Study Desk

All the kings of the earth wanted to visit Solomon to see him display his God-given wisdom.

Solomon had 4,000 stalls for his chariot horses and 12,000 horses. He kept them in assigned cities and in Jerusalem.

Then Solomon passed away and was buried in the city of his father David. His son Rehoboam replaced him as king.

King Rehoboam consulted with the older advisers who had served his father Solomon when he had been alive. He asked them, "How do you advise me to answer these people?"

King Rehoboam sent Hadoram, the supervisor of the work crews, out after them, but the Israelites stoned him to death. King Rehoboam managed to jump into his chariot and escape to Jerusalem.

The Levites even left their pasturelands and their property behind and came to Judah and Jerusalem, for Jeroboam and his sons prohibited them from serving as the Lord 's priests.

Jeroboam appointed his own priests to serve at the worship centers and to lead in the worship of the goat idols and calf idols he had made.

Rehoboam loved Maacah daughter of Absalom more than his other wives and concubines. He had eighteen wives and sixty concubines; he fathered twenty-eight sons and sixty daughters.

Rehoboam appointed Abijah son of Maacah as the leader over his brothers, for he intended to name him his successor.

He wisely placed some of his many sons throughout the regions of Judah and Benjamin in the various fortified cities. He supplied them with abundant provisions and acquired many wives for them.

Yet they will become his subjects, so they can experience how serving me differs from serving the surrounding nations."

So when Rehoboam humbled himself, the Lord relented from his anger and did not annihilate him; Judah experienced some good things.

King Rehoboam solidified his rule in Jerusalem; he was forty-one years old when he became king and he ruled for seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city the Lord chose from all the tribes of Israel to be his home. Rehoboam's mother was an Ammonite named Naamah.

Then Rehoboam passed away and was buried in the City of David. His son Abijah replaced him as king.

He ruled for three years in Jerusalem. His mother was Michaiah, the daughter of Uriel from Gibeah. There was war between Abijah and Jeroboam.

Don't you realize that the Lord God of Israel has given David and his dynasty lasting dominion over Israel by a formal agreement?

Jeroboam son of Nebat, a servant of Solomon son of David, rose up and rebelled against his master.

Now look, God is with us as our leader. His priests are ready to blow the trumpets to signal the attack against you. You Israelites, don't fight against the Lord God of your ancestors, for you will not win!"

Abijah and his army thoroughly defeated them; 500,000 well-trained Israelite men fell dead.

The rest of the events of Abijah's reign, including his deeds and sayings, are recorded in the writings of the prophet Iddo.