Study Desk

When Rehoboam put away his pride, the Lord's anger turned away from him. He was not destroyed. And things were good in Judah.

So King Rehoboam became strong in Jerusalem and ruled. He was forty-one years old when he began to rule. And he ruled in Jerusalem for seventeen years. This was the city the Lord had chosen from all the families of Israel to put His name there. The name of Rehoboam's mother was Naamah the Ammonitess.

And he did what was sinful, because he did not follow the Lord with all his heart.

Rehoboam died and was buried in the city of David. His son Abijah became king in his place.

He ruled for three years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Micaiah the daughter of Uriel of Gibeah. And there was war between Abijah and Jeroboam.

Do you not know that the Lord God of Israel gave the rule over Israel forever to David and his sons by an agreement of salt?

But Jeroboam the son of Nebat, the servant of Solomon the son of David, went against his lord the king.

Now see, God is with us at our head. His religious leaders are ready to blow the horns, to sound the call to battle against you. O sons of Israel, do not fight against the Lord God of your fathers. For you cannot win."

Abijah and his people killed many of them. There were 500,000 chosen men of Israel killed.

Now the rest of the acts of Abijah, and his ways and his words, are written in the story of Iddo the man of God.

Abijah died and they buried him in the city of David. His son Asa became king in his place. In his days the land had peace ten years.

Asa did what was good and right in the eyes of the Lord his God.

He put the high places and the altars of special perfume away from all the cities of Judah. And the nation had rest under his rule.

Then Asa called to the Lord his God and said, "Lord, there is no one but You to help in the battle between the powerful and the weak. So help us, O Lord God. For we trust in You. In Your name we have come against these many people. O Lord, You are our God. Do not let any man win the fight against You."

Asa and the people with him went after them as far as Gerar. The Ethiopians were killed until none were left alive. They were destroyed before the Lord and His army. And they carried away many things that had belonged to the Ethiopians.

When Asa heard these words and the words of Azariah the son of Oded, his heart became strong. He put away the sinful false gods from all the land of Judah and Benjamin and from the cities he had taken in the hill country of Ephraim. He built again the altar of the Lord which was in front of the porch of the Lord's house.

Then he gathered all Judah and Benjamin and those from Ephraim, Manasseh, and Simeon, who lived with them. For many had left Israel to come to him when they saw that the Lord his God was with him.

King Asa even stopped his mother from being queen mother. Because she had made a sinful object of the false goddess Asherah. Asa cut down her sinful object. He crushed it and burned it at the Kidron River.

But the high places were not taken away from Israel. Yet Asa's heart was without blame all his days.

He brought into the house of God the holy things of his father and his own holy things. He brought in silver and gold and the things used for the worship.