Jeroboam and Rehoboam

²⁶ Jeroboam son of Nebat, one of Solomon’s servants, rebelled against the king. He was an Ephraimite from Zeredah whose mother was a widow named Zeruah. ²⁷ This is what prompted him to rebel against the king: Solomon built a terrace, and he closed up a gap in the wall of the city of his father David. ²⁸ Jeroboam was a talented man; when Solomon saw that the young man was an accomplished worker, he made him the leader of the work crew from the tribe of Joseph. ²⁹ At that time, when Jeroboam had left Jerusalem, the prophet Ahijah the Shilonite met him on the road; the two of them were alone in the open country. Ahijah was wearing a brand new robe, ³⁰ and he grabbed the robe and tore it into 12 pieces. ³¹ Then he told Jeroboam, “Take 10 pieces, for this is what the Lord God of Israel has said: ‘Look, I am about to tear the kingdom from Solomon’s hand and I will give 10 tribes to you. ³² He will retain one tribe, for my servant David’s sake and for the sake of Jerusalem, the city I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel. ³³ I am taking the kingdom from him because they have abandoned me and worshiped the Sidonian goddess Astarte, the Moabite god Chemosh, and the Ammonite god Milcom. They have not followed my instructions by doing what I approve and obeying my rules and regulations, as Solomon’s father David did. ³⁴ I will not take the whole kingdom from his hand. I will allow him to be ruler for the rest of his life for the sake of my chosen servant David who kept my commandments and rules. ³⁵ I will take the kingdom from the hand of his son and give 10 tribes to you. ³⁶ I will leave his son one tribe so my servant David’s dynasty may continue to serve me in Jerusalem, the city I have chosen as my home. ³⁷ I will select you; you will rule over all you desire to have and you will be king over Israel. ³⁸ You must obey all I command you to do, follow my instructions, do what I approve, and keep my rules and commandments, as my servant David did. Then I will be with you and establish for you a lasting dynasty, as I did for David; I will give you Israel. ³⁹ I will humiliate David’s descendants because of this, but not forever.’” ⁴⁰ Solomon tried to kill Jeroboam, but Jeroboam escaped to Egypt and found refuge with King Shishak of Egypt. He stayed in Egypt until Solomon died.

⁴¹ The rest of the events of Solomon’s reign, including all his accomplishments and his wise decisions, are recorded in the scroll called the Annals of Solomon. ⁴² Solomon ruled over all Israel from Jerusalem for 40 years. ⁴³ Then Solomon passed away and was buried in the city of his father David. His son Rehoboam replaced him as king.

¹² Rehoboam traveled to Shechem, for all Israel had gathered in Shechem to make Rehoboam king. ² When Jeroboam son of Nebat heard the news, he was still in Egypt, where he had fled from King Solomon and had been living ever since. ³ They sent for him, and Jeroboam and the whole Israelite assembly came and spoke to Rehoboam, saying, ⁴ “Your father made us work too hard. Now if you lighten the demands he made and don’t make us work as hard, we will serve you.” ⁵ He said to them, “Go away for three days, then return to me.” So the people went away.

⁶ King Rehoboam consulted with the older advisers who had served his father Solomon when he had been alive. He asked them, “How do you advise me to answer these people?” ⁷ They said to him, “Today if you will be a servant to these people and grant their request, speaking kind words to them, they will be your servants from this time forward.” ⁸ But Rehoboam rejected their advice and consulted the young advisers who served him, with whom he had grown up. ⁹ He asked them, “How do you advise me to respond to these people who said to me, ‘Lessen the demands your father placed on us’?” ¹⁰ The young advisers with whom Rehoboam had grown up said to him, “Say this to these people who have said to you, ‘Your father made us work hard, but now lighten our burden.’ Say this to them: ‘I am a lot harsher than my father! ¹¹ My father imposed heavy demands on you; I will make them even heavier. My father punished you with ordinary whips; I will punish you with whips that really sting your flesh.’”

¹² Jeroboam and all the people reported to Rehoboam on the third day, just as the king had ordered when he said, “Return to me on the third day.” ¹³ The king responded to the people harshly. He rejected the advice of the older men ¹⁴ and followed the advice of the younger ones. He said, “My father imposed heavy demands on you; I will make them even heavier. My father punished you with ordinary whips; I will punish you with whips that really sting your flesh.” ¹⁵ The king refused to listen to the people, because the Lord was instigating this turn of events so that he might bring to pass the prophetic announcement he had made through Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam son of Nebat.

¹⁶ When all Israel saw that the king refused to listen to them, the people answered the king, “We have no portion in David, no share in the son of Jesse! Return to your homes, O Israel! Now, look after your own dynasty, O David!” So Israel returned to their homes. ¹⁷ (Rehoboam continued to rule over the Israelites who lived in the cities of Judah.) ¹⁸ King Rehoboam sent Adoniram, the supervisor of the work crews, out after them, but all Israel stoned him to death. King Rehoboam managed to jump into his chariot and escape to Jerusalem. ¹⁹ So Israel has been in rebellion against the Davidic dynasty to this very day. ²⁰ When all Israel heard that Jeroboam had returned, they summoned him to the assembly and made him king over all Israel. No one except the tribe of Judah remained loyal to the Davidic dynasty.

²¹ When Rehoboam arrived in Jerusalem, he summoned 180,000 skilled warriors from all Judah and the tribe of Benjamin to attack Israel and restore the kingdom to Rehoboam son of Solomon. ²² But God told Shemaiah the prophet, ²³ “Say this to King Rehoboam son of Solomon of Judah, and to all Judah and Benjamin, as well as the rest of the people, ²⁴ ‘This is what the Lord has said: “Do not attack and make war with your brothers, the Israelites. Each of you go home. Indeed this thing has happened because of me.”’” So they obeyed the Lord’s message. They went home in keeping with the Lord’s message.

²⁵ Jeroboam built up Shechem in the Ephraimite hill country and lived there. From there he went out and built up Penuel. ²⁶ Jeroboam then thought to himself: “Now the Davidic dynasty could regain the kingdom. ²⁷ If these people go up to offer sacrifices in the Lord’s temple in Jerusalem, their loyalty could shift to their former master, King Rehoboam of Judah. They might kill me and return to King Rehoboam of Judah.” ²⁸ After the king had consulted with his advisers, he made two golden calves. Then he said to the people, “It is too much trouble for you to go up to Jerusalem. Look, Israel, here are your gods who brought you up from the land of Egypt.” ²⁹ He put one in Bethel and the other in Dan. ³⁰ This caused Israel to sin; the people went to Bethel and Dan to worship the calves.

³¹ He built temples on the high places and appointed as priests common people who were not Levites. ³² Jeroboam inaugurated a festival on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, like the festival celebrated in Judah. On the altar in Bethel he offered sacrifices to the calves he had made. In Bethel he also appointed priests for the high places he had made.

³³ On the fifteenth day of the eighth month (a date he had arbitrarily chosen) Jeroboam offered sacrifices on the altar he had made in Bethel. He inaugurated a festival for the Israelites and went up to the altar to offer sacrifices. ¹³ Just then a prophet arrived from Judah with the Lord’s message for Bethel, as Jeroboam was standing near the altar ready to offer a sacrifice. ² He cried out against the altar with the Lord’s message, “O altar, altar! This is what the Lord has said, ‘Look, a son named Josiah will be born to the Davidic dynasty. He will sacrifice on you the priests of the high places who offer sacrifices on you. Human bones will be burned on you.’” ³ That day he had also given a sign, saying, “This is the sign that the Lord has declared: The altar will split open and the ashes on it will pour out.” ⁴ When the king heard the prophet’s message that he had cried out against the altar in Bethel, Jeroboam took his hand from the altar and pointed it saying, “Seize him!” Then the hand that he had pointed at him stiffened up, and he could not pull it back. ⁵ Meanwhile the altar split open, and the ashes poured from the altar in fulfillment of the sign the prophet had given with the Lord’s message. ⁶ The king responded to the prophet, “Seek the favor of the Lord your God and pray for me, so that my hand may be restored.” So the prophet sought the Lord’s favor and the king’s hand was restored as it was at first. ⁷ The king then said to the prophet, “Come home with me and have something to eat, so that I may give you a gift.” ⁸ But the prophet said to the king, “Even if you were to give me half your possessions, I would not go with you. I am not allowed to eat food or drink water in this place. ⁹ For this is how I was commanded in the Lord’s message, ‘Eat no food. Drink no water. And do not return by the way you came.’” ¹⁰ So he started back on another road; he did not travel back on the same road he had taken to Bethel.

¹¹ Now there was an old prophet living in Bethel. When his sons came home, they told him everything the prophet had done in Bethel that day. And they told their father all the words that he had spoken to the king. ¹² Their father asked them, “Which road did he take?” His sons showed him the road the prophet from Judah had taken. ¹³ He then told his sons, “Saddle the donkey for me.” When they had saddled the donkey for him, he mounted it ¹⁴ and took off after the prophet, whom he found sitting under an oak tree. He asked him, “Are you the prophet from Judah?” He answered, “Yes, I am.” ¹⁵ He then said to him, “Come home with me and eat something.” ¹⁶ But he replied, “I can’t go back with you. I am not allowed to eat food or to drink water with you in this place. ¹⁷ For an order came to me in the Lord’s message, ‘Eat no food. Drink no water there. And do not return by the way you came.’” ¹⁸ Then the old prophet said, “I too am a prophet like you. And an angel has told me in a message from the Lord, ‘Bring him back with you to your house so he can eat food and drink water.’” But he had lied to him. ¹⁹ So the prophet went back with him. He ate food in his house and he drank water.

²⁰ While they were sitting at the table, the Lord’s message came to the old prophet who had brought him back. ²¹ So he cried out to the prophet who had come from Judah, “This is what the Lord has said, ‘You have rebelled against the Lord’s instruction and have not obeyed the command the Lord your God gave you. ²² You went back. You ate food. And you drank water in the place of which he had said to you, “Eat no food. Drink no water.” Therefore your corpse will not be buried in your ancestral tomb.’”

²³ So this is what happened after he had eaten food and drunk water. The old prophet saddled the donkey for the prophet whom he had brought back. ²⁴ So the prophet from Judah travelled on. Then a lion attacked him on the road and killed him.

There was his body lying on the road, with the donkey standing next to it, and the lion just standing there by the body. ²⁵ Then some men came passing by and saw the body lying in the road with the lion standing next to the body. They went and reported what they had seen in the city where the old prophet lived. ²⁶ When the old prophet who had invited him to his house heard the news, he said, “It is the prophet who rebelled against the Lord. The Lord delivered him over to the lion and it tore him up and killed him, in keeping with the Lord’s message that he had spoken to him.” ²⁷ He told his sons, “Saddle my donkey.” So they saddled it. ²⁸ He went and found the body lying in the road with the donkey and the lion standing beside it; the lion had neither eaten the body nor attacked the donkey. ²⁹ The old prophet picked up the prophet’s body, put it on the donkey, and brought it back. The old prophet then entered the city to mourn him and to bury him. ³⁰ He put the body into his own tomb, and they mourned over him, saying, “Ah, my brother!” ³¹ After he buried him, he said to his sons, “When I die, bury me in the tomb where the prophet is buried; put my bones right beside his bones, ³² because the message that he announced as the Lord’s message against the altar in Bethel and against all the temples on the high places in the cities of the north will certainly be fulfilled.”

³³ After this happened, Jeroboam still did not change his evil ways; he continued to appoint common people as priests at the high places. Anyone who wanted the job he consecrated as a priest. ³⁴ This sin caused Jeroboam’s dynasty to come to an end and to be destroyed from the face of the earth.

¹⁴ At that time Jeroboam’s son Abijah became sick. ² Jeroboam told his wife, “Disguise yourself so that people cannot recognize you are Jeroboam’s wife. Then go to Shiloh; Ahijah the prophet, who told me I would rule over this nation, lives there. ³ Take 10 loaves of bread, some small cakes, and a container of honey and visit him. He will tell you what will happen to the boy.”

⁴ Jeroboam’s wife did as she was told. She went to Shiloh and visited Ahijah. Now Ahijah could not see; he had lost his eyesight in his old age. ⁵ But the Lord had told Ahijah, “Look, Jeroboam’s wife is coming to find out from you what will happen to her son, for he is sick. Tell her such and such. When she comes, she will be in a disguise.” ⁶ When Ahijah heard the sound of her footsteps as she came through the door, he said, “Come on in, wife of Jeroboam! Why are you pretending to be someone else? I have been commissioned to give you bad news. ⁷ Go, tell Jeroboam, ‘This is what the Lord God of Israel has said: “I raised you up from among the people and made you ruler over my people Israel. ⁸ I tore the kingdom away from the Davidic dynasty and gave it to you. But you are not like my servant David, who kept my commandments and followed me wholeheartedly by doing only what I approve. ⁹ You have sinned more than all who came before you. You went and angered me by making other gods, formed out of metal; you have completely disregarded me. ¹⁰ So I am ready to bring disaster on the dynasty of Jeroboam. I will cut off every last male belonging to Jeroboam in Israel, including even the weak and incapacitated. I will burn up the dynasty of Jeroboam, just as one burns manure until it is completely consumed. ¹¹ Dogs will eat the members of your family who die in the city, and the birds of the sky will eat the ones who die in the country.”’ Indeed, the Lord has announced it!

¹² “As for you, get up and go home. When you set foot in the city, the boy will die. ¹³ All Israel will mourn him and bury him. He is the only one in Jeroboam’s family who will receive a decent burial, for he is the only one in whom the Lord God of Israel found anything good. ¹⁴ The Lord will raise up a king over Israel who will cut off Jeroboam’s dynasty. It is ready to happen! ¹⁵ The Lord will attack Israel, making it like a reed that sways in the water. He will remove Israel from this good land he gave to their ancestors and scatter them beyond the Euphrates River, because they angered the Lord by making Asherah poles. ¹⁶ He will hand Israel over to their enemies because of the sins which Jeroboam committed and which he made Israel commit.”

¹⁷ So Jeroboam’s wife got up and went back to Tirzah. As she crossed the threshold of the house, the boy died. ¹⁸ All Israel buried him and mourned for him, in keeping with the Lord’s message that he had spoken through his servant, the prophet Ahijah.

¹⁹ The rest of the events of Jeroboam’s reign, including the details of his battles and rule, are recorded in the scroll called the Annals of the Kings of Israel. ²⁰ Jeroboam ruled for 22 years; then he passed away. His son Nadab replaced him as king.

²¹ Now Rehoboam son of Solomon ruled in Judah. He was forty-one years old when he became king, and he ruled for 17 years in Jerusalem, the city the Lord chose from all the tribes of Israel to be his home. His mother was an Ammonite woman named Naamah.

²² Judah did evil in the sight of the Lord. They made him more jealous by their sins than their ancestors had done. ²³ They even built for themselves high places, sacred pillars, and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every green tree. ²⁴ There were also male cultic prostitutes in the land. They committed the same horrible sins as the nations that the Lord had driven out from before the Israelites.

²⁵ In King Rehoboam’s fifth year, King Shishak of Egypt attacked Jerusalem. ²⁶ He took away the treasures of the Lord’s temple and of the royal palace; he took everything, including all the golden shields that Solomon had made. ²⁷ King Rehoboam made bronze shields to replace them and assigned them to the officers of the royal guard who protected the entrance to the royal palace. ²⁸ Whenever the king visited the Lord’s temple, the royal guard carried them and then brought them back to the guardroom.

²⁹ The rest of the events of Rehoboam’s reign, including his accomplishments, are recorded in the scroll called the Annals of the Kings of Judah. ³⁰ Rehoboam and Jeroboam were continually at war with each other. ³¹ Rehoboam passed away and was buried with his ancestors in the City of David. His mother was an Ammonite named Naamah. His son Abijah replaced him as king.