Join us on today’s Add Bible podcast as we delve into 2 Chronicles chapters 10 and 11. Witness the pivotal moment when Rehoboam’s choices led to the division of the united kingdom of Israel. Through these chapters, we explore the timeless lessons on leadership, counsel, and the unfolding of God’s sovereignty. By examining the challenges that Rehoboam faced and the counsel he received, we gain insights into the importance of guiding wisdom and making informed decisions. The episode also converges on the theme of reconciliation and seeking the Lord amid conflicts. As the narrative unfolds, the spiritual and military
00:00:09 Introduction to Add Bible and Today’s Reading
Welcome to Add Bible, an audio daily devotion from the Ezra Project. We join Allen J. Huth as he shares Bible passages and comments from over 30 years of his personal Bible reading journals.
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Today we are in 2 Chronicles chapters 10 and 11. Listen to Faith Comes by Hearing’s reading of these two chapters.
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2 Chronicles 10 Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all Israel had come to Shechem to make him king. And as soon as Jeroboam the son of Nebat heard of it, for he was in Egypt, where he had fled from King Solomon, then Jeroboam returned from Egypt. And they sent and called him. And Jeroboam and all Israel came and said to Rehoboam, Your father made our yoke heavy.
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Now therefore lighten the hard service of your father and his heavy yoke on us, and we will serve you.
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He said to them, Come to me again in three days. So the people went away. Then King Rehoboam took counsel with the old men who had stood before Solomon his father while he was yet alive, saying, How do you advise me to answer this people?
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And they said to him, If you will be good to this people and please them and speak good words to them, then they will be your servants forever.
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But he abandoned the counsel that the old men gave him, and took counsel with the young men who had grown up with him and stood before him.
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And he said to them, What do you advise that we answer this people who have said to me, Lighten the yoke that your father put on us?
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And the young men who had grown up with him said to him, Thus shall you speak to the people who said to you, Your father made our yoke heavy, but you lighten it for us. Thus shall you say to them, My little finger is thicker than my father’s thighs. And now, whereas my father laid on you a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke. My father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions.
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So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam the third day, as the king said, Come to me again the third day. And the king answered them harshly, and forsaking the counsel of the old men, King Rehoboam spoke to them according to the counsel of the young men, saying, My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to it.
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My father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions.
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So the king did not listen to the people, for it was a turn of affairs brought about by God that the Lord might fulfill his word, which he spoke by Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat. And when all Israel saw that the king did not listen to them, the people answered the king, What portion have we in David?
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We have no inheritance in the son of Jesse. Each of you to your tents, O Israel. Look now to your own house, David.
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So all Israel went to their tents. But Rehoboam reigned over the people of Israel who lived in the cities of Judah. Then King Rehoboam sent Hadorim, who was taskmaster over the forced labor, and the people of Israel stoned him to death with stones. And King Rehoboam quickly mounted his chariot to flee to Jerusalem. So Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David to this day. 2 Chronicles 11 When Rehoboam came to Jerusalem, he assembled the house of Judah and Benjamin, 180,000 chosen warriors, to fight against Israel to restore the kingdom to Rehoboam. But the word of the Lord came to Shimea, the man of God.
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Say to Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, king of Judah, and to all Israel in Judah and Benjamin, Thus says the Lord, You shall not go up or fight against your relatives. Return every man to his home, for this thing is from me.
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So they listened to the word of the Lord and returned and did not go against Jeroboam. Rehoboam lived in Jerusalem, and he built cities for defense in Judah. He built Bethlehem, Edom, Tekoa, Bethzer, Soko, Adullam, Gath, Meresha, Ziph, Adaraim, Lachish, Azekah, Zorah, Ajalon, and Hebron, fortified cities that are in Judah and in Benjamin. He made the fortresses strong and put commanders in them and stores of food, oil, and wine. And he put shields and spears in all the cities and made them very strong. So he held Judah and Benjamin. And the priests and the Levites who were in all Israel presented themselves to him from all places where they lived. For the Levites left their common lands and their holdings and came to Judah and Jerusalem, because Jeroboam and his sons cast them out from serving as priests of the Lord. And he appointed his own priests for the high places and for the goat idols and for the calves that he had made. 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. Rehoboam took his wife Mahalath, the daughter of Jeremoth, the son of David, and of Abihail, the daughter of Eliab, the son of Jesse. And she bore him sons, Jeash, Shemariah, and Zaham. After her he took Maacah, the daughter of Absalom, who bore him Abijah, Adai, Zizah, and Shalometh. Rehoboam loved Maacah, the daughter of Absalom, above all his wives and concubines. He took eighteen wives and sixty concubines, and fathered twenty-eight sons and sixty daughters. And Rehoboam appointed Abijah, the son of Maacah, as chief prince among his brothers, for he intended to make him king. And he dealt wisely and distributed some of his sons through all the districts of Judah and Benjamin, in all the fortified cities. And he gave them abundant provisions and procured wives for them.
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2 Chronicles chapter 9 ends with the death of Solomon. Now we see his son Rehoboam take over and reign in Israel. This is the beginning of the divided kingdom. In chapter 10 here, verse 1, it says, “…all Israel had come to Shechem to make him king.” So Rehoboam, Solomon’s son, was destined to become king over all of Israel. But let’s go back to 1 Kings chapter 11 to see what God had in store. 1 Kings chapter 11 verse 26 introduces Jeroboam. Jeroboam was a servant of Solomon. We go down to verse 28. the man Jeroboam was very able, and when Solomon saw that the young man was industrious, he gave him charge over all the forced labor of the house of Joseph. And at that time, when Jeroboam went out of Jerusalem, the prophet Ahijah the Shilonite found him on the road and Now Ahijah had dressed himself in a new garment, and the two of them were alone in the open country. Then Ahijah had laid hold of the new garment that was on him and tore it into twelve pieces. And he said to Jeroboam, Take for yourself ten pieces, for thus says the Lord the God of Israel, Behold, I am about to tear the kingdom from the hand of Solomon and will give you ten tribes. but he shall have one tribe for the sake of my servant david and for the sake of jerusalem the city i have chosen out of all the tribes of israel this same jeroboam is introduced in chapter ten verse two as soon as jeroboam the son of nabat heard of it for he was in egypt where he had fled from king solomon then jeroboam returned from egypt This Jeroboam is the one who comes to Rehoboam and asks him how he’s going to treat the people. Young Rehoboam gets counsel, first from the old men that served under King Solomon, and then from the young men, his peers. 2 Chronicles 10, verse 6 says, But he abandoned the counsel that the old men gave him, and took counsel with the young men who had grown up with him and stood before him. But also, let’s take note of verse 15. So the king did not listen to the people, for it was a turn of affairs brought about by God that the Lord might fulfill his word, which he spoke to Ahijah the Shilonite, to Jeroboam the son of Nabat, which we just read in 2 Kings chapter 11. Verse 16 tells us what happened next. And when all Israel saw that the king did not listen to them, the people answered the king, What portion have we in David? We have no inheritance in the son of Jesse. Each of you to your own tents, O Israel. Look now to your own house, David. So all Israel went to their tents, but Rehoboam reigned over the people of Israel who lived in the cities of Judah. This is the beginning of the dividing of the twelve tribes of Israel. Rehoboam reigns over Judah, but the rest of Israel follows Jeroboam. We turn to chapter 11, verse 1. When Rehoboam came to Jerusalem, he assembled the house of Judah and Benjamin, so there’s two tribes, to fight against Israel to restore the kingdom to Rehoboam. So now it’s the southern kingdom of Judah and Benjamin against the other northern kingdom, the rest of the ten tribes of Israel. But the word of the Lord came in the next verse. It says, Thus says the Lord, You shall not go up or fight against your relatives. Return every man to his home, for this thing is from me. Jeroboam, now reigning in the northern kingdom, casts out all the Levitical priests. He then appointed his own priests for idol worship. But there were some who didn’t like that. The Levitical priests headed for Judah, and so did many people who wanted to serve the Lord. So the kingdom again is being divided, not only militarily now, but spiritually. What are our applications from these two chapters? First of all, who do you listen to? Who do you go to for wise counsel? Not always are the older men more wise than the younger, but in this instance, Rehoboam should have listened to the older men and not his peers. So who do you go to for wise counsel? Secondly, don’t fight among your relatives. I have no idea what your family situation is like, but this example tells us not to fight each other. If you have a strained relationship with your family right now, can you be the one to bridge the gap? Can you restore relationships with your family? And lastly, the application is always to try to understand the sovereignty of God. So though this thing looks pretty messy, 2 Chronicles 10, verse 15 reminds us, So the king did not listen to the people, for it was a turn of affairs brought about by God, that the Lord might fulfill his word. Regardless of what is going on around you, try to understand it under the sovereignty of Almighty God. Let’s pray. Father, we don’t understand everything that we read. Here we see a young man take over a kingdom that Solomon had. Probably the most glorious kingdom maybe ever on earth. And now the kingdom becomes divided. Yet it seems to be under your sovereign will. Help us, Lord, to understand your sovereign will in our lives. Surround us, Lord, with wise counsel. And for some of us, Lord, let us be a healer among our relatives. Thank you for making the Word of God relevant to our everyday lives. Thank you for the lessons learned, even in 2 Chronicles. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen. Our radio programming is set for 2025. We will cover 44 of the 66 books of the Bible using the Ezra Project day by day through the Bible 11 book series. We start at January 1 with the writings of Old Testament historical books beginning with Job. We will cover seven more historical books until spring when we jump into the New Testament writings of Mark, Peter, James, Jude, and Hebrews. By summer, we will go back to the Old Testament writings of all 13 of the minor prophets. We’ll finish 2025 with the writings of Paul. Maybe you don’t want to follow the AdBible radio programming in your daily quiet time. Okay, I offer you an alternative plan. Read the Bible chronologically starting any day you want. The Bible is not organized the way things occurred. You can order an Ezra Project Chronological Bible Reading Journal and experience an amazing journey through the Bible in the order things actually occurred. The first time I read the Bible chronologically, it was an aha experience. While reading Kings and Chronicles, I read the prophets who were alive at the time. In the New Testament, you read about a miracle or a parable by all four gospel writers on the same day. It was a very educational and inspiring way to read the Bible. One user said this about our chronological Bible reading journal. Some years ago, I used a couple of spiral notebooks for my journaling. I’ve attached pictures of the book, the first edition of the Ezra Project Bible Reading Chronological Journal. That was the picture he sent. I live in Phoenix now, and I cannot find any place that has this type of journal. I’ve used many types of journals recently, but this seems to work the best for my needs. Please let me know if these are still available. Yes, they are. In fact, it is our number one best-selling product of all time. Visit azureproject.net and order a chronological Bible reading journal today and start your chronological journey through the Bible.
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