The Chapter-A-Day thread. (3)

[agamemnonoftroy]

Im so glad to share in the word of the Lord with you guys!!

2 Chronicles 9

Queen Sheba arrives to test Solomon with her caravan filled with treasures. She is amazed with what he has done.
Solomons palace is all gold. Everything from the goblets to the shields is gold. He is visited by kings who want to hear the wisdom that God had put into his heart

I hope you can elaborate more on this agamemnonoftroy!!

Miss Rowy,

Yes you are correct there is so much gold in the Temple in Jerusalem it is easier to say that almost everything in the temple was made of gold.

The Queen of Sheba makes this lovely comment about the wealth of Solomon.

THE HALF HAS NEVER BEEN TOLD
Behold the one half of the greatness of thy wisdom was not told me.
(Verse 6)

SOLOMON WAS THE RICHEST MAN IN THE WORLD
King Solomon passed all the kings of the earth in riches and wisdom.
(Verse 22)

Solomon reigned for 40 years and this was an age of unsurpassed peace and prosperity for Israel.

The next king of Israel was Rehoboam the son of Solomon.

 

[agamemnonoftroy]

The Queen of Sheba

Miss Rowy I am fascinated by this story of the Queen of Sheba. We dont know very much about her, just this visit to see Solomon is all we know.

But clearly the Queen of Sheba was a wealthy woman. She must have been a person of substance to get mentioned in the Bible.

THE HALF HAS NEVER BEEN TOLD
The Queen of Sheba made the comment that she was told wonderful stories about Solomon but it did not amount to half the true value of his wealth and influence.

There is an old hymn that we used to sing. I have not heard it for many years. It talks about the wonders of Jesus. The chorus of this hymn is based on the words of the Queen of Sheba.

The song says what we have read about Jesus THE HALF HAS NEVER BEEN TOLD.

It is a great complement to the Queen of Sheba that we have used her comment to create a hymn about Jesus.

 

[agamemnonoftroy]

Israel splits into Israel and Judah

Miss Rowy in the next chapter the Kindom of Israel splits permanently into Israel and Judah.

From this point on the two kingdoms have different kings.

Jeroboam
Jeroboam is the first king of the northern kingdom called Israel.

Rehoboam
Rehoboam is the first king of the southern kingdom called Judah.

As a clafication of the history of Israel and Judah I have copied two lists of the kings from a Bible Encyclopedia.
I believe this is the only way to follow what is going on.

 

[agamemnonoftroy]

Kings of Judah
Rehoboam
Abijam
Asa
Jehoshaphat
Jehoram
Ahaziah
Athaliah
Joash
Amaziah
Azariah
Jotham
Ahaz
Hezekiah
Manasseh
Amon
Josiah
Jehoahaz
Jehoiakim
Jehoiachin
Zedekiah

 

[agamemnonoftroy]

Kings of Israel
Jeroboam I
Nadab
Baasha
Elah
Zimri
Tibni
Omri
Ahab
Ahaziah
Joram
Jehu
Jehoahaz
Jehoash
Jeroboam II
Zachariah
Shallum
Menahem
Pekahiah
Pekah
Hoshea

 

[agamemnonoftroy]

Miss Rowy,

These lists of the kings of Judah and Israel are only for clarification.

Please dont think I am suggesting that anyone should try to learn these lists.

It is just that if the list are available, it is easy to see which kingdom the Bible is discussing and to see who is going to be the next king in the story.

 

[MissRowy]

Its so interesting though! All these different kings of Israel! You have done your research and im impressed!!

 

[brinny]

Wow, thanks for the lists of kings.....it's very helpful

 

[agamemnonoftroy]

Its so interesting though! All these different kings of Israel! You have done your research and im impressed!!

Miss Rowy,

Israel split into two kingdoms in 931BC.

The two kingdoms were Israel in the north and Judah in the south.

The northern Kingdom of Israel lasted 209 years until it was conquered by Syria in 722BC.

The southern kingdom of Judah lasted 344 years. The King of Babylon finally destroyed the Kingdom of Judah in 587BC.

So Judah lasted very much longer than Israel. The kings of Judah tended to stay in place a much longer time on average.
While the kings of Israel were often murdered by competitors before they had a chance to rule for very long. Some of the kings of Israel only lasted a few weeks before being murdered. This made the northern kingdom of Israel unstable. This is one of the reasons that Israel was conquered by Syria after only 209 years.

Unstable leadership was only one of the reasons while Israel lasted only 209 years. The other reason was that the norhern kingdom of Isreal turned to worshiping Baal. Because Israel worshiped Baal God turned his back on them and let them be conquered by Syria.

 

[MissRowy]

wow thats so interesting!

 

[MissRowy]

2 Chronicles 10

Israel Rebels against Rehoboam

He rejects the advice given by the elders and consulted the young men instead
Israel saw that the king refused to listen to them so the Israelites went home. But the Israelites who were in the towns of Judah were still ruled by Rehoboam.
King Rehoboam sent out Adoniram who was in charge of forced labor but was stoned to death by the Israelites. King Rehoboam escaped and fled to Jerusalem.
Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David to this day.

 

[brinny]

Rehoboam was foolish to ignore what the elders advised and to instead seek counsel and heed it from the younger ones who advised him ill, and consequently and inevitably shook the kingdom to its foundations...

what a tragedy and ruinous outcome to Solomon's kingdom that God established that was without equal anywhere in the world....

 

[MissRowy]

Exactly! From refusing advice from the elders he really stuffed up the kingdom that Solomon and the Lord established

 

[agamemnonoftroy]

2 Chronicles 10

Israel Rebels against Rehoboam

He rejects the advice given by the elders and consulted the young men instead
Israel saw that the king refused to listen to them so the Israelites went home. But the Israelites who were in the towns of Judah were still ruled by Rehoboam.
King Rehoboam sent out Adoniram who was in charge of forced labor but was stoned to death by the Israelites. King Rehoboam escaped and fled to Jerusalem.
Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David to this day.

Miss Rowy,

You have summed up Chapter 10 very well. The old men wanted Rehoboam to be kind (Verse 7)

The young men wanted Rehoboam to be much stricter than Solomon (Verse 11)

Rehoboam followed the advice of the young men.
My father chastised you with wips, but I will chastise you with scorpions. (Verse 14)

But King Rehoboam made speed to get him up to his chariot, to flee to Jerusalem (Verse 18)

This was bad advice. Israel rebelled against him. Rehoboam fled for his life south to Jerusalem in Judah.

 

[MissRowy]

2 Chronicles 11

Rehoboam arrives in Jerusalem and musters Judah and Benjamin. 180,000 men to regain the kingdom from Israel back into Rehoboams hands
However, the Lord has other plans for him. He doesnt want Rehoboam to fight Israel. They obeyed him and turned back from marching against Jeroboam.
Instead Rehoboam builds the defences in Judah and Benjamin.
Rehoboam ended up with 18 wives and 60 concubines with 28 sons and 60 daughters

 

[agamemnonoftroy]

Exactly! From refusing advice from the elders he really stuffed up the kingdom that Solomon and the Lord established

Miss Rowy,

There is a message hear to all young Christians. When starting out in life we have to make many choices. We can take advice from many people. We can listen to our parents and the older generation. Or we can take the advice of our friends of our own age. It is true that usually we follow what our friends say. We often reject the steadying advice of our parents. Then sometimes 20 years later we look back and say that we wished we had listened to the more cautious wiser advice of the the older people.

Rehoboam took the silly advice of the young men. This bad advice split the Kingdom of Israel forever. Rehoboam was lucky to escape with his life. Rehoboam fled south to Jerusalem in his chariot.

 

[MissRowy]

You posted twice....will delete the extra post for you

 

[agamemnonoftroy]

Miss Rowy

I can see it now. The chariot wheels spinning wildly in the dirt and dust as Rehoboam and one or two of the young men make their escape. The horses pounding along frantically as their hoves thundered in the panic to get away. Leaving behind all his valuable belongings Rehoboam lashes out with his wip upon the backs of the snorting horse as they struggle to go faster and faster. The horses breath makes a terrible noise of snorting and panting loudly as they fight for air to get their legs pounding along faster.

Not far behind are thousands of angry Israelites hard on their heels. The Israelites have stoned Rehoboams tribute collector and have got a taste for blood. The Israelites now want the life of Rehoboam.

THE ESCAPE OF REHOBOAM
What a wonderful film scene this would make. With the screaming angry Israelites chasing after on horses and chariots. Their faces screwed up and snarling with anger. Their mouths screaming out curses and oathes about getting thier hands on Rehoboam, and what the will do to him when they catch him.

 

[agamemnonoftroy]

You posted twice....will delete the extra post for you

Miss Rowy,

I was doing some complicated editing to separate my film scene from the Bible facts.

 

[agamemnonoftroy]

2 Chronicles 11

Rehoboam arrives in Jerusalem and musters Judah and Benjamin. 180,000 men to regain the kingdom from Israel back into Rehoboams hands
However, the Lord has other plans for him. He doesnt want Rehoboam to fight Israel. They obeyed him and turned back from marching against Jeroboam.
Instead Rehoboam builds the defences in Judah and Benjamin.
Rehoboam ended up with 18 wives and 60 concubines with 28 sons and 60 daughters

Miss Rowy,

Yes you are correct, that a real civil was was averted on this occasion, but there would be conflict between Israel and Judah for the next 209 years. It was actually during a war between Israel and Judah that that Judah asked Syria for help. Syria came to the assistance of Judah and destroyed the northern kingdom of Isreal for ever. That was how the northern kingdom of Isreal was finally wiped out.