FRAMEWORKS:
2 Chronicles 11: Rehoboam's early activities
[Introductory
Notes: The nation has been divided [see previous chapter]
and Rehoboam has been left only with Judah and Benjamin. This
chapter recounts how the Lord stops the king fighting the departing
tribes, and how the king went about fortifying his remaining lands.
It concludes by recording the king's family.]
v.1-4
The Lord stops Rehoboam fighting against the rebel tribes
v.1
When Rehoboam
arrived in Jerusalem, he mustered Judah and Benjamin – a
hundred and eighty thousand able young men – to go to war
against Israel and to regain the kingdom for Rehoboam.
v.2
But
this word of the Lord
came to Shemaiah
the man of God:
v.3
‘Say
to Rehoboam son of Solomon king of Judah and to all Israel in
Judah and Benjamin,
v.4
“This
is what the Lord
says: do not
go up to fight against your fellow Israelites. Go home, every
one of you, for this is my doing.”' So they obeyed the words of
the Lord
and turned back from marching against Jeroboam.
v.5-17
Rehoboam fortifies Judah
v.5
Rehoboam
lived in Jerusalem and built up towns for defence in Judah:
v.6
Bethlehem,
Etam, Tekoa,
v.7
Beth
Zur, Soko, Adullam,
v.8
Gath,
Mareshah, Ziph,
v.9
Adoraim,
Lachish, Azekah,
v.10
Zorah,
Aijalon and Hebron. These were fortified cities in Judah and Benjamin.
v.11
He
strengthened their defences and put commanders in them, with supplies
of food, olive oil and wine.
v.12
He
put shields and spears in all the cities, and made them very strong.
So Judah and Benjamin were his.
v.13
The
priests and Levites from all their districts throughout Israel
sided with him.
v.14
The
Levites even abandoned their pasture-lands and property and came
to Judah and Jerusalem, because Jeroboam and his sons had rejected
them as priests of the Lord
v.15
when
he appointed his own priests for the high places and for the goat
and calf idols he had made.
v.16
Those
from every tribe of Israel who set their hearts on seeking the
Lord,
the God of Israel, followed the Levites to Jerusalem to offer
sacrifices to the Lord,
the God of their ancestors.
v.17
They
strengthened the kingdom of Judah and supported Rehoboam son of
Solomon for three years, following the ways of David and Solomon
during this time.
v.18-23
Rehoboam's family
v.18
Rehoboam
married Mahalath, who was the daughter of David's son Jerimoth
and of Abihail, the daughter of Jesse's son Eliab.
v.19
She
bore him sons: Jeush, Shemariah and Zaham.
v.20
Then
he married Maakah daughter of Absalom, who bore him Abijah, Attai,
Ziza and Shelomith.
v.21
Rehoboam
loved Maakah daughter of Absalom more than any of his other wives
and concubines. In all, he had eighteen wives and sixty concubines,
twenty-eight sons and sixty daughters.
v.22
Rehoboam
appointed Abijah son of Maakah as crown prince among his brothers,
in order to make him king.
v.23
He
acted wisely, dispersing some of his sons throughout the districts
of Judah and Benjamin, and to all the fortified cities. He gave
them abundant provisions and took many wives for them.
Continue
to Ch.12