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Home , 1 Kings 11, 1 Kings 14, 2 Chronicles 11, Abijah, House of Jeroboam, Jeroboam

THE KINGS OF AND SESSION 4: THE REIGNS OF , , AND NADAB 4-29-20 (Study covers :25-I Kings 15:8; 2 Chronicles Chapters 11-13)

In our last study we covered the reign of , The first King of the new northern Kingdom of Israel after the original nation of Israel divided into two nations. The nation to the north is now known as Israel and the nation in the south is known as Judah. Today we will study the reign of Rehoboam in the southern . The that is most prominent in Judah at this time is (See chart of Kings from study session #2)

Rehoboam was the son of . We are told in :1-10 That Solomon married many foreign women and those wives eventually turned Solomon’s heart away from the true God and he built altars and worshipped the foreign God’s of the Sidonians, the Moabites and the Ammonites (the nations surrounding Israel). We are told 1 Kings 14:21 that Rehoboam’s mother was an Ammonite – presumably one of the wives that persuaded Solomon to worship a false god.

While Jeroboam in the North (Israel) created a new cultic religion to replace the worship of the true God, we see something a little different happening in Judah. In Judah the worship of the true God at the temple in was still happening. In fact, because the worship at the temple was still happening we are told that the Levites and the descendants of that lived in the North (what is now referred to as Israel) under Jeroboam left their homes and land and moved to Judah where they continued to serve in the temple, Jerusalem and the surrounding southern towns.

2 Chronicles 11:13-17

13 The​ priests and Levites from all their districts throughout Israel sided with him 14 (Rehoboam). The​ Levites even abandoned their pasturelands and property and came to ​ Judah and Jerusalem, because Jeroboam and his sons had rejected them as priests of 15 the Lord when​ he appointed his own priests for the high places and for the goat and ​ 16 calf idols he had made. Those​ from every tribe of Israel who set their hearts on seeking ​ the Lord, the God of Israel, followed the Levites to Jerusalem to offer sacrifices to the Lord, 17 the God of their ancestors. They​ strengthened the kingdom of Judah and supported ​ Rehoboam son of Solomon three years, following the ways of and Solomon during this time.

However, along with the worship of the true God Rehoboam also allowed the worship of false God’s, that Solomon had instituted to continue. This worship of false God’s continued to grow stronger in Judah for the first four years of Rehoboams reign. In vs. 17 of the passage above, it says that the Levites and the Priests supported and strengthened Rehoboam for the first 3 years of his reign but as the influence of the false worship strengthened, Rehoboam lost the support of the Levites and the Priests who served the true God.

1 Kings 14:22-24

22 Judah​ did evil in the eyes of the Lord. By the sins they committed they stirred up his jealous 23 anger more than those who were before them had done. They​ also set up for themselves high ​ places, sacred stones and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every spreading 24 tree. There​ were even male shrine prostitutes in the land; the people engaged in all the ​ detestable practices of the nations the Lord had driven out before the .

By year 5 of Rehoboam’s reign God had had enough. God allows the king of Egypt to attack Rehoboam. He came upon Judah from the south with an overwhelming force capturing all of the cities that Rehoboam had fortified right up to Jerusalem. Non-biblical records found in Egypt, show that this invasion by Shishak penetrated all the way up to the sea of in the north. While Shishak was able to destroy key strongholds in Judah and Israel he could not destroy Jerusalem. The prophet Shemaiah comes to Rehoboam and all of the leaders of Judah that had gathered in fear at Jerusalem and tells Rehoboam why this invasion by Shishak was happening.

2 Chronicles 12:1-5

After Rehoboam’s position as king was established and he had become strong, he and all [a] 2 Israel ​ ​ ​ with him abandoned the law of the Lord. Because​ they had been unfaithful to ​ ​ the Lord, Shishak king of Egypt attacked Jerusalem in the fifth year of King 3 Rehoboam. With​ twelve hundred chariots and sixty thousand horsemen and the innumerable ​ [b] 4 troops of Libyans, Sukkites and Cushites ​ ​ ​ that came with him from Egypt, he​ captured the ​ ​ fortified cities of Judah and came as far as Jerusalem. 5 ​Then the prophet Shemaiah came to Rehoboam and to the leaders of Judah who had assembled in Jerusalem for fear of Shishak, and he said to them, “This is what the Lord says, ‘You have abandoned me; therefore, I now abandon you to Shishak.’”

At this point we see something happen that we see a number of times in scripture. Faced with imminent death and destruction the King and all of the leaders humble themselves and repent of the sins they had committed that brought them to this place. What we see is the tremendous mercy of God. These are the same people that had decided to reject him and worship idols. The same people that engaged in practices so perverse as a part of their worship that it sickened God. These are the same people that took the works of the true God and gave credit for those works to false Gods. They rebelled against God themselves and convinced the people that followed them to rebel and sin as well. Now they are having what we would refer to as a “come to moment”. The consequences of their sins were all about to come down on their heads and they cry out to God. And our great and loving God spares them and does not destroy them.

2 Chronicles 12:6-12

6 ​The leaders of Israel and the king humbled themselves and said, “The Lord is just.” 7 ​When the Lord saw that they humbled themselves, this word of the Lord came to Shemaiah: “Since they have humbled themselves, I will not destroy them but will soon give them 8 deliverance. My wrath will not be poured out on Jerusalem through Shishak. They​ will, ​ however, become subject to him, so that they may learn the difference between serving me and serving the kings of other lands.” 9 ​When Shishak king of Egypt attacked Jerusalem, he carried off the treasures of the temple of the Lord and the treasures of the royal palace. He took everything, including the gold 10 shields Solomon had made. So​ King Rehoboam made bronze shields to replace them and ​ assigned these to the commanders of the guard on duty at the entrance to the royal 11 palace. Whenever​ the king went to the Lord’s temple, the guards went with him, bearing the ​ shields, and afterward they returned them to the guardroom. 12 Because​ Rehoboam humbled himself, the Lord’s anger turned from him, and he was not totally destroyed. Indeed, there was some good in Judah.

There are several things we need to understand from this passage:

1) It would have been better if they not waited until they were all about to die to repent. In this scenario Judah still suffers some of the consequences of their sin. They lose all the treasures of the palace and the temple of God. They are not destroyed but they do become subject to the King of Egypt. God says the reason for doing this is not just so they would suffer but so they would learn the difference between being serving God and serving ​ ​ other kings of the land. Sometimes we don’t know what we have and we complain and we whine until it is taken away and we are forced to live with something much worse than what we were living with before. This is what God was teaching the leadership of Judah. “You want to worship false God’s? You want to be subject to authorities that are not obedient to me? Fine. I will let you taste what that is like.”

It is better that we judge ourselves and repent rather than trying God’s patience to the point where he is ready to destroy us.

2) Repenting at the last minute is better than not repenting at all. When you are in rebellion – when you are in the wrong, it is never too late to humble yourself as long as that humility is sincere and with your whole heart. We see this with David when he repented after he had committed adultery, and after he had a man murdered. He humbled himself and God forgave him. We will see this same thing in the coming chapters with the King Manasseh. What we see in the is also true in the – it is true for us. Jesus tells us that if we will repent he is faithful to forgive. No matter what we have done, no matter who we have hurt. If we confess our sins if we repent with our whole heart he is faithful to forgive. He gave his life so our sins could be forgiven.

1 John 1:9

9 ​If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

3) In the midst of evil God is searching for good and he will reward it when he finds it.

12 Because​ Rehoboam humbled himself, the Lord’s anger turned from him, and he was not totally destroyed. Indeed, there was some good in Judah.

This reminds me of the story of Sodom and Gomorrah where bargained with God asking him to not destroy the cities if good could be found in them. God said he would save the city if they could find 50 righteous people, then it was changed to 45 then the number was changed to 40 then thirty, then 20 and finally just 10. God said he would spare the cities if they could find 10 righteous people who served him. God searched the cities trying to find some good and could only find one family that was righteous. He finally did destroy the cities but only after rescuing the one righteous man and his family that lived there.

God did not destroy Judah and Jerusalem because the leadership repented and he said he found some good still in Judah. Sometimes we feel that the world around us is so evil and everything is so messed up that any good we can do won’t make any difference and we give up. But that is not true. God is searching for good and it may be the good that you do that will save a multitude of other people. Sometimes it only takes on righteous person.

Rehoboam continued to reign in Judah for another 11 years after the invasion of Shishak. There is no mention of Shishak after this so we don’t know how long Judah served as a vassal state under Shishak. It does seem that after a short while Judah is again an independent nation under Rehoboam. 2 Chronicles 12:13 says that Rehoboam established himself firmly as King. He ruled for a total of 17 years in Judah. Evidently his repentance was not wholehearted in the end he is still counted as an evil King. We read the summary of his reign in

2 Chronicles 12:13-14

3 King​ Rehoboam established himself firmly in Jerusalem and continued as king. He was forty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city the Lord had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel in which to put his Name. His mother’s 14 name was ; she was an Ammonite. ​He did evil because he had not set his heart on ​ seeking the Lord.

Although Rehoboam had a time when he humbled himself, we are told that his heart was never set on seeking the Lord. There is no record of him tearing down the altars and places of worship to false Gods. In addition, we are told that he was constantly at war with Jeroboam and the armies of Israel to his north. At the age of 58 Rehoboam dies and his son Abijah takes the throne of Judah.

Abijah King of Judah

Abijah Reigns in Judah for just three years and all during his reign and into the second year of the reign of his son Asa, Jeroboam is still King in Israel. The skirmishes that characterized the conflicts between Jeroboam and Rehoboam grow into a full-blown war under Abijah’s reign. The book of 1 Kings and the book of 2 Chronicles seem to differ on whether the reign of Abijah was good or bad or at least the authors (Remember Kings was probably written by and Chronicles was probably written by ) choose to emphasize different things. The book of Kings says that all of the sins that Rehoboam had been practicing continued under his son Abijah and the only reason that God continued to strengthen Judah was because of God’s promise to David. :3-5

3 He​ committed all the sins his father had done before him; his heart was not fully devoted to 4 the Lord his God, as the heart of David his forefather had been. ​Nevertheless, for David’s sake ​ the Lord his God gave him a lamp in Jerusalem by raising up a son to succeed him and by 5 making Jerusalem strong. For​ David had done what was right in the eyes of the Lord and had ​ not failed to keep any of the Lord’s commands all the days of his life—except in the case of the Hittite.

The emphasis here is on the power of David’s legacy and how one man’s faithfulness to God was able to bring blessings to the nation in spite of the evil the present King was participating in. We need to make sure we never discount the power of a life lived faithfully to God. The blessings that come from that one life can resonate down through the generations. WE need to ask ourselves what kind of legacy we are leaving and what effect will our life – our faith have on the generations that follow us.

The book of 2 Chronicles emphasizes a different aspect of Abijah’s reign. This book focuses in on one key event in Abijah’s reign where Abijah was vastly outnumbered but he depended on the Lord and called on the Lord for deliverance from Jeroboams superior military force. The story of this battle is as much about the curse on Jeroboam because of his apostasy as it is about the faithful dependence of Abijah for God’ deliverance.

2 Chronicles 13:3

3 Abijah​ went into battle with an army of four hundred thousand able fighting men, and Jeroboam drew up a battle line against him with eight hundred thousand able troops.

So there is a major battle brewing and Jeroboam has twice as many men as Abijah. Before the battle begins Abijah climbs to a mountain top where he addresses all of Israel and Judah. By recording this address Ezra highlights the one good thing that Abijah did in his reign. Abijah asserts his claim to the throne of all Israel because of the God made with David. He accuses Jeroboam of usurping the throne from his father Rehoboam at a time of weakness. In his address he positions himself and Judah as being faithful to the covenant (we know that wasn’t true) He says that he hasn’t forsaken God but in reality, he has just forsaken God less than Jeroboam. Abijah does expose the evil that Jeroboam had done and rightfully accuses him of leading his people into false worship, but he fails to acknowledge that false worship also continued in Judah but to a lesser extent. He pronounces judgement on Jeroboam and tells the people with him not to fight against the Lord because they will lose the battle even though they have a vastly superior force.

2 Chronicles 13:4-9

4 Abijah​ stood on Mount Zemaraim, in the hill country of , and said, “Jeroboam and all 5 Israel, listen to me! Don​ ’t you know that the Lord, the God of Israel, has given the kingship of ​ Israel to David and his descendants forever by a covenant of salt? (Covenant of salt is a reference to a lasting or perpetual covenant. Salt was a preservative that made food last 6 longer and was used when there was a covenant meal) Yet​ Jeroboam son of Nebat, an ​ 7 official of Solomon son of David, rebelled against his master. Some​ worthless ​ scoundrels gathered around him and opposed Rehoboam son of Solomon when he was young and indecisive and not strong enough to resist them. 8 “And​ now you plan to resist the kingdom of the Lord, which is in the hands of David’s descendants. You are indeed a vast army and have with you the golden calves that Jeroboam 9 made to be your gods. B​ ut didn’t you drive out the priests of the Lord, the sons of Aaron, and ​ the Levites, and make priests of your own as the peoples of other lands do? Whoever comes to consecrate himself with a young bull and seven rams may become a priest of what are not gods.

In the next passage Abijah talks about Judah not forsaking the Lord. But this is a classic case of being guilty of the same sin you are accusing someone else of. Remember the main difference between Judah and Israel is that Jeroboam and Israel completely substituted a false system of for the true worship of God. Abijah simply added false worship to the already existing Levitical system of worship that was present in Judah. In Israel it was a case of the false system or nothing in Judah it was a case of the false system added to the true system. We are not talking about two nations where one is totally wrong and the other is totally right - we are talking about degrees of evil being practiced. Abijah is right when he says that they continue to offer burnt offerings and incense to the Lord and that they continue to light the lampstands and observe the requirements of the Levitical system of worship – what he neglects to say is that they also follow the worship rituals of the gods of and and Sidon.

2 Chronicles 13:10-12

10 ​“As for us, the Lord is our God, and we have not forsaken him. The priests who serve 11 the Lord are sons of Aaron, and the Levites assist them. Every​ morning and evening they ​ present burnt offerings and fragrant incense to the Lord. They set out the bread on the ceremonially clean table and light the lamps on the gold lampstand every evening. We are 12 observing the requirements of the Lord our God. But you have forsaken him. God​ is with us; ​ he is our leader. His priests with their trumpets will sound the battle cry against you. People of Israel, do not fight against the Lord, the God of your ancestors, for you will not succeed.”

In the next passage we see God delivering Judah and defeating Israel – a much larger force – again not because Judah was so righteous but because they were more righteous than Israel. God also defended Judah because of the faithfulness of David and that favor being passed on to his descendants.

2 Chronicles 13:13-19

13 ​Now Jeroboam had sent troops around to the rear, so that while he was in front of Judah 14 the ambush was behind them. Judah​ turned and saw that they were being attacked at both ​ 15 front and rear. Then they cried out to the Lord. The priests blew their trumpets ​and the men ​ of Judah raised the battle cry. At the sound of their battle cry, God routed Jeroboam and all 16 Israel before Abijah and Judah. ​The Israelites fled before Judah, and God delivered them into 17 ​ their hands. ​Abijah and his troops inflicted heavy losses on them, so that there were five ​ 18 hundred thousand casualties among Israel’s able men. ​The Israelites were subdued on that ​ occasion, and the people of Judah were victorious because they relied on the Lord, the God of their ancestors. 19 ​Abijah pursued Jeroboam and took from him the towns of , Jeshanah and Ephron, with their surrounding villages.

This was a massive victory for Judah and it impacted the balance of power for years. Judah captured some key cities in Israel including Bethel which was one of the centers of worship for the cult that Jeroboam had set up. Judah was greatly strengthened and Israel was greatly weakened. We don’t hear anything about Israel causing conflict with Judah until about 35 years later at the end of King Baasha’s reign.

Abijah dies and his son Asa reigns in his place. Asa is the next major King of Judah and we will talk about him in our next study.

Nadab King of Israel. (910-909 bc)

Meanwhile in Israel Jeroboam dies after the first year of Asa’s reign (approximately 910 BC.) And his son Nadab becomes King of Israel in his place. Nadab will be the last of Jeroboam’s line to be King and he will only be King for about a year.

Baasha King of Israel (909-886 bc)

Baasha a soldier in Nadab’s army from the tribe of Issachar assassinates Nadab ascends to the throne of Israel and then kills all of Jeroboams family.

1 Kings 15:25-30

25 ​Nadab son of Jeroboam became king of Israel in the second year of Asa king of Judah, and 26 he reigned over Israel two years. He​ did evil in the eyes of the Lord, following the ways of ​ his father and committing the same sin his father had caused Israel to commit. 27 ​Baasha son of from the tribe of Issachar plotted against him, and he struck him 28 down at Gibbethon, a Philistine town, while Nadab and all Israel were besieging it. ​Baasha ​ killed Nadab in the third year of Asa king of Judah and succeeded him as king. 29 ​As soon as he began to reign, he killed Jeroboam’s whole family. He did not leave Jeroboam anyone that breathed, but destroyed them all, according to the word of the Lord given 30 through his servant . ​This happened because of the sins Jeroboam had ​ committed and had caused Israel to commit, and because he aroused the anger of the Lord, the God of Israel.

This is done in fulfillment of the prophecy given earlier by the prophet Ahijah to Jeroboam’s wife.

1 Kings 14:9-11

9 You​ (Jeroboam) have done more evil than all who lived before you. You have made for yourself other gods, idols made of metal; you have aroused my anger and turned your back on me. 10 ​“‘Because of this, I am going to bring disaster on the . I will cut off from [a] Jeroboam every last male in Israel—slave or free. ​ ​ ​ I will burn up the house of Jeroboam as 11 ​ one burns dung, until it is all gone. ​Dogs will eat those belonging to Jeroboam who die in ​ the city, and the birds will feed on those who die in the country. The Lord has spoken!’

Jeroboams family line is now completely wiped out in line with the prophecy and two new kings arise in Israel and Judah. We will study their reigns in our next study. They are:

Baasha King of Israel Asa King of Judah

This also marks a change in the that were dominant in Israel and Judah. Shemaiah in ​ ​ Judah and Ahijah in Israel both die and in Judah the next prophet to arise is . In Israel ​ ​ ​ ​ there are three prophets that will arise. First there is and then and finally a ​ ​ ​ ​ prophet we will spend a of time talking about and that is the Tishbite. ​ ​ ​ ​