Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Give Glory to the Lord

Jeroboam Reigns over Israel^(A)

²⁰ Now when all of Israel heard that Jeroboam had returned, they sent for him and invited him to visit their assembly, where they installed him as king over all of Israel. Nobody (with the sole exception of the tribe of Judah) would align with David’s dynasty. ²¹ As soon as Rehoboam returned to Jerusalem, he assembled 180,000 elite soldiers from the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, intending to attack the dynasty of Israel and restore the kingdom to Solomon’s son Rehoboam. ²² But a message from God came to Shemaiah, a man of God: ²³ “Tell Solomon’s son Rehoboam, king of Judah, all the dynasty of Judah, Benjamin, and the rest of the people, ²⁴ ‘This is what the Lord says: “You are not to fight or even approach your fellow Israelis in battle. Every soldier is to return to his own home, because this development comes from me.”’” So they listened to what the Lord had to say and returned home,^[a] just as the Lord had directed.

Jeroboam’s Idolatry

²⁵ Later on, Jeroboam fortified Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim and lived there. He also expanded from there and built Penuel. ²⁶ Jeroboam was thinking to himself, “The kingdom is about to return to David’s control.^{[b] 27} If these people keep going up to Jerusalem to offer sacrifices to the Lord there, the hearts of these people will return to their lord, King Rehoboam of Judah. Then they’ll kill me and return to Rehoboam, king of Judah!” ²⁸ So the king sought some advice and then built two golden calves and announced, “It’s too difficult for you to travel to Jerusalem. So here are your gods, Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt!” ²⁹ He set one of them in Bethel and placed the other one in Dan. ³⁰ Doing this was sinful, because the people traveled as far as Dan to appear before one of their idols.^{[c] 31} Jeroboam^[d] built temples on the high places, and appointed his own priests from the fringe elements of the people who were not descendants of Levi.

³² Jeroboam invented a festival for the fifteenth day of the eighth month similar to the festival that takes place in Judah. He approached the altar that he had set up in Bethel and sacrificed to the calves that he had made, having stationed in Bethel the priests that he had appointed. ³³ Then, on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, he went up to burn incense on the altar that he had set up in Bethel, thus beginning the festival that he had made up out of his own heart for the Israelis.

The Messiah’s Love Controls Us

¹¹ Therefore, since we know what it means to fear the Lord, we try to persuade people. We ourselves are perfectly known to God. I hope we are also really known to your consciences. ¹² We are not recommending ourselves to you again but are giving you a reason to be proud of us, so that you can answer those who are proud of outward things rather than inward character.^{[a] 13} So if we were crazy, it was for God; if we are sane, it is for you. ¹⁴ The love of the Messiah^[b] controls us, for we are convinced of this: that one person died for all people; therefore, all people have died. ¹⁵ He died for all people, so that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for the one who died and rose for them.

¹⁶ So then, from now on we do not think of anyone from a human point of view.^[c] Even if we did think of the Messiah^[d] from a human point of view,^[e] we don’t think of him that way anymore. ¹⁷ Therefore, if anyone is in the Messiah,^[f] he is a new creation. Old things have disappeared, and—look!—all things have become new!