Study Desk

Rehoboam's acts from beginning to end and his family records are found in The History of Shemaiah the Prophet and The History of Iddo the Prophet. Rehoboam and Jeroboam were constantly at war with each other.

Rehoboam died and was buried in the royal tombs in David's City and his son Abijah succeeded him as king.

and he ruled three years in Jerusalem. His mother was Micaiah daughter of Uriel, from the city of Gibeah. War broke out between Abijah and Jeroboam.

"Don't you know that the Lord , the God of Israel, made an unbreakable covenant with David, giving him and his descendants kingship over Israel forever?

Jeroboam son of Nebat rebelled against Solomon, his king.

God himself is our leader and his priests are here with trumpets, ready to blow them and call us to battle against you. People of Israel, don't fight against the Lord , the God of your ancestors! You can't win!"

Meanwhile Jeroboam had sent some of his troops to ambush the Judean army from the rear, while the rest faced them from the front.

Abijah and his army dealt the Israelites a crushing defeat—half a million of Israel's best soldiers were killed.

Abijah pursued Jeroboam's army and occupied some of his cities: Bethel, Jeshanah, and Ephron, and the villages near each of these cities.

Jeroboam never regained his power during Abijah's reign. Finally the Lord struck him down, and he died.

King Abijah died and was buried in the royal tombs in David's City. His son Asa succeeded him as king, and under Asa the land enjoyed peace for ten years.

Asa pleased the Lord , his God, by doing what was right and good.

He commanded the people of Judah to do the will of the Lord , the God of their ancestors, and to obey his teachings and commands.

Because he abolished the pagan places of worship and the incense altars from all the cities of Judah, the kingdom was at peace under his rule.

Asa prayed to the Lord his God, "O Lord , you can help a weak army as easily as a powerful one. Help us now, O Lord our God, because we are relying on you, and in your name we have come out to fight against this huge army. Lord , you are our God; no one can hope to defeat you."

and Asa and his troops pursued them as far as Gerar. So many of the Ethiopians were killed that the army was unable to rally and fight. They were overpowered by the Lord and his army, and the army took large amounts of loot.

Many people had come over to Asa's side from Ephraim, Manasseh, and Simeon, and were living in his kingdom, because they had seen that the Lord was with him. Asa summoned all of them and the people of Judah and Benjamin.

King Asa removed his grandmother Maacah from her position as queen mother, because she had made an obscene idol of the fertility goddess Asherah. Asa cut down the idol, chopped it up, and burned the pieces in Kidron Valley.

Even though Asa did not destroy all the pagan places of worship in the land, he remained faithful to the Lord all his life.

He placed in the Temple all the objects his father Abijah had dedicated to God, as well as the gold and silver objects that he himself dedicated.