Study Desk

^(C1)Now when the ^(C1)queen of ^(C2)Sheba heard about the fame of Solomon in relation to the name of the LORD, she came ^(C3)to test him with riddles.

So she came to Jerusalem with a very large entourage, with camels ^(C1)carrying balsam oil and a very large quantity of gold and precious stones. When she came to Solomon, she spoke to him about everything that was in her heart.

And Solomon ^(F1)answered all her questions; nothing was concealed from the king which he did not explain to her.

When the queen of Sheba saw all the wisdom of Solomon, and the house that he had built,

and the food of his table, the seating of his servants, the service of his waiters and their attire, his cupbearers, and his burnt offerings which he offered at the house of the LORD, ^(F1)she was breathless.

Then she said to the king, "It was a true ^(F1)story that I heard in my own land about your words and your wisdom.

"But I did not believe the ^(F1)stories until I came and my own eyes saw it all. And behold, the half of it was not reported to me. You have exceeded in wisdom and prosperity the report which I heard.

"^(C1)Blessed are your men, and blessed are these servants of yours who stand before you continually and hear your wisdom!

"^(C1)Blessed be the LORD your God who delighted in you to put you on the throne of Israel; ^(C2)because the LORD loves Israel forever, He made you king, ^(C3)to do justice and righteousness."

Then ^(C1)she gave the king ^(F1)120 talents of gold, and a very large amount of balsam oil and precious stones. Never again did such a large quantity of balsam oil come in as that which the queen of Sheba gave King Solomon.

^(C1)And the ships of Hiram as well, which brought gold from Ophir, brought in from Ophir a very great number of almug trees and precious stones.

^(C1)The king made from the almug trees supports for the house of the LORD and for the king's house, and lyres and harps for the singers; such almug trees have not come in again, nor have they been seen to this day.

And King Solomon granted the queen of Sheba everything she desired, whatever she requested, besides what he gave her in proportion to ^(F1)his royal bounty. Then she ^(F2)departed and went to her own land ^(F3)together with her servants.

^(C1)Now the weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year was ^(F1)666 talents of gold,

besides that from the traders, and the ^(F1)wares of the merchants and all the kings of the ^(C1)Arabs and the governors of the country.

^(C1)King Solomon made two hundred large shields of beaten gold, ^(F1)using six hundred shekels of gold on each large shield.

And he made ^(C1)three hundred small shields of beaten gold, ^(F1)using ^(F2)three minas of gold on each shield; and ^(C2)the king put them in the house of the timber of Lebanon.

Moreover, the king made a large throne of ^(C1)ivory and overlaid it with fine gold.

There were six steps to the throne and a round top to the throne at its back, and ^(F1)armrests ^(F2)on each side of the seat, and two lions standing beside the ^(F1)armrests.

Twelve lions were standing there on the six steps on the one side and on the other; nothing like it was made for ^(F1)any other kingdom.

Now all King Solomon's drinking utensils were of gold, and all the utensils of the house of the timber of Lebanon were of pure gold. None was of silver; it was not considered as amounting to anything in the days of Solomon.

For ^(C1)the king had the ships of Tarshish at sea with Hiram's ships; once every three years the ships of Tarshish would come carrying gold and silver, ivory, monkeys, and peacocks.

^(C1)So King Solomon became greater than all the kings of the earth in wealth and wisdom.

And all the earth was seeking the ^(F1)attention of Solomon, ^(C1)to hear his wisdom, which God had put in his heart.

And ^(C1)they were bringing, everyone, ^(F1)a gift: articles of silver and gold, garments, weapons, balsam oil, horses, and mules, so much year by year.

^(C1)Now Solomon gathered chariots and horsemen; and he had 1,400 chariots and twelve thousand horsemen, and he ^(F1)stationed them in the ^(C2)chariot cities and with the king in Jerusalem.

^(C1)And the king made silver as common as stones in Jerusalem, and he made cedars as plentiful as sycamore trees that are in the ^(F1)lowland.

^(C1)Also Solomon's import of horses was from Egypt and Kue, and the king's merchants acquired them from Kue for a price.

A chariot ^(F1)was imported from Egypt for six hundred shekels of silver, and a horse for 150; and ^(F2)by the same means they exported them ^(C1)to all the kings of the Hittites and to the kings of the Arameans.

Now ^(C1)King Solomon loved many foreign women along with the daughter of Pharaoh: Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women,

from the nations of which the LORD had said to the sons of Israel, "^(C1)You shall not ^(F1)associate with them, nor shall they ^(F1)associate with you; they will certainly turn your heart away ^(F2)to follow their gods." Solomon clung to these in love.

^(C1)He had seven hundred wives, who were ^(F1)princesses, and three hundred concubines; and his wives turned his heart away.

For when Solomon was old, his wives turned his heart away ^(F1)to follow other gods; and ^(C1)his heart was not ^(F2)wholly devoted to the LORD his God, as the heart of his father David had been.

For Solomon became a follower of ^(C1)Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and of ^(F1)(C2)Milcom the abhorrent idol of the Ammonites.

So Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, and did not follow the LORD fully, as his father David had done.

Then Solomon built a high place for ^(C1)Chemosh, the abhorrent idol of Moab, on the mountain that is ^(F1)east of Jerusalem, and for ^(C2)Molech, the abhorrent idol of the sons of Ammon.

He also did the same for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods.

Now ^(C1)the LORD was angry with Solomon ^(C2)because his heart had turned away from the LORD, the God of Israel, ^(C3)who had appeared to him twice,

and ^(C1)had commanded him regarding this thing, that he was not to follow other gods; but he did not comply with what the LORD had commanded.

So the LORD said to Solomon, "Since ^(F1)you have done this, and you have not kept My covenant and My statutes, which I have commanded you, ^(C1)I will certainly tear the kingdom away from you, and will give it to your servant.

"However, I will not do it in your days, only for the sake of your father David; but I will tear it away from the hand of your son.

"Yet ^(C1)I will not tear away all the kingdom, but ^(C2)I will give one tribe to your son for the sake of My servant David, and ^(C3)for the sake of Jerusalem, which I have chosen."

Then the LORD raised up an adversary against Solomon, Hadad the Edomite; he was of the ^(F1)royal line in Edom.

For it came about, ^(C1)when David was in Edom and Joab the commander of the army had gone up to bury those killed in battle, and had ^(C2)struck and killed every male in Edom

(for Joab and all Israel stayed there for six months, until he had eliminated every male in Edom),

that Hadad fled ^(F1)to Egypt, he and certain Edomites of his father's servants with him, while Hadad was a young boy.

They set out from Midian and came to ^(C1)Paran; and they took men with them from Paran and came to Egypt, to Pharaoh king of Egypt, who gave him a house and assigned him food and gave him land.

Now Hadad found great favor in the sight of Pharaoh, so that he gave him in marriage the sister of his own wife, the sister of Tahpenes the queen.

And the sister of Tahpenes gave birth to his son Genubath, whom Tahpenes weaned in Pharaoh's house; and Genubath was in Pharaoh's house among the sons of Pharaoh.

But ^(C1)when Hadad heard in Egypt that David ^(F1)lay down with his fathers and that Joab the commander of the army was dead, Hadad said to Pharaoh, "Let me go, so that I may go to my own country."

However, Pharaoh said to him, "But what have you lacked with me that you are here, requesting to go to your own country?" And he answered, "Nothing; nevertheless you must let me go."

^(C1)God also raised up another adversary against him, Rezon the son of Eliada, who had fled from his master ^(C2)Hadadezer, king of Zobah.

And he gathered men to himself and became leader of a marauding band, ^(C1)after David killed those of Zobah; and they went to Damascus and stayed ^(F1)there, and reigned in Damascus.

So he was an adversary to Israel all the days of Solomon, along with the harm that Hadad inflicted; and he felt disgust for Israel and reigned over Aram.

Then ^(C1)Jeroboam the son of Nebat, an Ephraimite of Zeredah, Solomon's servant, whose mother's name was Zeruah, a widow, ^(C2)also ^(F1)rebelled against the king.

Now this was the reason why he ^(F1)rebelled against the king: ^(C1)Solomon built the ^(F2)Millo, and closed up the breach of the city of his father David.

Now the man Jeroboam was a valiant warrior, and when ^(C1)Solomon saw that the young man was ^(F1)industrious, he appointed him over all the ^(F2)forced labor of the house of Joseph.

And it came about at that time, when Jeroboam went out of Jerusalem, that ^(C1)the prophet Ahijah the Shilonite found him on the road. Now ^(F1)Ahijah had clothed himself with a new cloak; and both of them were alone in the field.

Then ^(C1)Ahijah took hold of the new cloak which was on him and tore it into twelve pieces.

And he said to Jeroboam, "Take for yourself ten pieces; for this is what the LORD, the God of Israel says: 'Behold, ^(C1)I am going to tear the kingdom away from the hand of Solomon and give you ten tribes

(^(C1)but he shall have one tribe, for the sake of My servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, ^(C2)the city which I have chosen from all the tribes of Israel),

because they have abandoned Me, and ^(C1)have worshiped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, ^(C2)Chemosh the god of Moab, and Milcom the god of the sons of Ammon; and they have not walked in My ways, doing what is right in My sight and keeping My statutes and My ordinances, as his father David did.

'Nevertheless I will not take the whole kingdom out of his hand, but I will make him ruler all the days of his life, for the sake of My servant David whom I chose, who kept My commandments and My statutes;

but ^(C1)I will take the kingdom from his son's hand and give it to you; that is, ten tribes.

'But ^(C1)to his son I will give one tribe, ^(C2)so that My servant David may always have a lamp before Me in Jerusalem, ^(C1)the city where I have chosen for Myself to put My name.

'However I will take you, and you shall reign over all that ^(F1)you desire, and you shall be king over Israel.

'Then it shall be, that if you listen to all that I command you and walk in My ways, and do what is right in My sight by keeping My statutes and My commandments, as My servant David did, then ^(C1)I will be with you and ^(C2)build you an enduring house as I built for David, and I will give Israel to you.

'So I will oppress the ^(F1)descendants of David for this, but not always.'"

Solomon sought therefore to put Jeroboam to death; but Jeroboam set out and fled to Egypt to ^(C1)Shishak king of Egypt, and he was in Egypt until the death of Solomon.

^(C1)Now the rest of the acts of Solomon and whatever he did, and his wisdom, are they not written in the Book of the Acts of Solomon?

So ^(C1)the time that Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel was forty years.

Then Solomon ^(F1)(C1)lay down with his fathers and was buried in the city of his father David, and his son ^(C2)Rehoboam reigned in his place.

^(C1)Then Rehoboam went to Shechem, because all Israel had come to ^(C2)Shechem to make him king.

Now ^(C1)when Jeroboam the son of Nebat heard about this, ^(F1)he was living in Egypt (for he was still in Egypt, where he had fled from the presence of King Solomon).

Then they sent word and summoned him, and Jeroboam and all the assembly of Israel came and spoke to Rehoboam, saying,

"^(C1)Your father made our yoke hard; but now, lighten the hard labor imposed by your father and his heavy yoke which he put on us, and we will serve you."

Then he said to them, "^(C1)Depart ^(F1)for three days, then return to me." So the people departed.

And King Rehoboam ^(C1)consulted with the elders who had ^(F1)served his father Solomon while he was still alive, saying, "How do you advise me to answer this people?"

Then they spoke to him, saying, "^(C1)If you will be a servant to this people today, and will serve them and ^(F1)grant them their request, and speak pleasant words to them, then they will be your servants always."

But he ignored the advice of the elders which they had given him, and consulted with the young men who had grown up with him ^(F1)and served him.

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

And the young men who had grown up with him spoke to him, saying, "This is what you should say to this people who spoke to you, saying: 'Your father made our yoke heavy, now you make it lighter for us!' You should speak this way to them: 'My little finger is thicker than my father's waist!

'Now then, my father loaded you with a heavy yoke; yet I will add to your yoke. My father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with ^(F1)scorpions!'"

Then Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam on the third day, just as the king had ^(F1)directed, saying, "^(C1)Return to me on the third day."

And the king answered the people harshly, for he ignored the advice of the elders which they had ^(F1)given him,

and he spoke to them according to the advice of the young men, saying, "^(C1)My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to your yoke; my father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with ^(F1)scorpions!"

So the king did not listen to the people; ^(C1)because it was ^(F1)a turn of events from the LORD, ^(C2)in order to establish His word which the LORD spoke through Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat.

When all Israel saw that the king had not listened to them, the people replied to the king, saying, "What share do we have in David? We have no inheritance in the son of Jesse; ^(C1)To your tents, Israel! Now look after your own house, David!" So Israel went away to their tents.

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But ^(C1)as for the sons of Israel who lived in the cities of Judah, Rehoboam reigned over them.

Then King Rehoboam sent ^(C1)Adoram, who was in charge of the forced labor, and all Israel stoned him ^(F1)to death. And King Rehoboam hurried to mount his chariot to flee to Jerusalem.

^(C1)So Israel has broken with the house of David to this day.

And it came about, when all Israel heard that Jeroboam had returned, that they sent word and called him to the assembly, and made him king over all Israel. ^(C1)None except the tribe of Judah alone followed the house of David.

^(C1)Now when Rehoboam had come to Jerusalem, he assembled all the house of Judah and the tribe of Benjamin, 180,000 chosen warriors, to fight against the house of Israel to restore the kingdom to Rehoboam the son of Solomon.

But the word of God came to ^(C1)Shemaiah the man of God, saying,

"Tell Rehoboam the son of Solomon, king of Judah, and all the house of Judah and Benjamin, and the ^(C1)rest of the people, saying,

'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, ^(C1)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.

Then ^(C1)Jeroboam built Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim, and lived ^(F1)there. And he went out from there and built ^(C2)Penuel.

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

"^(C1)If this people go up to ^(F1)offer sacrifices in the house of the LORD in Jerusalem, then the heart of this people will return to their lord, to Rehoboam king of Judah; and they will kill me and return to Rehoboam king of Judah."

So the king ^(F1)consulted, and he ^(C1)made two golden ^(C2)calves; and he said to ^(F2)the people, "It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem; ^(C3)behold your gods, Israel, that brought you up from the land of Egypt."

And he set up ^(C1)one in ^(C2)Bethel, and the other he put in ^(C3)Dan.

Now ^(C1)this thing became a sin, for the people went to worship before the one as far as Dan.

And ^(C1)he made houses on high places, and ^(F1)(C2)appointed priests from ^(F2)all the people who were not of the sons of Levi.

Jeroboam also ^(F1)instituted a feast in the eighth month on the fifteenth day of the month, ^(C1)like the feast that is in Judah, and he ^(F2)went up to the altar. So he did in Bethel, sacrificing to the calves which he had made. And he stationed in Bethel ^(C2)the priests of the high places which he had made.

Then he ^(F1)went up to the altar which he had made in Bethel on the fifteenth day in the eighth month, the month that he had ^(F2)(C1)devised ^(F3)in his own heart; and he ^(F2)instituted a feast for the sons of Israel and ^(F1)went up to the altar ^(C2)to burn ^(F4)incense.

Now behold, ^(C1)a man of God came from Judah to Bethel by the word of the LORD, while Jeroboam was standing at the altar ^(C2)to burn incense.

And ^(C1)he cried out against the altar by the word of the LORD and said, "Altar, altar, this is what the LORD says: 'Behold, a son shall be born to the house of David, ^(C2)Josiah by name; and on you he shall sacrifice the priests of the high places who burn incense on you, and human bones shall burn on you.'"

Then he gave a ^(F1)sign on the same day, saying, "^(C1)This is the ^(F1)sign which the LORD has spoken: 'Behold, the altar shall be torn to pieces and the ^(F2)ashes which are on it shall be poured out.'"

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.

The altar also was torn to pieces and the ^(F1)ashes were poured out from the altar, in accordance with the ^(F2)sign which the man of God had given by the word of the LORD.

And the king responded and said to the man of God, "Please ^(F1)(C1)appease the LORD your God and pray for me, so that my hand may be restored to me." So ^(C2)the man of God ^(F2)appeased the LORD, and the king's hand was restored to him, and it became as it was before.

Then the king said to the man of God, "Come home with me and refresh yourself, and ^(C1)I will give you a gift."

But the man of God said to the king, "^(C1)If you were to give me half your house, I would not go with you, nor would I eat bread or drink water in this place.

"For so ^(F1)it was commanded me by the word of the LORD, saying, 'You shall not eat bread nor drink water, nor return by the way that you came.'"

So he went another way and did not return by the way that he had come to Bethel.

Now ^(C1)an old prophet was living in Bethel; and his ^(F1)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, "^(F1)Which way did he go?" Now his sons ^(F2)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 after the man of God and found him sitting under ^(F1)an oak; and he said to him, "Are you the man of God who came from Judah?" And he said, "I am."

Then he said to him, "Come home with me and eat bread."

But he said, "^(C1)I cannot return with you, nor come with you, nor will I eat bread or drink water with you in this place.

"For a ^(F1)command came to me ^(C1)by the word of the LORD: 'You shall not eat bread, nor drink water there; do not return by going the way that you came.'"

Then he said to him, "^(C1)I too am a prophet like you, and ^(C2)an angel spoke to me by the word of the LORD, saying, 'Bring him back with you to your house, so that he may eat bread and drink water.'" But ^(C3)he lied to him.

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

Now it came about, as they were sitting down at the table, that the word of the LORD came to the prophet who had brought him back;

and he cried out to the man of God who came from Judah, saying, "This is what the LORD says: 'Because you have ^(F1)disobeyed the ^(F2)command of the LORD, and have not kept the commandment which the LORD your God commanded you,

but have returned and eaten bread and drunk water in the place of which He said to you, "You are not to eat bread nor drink water"; your dead body will not come to the grave of your fathers.'"

It came about after he had eaten bread and after he had drunk, that he saddled the donkey for him, for the prophet whom he had brought back.

Now when he had gone, ^(C1)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.

And behold, men passed by and saw the body thrown on the road, and the lion standing beside the body; so they came and told about it in the city where ^(C1)the old prophet had lived.

Now when the prophet who had brought him back from the way heard about it, he said, "It is the man of God, who ^(F1)disobeyed the ^(F2)command of the LORD; therefore the LORD has given him to the lion, which has torn him and killed him, in accordance with the word of the LORD which He spoke to him."

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 ^(F1)harmed the donkey.

So the prophet picked up the body of the man of God and laid it on the donkey and brought it back; and he came to the city of the old prophet to mourn and to bury him.

He laid his body in his own grave, and they mourned over him, saying, "^(C1)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; ^(C1)lay my bones beside his bones.

"^(C1)For the thing will certainly come to pass which he cried out by the word of the LORD against the altar that is in Bethel, and ^(C2)against all the houses of the high places which are in the cities of ^(C3)Samaria."

After this event, Jeroboam did not ^(F1)abandon his evil way, but he ^(C1)again ^(F2)appointed priests of the high places from ^(F3)all the people; ^(C2)anyone who wanted, he ordained, and he became ^(F4)one of the priests of the high places.

^(F1)(C1)This event also became a sin of the house of Jeroboam, ^(C2)even to wipe it out and eliminate it from the face of the earth.