Study Desk

If you do whatever I command you and walk in obedience to me and do what is right in my eyes by obeying my decrees and commands, as David my servant did, I will be with you. I will build you a dynasty as enduring as the one I built for David and will give Israel to you.

As for the other events of Solomon's reign—all he did and the wisdom he displayed—are they not written in the book of the annals of Solomon?

Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all Israel had gone there to make him king.

So they sent for Jeroboam, and he and the whole assembly of Israel went to Rehoboam and said to him:

Rehoboam answered, "Go away for three days and then come back to me." So the people went away.

So the king did not listen to the people, for this turn of events was from the Lord , to fulfill the word the Lord had spoken to Jeroboam son of Nebat through Ahijah the Shilonite.

But as for the Israelites who were living in the towns of Judah, Rehoboam still ruled over them.

When Rehoboam arrived in Jerusalem, he mustered all Judah and the tribe of Benjamin—a hundred and eighty thousand able young men—to go to war against Israel and to regain the kingdom for Rehoboam son of Solomon.

‘This is what the Lord says: Do not go up to fight against your brothers, the Israelites. Go home, every one of you, for this is my doing.'" So they obeyed the word of the Lord and went home again, as the Lord had ordered.

After seeking advice, the king made two golden calves. He said to the people, "It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Here are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt."

On the fifteenth day of the eighth month, a month of his own choosing, he offered sacrifices on the altar he had built at Bethel. So he instituted the festival for the Israelites and went up to the altar to make offerings.

Then the king said to the man of God, "Intercede with the Lord your God and pray for me that my hand may be restored." So the man of God interceded with the Lord , and the king's hand was restored and became as it was before.

The king said to the man of God, "Come home with me for a meal, and I will give you a gift."

For I was commanded by the word of the Lord : ‘You must not eat bread or drink water or return by the way you came.'"

So he said to his sons, "Saddle the donkey for me." And when they had saddled the donkey for him, he mounted it

When the man of God had finished eating and drinking, the prophet who had brought him back saddled his donkey for him.

The prophet said to his sons, "Saddle the donkey for me," and they did so.

So the prophet picked up the body of the man of God, laid it on the donkey, and brought it back to his own city to mourn for him and bury him.

For the message he declared by the word of the Lord against the altar in Bethel and against all the shrines on the high places in the towns of Samaria will certainly come true."

Even after this, Jeroboam did not change his evil ways, but once more appointed priests for the high places from all sorts of people. Anyone who wanted to become a priest he consecrated for the high places.