To The Word – Day 114

₁Solomon loved many foreign women. Besides the daughter of the king of Egypt he married Hittite women and women from Moab, Ammon, Edom, and Sidon. ₂He married them even though the LORD had commanded the Israelites not to intermarry with these people, because they would cause the Israelites to give their loyalty to other gods. ₃Solomon married 700 princesses and also had 300 concubines. They made him turn away from God ₄and by the time he was old they had led him into the worship of foreign gods. He was not faithful to the LORD his God, as his father David had been. ₅He worshipped Astarte the goddess of Sidon, and Molech the disgusting god of Ammon. ₆He sinned against the LORD and was not true to him as his father David had been. ₇On the mountain east of Jerusalem he built a place to worship Chemosh, the disgusting god of Moab, and a place to worship Molech, the disgusting god of Ammon. ₈He also built places of worship where all his foreign wives could burn incense and offer sacrifices to their own gods.

_9-10Even though the LORD, the God of Israel, had appeared to Solomon twice and had commanded him not to worship foreign gods, Solomon did not obey the LORD, but turned away from him. So the LORD was angry with Solomon ₁₁and said to him, “Because you have deliberately broken your covenant with me and disobeyed my commands, I promise that I will take the kingdom away from you and give it to one of your officials. ₁₂However, for the sake of your father David I will not do this in your lifetime, but during the reign of your son. ₁₃And I will not take the whole kingdom away from him; instead, I will leave him one tribe for the sake of my servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, the city I have made my own.”

₁₄So the LORD caused Hadad, of the royal family of Edom, to turn against Solomon. _15-16Long before this, when David had conquered Edom, Joab the commander of his army had gone there to bury the dead. He and his men remained in Edom six months, and during that time they killed every male in Edom ₁₇except Hadad and some of his father's Edomite servants, who escaped to Egypt. (At that time Hadad was just a child.) ₁₈They left Midian and went to Paran, where some other men joined them. Then they travelled to Egypt and went to the king, who gave Hadad some land and a house and provided him with food. ₁₉Hadad won the friendship of the king, and the king gave his sister-in-law, the sister of Queen Tahpenes, to Hadad in marriage. ₂₀She bore him a son, Genubath, who was brought up by the queen in the palace, where he lived with the king's sons.

₂₁When the news reached Hadad in Egypt that David had died and that Joab the commander of the army was dead, Hadad said to the king, “Let me go back to my own country.”

₂₂“Why?” the king asked. “Have I failed to give you something? Is that why you want to go back home?”

“Just let me go,” Hadad answered the king. And he went back to his country.

As king of Edom, Hadad was an evil, bitter enemy of Israel.

₂₃God also caused Rezon son of Eliada to turn against Solomon. Rezon had fled from his master, King Hadadezer of Zobah, ₂₄and had become the leader of a gang of outlaws. (This happened after David had defeated Hadadezer and had slaughtered his Syrian allies.) Rezon and his men went and lived in Damascus, where his men made him king of Syria. ₂₅He was an enemy of Israel during the lifetime of Solomon.

₂₆Another man who turned against King Solomon was one of his officials, Jeroboam son of Nebat, from Zeredah in Ephraim. His mother was a widow named Zeruah. ₂₇This is the story of the revolt.

Solomon was filling in the land on the east side of Jerusalem and repairing the city walls. ₂₈Jeroboam was an able young man, and when Solomon noticed how hard he worked, he put him in charge of all the forced labour in the territory of the tribes of Manasseh and Ephraim. ₂₉One day, as Jeroboam was travelling from Jerusalem, the prophet Ahijah, from Shiloh, met him alone on the road in the open country. ₃₀Ahijah took off the new robe he was wearing, tore it into twelve pieces, ₃₁and said to Jeroboam, “Take ten pieces for yourself, because the LORD, the God of Israel, says to you, ‘I am going to take the kingdom away from Solomon, and I will give you ten tribes. ₃₂Solomon will keep one tribe, for the sake of my servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, the city I have chosen to be my own from the whole land of Israel. ₃₃I am going to do this because Solomon has rejected me and has worshipped foreign gods: Astarte, the goddess of Sidon; Chemosh, the god of Moab; and Molech, the god of Ammon. Solomon has disobeyed me; he has done wrong, and has not kept my laws and commands as his father David did. ₃₄But I will not take the whole kingdom away from Solomon, and I will keep him in power as long as he lives. This I will do for the sake of my servant David, whom I chose and who obeyed my laws and commands. ₃₅I will take the kingdom away from Solomon's son and will give you ten tribes, ₃₆but I will let Solomon's son keep one tribe, so that I will always have a descendant of my servant David ruling in Jerusalem, the city I have chosen as the place where I am worshipped. ₃₇Jeroboam, I will make you king of Israel, and you will rule over all the territory that you want. ₃₈If you obey me completely, live by my laws, and win my approval by doing what I command, as my servant David did, I will always be with you. I will make you king of Israel and will make sure that your descendants rule after you, just as I have done for David. ₃₉Because of Solomon's sin I will punish the descendants of David, but not for all time.’ ”

₄₀And so Solomon tried to kill Jeroboam, but he escaped to King Shishak of Egypt and stayed there until Solomon's death.

₄₁Everything else that Solomon did, his career and his wisdom, are all recorded in The History of Solomon. ₄₂He was king in Jerusalem over all Israel for forty years. ₄₃He died and was buried in David's City, and his son Rehoboam succeeded him as king.

₁Rehoboam went to Shechem, where all the people of northern Israel had gathered to make him king. ₂When Jeroboam son of Nebat, who had gone to Egypt to escape from King Solomon, heard this news, he returned from Egypt. ₃The people of the northern tribes sent for him, and then they all went together to Rehoboam and said to him, ₄“Your father Solomon treated us harshly and placed heavy burdens on us. If you make these burdens lighter and make life easier for us, we will be your loyal subjects.”

₅“Come back in three days and I will give you my answer,” he replied. So they left.

₆King Rehoboam consulted the older men who had served as his father Solomon's advisers. “What answer do you advise me to give these people?” he asked.

₇They replied, “If you want to serve this people well, give a favourable answer to their request, and they will always serve you loyally.”

₈But he ignored the advice of the older men and went instead to the young men who had grown up with him and who were now his advisers. ₉“What do you advise me to do?” he asked. “What shall I say to the people who are asking me to make their burdens lighter?”

₁₀They replied, “This is what you should tell them: ‘My little finger is thicker than my father's waist!’ ₁₁Tell them, ‘My father placed heavy burdens on you; I will make them even heavier. He beat you with a whip; I'll flog you with a horsewhip!’ ”

₁₂Three days later Jeroboam and all the people returned to King Rehoboam, as he had instructed them. ₁₃The king ignored the advice of the older men and spoke harshly to the people, ₁₄as the younger men had advised. He said, “My father placed heavy burdens on you; I will make them even heavier. He beat you with a whip; I'll flog you with a horsewhip!” ₁₅It was the will of the LORD to bring about what he had spoken to Jeroboam son of Nebat through the prophet Ahijah from Shiloh. This is why the king did not pay any attention to the people.

₁₆When the people saw that the king would not listen to them, they shouted, “Down with David and his family! What have they ever done for us? People of Israel, let's go home! Let Rehoboam look out for himself!”

So the people of Israel rebelled, ₁₇leaving Rehoboam as king only of the people who lived in the territory of Judah.

₁₈Then King Rehoboam sent Adoniram, who was in charge of the forced labour, to go to the Israelites, but they stoned him to death. At this, Rehoboam hurriedly got into his chariot and escaped to Jerusalem. ₁₉Ever since that time the people of the northern kingdom of Israel have been in rebellion against the dynasty of David.

₂₀When the people of Israel heard that Jeroboam had returned from Egypt, they invited him to a meeting of the people and made him king of Israel. Only the tribe of Judah remained loyal to David's descendants.

₂₁When Rehoboam arrived in Jerusalem, he called together 180,000 of the best soldiers from the tribes of Judah and Benjamin. He intended to go to war and restore his control over the northern tribes of Israel. ₂₂But God told the prophet Shemaiah ₂₃to give this message to Rehoboam and to all the people of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin: ₂₄“Do not attack your own brothers, the people of Israel. Go home, all of you. What has happened is my will.” They all obeyed the LORD's command and went back home.

₂₅King Jeroboam of Israel fortified the town of Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim and lived there for a while. Then he left and fortified the town of Penuel. _26-27He said to himself, “As things are now, if my people go to Jerusalem and offer sacrifices to the LORD in the Temple there, they will transfer their allegiance to King Rehoboam of Judah and will kill me.”

₂₈After thinking it over, he made two bull calves of gold and said to his people, “You have been going long enough to Jerusalem to worship. People of Israel, here are your gods who brought you out of Egypt!” ₂₉He placed one of the gold bull calves in Bethel and the other in Dan. ₃₀And so the people sinned, going to worship in Bethel and in Dan. ₃₁Jeroboam also built places of worship on hilltops, and he chose priests from families who were not of the tribe of Levi.

₃₂Jeroboam also instituted a religious festival on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, like the festival in Judah. On the altar in Bethel he offered sacrifices to the gold bull calves he had made, and he placed there in Bethel the priests serving at the places of worship he had built. ₃₃And on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, the day that he himself had set, he went to Bethel and offered a sacrifice on the altar in celebration of the festival he had instituted for the people of Israel.

₁At the LORD's command a prophet from Judah went to Bethel and arrived there as Jeroboam stood at the altar to offer the sacrifice. ₂Following the LORD's command, the prophet denounced the altar: “O altar, altar, this is what the LORD says: A child, whose name will be Josiah, will be born to the family of David. He will slaughter on you the priests serving at the pagan altars who offer sacrifices on you, and he will burn human bones on you.” ₃And the prophet went on to say, “This altar will fall apart, and the ashes on it will be scattered. Then you will know that the LORD has spoken through me.”

₄When King Jeroboam heard this, he pointed at him and ordered, “Seize that man!” At once the king's arm became paralysed so that he couldn't pull it back. ₅The altar suddenly fell apart and the ashes spilt to the ground, as the prophet had predicted in the name of the LORD. ₆King Jeroboam said to the prophet, “Please pray for me to the LORD your God, and ask him to heal my arm!”

The prophet prayed to the LORD, and the king's arm was healed. ₇Then the king said to the prophet, “Come home with me and have something to eat. I will reward you for what you have done.”

₈The prophet answered, “Even if you gave me half your wealth, I would not go with you or eat or drink anything with you. ₉The LORD has commanded me not to eat or drink a thing, and not to return home the same way I came.” ₁₀So he did not go back the same way he had come, but by another road.

₁₁At that time there was an old prophet living in Bethel. His sons came and told him what the prophet from Judah had done in Bethel that day and what he had said to King Jeroboam. ₁₂“Which way did he go when he left?” the old prophet asked them. They showed him the road ₁₃and he told them to saddle his donkey for him. They did so, and he rode off ₁₄down the road after the prophet from Judah and found him sitting under an oak. “Are you the prophet from Judah?” he asked.

“I am,” the man answered.

₁₅“Come home and have a meal with me,” he said.

₁₆But the prophet from Judah answered, “I can't go home with you or accept your hospitality. And I won't eat or drink anything with you here, ₁₇because the LORD has commanded me not to eat or drink a thing, and not to return home the same way I came.”

₁₈Then the old prophet from Bethel said to him, “I, too, am a prophet just like you, and at the LORD's command an angel told me to take you home with me and offer you my hospitality.” But the old prophet was lying.

₁₉So the prophet from Judah went home with the old prophet and had a meal with him. ₂₀As they were sitting at the table, the word of the LORD came to the old prophet, ₂₁and he cried out to the prophet from Judah, “The LORD says that you disobeyed him and did not do what he commanded. ₂₂Instead, you returned and ate a meal in a place he had ordered you not to eat in. Because of this you will be killed, and your body will not be buried in your family grave.”

₂₃After they had finished eating, the old prophet saddled the donkey for the prophet from Judah, ₂₄who rode off. On the way, a lion met him and killed him. His body lay on the road, and the donkey and the lion stood beside it. ₂₅Some men passed by and saw the body on the road, with the lion standing near by. They went on into Bethel and reported what they had seen.

₂₆When the old prophet heard about it, he said, “That is the prophet who disobeyed the LORD's command! And so the LORD sent the lion to attack and kill him, just as the LORD said he would.” ₂₇Then he said to his sons, “Saddle my donkey for me.” They did so, ₂₈and he rode off and found the prophet's body lying on the road, with the donkey and the lion still standing by it. The lion had not eaten the body or attacked the donkey. ₂₉The old prophet picked up the body, put it on the donkey, and brought it back to Bethel to mourn over it and bury it. ₃₀He buried it in his own family grave, and he and his sons mourned over it, saying, “Oh my brother, my brother!” ₃₁After the burial, the prophet said to his sons, “When I die, bury me in this grave and lay my body next to his. ₃₂The words that he spoke at the LORD's command against the altar in Bethel and against all the places of worship in the towns of Samaria will surely come true.”

₃₃King Jeroboam of Israel still did not turn from his evil ways, but continued to choose priests from ordinary families to serve at the altars he had built. He ordained as priest anyone who wanted to be one. ₃₄This sin on his part brought about the ruin and total destruction of his dynasty.

₁At that time King Jeroboam's son Abijah fell ill. ₂Jeroboam said to his wife, “Disguise yourself so that no one will recognize you, and go to Shiloh, where the prophet Ahijah lives, the one who said I would be king of Israel. ₃Take him ten loaves of bread, some cakes, and a jar of honey. Ask him what is going to happen to our son, and he will tell you.”

₄So she went to Ahijah's home in Shiloh. Old age had made Ahijah blind. ₅The LORD had told him that Jeroboam's wife was coming to ask him about her son, who was ill. And the LORD told Ahijah what to say.

When Jeroboam's wife arrived, she pretended to be someone else. ₆But when Ahijah heard her coming in the door, he said, “Come in. I know you are Jeroboam's wife. Why are you pretending to be someone else? I have bad news for you. ₇Go and tell Jeroboam that this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says to him: ‘I chose you from among the people and made you the ruler of my people Israel. ₈I took the kingdom away from David's descendants and gave it to you. But you have not been like my servant David, who was completely loyal to me, obeyed my commands, and did only what I approve of. ₉You have committed far greater sins than those who ruled before you. You have rejected me and have aroused my anger by making idols and metal images to worship. ₁₀Because of this I will bring disaster on your dynasty and will kill all your male descendants, young and old alike. I will get rid of your family; they will be swept away like dung. ₁₁Any members of your family who die in the city will be eaten by dogs, and any who die in the open country will be eaten by vultures. I, the LORD, have spoken.’ ”

₁₂And Ahijah went on to say to Jeroboam's wife, “Now go back home. As soon as you enter the town your son will die. ₁₃All the people of Israel will mourn for him and bury him. He will be the only member of Jeroboam's family who will be properly buried, because he is the only one with whom the LORD, the God of Israel, is pleased. ₁₄The LORD is going to place a king over Israel who will put an end to Jeroboam's dynasty. ₁₅The LORD will punish Israel, and she will shake like a reed shaking in a stream. He will uproot the people of Israel from this good land which he gave to their ancestors, and he will scatter them beyond the River Euphrates, because they have aroused his anger by making idols of the goddess Asherah. ₁₆The LORD will abandon Israel because Jeroboam sinned and led the people of Israel into sin.”

₁₇Jeroboam's wife went back to Tirzah. Just as she entered her home, the child died. ₁₈The people of Israel mourned for him and buried him, as the LORD had said through his servant, the prophet Ahijah.

₁₉Everything else that King Jeroboam did, the wars he fought and how he ruled, are all recorded in The History of the Kings of Israel. ₂₀Jeroboam ruled as king for 22 years. He died and was buried, and his son Nadab succeeded him as king.

₂₁Solomon's son Rehoboam was 41 years old when he became king of Judah, and he ruled for seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city which the LORD had chosen from all the territory of Israel as the place where he was to be worshipped. Rehoboam's mother was Naamah from Ammon.

₂₂The people of Judah sinned against the LORD and did more to arouse his anger against them than all their ancestors had done. ₂₃They built places of worship for false gods, and put up stone pillars and symbols of Asherah to worship on the hills and under shady trees. ₂₄Worst of all, there were men and women who served as prostitutes at those pagan places of worship. The people of Judah practised all the shameful things done by the people whom the LORD had driven out of the land as the Israelites advanced into the country.

₂₅In the fifth year of Rehoboam's reign King Shishak of Egypt attacked Jerusalem. ₂₆He took away all the treasures in the Temple and in the palace, including the gold shields Solomon had made. ₂₇To replace them, King Rehoboam made bronze shields and entrusted them to the officers responsible for guarding the palace gates. ₂₈Every time the king went to the Temple, the guards carried the shields, and then returned them to the guardroom.

₂₉Everything else that King Rehoboam did is recorded in The History of the Kings of Judah. ₃₀During all this time Rehoboam and Jeroboam were constantly at war with each other. ₃₁Rehoboam died and was buried in the royal tombs in David's City, and his son Abijah succeeded him as king.

₁In the eighteenth year of the reign of King Jeroboam of Israel, Abijah became king of Judah, ₂and he ruled for three years in Jerusalem. His mother was Maacah, the daughter of Absalom. ₃He committed the same sins as his father and was not completely loyal to the LORD his God, as his great-grandfather David had been. ₄But for David's sake, the LORD his God gave Abijah a son to rule after him in Jerusalem and to keep Jerusalem secure. ₅The LORD did this because David had done what pleased him and had never disobeyed any of his commands, except in the case of Uriah the Hittite. ₆The war which had begun between Rehoboam and Jeroboam continued throughout Abijah's lifetime. ₇And everything else that Abijah did is recorded in The History of the Kings of Judah.

₈Abijah died and was buried in David's City, and his son Asa succeeded him as king.

₉In the twentieth year of the reign of King Jeroboam of Israel, Asa became king of Judah, ₁₀and he ruled for 41 years in Jerusalem. His grandmother was Maacah, the daughter of Absalom. ₁₁Asa did what pleased the LORD, as his ancestor David had done. ₁₂He expelled from the country all the male and female prostitutes serving at the pagan places of worship, and he removed all the idols his predecessors had made. ₁₃He removed his grandmother Maacah from her position as queen mother, because she had made an obscene idol of the fertility goddess Asherah. Asa cut down the idol and burnt it in the valley of the Kidron. ₁₄Even though Asa did not destroy all the pagan places of worship, he remained faithful to the LORD all his life. ₁₅He placed in the Temple all the objects his father had dedicated to God, as well as the gold and silver objects that he himself dedicated.

₁₆King Asa of Judah and King Baasha of Israel were constantly at war with each other as long as they were in power. ₁₇Baasha invaded Judah and started to fortify Ramah in order to cut off all traffic in and out of Judah. ₁₈So King Asa took all the silver and gold that was left in the Temple and the palace, and sent it by some of his officials to Damascus, to King Benhadad of Syria, the son of Tabrimmon and grandson of Hezion, with this message: ₁₉“Let us be allies, as our fathers were. This silver and gold is a present for you. Now break your alliance with King Baasha of Israel, so that he will have to pull his troops out of my territory.”

₂₀King Benhadad agreed to Asa's proposal and sent his commanding officers and their armies to attack the cities of Israel. They captured Ijon, Dan, Abel Beth Maacah, the area near Lake Galilee, and the whole territory of Naphtali. ₂₁When King Baasha heard what had happened, he stopped fortifying Ramah and went to Tirzah.

₂₂Then King Asa sent out an order throughout all Judah requiring everyone, without exception, to help carry away from Ramah the stones and timber that Baasha had been using to fortify it. With this material Asa fortified Mizpah and Geba, a city in the territory of Benjamin.

₂₃Everything else that King Asa did, his brave deeds and the towns he fortified, are all recorded in The History of the Kings of Judah. But in his old age he was crippled by a foot disease. ₂₄Asa died and was buried in the royal tombs in David's City, and his son Jehoshaphat succeeded him as king.

₂₅In the second year of the reign of King Asa of Judah, King Jeroboam's son Nadab became king of Israel, and he ruled for two years. ₂₆Like his father before him, he sinned against the LORD and led Israel into sin.

₂₇Baasha son of Ahijah, of the tribe of Issachar, plotted against Nadab and killed him as Nadab and his army were besieging the city of Gibbethon in Philistia. ₂₈This happened during the third year of the reign of King Asa of Judah. And so Baasha succeeded Nadab as king of Israel. ₂₉At once he began killing all the members of Jeroboam's family. In accordance with what the LORD had said through his servant, the prophet Ahijah from Shiloh, all Jeroboam's family were killed; not one survived. ₃₀This happened because Jeroboam aroused the anger of the LORD, the God of Israel, by the sins that he committed and that he caused Israel to commit.

₃₁Everything else that Nadab did is recorded in The History of the Kings of Israel. ₃₂King Asa of Judah and King Baasha of Israel were constantly at war with each other as long as they were in power.

₃₃In the third year of the reign of King Asa of Judah, Baasha son of Ahijah became king of all Israel, and he ruled in Tirzah for 24 years. ₃₄Like King Jeroboam before him, he sinned against the LORD and led Israel into sin.

₁Don't forget what I teach you, my child. Always remember what I tell you to do. ₂My teaching will give you a long and prosperous life. ₃Never let go of loyalty and faithfulness. Tie them round your neck; write them on your heart. ₄If you do this, both God and people will be pleased with you.

₅Trust in the LORD with all your heart. Never rely on what you think you know. ₆Remember the LORD in everything you do, and he will show you the right way. ₇Never let yourself think that you are wiser than you are; simply obey the LORD and refuse to do wrong. ₈If you do, it will be like good medicine, healing your wounds and easing your pains. ₉Honour the LORD by making him an offering from the best of all that your land produces. ₁₀If you do, your barns will be filled with grain, and you will have too much wine to be able to store it all.

₁₁When the LORD corrects you, my child, pay close attention and take it as a warning. ₁₂The LORD corrects those he loves, as parents correct a child of whom they are proud. ₁₃Happy is anyone who becomes wise — who gains understanding. ₁₄There is more profit in it than there is in silver; it is worth more to you than gold. ₁₅Wisdom is more valuable than jewels; nothing you could want can compare with it. ₁₆Wisdom offers you long life, as well as wealth and honour. ₁₇Wisdom can make your life pleasant and lead you safely through it. ₁₈Those who become wise are happy; wisdom will give them life.

₂₁Hold on to your wisdom and insight, my child. Never let them get away from you. ₂₂They will provide you with life — a pleasant and happy life. ₂₃You can go safely on your way and never even stumble. ₂₄You will not be afraid when you go to bed, and you will sleep soundly through the night. ₂₅You will not have to worry about sudden disasters, such as come on the wicked like a storm. ₂₆The LORD will keep you safe. He will not let you fall into a trap.

₂₇Whenever you possibly can, do good to those who need it. ₂₈Never tell your neighbours to wait until tomorrow if you can help them now. ₂₉Don't plan anything that will hurt your neighbours; they live beside you, trusting you. ₃₀Don't argue with others for no reason when they have never done you any harm. ₃₁Don't be jealous of violent people or decide to act as they do, ₃₂because the LORD hates people who do evil, but he takes righteous people into his confidence. ₃₃The LORD puts a curse on the homes of the wicked, but blesses the homes of the righteous. ₃₄He has no use for conceited people, but shows favour to those who are humble. ₃₅Wise people will gain an honourable reputation, but stupid people will only add to their own disgrace.