111 When Rehoboam got back to Jerusalem he called up the men of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, 180,000 of their best soldiers, to go to war against Israel and recover the kingdom. 2 At the same time the word of God came to Shemaiah, a holy man, 3 "Tell this to Rehoboam son of Solomon, king of Judah, along with all the Israelites in Judah and Benjamin, 4 This is God's word: Don't march out; don't fight against your brothers the Israelites. Go back home, every last one of you; I'm in charge here." And they did it; they did what God said and went home.
5 Rehoboam continued to live in Jerusalem but built up a defense system for Judah all around: 6 in Bethlehem, Etam, Tekoa, 7 Beth Zur, Soco, Adullam, 8 Gath, Mareshah, Ziph, 9 Adoraim, Lachish, Azekah, 10 Zorah, Aijalon, and Hebron - a line of defense protecting Judah and Benjamin. 11 He beefed up the fortifications, appointed commanders, and put in supplies of food, olive oil, and wine. 12 He installed arms - large shields and spears - in all the forts, making them very strong. So Judah and Benjamin were secure for the time.
13 The priests and Levites from all over Israel came and made themselves available to Rehoboam. 14 The Levites left their pastures and properties and moved to Judah and Jerusalem because Jeroboam and his sons had dismissed them from the priesthood of God 15 and replaced them with his own priests to preside over the worship centers at which he had installed goat and calf demon-idols. 16 Everyone from all the tribes of Israel who determined to seek the God of Israel migrated with the priests and Levites to Jerusalem to worship there, sacrificing to the God of their ancestors. 17 That gave a tremendous boost to the kingdom of Judah. They stuck with Rehoboam son of Solomon for three years, loyal to the ways of David and Solomon for this period. 18 Rehoboam married Mahalath daughter of Jerimoth, David's son, and Abihail daughter of Eliab, Jesse's son. 19 Mahalath bore him Jeush, Shemariah, and Zaham. 20 Then he married Maacah, Absalom's daughter, and she bore him Abijah, Attai, Ziza, and Shelomith. 21 Maacah was Rehoboam's favorite wife; he loved her more than all his other wives and concubines put together (and he had a lot - eighteen wives and sixty concubines who produced twenty-eight sons and sixty daughters!). 22 Rehoboam designated Abijah son of Maacah as the "first son" and leader of the brothers - he intended to make him the next king. 23 He was shrewd in deploying his sons in all the fortress cities that made up his defense system in Judah and Benjamin; he kept them happy with much food and many wives.
121 By the time Rehoboam had secured his kingdom and was strong again, he, and all Israel with him, had virtually abandoned God and his ways. 2 In Rehoboam's fifth year, because he and the people were unfaithful to God, Shishak king of Egypt invaded as far as Jerusalem. 3 He came with 1,200 chariots and 60,000 cavalry, and soldiers from all over - the Egyptian army included Libyans, Sukkites, and Ethiopians. 4 They took the fortress cities of Judah and advanced as far as Jerusalem itself. 5 Then the prophet Shemaiah, accompanied by the leaders of Judah who had retreated to Jerusalem before Shishak, came to Rehoboam and said, "God's word: You abandoned me; now I abandon you to Shishak." 6 The leaders of Israel and the king were repentant and said, "God is right." 7 When God saw that they were humbly repentant, the word of God came to Shemaiah: "Because they are humble, I'll not destroy them - I'll give them a break; I won't use Shishak to express my wrath against Jerusalem. 8 What I will do, though, is make them Shishak's subjects - they'll learn the difference between serving me and serving human kings." 9 Then Shishak king of Egypt attacked Jerusalem. He plundered the treasury of The Temple of God and the treasury of the royal palace - he took everything he could lay his hands on. He even took the gold shields that Solomon had made. 10 King Rehoboam replaced the gold shields with bronze shields and gave them to the guards who were posted at the entrance to the royal palace. 11 Whenever the king went to God's Temple, the guards went with him carrying the shields, but they always returned them to the guardroom. 12 Because Rehoboam was repentant, God's anger was blunted, so he wasn't totally destroyed. The picture wasn't entirely bleak - there were some good things going on in Judah.
13 King Rehoboam regrouped and reestablished his rule in Jerusalem. He was forty-one years old when he became king and continued as king for seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city God chose out of all the tribes of Israel as the special presence of his Name. His mother was Naamah from Ammon. 14 But the final verdict on Rehoboam was that he was a bad king - God was not important to him; his heart neither cared for nor sought after God. 15 The history of Rehoboam, from start to finish, is written in the memoirs of Shemaiah the prophet and Iddo the seer that contain the family trees. There was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam the whole time. 16 Rehoboam died and was buried with his ancestors in the City of David. His son Abijah ruled after him.
131 In the eighteenth year of the rule of King Jeroboam, Abijah took over the throne of Judah. 2 He ruled in Jerusalem three years. His mother was Maacah daughter of Uriel of Gibeah. 3 Abijah started out with 400,000 of his best soldiers; Jeroboam countered with 800,000 of his best. 4 Abijah took a prominent position on Mount Zemaraim in the hill country of Ephraim and gave this speech: "Listen, Jeroboam and all Israel! 5 Don't you realize that God, the one and only God of Israel, established David and his sons as the permanent rulers of Israel, ratified by a 'covenant of salt' - God's kingdom ruled by God's king? 6 And what happened? Jeroboam, the son of Solomon's slave Nebat, rebelled against his master. 7 All the riff-raff joined his cause and were too much for Rehoboam, Solomon's true heir. Rehoboam didn't know his way around - besides he was a real wimp; he couldn't stand up against them. 8 "Taking advantage of that weakness, you are asserting yourself against the very rule of God that is delegated to David's descendants - you think you are so big with your huge army backed up by the golden-calf idols that Jeroboam made for you as gods! 9 But just look at what you've done - you threw out the priests of God, the sons of Aaron, and the Levites, and made priests to suit yourselves, priests just like the pagans have. Anyone who shows up with enough money to pay for it can be a priest! A priest of No-God! 10 "But for the rest of us in Judah, we're sticking with God. We have not traded him in for the latest model - we're keeping the tried and true priests of Aaron to lead us to God and the Levites to lead us in worship 11 by sacrificing Whole-Burnt-Offerings and aromatic incense to God at the daily morning and evening prayers, setting out fresh holy bread on a clean table, and lighting the lamps on the golden Lampstand every night. We continue doing what God told us to in the way he told us to do it; but you have rid yourselves of him. 12 "Can't you see the obvious? God is on our side; he's our leader. And his priests with trumpets are all ready to blow the signal to battle. O Israel - don't fight against God, the God of your ancestors. You will not win this battle."
13 While Abijah was speaking, Jeroboam had sent men around to take them by surprise from the rear: Jeroboam in front of Judah and the ambush behind. 14 When Judah looked back, they saw they were attacked front and back. They prayed desperately to God, the priests blew their trumpets, and the soldiers of Judah shouted their battle cry. 15 At the battle cry, God routed Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah. 16 The army of Israel scattered before Judah; God gave them the victory. 17 Abijah and his troops slaughtered them - 500,000 of Israel's best fighters were killed that day. 18 The army of Israel fell flat on its face - a humiliating defeat. The army of Judah won hands down because they trusted God, the God of their ancestors. 19 Abijah followed up his victory by pursuing Jeroboam, taking the towns of Bethel, Jeshanah, and Ephron with their surrounding villages. 20 Jeroboam never did recover from his defeat while Abijah lived. Later on God struck him down and he died. 21 Meanwhile Abijah flourished; he married fourteen wives and ended up with a family of twenty-two sons and sixteen daughters. 22 The rest of the history of Abijah, what he did and said, is written in the study written by Iddo the prophet.
141 Abijah died and was buried with his ancestors in the City of David. His son Asa became the next king. For ten years into Asa's reign the country was at peace. 2 Asa was a good king. He did things right in God's eyes. 3 He cleaned house: got rid of the pagan altars and shrines, smashed the sacred stone pillars, and chopped down the sex-and-religion groves (Asherim). 4 He told Judah to center their lives in God, the God of their fathers, to do what the law said, and to follow the commandments. 5 Because he got rid of all the pagan shrines and altars in the cities of Judah, his kingdom was at peace. 6 Because the land was quiet and there was no war, he was able to build up a good defense system in Judah. God kept the peace. 7 Asa said to his people, "While we have the chance and the land is quiet, let's build a solid defense system, fortifying our cities with walls, towers, gates, and bars. We have this peaceful land because we sought God; he has given us rest from all troubles." So they built and enjoyed prosperity. 8 Asa had an army of 300,000 Judeans, equipped with shields and spears, and another 280,000 Benjaminites who were shield bearers and archers. They were all courageous warriors.
9 Zerah the Ethiopian went to war against Asa with an army of a million plus 300 chariots and got as far as Mareshah. 10 Asa met him there and prepared to fight from the Valley of Zephathah near Mareshah. 11 Then Asa prayed to God, "O God, you aren't impressed by numbers or intimidated by a show of force once you decide to help: Help us, O God; we have come out to meet this huge army because we trust in you and who you are. Don't let mere mortals stand against you!" 12 God defeated the Ethiopians before Asa and Judah; the Ethiopians ran for their lives. 13 Asa and his men chased them as far as Gerar; so many of the Ethiopians were killed that there was no fight left in them - a massacre before God and his troops; Judah carted off loads of plunder. 14 They devastated all the towns around Gerar whose people were helpless, paralyzed by the fear of God, and looted the country. 15 They also attacked herdsmen and brought back a lot of sheep and camels to Jerusalem.
