2CH 10-13Mamma. Now Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, went to Shechem, and all Israel went there to make him king. But Jeroboam, who was in Egypt, came back, and they made him their leader to go to Rehoboam to ask him how he was going to treat them now he was king, and whether he would be kinder to them than his father had been, Rehoboam told them to come again in three days, and he would give them an answer. So he asked the old men, and they advised him to speak kindly to the people, and to try to please them. But he did not like the old men's advice; so he asked the young men: they advised him to say that he would make their yoke much heavier, and if his father chastised them with whips he should do so with scorpions.
S. Was that right?
M. No. It was very wrong and very foolish. And after three days when the people came to him, he spoke roughly to them. But God had said the kingdom should be divided, and as soon as the children of Israel saw how the king behaved, they shouted, What portion have we in David? To your tents, O Israel; and none stayed with Rehoboam but Judah and Benjamin. All the other tribes rebelled, and when he sent to collect the tribute they killed his messenger. Then Rehoboam gathered an army of one hundred and eighty thousand men out of Judah and Benjamin to fight against Israel, and to win back the kingdom. But the word of the Lord came to the prophet Shemaiah saying, that they should not fight against their brethren; for the Lord had ordered it so.
S. Was Rehoboam a good king?
M. In some respects; for he obeyed the word of God through the prophet. For three years he followed the example of David and Solomon; and all the priests and Levites who were driven out of Israel, and were obliged to leave their own cities and their possessions because of the ungodly ways of Jeroboam and his sons, came over to Rehoboam; and all the godly ones in Israel, such as set their hearts to seek the Lord, came up to Jerusalem to worship the Lord. Thus was formed a faithful remnant who clung to Jerusalem, and to the house of the Lord, where He had put His name.
S. Why do you call them a remnant?
M. Because they were but few, just what remained. And from that day God has had a remnant; and He will have, on to the end of time, a faithful remnant—a few among the many. A few who walk in the narrow path; that hold fast God's word and do not deny His name; while the many are walking in the broad road that leads to destruction.
These faithful ones strengthened the kingdom of Judah. But as soon as Rehoboam had strengthened himself in his kingdom, he forsook the law of the Lord, and his people followed his bad example. So the Lord allowed the king of Egypt to come up against Jerusalem with twelve hundred chariots and sixty thousand horsemen, and they took the fenced cities of Judah that Solomon had built.
S. I remember God told Solomon He would not save them from their enemies if they forgot Him.
M. Yes; and how soon they turned aside! Then the prophet of the Lord came to Rehoboam, and told him and the princes of Judah that the Lord said, You have forsaken Me; therefore I have left you in the hands of Shishak, king of Egypt. When they heard this, the princes of Israel and the king humbled themselves and said, The Lord is righteous. The Lord saw this and He said He would not let Shishak destroy them, but they should be his servants; that they might feel what a different thing it was to be the Lord's servants, and the servants of the king of Egypt. And the king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem and took away the treasures of the Lord's house and the treasures of the king's house, and he carried away the shields of gold which Solomon had made. Rehoboam made shields of brass instead; because he thought brass shields polished would look like gold and do as well; but the meaning of gold shields was quite different and he thought nothing about that. This king reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city which God had chosen out of all the tribes of Judah to put His name there. It was a very solemn thing to reign in the place God had chosen.
S. Why does it say that so often?
M. That we may know how the Lord loved Jerusalem, and how He mourned over her unfaithfulness. Now Rehoboam's acts, first and last, the good and the evil, are written by the prophets; and he died, and was buried in the city of David, and his son Abijah reigned after him.
In the book of Kings we are told that Abijah followed in his father's steps. But here nothing but what is good is told of him. He went out to meet Jeroboam with an army of chosen men, and he stood upon mount Ephraim, and called Jeroboam, and all Israel to listen to him. Then he told how Jeroboam was the servant of Solomon, and he had rebelled against Solomon's son; and they had made golden calves and done much wickedness. But he said, The Lord is our God, and we have not forsaken Him. We have His priests and Levites, and they offer sacrifices to Him; and they keep the shew bread on the pure table; and they keep the lamps of the golden candlestick; and God Himself is with us, for our captain; and His priests sound the trumpets to cry alarm against you; therefore do not fight against the Lord for you will not prosper. But Jeroboam did not mind what Abijah said; and he came cunningly behind the army of Judah, and when they looked, the battle was before and behind. Then they cried to the Lord, and the priests sounded their trumpets, and the men of Judah shouted. And when the Lord heard their shout, he smote all their enemies, so that they fled before Judah, because they relied upon the Lord God of their fathers.
S. The shout and the trumpets make me think of the time when the walls of Jericho fell down flat.
M. Yes; it was the same God mighty in purpose, doing wonders for His people, and yet angry with the wicked every day. And the Lord struck Jeroboam that he died.