Study Desk

Solomon ruled over all Israel from Jerusalem for forty years.

Rehoboam traveled to Shechem, for all Israel had gathered in Shechem to make Rehoboam king.

They sent for him, and Jeroboam and the whole Israelite assembly came and spoke to Rehoboam, saying,

He said to them, "Go away for three days, then return to me." So the people went away.

‘The Lord says this: "Do not attack and make war with your brothers, the Israelites. Each of you go home, for I have caused this to happen."'" They obeyed the Lord and went home as the Lord had ordered them to do.

After the king had consulted with his advisers, he made two golden calves. Then he said to the people, "It is too much trouble for you to go up to Jerusalem. Look, Israel, here are your gods who brought you up from the land of Egypt."

Jeroboam inaugurated a festival on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, like the festival celebrated in Judah. On the altar in Bethel he offered sacrifices to the calves he had made. In Bethel he also appointed priests for the high places he had made.

On the fifteenth day of the eighth month (a date he had arbitrarily chosen) Jeroboam offered sacrifices on the altar he had made in Bethel. He inaugurated a festival for the Israelites and went up to the altar to offer sacrifices.

The king pled with the prophet, "Seek the favor of the Lord your God and pray for me, so that my hand may be restored." So the prophet sought the Lord 's favor and the king's hand was restored to its former condition.

For the Lord gave me strict orders, ‘Do not eat or drink there and do not go home the way you came.'"

He then told his sons, "Saddle the donkey for me." When they had saddled the donkey for him, he mounted it

For the Lord gave me strict orders, ‘Do not eat or drink there; do not go back the way you came.'"

When the prophet from Judah finished his meal, the old prophet saddled his visitor's donkey for him.

for the prophecy he announced with the Lord 's authority against the altar in Bethel and against all the temples on the high places in the cities of the north will certainly be fulfilled."

But the Lord had told Ahijah, "Look, Jeroboam's wife is coming to find out from you what will happen to her son, for he is sick. Tell her so-and-so. When she comes, she will be in a disguise."

"As for you, get up and go home. When you set foot in the city, the boy will die.

All Israel will mourn him and bury him. He is the only one in Jeroboam's family who will receive a decent burial, for he is the only one in whom the Lord God of Israel found anything good.

All Israel buried him and mourned for him, just as the Lord had predicted through his servant the prophet Ahijah.

Jeroboam ruled for twenty-two years; then he passed away. His son Nadab replaced him as king.

Now Rehoboam son of Solomon ruled in Judah. He was forty-one years old when he became king and he ruled for seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city the Lord chose from all the tribes of Israel to be his home. His mother was an Ammonite woman named Naamah.