Study Desk

So they sent and summoned him. When Jeroboam and all Israel came, they spoke to Rehoboam, saying,

He said to them, "Return to me again in three days." So the people departed.

So he said to them, "What counsel do you give that we may answer this people, who have spoken to me, saying, 'Lighten the yoke which your father put on us'?"

So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam on the third day as the king had directed, saying, "Return to me on the third day."

So the king did not listen to the people, for it was a turn of events from God that the LORD might establish His word, which He spoke through Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat.

When all Israel saw that the king did not listen to them the people answered the king, saying, "What portion do we have in David? We have no inheritance in the son of Jesse. Every man to your tents, O Israel; Now look after your own house, David." So all Israel departed to their tents.

So Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David to this day.

'Thus says the LORD, "You shall not go up or fight against your relatives; return every man to his house, for this thing is from Me."'" So they listened to the words of the LORD and returned from going against Jeroboam.

He put shields and spears in every city and strengthened them greatly. So he held Judah and Benjamin.

Then Shemaiah the prophet came to Rehoboam and the princes of Judah who had gathered at Jerusalem because of Shishak, and he said to them, "Thus says the LORD, 'You have forsaken Me, so I also have forsaken you to Shishak.'"

So the princes of Israel and the king humbled themselves and said, "The LORD is righteous."

When the LORD saw that they humbled themselves, the word of the LORD came to Shemaiah, saying, "They have humbled themselves so I will not destroy them, but I will grant them some measure of deliverance, and My wrath shall not be poured out on Jerusalem by means of Shishak.

"But they will become his slaves so that they may learn the difference between My service and the service of the kingdoms of the countries."

So Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem, and took the treasures of the house of the LORD and the treasures of the king's palace. He took everything; he even took the golden shields which Solomon had made.

And when he humbled himself, the anger of the LORD turned away from him, so as not to destroy him completely; and also conditions were good in Judah.

So King Rehoboam strengthened himself in Jerusalem and reigned. Now Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city which the LORD had chosen from all the tribes of Israel, to put His name there. And his mother's name was Naamah the Ammonitess.

"So now you intend to resist the kingdom of the LORD through the sons of David, being a great multitude and having with you the golden calves which Jeroboam made for gods for you.

But Jeroboam had set an ambush to come from the rear, so that Israel was in front of Judah and the ambush was behind them.

When Judah turned around, behold, they were attacked both front and rear; so they cried to the LORD, and the priests blew the trumpets.

Abijah and his people defeated them with a great slaughter, so that 500,000 chosen men of Israel fell slain.