Study Desk

King Solomon gave a gift of 22,000 cattle and 120,000 sheep. So the king and all the people set apart the house of God.

If I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, and if I tell the locust to destroy the land, or send disease upon My people,

then I will take you from the land I have given you. And I will turn My eyes away from this house which I have set apart for My name. I will make it so all people speak of it in shame.

Then they will say, ‘It is because they turned away from the Lord, the God of their fathers, Who brought them out of the land of Egypt. They have taken other gods, and worshiped them and served them. So the Lord has brought all this trouble on them.'"

So all the work of Solomon was done, from the day the house of the Lord was begun until it was finished. So the house of the Lord was built.

The queen of Sheba heard how well Solomon was known in all the lands. So she came to Jerusalem to test him with hard questions. She came with many servants and camels carrying spices and much gold and stones of much worth. When she came to Solomon, she talked with him about all that was on her heart.

Praise be to the Lord your God Who was pleased with you! He set you on His throne as king for the Lord your God. Your God loved Israel and would have them last forever. So He made you king over them to do what is fair and right and good."

So King Solomon became greater than all the kings of the earth in riches and wisdom.

"Your father gave us a heavy load to carry. So now make our work easier than your father made us work. Do not let our load be as heavy as the one he put on us. And we will work for you."

Rehoboam said to them, "Come to me again in three days." So the people left.

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

So the king did not listen to the people. God made this happen so that He might make His Word come true which He spoke through Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat.

All Israel saw that the king did not listen to them. So the people said to the king, "What share do we have in David? We have no share in the son of Jesse. Every man to your tents, O Israel! Now look to your own house, David!" So all Israel left and went to their tents.

Then King Rehoboam sent Hadoram, the man who made the people work. But the people of Israel killed him with stones. So King Rehoboam got on his war-wagon in a hurry, to go to Jerusalem.

‘This is what the Lord says, "You must not go up to fight against your brothers. Every man return to his house. For I have made this happen."'" So they listened to the word of the Lord and returned. They did not go against Jeroboam.

And he put battle-coverings and spears in every city and made them very strong. So he kept Judah and Benjamin.

Then Shemaiah the man of God came to Rehoboam and the princes of Judah who had gathered at Jerusalem because of Shishak. He said to them, "The Lord says, ‘You have left Me. So I have left you to Shishak.'"

So the princes of Israel and the king put away their pride and said, "The Lord is right and good."

So King Shishak of Egypt came and fought against Jerusalem. He took the riches of the Lord's house and the riches of the king's house. He took everything. He even took the battle-coverings of gold which Solomon had made.

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.