Don’t Forsake Him

Rehoboam Reigns over Judah and Builds Cities

11 Now when Rehoboam had come to Jerusalem, he assembled the house of Judah and Benjamin, 180,000 chosen warriors, to fight against Israel to restore the kingdom to Rehoboam. ² But the word of the Lord came to Shemaiah the man of God, saying, ³ “Tell Rehoboam the son of Solomon, king of Judah, and all Israel in Judah and Benjamin, saying, ⁴ ‘This is what the Lord says: “You shall not go up nor fight against your relatives; return, every man, to his house, for this event is from Me.”’” So they listened to the words of the Lord and returned from going against Jeroboam.

⁵ Rehoboam lived in Jerusalem and built cities for defense in Judah. ⁶ He built Bethlehem, Etam, Tekoa, ⁷ Beth-zur, Soco, Adullam, ⁸ Gath, Mareshah, Ziph,⁹ Adoraim, Lachish, Azekah, ¹⁰ Zorah, Aijalon, and Hebron, which are fortified cities in Judah and Benjamin. ¹¹ He also strengthened the fortresses and put officers in them and supplies of food, oil, and wine. ¹² He put shields and spears in every city and strengthened them greatly. So he held Judah and Benjamin.

¹³ Moreover, the priests and the Levites who were in all Israel also stood with him from all their districts.

Jeroboam Appoints False Priests

¹⁴ For the Levites left their pasture lands and their property and went to Judah and Jerusalem, because Jeroboam and his sons had excluded them from serving as priests to the Lord. ¹⁵ He set up priests of his own for the high places, for the satyrs and the calves which he had made. ¹⁶ Those from all the tribes of Israel who set their hearts on seeking the Lord God of Israel followed them to Jerusalem, to sacrifice to the Lord God of their fathers. ¹⁷ They strengthened the kingdom of Judah and supported Rehoboam the son of Solomon for three years, for they walked in the way of David and Solomon for three years.

Rehoboam’s Family

¹⁸ Then Rehoboam married Mahalath the daughter of Jerimoth the son of David and of Abihail the daughter of Eliab the son of Jesse, ¹⁹ and she bore to him sons: Jeush, Shemariah, and Zaham. ²⁰ After her he married Maacah the daughter of Absalom, and she bore to him Abijah, Attai, Ziza, and Shelomith. ²¹ Rehoboam loved Maacah the daughter of Absalom more than all his other wives and concubines. For he had taken eighteen wives and sixty concubines, and fathered twenty-eight sons and sixty daughters. ²² Rehoboam appointed Abijah the son of Maacah as head and leader among his brothers, for he intended to make him king.²³ He acted wisely and distributed some of his sons through all the territories of Judah and Benjamin to all the fortified cities, and he gave them plenty of provisions. And he sought many wives for them.

Shishak of Egypt Invades Judah

12 When the kingdom of Rehoboam was established and strong, he and all Israel with him abandoned the Law of the Lord. ² And it came about in King Rehoboam’s fifth year, because they had been unfaithful to the Lord, that Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem ³ with 1,200 chariots and sixty thousand horsemen. And the people who came with him from Egypt were innumerable: the Lubim, the Sukkiim, and the Ethiopians. ⁴ And he captured the fortified cities of Judah and came as far as Jerusalem. ⁵ Then 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: ‘You have abandoned Me, so I also have abandoned you to Shishak.’” ⁶ So the princes of Israel and the king humbled themselves and said, “The Lord is righteous.”

⁷ When the Lord saw that they had humbled themselves, the word of the Lordcame to Shemaiah, saying, “They have humbled themselves, so I will not destroy them; and I will grant them a little deliverance, and My wrath will not be poured out on Jerusalem by means of Shishak. ⁸ But they will become his slaves, so that they may learn the difference between My service and the service of the kingdoms of the countries.”

Plunder Impoverishes Judah

⁹ 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; he even took the gold shields which Solomon had made. ¹⁰ Then King Rehoboam made shields of bronze in their place and committed them to the care of the commanders of the guards who guarded the entrance of the king’s house.¹¹ As often as the king entered the house of the Lord, the guards came and carried them and then brought them back into the guards’ room. ¹² And when he humbled himself, the anger of the Lord turned away from him, so as not to destroy him completely; and conditions were also good in Judah.

¹³ 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. ¹⁴ But he did evil because he did not set his heart to seek the Lord.

¹⁵ Now the acts of Rehoboam, from the first to the last, are they not written in the records of Shemaiah the prophet and of Iddo the seer, according to genealogical enrollment? And there were wars between Rehoboam and Jeroboam continually.¹⁶ And Rehoboam lay down with his fathers and was buried in the city of David; and his son Abijah became king in his place.