Study Desk

'This is what the LORD says: "You shall not go up nor fight against your relatives the sons of Israel; return, every man to his house, for this thing has come from Me."'" So they listened to the word of the LORD, and returned to go their way in accordance with the word of the LORD.

And Jeroboam said in his heart, "Now the kingdom will return to the house of David.

Then he went up to the altar which he had made in Bethel on the fifteenth day in the eighth month, the month that he had devised in his own heart; and he instituted a feast for the sons of Israel and went up to the altar to burn incense.

Now when the king heard the statement of the man of God which he cried out against the altar in Bethel, Jeroboam stretched out his hand from the altar, saying, "Seize him!" But his hand which he had stretched out toward him dried up, and he could not draw it back to himself.

Now an old prophet was living in Bethel; and his sons came and told him all the deeds which the man of God had done that day in Bethel; the words which he had spoken to the king, these also they reported to their father.

And their father said to them, "Which way did he go?" Now his sons had seen the way that the man of God who came from Judah had gone.

Then he said to his sons, "Saddle the donkey for me." So they saddled the donkey for him and he rode away on it.

So he went back with him, and ate bread in his house and drank water.

Now when he had gone, a lion met him on the way and killed him, and his body was thrown on the road, with the donkey standing beside it; the lion also was standing beside the body.

Then he spoke to his sons, saying, "Saddle the donkey for me." And they saddled it.

Then he went and found his body thrown on the road, with the donkey and the lion standing beside the body; the lion had not eaten the body nor harmed the donkey.

He laid his body in his own grave, and they mourned over him, saying, "Oh, my brother!"

And after he had buried him, he talked to his sons, saying, "When I die, bury me in the grave in which the man of God is buried; lay my bones beside his bones.

After this event, Jeroboam did not abandon his evil way, but he again appointed priests of the high places from all the people; anyone who wanted, he ordained, and he became one of the priests of the high places.

And Jeroboam said to his wife, "Now arise and disguise yourself so that they will not know that you are the wife of Jeroboam, and go to Shiloh. Behold, Ahijah the prophet is there, who said regarding me that I would be king over this people.

And Jeroboam's wife did so, and set out and went to Shiloh, and came to the house of Ahijah. Now Ahijah could not see because his eyes were glossy from his old age.

and tore the kingdom away from the house of David and gave it to you—yet you have not been like My servant David, who kept My commandments and followed Me with all his heart, to do only that which was right in My sight;

Then all Israel buried him and mourned for him, in accordance with the word of the LORD which He had spoken through His servant Ahijah the prophet.

And the time that Jeroboam reigned was twenty-two years; and he lay down with his fathers, and his son Nadab reigned in his place.

Now Rehoboam the son of Solomon reigned in Judah. Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned for 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.