Then Solomon tries to have Jeroboam killed for his rebellion. Jeroboam escapes to King Shishak, in Egypt, where he remains until Solomon's death. Solomon reigns in Jerusalem over all Israel for forty years. Solomon dies and he is buried in his father's City of David, and his son Rehoboam succeeds him as king.

The elders advice him that if he listens to the people, gives them the relief they are asking they will be his servants forever. But Rehoboam ignores the advice of the elders, and instead consults the young men who had grown up with him and are in his service.

And when all Israel hear that Jeroboam has returned, they make him king over all Israel. Judah is the only tribe that remains loyal to the house of David.

Then he gives a sign that same day and says that to show that the LORD has spoken, the altar shall break up and the ashes on it shall be strewn about.

the normal use of his hand.

Then the king invites the man of God to come home with him for some refreshment. The man of God refuses saying that the LORD has commanded him not to go with him, nor eat bread or drink water in this place. He says that he was also instructed not to return by the way he came. So he departs by another road and does not go back the way he had come to Bethel.

There is an old prophet living in the city, whose sons come to tell what the man of God had done and said that day in Bethel. The father then leaves to go after the man of God. The old prophet catches up with the man of God, whom he finds seated under a terebinth. The old prophet lies to the man of God and tells him that the LORD has told him to bring him back to his house. So the man of God follows the old prophet and eats bread and drinks water there.

And the prophet tells the woman to go home. He tells her that as soon as she steps inside the city, the child will die, and all Israel will mourn him and bury him, for he alone of Jeroboam's line will be laid in the grave, since in him alone of Jeroboam's house has something pleasing to the LORD.

Then he tells the wife of Jeroboam that at that very moment, the LORD will raise up a king of Israel who will destroy the house of Jeroboam and that the LORD will strike Israel and will pluck out Israel from this good land which he gave their fathers, scattering them beyond the River, because they made sacred poles for themselves and thus provoked the LORD.

Finally he says that the LORD will give up Israel because of the sins Jeroboam has committed and caused Israel to commit.

So Jeroboam's wife goes back and when she reaches crosses the threshold of her house, the child dies. He is buried with all Israel mourning him, as the LORD had prophesied through the prophet Ahijah.

Jeroboam's reigns for twenty-two years. He dies and his son Nadab succeeds him as king.

The Sins of Rehoboam
Rehoboam, son of Solomon, reigns in Judah. He was forty-one years old when he became king, and he reigns for seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city in which, out of all the tribes of Israel, the LORD chose to be honored. His mother is the Ammonite named Naamah.

But Judah does evil in the sight of the LORD, and by their sins anger him even more than their fathers had done. They, too, build for themselves high places, pillars, and sacred poles, upon every high hill and under every green tree.

There are also cult prostitutes in the land. Judah imitates all the abominable practices of the nations whom the LORD had cleared out of the Israelites' way.

In the fifth year of King Rehoboam, Shishak, king of Egypt, attacks Jerusalem. He takes everything, including the treasures of the temple of the LORD and those of the royal palace, as well as all the gold shields made under Solomon.

To replace them, King Rehoboam orders bronze shields made, which he entrusts to the officers of the guard on duty at the entrance of the royal palace.

Whenever the king visits the temple of the LORD, those on duty would carry the shields, and then return them to the guardroom.

Rehoboam dies and he is buried with his ancestors in the City of David. His son Abijam succeeds him as king.

Warring Divided Kingdom
Then follow reigns of different kings from the houses of Solomon and Jeroboam. All the rulers from the house of Jeroboam displease the LORD, until finally, the descendants of the entire house of Jeroboam are killed, leaving not a single soul to Jeroboam and destroying him utterly, according to the warning which the LORD had pronounced through his servant, Ahijah the Shilonite, because of the sins Jeroboam.

Some of rulers from the house of Solomon please the LORD while the others follow the sins of their fathers.

There is constant warfare between the houses Rehoboam and Jeroboam.

Learn more and read the Old Testament.

Doctors of the Church, and the works of contemporary spiritual writers — particularly St. Josemaría Escrivá, who initiated the Navarre Bible project.

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