--- title: "The Kingdom Divided" description: "When all Israel saw that the king had refused to listen to them, they answered..." image: "" book: "2 Chronicles" bookId: "2CH" testament: "old" startChapter: 10 startVerse: 16 endChapter: 12 endVerse: 12 coversChapters: [10,11,12] aiTitle: "The Kingdom Divided" aiDescription: "When all Israel saw that the king had refused to listen to them, they answered..." hasAiStory: true location: "Jerusalem" persons: ["Abihail","Abijah","Absalom","Attai","Cushites","David","Eliab","God","Hadoram","Israelites","Jerimoth","Jeroboam","Jeush","Levites","Libyans","Maacah","Mahalath","Rehoboam","Shelomith","Shemaiah","Shemariah","Shishak","Solomon","Sukkites","Zaham","Ziza"] hashtags: ["deliverance","humility","idolatry","judgment"] genre: "history" readingTime: 4 type: "adaptive" slug: "2CH/the-kingdom-divided" canonicalId: "2CH.10.16-12.12" chronologicalOrder: 817 relatedSlugs: [] prevSlug: "2CH/rebellion-against-rehoboam" nextSlug: "2CH/rehoboams-reign-and-death" --- When all Israel saw that the king had refused to listen to them, they answered the king:“What portion do we have in [David](/persons/david),and what inheritance in the son of Jesse?To your tents, O Israel!Look now to your own house, O David!”
So all the [Israelites](/persons/israelites) went home, but [Rehoboam](/persons/rehoboam) still reigned over the Israelites living in the cities of Judah. Then King Rehoboam sent out [Hadoram](/persons/hadoram), who was in charge of the forced labor, but the Israelites stoned him to death. And King Rehoboam mounted his chariot in haste and escaped to Jerusalem. So to this day Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David. ### Shemaiah’s Prophecy When Rehoboam arrived in Jerusalem, he mobilized the house of Judah and Benjamin—180,000 chosen warriors—to fight against Israel and restore the kingdom to Rehoboam. But the word of the [LORD](/persons/god) came to [Shemaiah](/persons/shemaiah) the man of God: “Tell Rehoboam son of [Solomon](/persons/solomon) king of Judah and all the Israelites in Judah and Benjamin that this is what the LORD says: ‘You are not to go up and fight against your brothers. Each of you must return home, for this word is from Me.’”
So they listened to the words of the LORD and turned back from going against [Jeroboam](/persons/jeroboam). ### Rehoboam Fortifies Judah Rehoboam continued to live in Jerusalem, and he built up cities for defense in Judah. He built up Bethlehem, Etam, Tekoa, Beth-zur, Soco, Adullam, Gath, Mareshah, Ziph, Adoraim, Lachish, Azekah, Zorah, Aijalon, and Hebron, the fortified cities in Judah and Benjamin. He strengthened their fortresses and put officers in them, with supplies of food, oil, and wine. He also put shields and spears in all the cities and strengthened them greatly. So Judah and Benjamin belonged to him. ### Jeroboam Forsakes the Priests and Levites Moreover, the priests and [Levites](/persons/levites) from all their districts throughout Israel stood with Rehoboam. For the Levites left their pasturelands and their possessions and went to Judah and Jerusalem, because Jeroboam and his sons had rejected them as priests of the LORD. And Jeroboam appointed his own priests for the high places and for the goat demons and calf idols he had made. Those from every tribe of Israel who had set their hearts to seek the LORD their God followed the Levites to Jerusalem to sacrifice to the LORD, the God of their fathers. So they strengthened the kingdom of Judah and supported Rehoboam son of Solomon for three years, because they walked for three years in the way of David and Solomon. ### Rehoboam’s Family And Rehoboam married [Mahalath](/persons/mahalath), who was the daughter of David’s son [Jerimoth](/persons/jerimoth) and of [Abihail](/persons/abihail), the daughter of Jesse’s son [Eliab](/persons/eliab). She bore sons to him: [Jeush](/persons/jeush), [Shemariah](/persons/shemariah), and [Zaham](/persons/zaham). After her, he married [Maacah](/persons/maacah) daughter of [Absalom](/persons/absalom), and she bore to him [Abijah](/persons/abijah), [Attai](/persons/attai), [Ziza](/persons/ziza), and [Shelomith](/persons/shelomith). Rehoboam loved Maacah daughter of Absalom more than all his wives and concubines. In all, he had eighteen wives and sixty concubines, and he was the father of twenty-eight sons and sixty daughters. Rehoboam appointed Abijah son of Maacah as chief prince among his brothers, intending to make him king. Rehoboam also acted wisely by dispersing some of his sons throughout the districts of Judah and Benjamin, and to all the fortified cities. He gave them abundant provisions and sought many wives for them. ### Shishak Raids Jerusalem After Rehoboam had established his sovereignty and royal power, he and all Israel with him forsook the Law of the LORD. In the fifth year of Rehoboam’s reign, because they had been unfaithful to the LORD, [Shishak](/persons/shishak) king of Egypt came up and attacked Jerusalem with 1,200 chariots, 60,000 horsemen, and countless troops who came with him out of Egypt—[Libyans](/persons/libyans), [Sukkites](/persons/sukkites), and [Cushites](/persons/cushites). He captured the fortified cities of Judah and came as far as Jerusalem. Then Shemaiah the prophet came to Rehoboam and the leaders of Judah who had gathered at Jerusalem because of Shishak, and he said to them, “This is what the LORD says: ‘You have forsaken Me; therefore, I have forsaken you into the hand of Shishak.’” So the leaders of Israel and the king humbled themselves and said, “The LORD is righteous.” When the LORD saw that they had humbled themselves, the word of the LORD came to Shemaiah, saying, “They have humbled themselves; I will not destroy them, but will soon grant them deliverance. My wrath will not be poured out on Jerusalem through Shishak. Nevertheless, they will become his servants, so that they may learn the difference between serving Me and serving the kings of other lands.” So King Shishak of Egypt attacked Jerusalem and seized the treasures of the house of the LORD and of the royal palace. He took everything, including the gold shields that Solomon had made. Then King Rehoboam made bronze shields in their place and committed them to the care of the captains of the guard on duty at the entrance to the royal palace. And whenever the king entered the house of the LORD, the guards would go with him, bearing the shields, and later they would return them to the guardroom. Because Rehoboam humbled himself, the anger of the LORD turned away from him, and He did not destroy him completely. Indeed, conditions were good in Judah.

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