Day 175 & 176—We are in our 6th month of Bible reading. What have you learned so far about God and his purposes with His people?

(Note: SUNDAY’s and MONDAY’s readings are combined.)

    Day 175 – 2 Chronicles 10 – 12. (A repeat of 2 Kings, but with more details about King Rehoboam.)

2 Chronicles 10. It’s interesting that Rehoboam, Solomon’s son, went to Shechem. Verse 1 says that all Israel had come there to make him King. Undoubtedly, he was solidly installed in that office in Jerusalem where his father reigned.

These northern folks wanted to know how Rehoboam would reign. Would it be as harsh as Solomon all during that building and expansion period?

As we saw yesterday, King Rehoboam consulted both the elder and younger advisors. At 41, he wasn’t a young man to begin his reign, but he went with the youthful advice and came down hard on the people of the North. And they rebelled. “Sayonara, Ray,” they called as they left, and Rehoboam hi-tailed it back to Jerusalem.

From 1 Kings 12-13, we know that Jeroboam was waiting for these northern tribes with open arms.

2 Chronicles 11 describes how Rehoboam strengthened his two-tribe kingdom by building and fortifying fifteen defense cities throughout Judah, placing commanders, weapons, and food provisions in them.

Remember in 1 Kings 12 how Jeroboam turned the hearts of his people away from God by proclaiming Bethel and Dan as cities of worship (instead of Jerusalem) and setting up golden calves in these places for the people to worship instead of the LORD their God. He also gave the office of priest to anyone who wanted it.

In 2 Chronicles 11:13-17, we see the northern priests and Levites leaving their homes, lands, and positions in Israel and coming into Judah and Jerusalem. “And those who had set their hearts to seek the LORD God of Israel came after them from all the tribes of Israel to Jerusalem to sacrifice to the LORD, the God of their fathers.  They strengthened the kingdom of Judah, and for three years, they made Rehoboam, the son of Solomon secure, for they walked for three years in the way of David and Solomon.

But, when Rehoboam was established and strong, he abandoned the law of the LORD and all the country with him. 2 Chronicles 12:1.

Because they were unfaithful to the LORD, King Shishak of Egypt came with hoards of soldiers and chariots and took those fortified cities all the way to Jerusalem.  YIKES!

God told Rehoboam through the prophet Shemaiah that the reason for the invasion was because they had abandoned Him, so He abandoned them.

Surprisingly, the king and his leaders humbled themselves  and said, “The LORD is righteous.”  When God saw this, He relented. He would not destroy them. He would grant them SOME deliverance. But they would be servants to Egypt’s king. (Yesterday, we saw that Shishak took all the treasures of the Temple and the king’s palace as “tribute.”)

So, Rehoboam reigned in Judah for 17 years and then died. His son, Abijah/Abijam*, reigned in his place.

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    Day 176 – 1 Kings 15, 2 Chronicles 13 – 16. (From here on until the invasion of Assyria, the history of the Jews will track both the northern kingdom of Israel/Ephraim along with the southern kingdom of Judah. All northern kings were wicked; most of the southern kings were also wicked. Kings were either compared to the wicked King Jeroboam or to the righteous King David.)

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1 Kings 15 covers the end of King Jeroboam’s reign, the brief reign of his son Nadab (evil), and the reign of the usurper, Baasha (evil), who killed the former king and ALL of the house of Jeroboam, as was prophesied in chapter 14:9-11.

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2 Chronicles 13 describes King Rehoboam’s son, Abijah’s reign in Jerusalem.  He was “a great sinner” according to 1 Kings 15:3, but here he is described as standing for the principles of the LORD God of Israel as David did…. at least when he was at war.

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2 Chronicles 14.  In this chapter, Abijah’s son, Asa, becomes king. He did what was “good and right in the eyes of the LORD his God.”   “And the kingdom had rest under him.”  “He had no war in those years, for the LORD gave him peace.” 

When Zerah, the Ethiopian, with his MILLION soldiers and 300 chariots, came against Judah, King Asa cried to the LORD. “O LORD, there is none like You to help between the mighty and the weak. Help us, O LORD our God, for we rely on you, and in Your name we have come against this multitude.”  “So the LORD defeated the Ethiopians before Asa and before Judah, and the Ethiopians fled.” 

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2 Chronicles 15 describes King Asa’s religious reforms, removing the detestable idols from the land and repairing the altar of the LORD. He even removed his mother from being the Queen Mum because she had made an image for Asherah. He cut down that image, crushed it, and burned it.

King Asa then gathered all the people and sacrificed and worshiped the LORD, entering into a covenant with Him “to seek the LORD, the God of their fathers, with all their heart and with all their soul.”

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2 Chronicles 16.  However, in King Asa’s later years (he reigned 41 years), he strayed from that wonderful commitment.  Instead of trusting the LORD for victory over his enemies, he “paid” the army of Syria to fight with him against King Baasha in the north. As a result, his campaign failed.

The prophet Hanani came to him and said, “The eyes of the LORD run ‘to and fro’ throughout the whole earth to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward Him.  YOU have done foolishly in this, for from now on, you will have wars.”

The aging King “was angry with the prophet and put him in stocks in the prison.” (Asa was in a rage because of this…!  Asa inflicted cruelties upon some … at the same time.”)

WATCH OUT, senior citizens!  Stay steady and faithful even in your old age!! (I’m talking to myself here too!)

Two years before King Asa died, he became diseased in his feet, and it became very severe. (Gangrene from diabetes???)  “Yet, even in his disease, he did not seek the LORD, but sought help from physicians.”  (Not saying doctors are wrong, just that seeking the LORD is good.)

(After King Asa died, they laid him on a bier that had been filled with various spices prepared by the perfumer’s art (curious!), and they made a very great fire in his honor.) (Cremation is RARELY used by Hebrews, although King Saul & his sons were also burned. 1 Samuel 31:13)

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*Abijah (my father is the LORD) perhaps had his name changed when he forsook God.