2 Chronicles 10–12

10TH CHAPTER

King Rehoboam Foolishly Rejects Israel’s Request—1 Kings 12:1–19

¹Rehoboam went to Shechem because all Israel had gone to Shechem to make him king. ²Jeroboam (Nebat’s son) was still in Egypt, where he had fled from King Solomon. When he heard ⸤about Rehoboam⸥, he returned from Egypt. ³⸤Israel⸥ sent for Jeroboam and invited him back. Jeroboam and all Israel went to speak to Rehoboam. They said, ⁴“Your father made us carry a heavy burden. Reduce the hard work and lighten the heavy burden he put on us, and we will serve you.” 

⁵He said to them, “Come back the day after tomorrow.” So the people left. 

⁶King Rehoboam sought advice from the older leaders who had served his father Solomon while he was still alive. He asked, “What do you advise? How should I respond to these people?” 

⁷They told him, “If you are good to these people and try to please them by speaking gently to them, then they will always be your servants.” 

⁸But he ignored the advice the older leaders gave him. He sought advice from the young men who had grown up with him and were serving him. ⁹He asked them, “What is your advice? How should we respond to these people who are asking me to lighten the burden my father put on them?” 

¹⁰The young men who had grown up with him answered, “This is what you should tell them: ‘My little finger is heavier than my father’s whole body.¹¹If my father put a heavy burden on you, I will add to it. If my father punished you with whips, I will punish you with scorpions.’ ” 

¹²So Jeroboam and all the people came back to Rehoboam two days later, as the king had instructed them. ¹³The king answered them harshly. He ignored the older leaders’ advice. ¹⁴He spoke to them as the young men advised. He said, “If my father made your burden heavy, I will add to it. If my father punished you with whips, I will use scorpions.” ¹⁵The king refused to listen to the people because the Lord was directing these events to carry out the promise he had made to Jeroboam (Nebat’s son) through Ahijah from Shiloh. 

¹⁶When all Israel saw that the king refused to listen to them, the people answered the king, 

“What share do we have in David’s kingdom? 

We won’t receive an inheritance from Jesse’s son. 

Everyone to his own tent, Israel! 

Now look after your own house, David!” 

So all Israel went home to their own tents. ¹⁷But Rehoboam ruled the Israelites who lived in the cities of Judah. 

¹⁸Then King Rehoboam sent Hadoram to the Israelites. He was in charge of forced labor, but they stoned him to death. So King Rehoboam got on his chariot as fast as he could and fled to Jerusalem. ¹⁹Israel has rebelled against David’s dynasty to this day. 

11TH CHAPTER

Israel’s Priests Come to Judah—1 Kings 12:21–33

¹When Rehoboam came to Jerusalem, he gathered the people of Judah and Benjamin, 180,000 of the best soldiers, to fight against Israel and return the kingdom to Rehoboam. 

²But God spoke his word to Shemaiah, the man of God. He said, ³“Speak to Judah’s King Rehoboam, son of Solomon, and all Israel in Judah and Benjamin. ⁴This is what the Lord says: Don’t wage war against your relatives. Everyone, go home. What has happened is my doing.” So they obeyed the Lord’s word. They turned back from their attack on Jeroboam. 

⁵Rehoboam lived in Jerusalem and built fortified cities in Judah. ⁶He rebuilt Bethlehem, Etam, Tekoa, ⁷Beth Zur, Soco, Adullam, ⁸Gath, Mareshah, Ziph, ⁹Adoraim, Lachish, Azekah, ¹⁰Zorah, Aijalon, and Hebron. These were fortified cities in Judah and Benjamin. ¹¹He strengthened them and put army officers with reserves of food, olive oil, and wine in them. ¹²In each city he stored shields and spears. He made the cities very secure. So Rehoboam held on to Judah and Benjamin. 

¹³The priests and Levites in every region of Israel sided with Rehoboam. ¹⁴The priests abandoned their land and property and went to Judah and Jerusalem because Jeroboam and his descendants rejected them as the Lord’s priests. ¹⁵Instead, Jeroboam appointed ⸤his own⸥ priests for the illegal worship sites and the goat and calf statues he had made as idols. ¹⁶People from every tribe of Israel who were determined to seek the Lord God of Israel followed the Levitical priests to Jerusalem to sacrifice to the Lord God of their ancestors. 

¹⁷So they strengthened the kingdom of Judah by supporting Rehoboam, son of Solomon, for three years. During ⸤those⸥ three years they lived the way David and Solomon had lived. 

Rehoboam’s Family

¹⁸Rehoboam married Mahalath, daughter of Jerimoth. (Jerimoth was the son of David and Abihail. Abihail was the daughter of Eliab, son of Jesse.) ¹⁹Mahalath gave birth to the following sons: Jeush, Shemariah, and Zaham. 

²⁰After marrying Mahalath, he married Maacah, Absalom’s granddaughter. She gave birth to Abijah, Attai, Ziza, and Shelomith. ²¹Rehoboam loved Maacah, Absalom’s granddaughter, more than all his other wives and concubines.^a(He had 18 wives and 60 concubines. He fathered 28 sons and 60 daughters.) 

²²Rehoboam appointed Abijah, son of Maacah, as family head and prince among his brothers. By doing this, Rehoboam could make him king. ²³He wisely placed his sons in every region of Judah and Benjamin, in every fortified city. He gave them allowances and obtained many wives for them. 

12TH CHAPTER

King Shishak Takes the Temple Treasures—1 Kings 14:21–31

¹When Rehoboam had established his kingdom and made himself strong, he and all Israel abandoned the Lord’s teachings. ²In the fifth year of Rehoboam’s reign, King Shishak of Egypt attacked Jerusalem. This happened because all Israel was not loyal to the Lord. ³Shishak had 1,200 chariots, 60,000 horses, and an army of countless Libyans, Sukkites, and Sudanese from Egypt. 

⁴He captured the fortified cities in Judah and then came to Jerusalem. 

⁵The prophet Shemaiah came to Rehoboam and the leaders of Judah who had gathered in Jerusalem because of Shishak. Shemaiah said to them, “This is what the Lord says: You have abandoned me, so I will abandon you. I will hand you over to Shishak.” ⁶Then the commanders of Israel and the king humbled themselves. “The Lord is right!” they said. 

⁷When the Lord saw that they had humbled themselves, he spoke his word to Shemaiah: “They have humbled themselves. I will not destroy them. In a little while I will give them an escape. I will not use Shishak to pour my anger on Jerusalem. ⁸But they will become his servants so that they can learn the difference between serving me and serving foreign kings.” 

⁹King Shishak of Egypt attacked Jerusalem and took the treasures from the Lord’s temple and the royal palace. He took them all. He took the gold shields Solomon had made. ¹⁰So King Rehoboam made bronze shields to replace them and put them by the entrance to the royal palace, where the captains of the guards were stationed. ¹¹Whenever the king went into the Lord’s temple, guards carried the shields and then returned them to the guardroom. 

¹²After Rehoboam humbled himself, the Lord was no longer angry with him and didn’t completely destroy him. So things went well in Judah. 

¹³King Rehoboam strengthened his position in Jerusalem and ruled. He was 41 years old when he began to rule. He ruled for 17 years in Jerusalem, the city that the Lord chose from all the tribes of Israel, the city where the Lord put his name. (Rehoboam’s mother was an Ammonite woman named Naamah.) ¹⁴He did evil things because he was not serious about dedicating himself to serving the Lord. 

¹⁵Aren’t the events concerning Rehoboam from first to last written in the records of the prophet Shemaiah and the records of the seer^aIddo in the genealogies? There was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam as long as they lived. ¹⁶Rehoboam lay down in death with his ancestors and was buried in the City of David. His son Abijah succeeded him as king.