters long and 25 meters wide. ³ On one side of them was the 10 meters of open space that ran alongside the temple,^[b] and on the other side was the sidewalk that circled the outer courtyard.^[c] The rooms were arranged in three levels ⁴ with doors that opened toward the north, and in front of them was a walkway five meters wide and 50 meters long.^{[d] 5} The rooms on the top level were narrower than those on the middle level, and the rooms on the middle level were narrower than those on the bottom level. ⁶ The rooms on the bottom level supported those on the two upper levels, and so these rooms did not have columns like other buildings in the courtyard. ^7-8 To the north was a privacy wall 25 meters long,^{[e] 9-10} and at the east end of this wall was the door leading from the courtyard to these rooms.

There was also a set of rooms on the south^[f] side of the west building. ¹¹ These rooms were exactly like those on the north side, and they also had a walkway in front of them. ¹² The door to these rooms was at the east end of the wall that stood in front of them.

¹³ The man then said to me:

These rooms on the north and south sides of the temple are the sacred rooms where the Lord's priests will eat the most holy offerings. These offerings include the grain sacrifices, the sacrifices for sin, and the sacrifices to make things right. ¹⁴ When the priests are ready to leave the temple, they must go through these rooms before they return to the outer courtyard. They must leave their sacred clothes in these rooms and put on regular clothes before going anywhere near other people.

The Size of the Temple Area

¹⁵ After the man had finished measuring the buildings inside the temple area, he took me back through the east gate and measured the wall around this area. ¹⁶ He used his measuring stick to measure the east side of this wall; it was 250 meters long. ^17-19 Then he measured the north side, the south side, and the west side of the wall, and they were each 250 meters long, ²⁰ and so the temple area was a perfect square. The wall around this area separated what was sacred from what was ordinary.

The Lord Punishes the Guilty