Study Desk

^(C1)When the kingdom of Rehoboam was established and strong, ^(C2)he and all Israel with him abandoned the Law of the LORD.

^(C1)And it came about in King Rehoboam's fifth year, because they had been unfaithful to the LORD, that ^(C2)Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem

with 1,200 chariots and sixty thousand horsemen. And the people who came with him from Egypt were innumerable: ^(C1)the Lubim, the Sukkiim, and the Ethiopians.

And he captured ^(C1)the fortified cities of Judah and came as far as Jerusalem.

Then ^(C1)Shemaiah the prophet came to Rehoboam and the princes of Judah who had gathered at Jerusalem because of Shishak, and he said to them, "This is what the LORD says: '^(C2)You have abandoned Me, so I also have abandoned you ^(F1)to Shishak.'"

So the princes of Israel and the king humbled themselves and said, "The ^(C1)LORD is righteous."

When the LORD saw that they had humbled themselves, the word of the LORD came to Shemaiah, saying, "^(C1)They have humbled themselves, so I will not destroy them; and I will grant them a little deliverance, and ^(C2)My wrath will not be poured out on Jerusalem by means of Shishak.

"But they will become his slaves, so ^(C1)that they may learn the difference between My service and the service of the kingdoms of the countries."

^(C1)So Shishak king of Egypt went up against Jerusalem, and he took the treasures of the house of the LORD and the treasures of the king's palace. He took everything; ^(C2)he even took the gold shields which Solomon had made.

Then King Rehoboam made shields of bronze in their place and committed them to the ^(F1)care of the commanders of the ^(F2)guards who guarded the entrance of the king's house.

As often as the king entered the house of the LORD, the ^(F1)guards came and carried them and then brought them back into the ^(F1)guards' room.

And ^(C1)when he humbled himself, the anger of the LORD turned away from him, so as not to destroy him completely; and conditions ^(C2)were also good in Judah.

^(C1)So King Rehoboam became powerful in Jerusalem and reigned there. For Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned for seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city which the LORD had chosen from all the tribes of Israel, to put His name there. And his mother's name was Naamah the Ammonitess.

But he did evil ^(C1)because he did not set his heart to seek the LORD.

^(C1)Now the acts of Rehoboam, from the first to the last, are they not written in the ^(F1)records of ^(C2)Shemaiah the prophet and of ^(C3)Iddo the seer, according to genealogical enrollment? And there were wars between Rehoboam and Jeroboam continually.

And Rehoboam ^(F1)lay down with his fathers and was buried in the city of David; and his son ^(C1)Abijah became king in his place.

^(C1)In the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam, Abijah became king over Judah.

He reigned in Jerusalem for three years; and his mother's name was ^(F1)Micaiah the daughter of Uriel of Gibeah. ^(C1)Now there was war between Abijah and Jeroboam.

Footnotes:  

Cross References:  

Abijah began the battle with an army of warriors, four hundred thousand chosen men, while Jeroboam drew up in battle formation against him with eight hundred thousand chosen men who were valiant warriors.

Then Abijah stood on Mount ^(C1)Zemaraim, which is in the hill country of Ephraim, and said, "Listen to me, Jeroboam and all Israel:

"Do you not know that ^(C1)the LORD God of Israel gave the rule over Israel forever to David ^(F1)and his sons by ^(C2)a covenant of salt?

"Yet ^(C1)Jeroboam the son of Nebat, the servant of Solomon the son of David, rose up and rebelled against his ^(F1)master,

and worthless men gathered to him, wicked men, who proved too strong for Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, when ^(F1)(C1)he was young and timid and could not hold his own against them.

"So now you intend to assert yourselves against the kingdom of the LORD ^(F1)through the sons of David, ^(F2)being a great multitude and having with you ^(C1)the golden calves which Jeroboam made for you as gods.

"^(C1)Have you not driven out the priests of the LORD, the sons of Aaron and the Levites, and made for yourselves priests like the peoples of other lands? Whoever comes ^(C2)to consecrate himself with a bull and seven rams, even he may become a priest of things that are ^(C3)not gods.

"But as for us, the LORD is our God, and we have not abandoned Him; and the sons of Aaron are ministering to the LORD as priests, and the Levites ^(F1)attend to their work.

"Every morning and evening ^(C1)they ^(F1)burn to the LORD burnt offerings and fragrant incense, and ^(C2)the showbread is set on the clean table, and the golden lampstand with its lamps is ready to light every evening; for we perform our duty to the LORD our God, but you have abandoned Him.

"Now behold, God is with us at our head, and ^(C1)His priests with the signal trumpets to sound the war cry against you. Sons of Israel, do not fight against the LORD God of your fathers, for you will not succeed."

But Jeroboam ^(C1)had set an ambush to come from behind, so that Israel was in front of Judah and the ambush was behind them.

When Judah turned around, behold, ^(F1)they were attacked both from front and rear; so ^(C1)they cried out to the LORD, and the priests blew the trumpets.

Then the men of Judah raised a war cry, and when the men of Judah raised the war cry, God ^(F1)(C1)defeated Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah.

When the sons of Israel fled from Judah, ^(C1)God handed them over to them.

Abijah and his people defeated them with a great slaughter, so that five hundred thousand chosen men of Israel fell slain.

The sons of Israel were subdued at that time, and the sons of Judah ^(F1)conquered ^(C1)because they trusted in the LORD, the God of their fathers.

Abijah pursued Jeroboam and captured from him several cities, Bethel with its villages, Jeshanah with its villages, and ^(F1)Ephron with its villages.

Jeroboam did not again recover strength in the days of Abijah; and the ^(C1)LORD struck him and ^(C2)he died.

But Abijah became powerful, and he took fourteen wives for himself, and fathered twenty-two sons and sixteen daughters.

Now the rest of the acts of Abijah, and his ways and his words are written in ^(C1)the ^(F1)treatise of ^(C2)Iddo the prophet.