THE KINGS OF ISRAEL AND JUDAH SESSION 4: THE REIGNS OF REHOBOAM, ABIJAH, AND NADAB 4-29-20 (Study covers 1 Kings 14:25-I Kings 15:8; 2 Chronicles Chapters 11-13) In our last study we covered the reign of Jeroboam, 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 Kingdom of Judah. The prophet that is most prominent in Judah at this time is Shemaiah (See chart of Kings from study session #2) Rehoboam was the son of Solomon. We are told in 1 Kings 11:1-10 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 Jerusalem was still happening. In fact, because the worship at the temple was still happening we are told that the Levites and the descendants of Aaron 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 David 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 Israelites. By year 5 of Rehoboam’s reign God had had enough. God allows Shishak 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 Galilee 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 Jesus 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 Old Testament is also true in the New Testament – 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.