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46
Royalty and Ruin
see to your own house, O David!’ So Israel departed to their tents.”
Verse 16
.
The breach that Rehoboam’s rash speech created proved beyond
repair. The twelve tribes of Israel were divided. Judah and Benjamin
composed the southern kingdom of Judah, under Rehoboam. The
ten northern tribes formed a separate government, the kingdom of
Israel, with Jeroboam as ruler. This fulfilled the prediction of the
prophet that the kingdom would be torn apart. “The turn of events
was from the Lord, that He might fulfill His word.”
Verse 15
.
When Rehoboam saw the ten tribes withdrawing their loyalty
from him, he realized that he must act. Through Adoram, one of
the influential men of his kingdom, he made an effort to appeal to
them and win them back. But “all Israel stoned him [Adoram] with
stones, and he died.” Startled, “King Rehoboam mounted his chariot
in haste to flee to Jerusalem.”
Verse 18
.
At Jerusalem “he assembled all the house of Judah with the tribe
of Benjamin, one hundred and eighty thousand chosen men who
[34]
were warriors, to fight against the house of Israel, that he might
restore the kingdom to Rehoboam. ... But the word of God came
unto Shemaiah, ... ‘Thus says the Lord, “You shall not go up nor fight
against your brethren the children of Israel. Let every man return
to his house, for this thing is from Me.”’ Therefore they obeyed the
word of the Lord.”
Verses 21-24
.
For three years Rehoboam tried to profit by his sad experience,
and in this effort he prospered. He built fortified cities “and made
them very strong.”
2 Chronicles 11:12
. But the secret of Judah’s
prosperity during the first years of Rehoboam’s reign lay in recog-
nizing God as the supreme Ruler. This is what gave the tribes of
Judah and Benjamin an advantage. The record reads, “Those from
all the tribes of Israel, such as set their heart to seek the Lord God of
Israel, came to Jerusalem to sacrifice to the Lord God of their fathers.
So they strengthened the kingdom of Judah, and made Rehoboam
the son of Solomon strong for three years, because they walked in
the way of David and Solomon for three years.”
2 Chronicles 11:16,
17
.