(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

So you're there in Second Chronicles chapter 10 and as you notice we're in Second Chronicles now we were been in the Kings and in this chapter this passage actually that we read here in Second Chronicles chapter 10 is also in First Kings chapter 12 but there's actually more information that's in Second Chronicles. One thing that I see and as you know we're going back into we're basically going back in time so to speak because we just got done with the Assyrian captivity of Israel going all the way down there so when you look at this chart we're down here in the timeline and we're going all the way back up to here with Rehoboam so but the one thing that I see in Second Chronicles when you're looking at the kings of Judah is that it mentions some good things about some of these kings that it doesn't mention in the Kings and so I think of we'll actually see with Rehoboam but also see with one particular that really sticks out is Manasseh. Manasseh is that he humbles himself and when you read it read about him in the you know in First or Second Kings you're just like this guy's wicked reprobate and all this stuff and then you read the passage in Chronicles and you're like oh man there's actually something interesting about him and so but anyway we're gonna be in Second Chronicles a little bit we'll be going in the First Kings there a little bit but we're gonna be talking about Rehoboam and so this is the kingdom split so and in chapter 10 this is where it splits okay so we already saw we're kind of saw it from Jeroboam's realm or his lens right as far as what was going on and that split and then he made those golden calves and all that stuff that's going on in the northern kingdom but now we're gonna be looking at it from the perspective of Rehoboam and so first of all you see in chapter nine there at the very end of the chapter it says and Solomon slept with his fathers and he was buried in the city of David his father and Rehoboam his son reigned in his stead so this is Solomon's son okay and so what we see is that Rehoboam is taking the place of Solomon but we also know that this was prophesied that that kingdom would be split right because Solomon in his old age forsook the Lord and you know went after other gods and all this stuff and and he went had many wives and that was his downfall is that as many those wives you know basically you know drug him away from the Lord pretty much now I believe Solomon was saved and I believe obviously he didn't lose his salvation but but that was definitely his downfall and Rehoboam is gonna end up falling into the some of that same stuff okay and so this is kind of a thing to remember fathers that the things that you do if they're bad things your children can end up doing them and they're more likely to do it it's like an alcoholic if you if your your if your father drinks you're gonna the likelihood of you drinking is higher same thing with smoking all those things as bad habits end up falling down so what you'd rather have is them to pick up your good habits you know have some good you know have a lot of good things that you're doing to where they pick up on that but in chapter 10 here verse 1 it says in Rehoboam went to Shechem for for the Shechem were all Israel come to make him king and it came to pass and when Jeroboam the son of Nebat who was in Egypt whether he had fled from the presence of Solomon the king heard it that Jeroboam returned out of Egypt and they sent and called him so Jeroboam and all Israel came and spake to Rehoboam saying thy father made our our yoke grievous now therefore ease thou somewhat the grievous servitude of thy father and his heavy yoke that he put upon us and we will serve thee now what's interesting about this okay about Jeroboam is that goes to 2nd Chronicles chapter 13 2nd Chronicles chapter 13 because in 2nd Chronicles chapter 13 it's recapping about Jeroboam and how he rebelled against about rebelled against Rehoboam and all this stuff but I want you to see something that's interesting here that's said about these men that are coming up to basically make this demand okay and notice what it says in 2nd Chronicles chapter 13 verse 6 it says yet Jeroboam son of Nebat the servant of Solomon son of David is risen up and have rebelled against his Lord and there are gathered unto him vain men the children of Belial and have strengthened themselves it says and have strengthened themselves against Rehoboam the son of Solomon when Rehoboam was young and tender-hearted and could not withstand them now what's interesting about this okay is that Rehoboam's 41 years old when he begins the reign okay so I don't necessarily believe that this is talking about at that moment when this is going on I believe that these these children of these sons of Belial were strengthening themselves against Rehoboam when he was young okay meaning that they were in the back scenes working to basically get people against him okay so this was kind of like brewing in the background since he was a child since he was tender heart and he couldn't basically resist them and all this it's actually interesting because there were sodomites in the land during his time too which we'll see later on it mentions that and it's kind of like why is it mentioning that well there's these sons of Belial that were basically strengthening themselves against Rehoboam even when he was at a young age and basically working back in the background to get Israel against him and this is something that Solomon warned him about okay go to Proverbs chapter 1 because if think about this Rehoboam is literally the son who Solomon would be talking to here right because Rehoboam's the one that he chose to take over the kingdom and so you see all this my son my son my son who do you think he's talking to now obviously he had other sons but who in particular do you think he would be addressing this to but the son in which is gonna take his throne okay so now when you're reading through Proverbs you can kind of think about that as far as how this was addressed to Rehoboam and he just didn't take it to heart and that's what we'll see later on is that he didn't prepare his heart before right and like David and Solomon did and in Proverbs chapter 1 of verse 10 here because I particularly want you to see the warnings about the children of Belial in verse 10 there says my son if sinners entice thee consent thou not if they say come with us let us lay wait for blood let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause let us swallow them up alive as the grave and and whole as those that go down into the pit we shall find all precious substance we shall fill our houses with spoil cast in thy lot among us let us all have one purse my son walk not thou in the way with them refrain thy foot from their path for their feet run to evil and make haste to shed blood so we see him warning and basically saying stay away from these people these are the same people that God says later on that he will mock when their fear come with it or he will laugh when they're coming he'll mock at their client he'll laugh at the calamity who mocked when their fear comment right so we're talking about people that were hardened and you know he called out to them but then when they ended up when they started calling out to him he didn't answer okay so we're dealing we're dealing with children of Belial that he's describing here is it basic don't run with them don't don't put your lot in with them and go to Proverbs chapter 4 and verse 14 Proverbs 4 and verse 14 he's giving another admonition to his son about this about these certain type of people it says in Proverbs 4 and verse 14 it says enter not into the path of the wicked and go not in the way of evil men avoid it pass not by it turn from it and pass away for the ice for they sleep not except they have done mischief and their sleep is taken away unless they cause some to fall for they eat the bread of wickedness and drink the wine of violence it's just interesting to me that it talks about these sons of Belial that were basically strengthening themselves against Rehoboam when he was young and tender hearted and he couldn't withstand them and just how you know his father Solomon was warning him about this and showing him about this but you got to think this too Solomon had to be at fault here but you can't just say that you got to protect your child from these wicked people and from their influence and from them trying to pull you in and so I I believe that when this came up you know when they're saying you know basically make our yoke easy and all this that's going on that there had been this brewing of like basically getting Israel against them okay and you can kind of think how how Absalom did that how he was in the background kind of getting winning the heart of the people and you can imagine listen by the way sons of Belial are synonymous with false accusers right because you remember that Jezebel said find certain sons of Belial out there to go up there and bring up false accusation against Nabal or Nabal at the Jezreelite right and it's just like how did you know that the sons of Belial were false accusers right and how did you know who they were you know but all that to say is that you know it's interesting how this was kind of working in the background you may not have noticed that but it was just something that's being said about that that there was certain sons of Belial their sons of Belial that were there with Jeroboam to go against to basically combat Rehoboam and try to split that kingdom now this isn't something that just happened with him actually this tried this hat was tried they tried to do this with David go to second Samuel chapter 20 second Samuel chapter 20 you actually see this actually a lot where it says there are certain sons of Belial it says we will not have this man to reign over us right and it's just it's just a constant thing where these these these sons of Belial and you say well why is this a common thing because they despise government that's what it says in 2nd Peter chapter 2 and that's what it says in Jude talking about that how they they despise dignities and government and they're constantly saying we don't want authority over us right which is by the way why we're not anarchists right we're for government okay limited government they should be doing what the Bible teaches the government should be doing but they should not be but there should be a government in place right so we don't despise government I despise some of the people that are in government a lot of them actually but but it doesn't mean that it despise government as a whole as far as the institution of government and what they supposed to be doing right but in second same chapter 20 in verse 1 there says and there happened to be there a man of Belial whose name was Sheba the son of Bikrai a Benjamin and he blew a trumpet and said we have no part in David neither have we inheritance in the son of Jesse every man to his tents Oh Israel so every man of Israel went up from from after David and followed Sheba the son of Bikrai but the men of Judah clave unto the unto their King from Jordan even to Jerusalem does this sound very familiar to this passage that we're seeing with Rehoboam because what happens is that they're like we don't have any part with Judah right with David or the son of Jesse it actually says the son of Jesse in 2nd Chronicles and all that so it's very similar right as far as what happened to David now we know that David you know ended you know it worked out with David but God was with David and you know basically to strengthen the kingdom and that was after Absalom and all that stuff was going on with that where Absalom tried to take over the kingdom but it was something that David was enduring for chastisement because of what he did with Uriah how he had Uriah killed and he committed adultery so another good thing to really see that David was definitely a child of God why because he received chastisement you know he didn't just get away with that completely you know he received chastisement for that but but going back to Rehoboam go to 1st King chapter 14 because I want you to see you know how old he was and stuff like that when he began to reign and how long he reigned he reigned for 17 years in Jerusalem but that's why I said you know it's interesting because it talks about how he was tender hearted and he was young I wouldn't say that 41 is young now maybe back in you know right after the flood you know and stuff like that that would have been young but I don't think 41 would be like he's a young man at that point but maybe you could say that maybe it's just like he's young there but I mean David only lived the 70 and he said he was a ripe old age okay so I wouldn't consider 41 as like you know he's young and tender hearted right so but maybe it is you know but I think it's more so talking about like hey this was going on back when he was a young child you know when he was a young young man but in 1st Kings chapter 14 verse 21 it says in Rehoboam the son of Solomon reigned in Judah Rehoboam was 41 years old when he began to reign and he reigned 17 years in Jerusalem the city which the Lord did choose out of all the tribes of Israel to put his name there and his mother's name was Naamah and Ammonitis and Judah did evil in the sight of the Lord and they provoked they provoked him to to jealousy with their sins which they had committed above all that their fathers had done but they also built them high places and images and groves and evil on on every high hill and under every green tree and there were also sodomites in the land and they did according to all the abominations of the nations which the Lord cast out before the children of Israel so you know saying why is it mentioned sodomites because they pollute the land that's why it mentions them but it's also interesting too because the sons of Belial are the ones that were really kind of hitting that that split and all that's going on they despise you know someone ruling over them and all that but I did want you to see here that first Kings is very negative of Rehoboam what we're gonna see in Second Chronicles is that yeah I mean there's definitely negative stuff that happens Rehoboam but it's gonna really kind of see his heart a little more it's gonna see who he is and that he actually humbles himself in a case and it's just basically saying that he just didn't prepare himself he didn't prepare his heart like Solomon did and you know when you're in a position of power like that if you don't prepare your heart and you're not just you know basically ready for that role how you're gonna end up falling okay but he rains for 17 years and he's 41 when he when he began to rain so that means he was he was what 60 68 you know when he died or whatever right that right 50 58 yeah 58 sorry it rained for 27 years so but 58 years old when he died so which I mean it talks about you know living to 70 or 80 you know so obviously he wasn't the most righteous king or anything like that but it does say he did evil inside Lord and what what's the reason for that because he provoked the Lord to jealousy and he made these images and grows in these high places and all that okay so that's the big sin but listen his father Solomon was doing that at the end of his life okay so you got to understand that he's coming out of that realm of his father doing these types of things and then you know it just kind of carried over with them and then it's also gonna say another place that he desired many wives well surprise there when Solomon has 700 wives and 300 concubines right or 300 wives 700 concubines always get that mixed up but basically had a thousand wives is what he had and so you can definitely see how that would work now this story that we see in second chronicles chapter 10 is an interesting story and I've heard this preached many times like all you need to take the advice of the old man and not the young man you know and there's definitely truth in that because there's wisdom in old you know older age and stuff like that but it's not always the case right the Bible talks about how you know the the whore he had is a crown of righteousness or is a is a glory unto a man if it be found in righteousness so just because you're old doesn't mean you're wise right but but I'm gonna look at this in a little different manner meaning that I think both advices and necessarily the right advice okay and I'm gonna explain that and you may disagree with that you say all the old men had it right but in second Chronicles chapter 10 verse 5 there it says and he said unto them come again unto me after three days and the people departed and King Rehoboam took counsel with the old men that had stood before Solomon and his father while he yet lived saying what counsel give you me to return answer to this people and they spake unto him saying if thou be kind to this people and please them and speak good words to them they will be thy servants forever for he forsook the council which the whole men gave him and took took counsel with the young men that were brought up with him and they that stood before him and he said unto them what advice give ye that we we may return answer to the people or to this people which have spoken to me saying ease somewhat the yoke that thy father did put upon us and the young men that were brought up with him spake unto him saying thus shalt thou answer to the people that spake unto thee saying thy father made our yoke heavy make but make thou it's somewhat lighter for us thus shalt thou say unto them my little finger shall be thicker than my father's loins for whereas my father put a heavy yoke upon you I will put more to your yoke my father chastise you with whips but I will chastise you with scorpions so Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam on the third day as the king bad saying come again to me on the third day and what we see here is that you know basically he takes the counsel of the old man and the young men okay and it's very clear that he forsook the counsel of the old men but here's the thing we already know that these people that are coming up to him with Israel are a bunch of sons of Belial that are bringing this up right they're implacable okay I believe that he should have just said no we're just gonna keep doing what my father was doing right because do you see one missing there no we're just gonna keep doing what we were doing and so the old men are saying let's just take it easy just do what they tell you to do you know they're telling you to give them a little easier just just give them listen you give them a finger they'll take a hand you give them a hand they'll take an arm and so I don't believe that he should have taken the yoke down I think he should just said no we're just gonna continue what we're doing my father was right and what he was doing and how we were doing it the most prosperous years of Israel were during King Solomon's reign by the way I don't think anybody would what would question that right that they had shields of gold they had more riches than they ever had it was the most prosperous time during Solomon's reign and they're saying listen it's been it's been too much work and when everybody's someone saying listen it's too much work give us a break you should be wondering you know what's their motivation for that they want to be lazy they want it they don't want to work hard but you don't also want to be to the ridiculousness of real like yeah listen yeah I know we're working hard we're gonna work even hard right so do you see that the both these answers I believe are wrong both the old man and the young men so the young men are kind of thinking well we need to get more work out we need more taxes from them we need more you know we need more labor out of them and they just want what what they don't deserve right but then the old man are basically saying they are just appease them just appease them and just do what they tell you to do I believe or both are wrong because I believe if he would have appeased them they would just walk all over him okay because you know it's just something that you know the the Bible talks about the children of Belial it talks about those that are reprobate how they are implacable unmerciful and what's implacable mean it means that they are insatiable they can't be satisfied they can't be placated because what placate is kind of like pacified and so I believe that both both those are wrong and that basically you should just said listen stay the course we're we have a yoke yes it's hard but you know what yeah I mean the yoke the yoke is work so he forsakes that and basically says no you know my little finger is gonna be as thick as my father loins it's just ridiculous that he would say that you know like openly to these people I'll say this though it does show you that the people should have the power even with a king meaning the people should have the power to say no we're not gonna follow you and so we see that here that it's not like this you know basically you have to serve the king and listen we saw how many conspiracies in first Kings and second Kings so you know these kings get on this high horse like oh you know they have to do whatever I tell them no they can take you out so even with a monarchy you still have the idea that the people can revolt the people can say nope what if everybody just said nope to the king then the king has zero power it's all predicated on the fact that they recognize his power and his authority okay but we see that obviously it says in verse 15 it says so the king hearken not unto the people for the cause was of the Lord that the Lord might perform this for his word which he spake by the hand of a hyge of the Shiloh Knights Jeroboam son of Nebat and remember that that was saying that you know ten tribes are gonna be given to you Jeroboam and then one tribe is gonna be given to Rehoboam and it basically is giving the promise there in verse 16 that he's not gonna take that portion away from David basically there's not gonna there's not gonna fail to have a man upon the throne of David and obviously Jesus is that man that is gonna be sitting on the throne forever but he's basically saying hey I'm not gonna take away everything from David so that came true and God knew that that would happen but it's kind of like he had this council in there of these young men to really throw them off because if you think about it if you would have appeased them there wouldn't have been a split immediately like that I think that it would ultimately falter because it's a bad leader to basically it'd be kind of like if you went up to your boss and just said listen I'm we've been really working hard I need you to make that a little lighter right and if the boss just crumbles to that your business is gonna fail like we just keep coming up to me like ah we've been working so hard can you make it a little lighter can you make it a little lighter can you make it a little lighter to the point where you're just not doing anything okay and so that's just my personal take on that you may disagree with me on that but I personally believe that the old men's advice wasn't good either and today we have that with the the older generation where the older generation is just like ah you know just let them do their thing and they just kind of gave up you know it's kind of like this give up mentality of like we were fighting and we were fighting and we were we were working hard and then it's just like ah you know just let them have what they want just appease them and look where that gets you though because like I said they're implacable and you may not have really thought about that and so you realize that it's these sons of Belial that are the ones that are really leading this chart Jeroboam in these sons of Belial it says and so in Jeroboam's already been spurned right so he's coming at it he's not coming at it with a real do you think he really wants Rehoboam to do what they tell him to do no Jeroboam's already been spurned by Solomon and he's been hiding out in Egypt right and so and he's already been told that he's gonna be taking that that that Northern Kingdom so yeah anyway so that's just my thoughts on that that could be a whole sermon dealing with taking the advice of the old man compared to taking advice to young men really who you should be taking the advice from is from God right here because young men can be right but they can be wrong and old men can be right but they can also be wrong and you shouldn't just be looking at your age as far as whether someone's right or wrong right you shouldn't just be looking at your friends and be like I'm gonna take my friends advice and you shouldn't just be looking at someone's old and be like I'm gonna take their advice it should be whether that you know God says it's the right thing to do you know what are they doing in the kingdom what God wants them to do and if there's areas where it needs to be changed then it needs to be changed but you know that's really where where's your authority lie as far as your advice where you get your advice now going on there in verse 18 so so Rehoboam they all leave right they're like to your tents you know we don't have a portion with the son of Jesse right and then he sends up hadoram who's over his tribute up to Israel now it doesn't really say that he asked tribute but it kind of makes you wonder what else was he doing right so in those in verse 18 there it says then King Rehoboam sent hadoram that was over the tribute and the children of Israel stoned him with stones that he died but King Rehoboam made speed to get him up to his chariot to flee to Jerusalem and Israel rebelled against the house of David unto this day so this kind of this is kind of like your tea party you know Massachusetts Tea Party so to speak of what happened here with with Rehoboam's tribute right what was the Tea Party right they were taxing the tea right it was over taxation without representation and literally he's sending up his his person to go get tribute what's another what's another word for tribute but taxes right so he's basically sending this man up to go get taxes or tribute from that northern kingdom and they stoned him to death right and so he runs away so that's my you know it doesn't say that's what he was doing but it says he's over the tribute so what else was he doing up there you know besides trying to get taxes from them so so we see that happens and then so Rehoboam and go to chapter 11 there so Rehoboam is gonna try to take back the kingdom and but this isn't gonna work out like it worked out with David you know David got back the whole kingdom but not this is gonna have a Rehoboam so Rehoboam is assembling his forces here so in chapter 11 or verse 1 it says and we're in Rehoboam was come to Jerusalem he gathered of the house of Judah and Benjamin and hundred and four score thousand person or chosen men which were warriors to fight against Israel that he might bring the kingdom again to Rehoboam okay so Rehoboam is gathering his army it's a hundred and four score thousand so that's 180,000 chosen men warriors right so they had a quite an army and notice that it says of Benjamin it says of Judah and Benjamin so remember we were talking about those ten tribes and then they got one it's like well where's the other tribe well Benjamin's in there okay and this is very clear that Benjamin's a part of that southern kingdom because that's who he's getting his armies from is from Judah and Benjamin okay and it repeats that again later on but but notice that God comes to him by a prophet and tells him no don't do it so he's basically getting ready for war he's like I'm gonna take that northern kingdom back and God said no this was of me and basically in verse 2 there it says but the Lord came to Shemaiah the man of God saying speak unto Rehoboam the son of Solomon king of Judah and to all Israel and Judah and Benjamin saying thus saith the Lord ye shall not go up nor fight against your brethren return every man to his house for this thing is done of me and they obeyed the words of the Lord and returned from going against Jeroboam and Rehoboam dwelt in Jerusalem and built cities and for defense in Judah he built even Bethlehem and Edom and Tekoa and Bethzor and Shoko and Nidalim and Gath and Mizreshah and Ziph and Adoraim and Lachish and Isaac I don't know why I'm reading all these but Zorah and Ahijelon and Hebron which are in Judah and in Benjamin fenced so the reason I'm saying all this is because Benjamin's clearly a part of that southern kingdom okay so when he said ten tribes and one tribe Benjamin was included in there meaning that tribe of Benjamin and it's one of the smaller tribes right so Judah is really that main tribe right that's the ones we're all most all the people are coming from but if you look at also Bethlehem is in or I'm sorry Jerusalem is in Benjamin okay so that city of Jerusalem though it's in Judah but Benjamin's a part of that right so they're kind of just a combined Judah and Benjamin and they've been kind of like that anyway to begin with so going on from that where was I at in that so it says any and he fortified the strongholds and put captains in them and store of vittles of wine of oil and wine and in every several city he put shields and spears and made them exceeding strong having Judah and Benjamin on his side okay so so we see that basically he obeys so you got to think about Rehoboam that if he didn't just like say nuts to you I'm going anyway no he listened to the Lord they listened to him and said all right we're not going and he basically just strengthened all the cities of Judah and that's what it's basically stating there is that he had he fortified the strongholds and basically made that his kingdom and what we'll see here is in verse 13 is we're gonna see that a lot you know basically all the Levites decide to basically go with Judah and also there's going to be some out of every tribe that's going to come down to Judah okay so in verse 13 there it says in the priests and the Levites that were in all Israel resorted to him out of all their coasts for the Levites left their suburbs in their possession and came to Judah and Jerusalem for Jeroboam and his sons had cast them off from executing the priests office unto the Lord and he ordained him priests for the high places and for the and for the devil's and for the calves which he had made so now we're seeing the other side right because remember when we went through Jeroboam and suddenly back we were seeing his side of that where he's like I made these two calves these are the ones that brought you out of the land of Egypt and he set up the base or you right remember he set up people that were like you know just basement I forget exactly how it says it but it's basically like not they're not the most men of integrity that are doing the priests office but here is stating that he basically exiled them he said you're not to do any of the priests office right and so if you remember all the Levi's they didn't have an inheritance they had suburbs in every tribe of Israel and so they just dwelt there and they had jobs you know they were supposed to be preaching the word and they were supposed to be doing a lot of different things and then also you know they were the priests too and they would go down to Jerusalem do the job of the priests but they all came into Judah so now you have in Judah you don't just have Judah and Benjamin but you also have Levi right so those are the three major tribes that make up Judah and that's why I don't believe when he got the ten tribes you know when it when it was rent I don't believe Levi was in that right I believe it's talking about Manasseh and Ephraim like those two tribes of Joseph that are mentioned there so but notice this too so verse so we see that obviously the Levi's come down and they all move into Judah in verse 16 it says and after them out of all the tribes notice that and after them out of all the tribes of Israel such as set their hearts to seek the Lord God of Israel came to Jerusalem to sacrifice unto the Lord God of their fathers so they strengthened the kingdom of Judah and made Rehoboam the son of Solomon strong three years for three years they walked in the way of David and Solomon so notice how it's starting off good right there's this split and he's gonna go to war to try to take that kingdom and God said no don't do it this was of me he's like okay you know the princes and Rehoboam like all right we're just gonna strengthen our our borders and then all the Levi's come down to him and come down to Jerusalem and they're you're gonna dwell in Judah now and then after it says and out of all the tribes so that's every single tribe came down those that it says that set their hearts to seek the Lord God of Israel so when you're in when you're in the New Testament talks about Anna the prophet or Anna who was a fast I think it's Asher that she's of because when who was who was Paul of Benjamin makes sense because Benjamin's a part of that southern kingdom but then you look at Asher you're like you know where that come from that's because every single tribe basically Judah became the actual Israel you know the remaining remnant of Israel right but it's mostly Judah right it's mostly Judah mostly Benjamin and mostly Levi's right but then you had like the script the you know basically some of the the tribes that came down and just dwelt in Judah and served their God now I know I preached on this before but in John chapter 4 again when you're dealing with what Jesus says here this should make a lot of sense meaning it says ye were talking to the Samaritans which is where is Samaria the northern kingdom of Israel that was completely decimated and put all those nations in they took out Israel put all those other nations in and they had this pseudo you know God of the Bible religion where it's tacked on with their other gods and then when Jesus says you worship you know not what we know what we worship for salvation is of the Jews doesn't make a lot of sense when Judah from Rehoboam was the only one that had the true religion at the time and for three years they followed God to the T now they they're gonna mess up and they're gonna come back and you you know the story we're gonna get into that with Josiah where he sees the the law and they're not keeping any rents his clothing so this is back and forth of them actually keeping the law and doing it but they're the only ones that did it do you remember any King where it says they actually did any of that in the northern kingdom of Israel they all follow the son the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat which is the two calves that they worshipped and Dan and Bethel I think at nauseum we hit that right so when when Jesus says you worship you know not what we know what we worship for salvation is of the Jews he's not saying that you have to have a Jew to get you saved he's not saying that he's saying that salvation is of what Judea because that's where the real real that's where the true religion was at okay and from Rehoboam that's really what happened there is that they weren't following that now there were other you know it's not like there weren't prophets in there trying to preach in the gospel I'm not saying no one got saved in the northern kingdom but that's where it was located because Jerusalem was the head that's where the house of God was at that's where they were doing the sacrifices at that's where anything was actually being done according to the law when it comes to the Old Testament okay and so I want you to see that because it's very important when you're looking at what Judea and who the Jews are okay because the Jews are not just Judah like of the tribe of Judah right meaning that the Jews are those of Judah and Benjamin and the Levites and also all those remnant people that came down that that lived in that southern kingdom of Judah which later is called Judea so you could say all 12 tribes were in there but you see how where it really came from as far as what that was made up of and so you know this whole idea that you know all these listen Naphtali is completely gone and listen by the way all the tribes are gone but back then you know in Jesus day especially they just said it was the Jews right they didn't talk about tribes necessarily unless you're talking about Benjamin Paul saying he's up Benjamin and stuff like that or God would know that you know Anna was of Asher or whatever so but she lived in where was she yet she was in Jerusalem so she wasn't up in Asher somewhere where it was completely decimated hundreds of years before that but going on from that with Rehoboam in verse 18 verse 18 he takes many wives actually if you first look at the very end of verse 23 it says and he desired many wives okay so it's one thing to get out of this is that he desired many wives but he married a lot of cousins okay and this is something I didn't really notice okay and I know this is something you know like back in like the Renaissance time and you know all that stuff it's just like a lot of intermarrying and all this stuff and it's just it's just weird but I never really noticed this until I was reading this story or studying this out that is as far as going through Rehoboam and really looking deep into them but in verse 18 there says in Rehoboam took him Mahalath the daughter of Jeramoth the son of David to wife and Abbahel the daughter of Eliab the son of Jesse let's look let's think about that for a second now David would be his grandfather right so that would make Jeramoth I'm sorry where am I at Jeramoth that would make him Jeramoth would be his uncle right so that means his daughter would be his first cousin that makes sense now with Eliab remember Jesse Eliab was the oldest son of Jesse and so Jesse would be his great grandfather Eliab would be his like great uncle or something like that so it's a little further away you're dealing with like second cousins at that point and that so but it's just interesting I never noticed that today that he married like cousins you know as far as you know of that line we also know that Rehoboam was of an Ammonitess that's interesting like his mother was an Ammonitess right so what was Ammon? Ammon was Lot's one of Lot's children that was born out of incest okay and so this whole idea that there's this pure bloodline of the Jews you know I mean think about Joseph Joseph married an Egyptian right Joseph married an Egyptian we see that Solomon had many wives but the one that was of the kingly line Rehoboam was an Ammonitess woman right so I just want to point that out because that also shows you too how he could also be shoved into these other gods and these other things because you know of his mother and all this but but going on from that it says he bear which bear him children Geash and Shamariah and Zaham and after after after her he took Mayakah the daughter of Absalom which bear him Abijah and Atai and Ziza and Jalomith now Absalom this could very well be Absalom of that's David's son right which also would be an uncle right so it's just like all cousins so he loved him it says Rehoboam loved Mayakah the daughter of Absalom above all his wives and his concubines for he took 18 wives and three score concubines so it's a little less than his father right he's he toned it down a little bit just 18 wives right it's no big deal three hundred three our three score concubines he just had 60 other concubines in that so but then it says in Beget 20 and eight sons and three score daughters they had a lot of daughters but then it says in Rehoboam made Abijah the son of Mayakah the chief to be ruler among his brethren for he thought to make him king and that's true that's what happens Abijah is gonna reign after him for three years and he dealt wisely and dispersed of all his children throughout all the countries of Judah and Benjamin onto every fenced city and he gave them vittle and abundance and he desired many wives okay there's a couple things to think here is that he's smart that he doesn't just put all his sons in one room okay he learned from the past that like when someone wants to take him out they're gonna take out every single one of his children they're not all just dwelling in the same area he spread him out throughout all the fenced city so basically they had to take out every single fenced city to take out all of his children okay so just something interesting like war tactics or just like you know thinking ahead as far as like just not putting a big target on all of his sons to be taken out in one swipe right so I kind of see that there with with what he does there but obviously it shows us here that he picked Abijah to be his successor but I do want to see go to chapter 12 here in chapter 12 God is gonna judge Rehoboam in the fifth year okay so for three years they did what was right but then that's where I believe you know he he goes into these high places he does these high places and groves and all that stuff because when you're reading first Kings that's all you see right you didn't see anything about him you know about these these people coming down and they're serving the Lord for three years you just see about how he did evil on the side of Lord he made groves and high places right so I believe after three years that's where that stuff starts kicking in and then in the fifth year this is where the king of Egypt is gonna come against him okay and so in verse one there it says and it came the past when Rehoboam had established the kingdom and had strengthened himself he forsook the law of the Lord and all Israel with him so we see what happened right after three years you know he forsook the law of Lord and Israel did it with them now it's interesting too because it calls them Israel right and you'll see that because they aren't they still Israel in a sense right so it's not like the northern kingdom is not called Israel because they don't have Judah with them you know any tribe could call themselves Israel because they're of Israel but going on there it says in verse two it says and it came to pass that in the fifth year of King Rehoboam Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem because they had transgressed against the Lord with 1,200 chariots and three-score thousand horsemen and the people were without number that came with him out of Egypt the Lubims and the succumbs and the Ethiopians and he took the fence cities which pertained to Judah and came to Jerusalem then came Shemaiah the prophet to Rehoboam and to the princes of Judah that were gathered together to Jerusalem because of Shishak and said unto them thus saith the Lord ye have forsaken me and therefore have I also left you in the hand of Shishak Shishak however you want to say it whereupon the princes of Israel and the king humbled themselves and they said the Lord is righteous so something to see here is that they humbled themselves before the Lord so you don't really see all this like I said second chronicles you see a lot of this information that's not there when you read through first Kings you're just like eyes a bad egg and just move on right but you actually see a lot of information as far as what's going on here because you really just see that Shishak comes in this is where they take out all they take all the gold shields away that Solomon had made and that's where Rehoboam has to make brazen ones but you don't really see how the only reason they weren't completely decimated completely taken out was because they humbled themselves okay and in the notes in verse 7 there says no when the Lord saw that they humbled themselves the word of Lord came to Shemaiah saying they have humbled themselves therefore I will not destroy them but I will grant them some deliverance and my rash shall not be poured out upon Jerusalem by the hand of Shishak nevertheless they shall be his servants that they may know my service and the service of the kingdoms of the countries so Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem and took away the treasures out of the house of the Lord and the treasures of the king's house he took all he carried away also the shields of gold which Solomon had made instead instead of which King Rehoboam made shields of brass and committed them to the hands of the chief of the guard that keep the entrance of the king's house and when the king entered into the house of the Lord the guard came and fetched them and brought them again into the guard chamber and when he humbled himself the wrath of the Lord turned from him that he would not destroy him altogether and also in Judah things went well so like I said you don't really see that when you're reading through the Kings you read through that and you're just like all right you know that's why they took away all the stuff out of house Lord but you don't realize that it would have been a lot worse if he didn't humble himself because he was that he was gonna have them completely destroy them right but what happened was is he basically just came in and took away a bunch of his goods so he still got punishment and then it says that you know Judah think things went well with Judah after that okay and so you see this kind of back and forth you see a little bit more about what you're dealing with when you're dealing with Rehoboam and just everything that he's he's he's about right and going on from there we see that in verse 13 so you're in chapter 12 there it talks about Rehoboam and at the kind of the end of this he's basically just saying you know like why he did evil or why he didn't do right okay but you see that he's not just this nefarious like horrible King here right he did good for first three years and then he forsook the law Lord and then God came against them harshly and then they humbled themselves and things went well with Judah okay so he kind of got things right and then in verse 13 there it says so King Rehoboam strengthened himself in Jerusalem and reigned for Rehoboam was 140 years old when he began to reign he reigned 17 years in Jerusalem the city which the Lord had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel to put his name there and his mother's name was Nama and Ammonitis and he did evil because he prepared not his heart to seek the Lord now the acts of Rehoboam first and last are they not written in the book of Shemaiah the prophet and of Ito the seer concerning genealogies and there were wars between Rehoboam and Jeroboam continually and Rehoboam slept with his fathers and was buried in the city of David and Abijah his son reigned in his stead and so now we see the kind of the reasoning of why Rehoboam did what he did why he kind of fell into that type of stuff because he didn't prepare his heart to seek the Lord now a good example of someone that prepared their heart obviously is David but also Daniel go to Daniel chapter 1 Daniel chapter 1 this is why it's so important especially at a young age that you prepare your heart to seek the Lord that you got to do this at the beginning you got to set it in your heart that I'm gonna follow God I'm gonna do his commandments because you can't say well when the time comes and I'm tempted that's when I'm gonna have to make that choice you will fail if you're gonna wait until the time comes to where you're gonna be tempted or or God's gonna you're gonna be tested on that or whatever you're not going to win that battle if you're not prepared beforehand and Daniel chapter 1 and verse 8 it says but Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with a portion of the king's meat nor with the wine which he drank therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself and so Daniel purposed in his heart from the very beginning said I'm not gonna defile myself with the king's meat and you know I've already preached on that it was far as with Daniel and what's being said there and all that but it all comes down to this that he put it in his heart from the very beginning that he's not going to do it so when it came time to where they said hey I need you to eat the king's meat he said I can't do it and he humbly said you know I can't do it is there any way we can get around this you know well this is what we'll do but I think ultimately if he would have said no you got to eat the king's meat he would just be like yeah I'm not gonna do it and let the chips fall where they may but you have to purpose it in your heart ahead of time so you don't want to be like Rehoboam you want to be like Daniel okay and so Rehoboam he needed to listen to his father but this also goes to the effect that Solomon was really wise he had a lot of wisdom but he didn't practice what he preached in the end right you think about all the strange women that he talked about in Proverbs but look how many strange wives he had and so you got to be thinking about that you can say all the right things and I could preach all the right things but if I'm not doing it myself it's gonna fall on deaf ears and people are not gonna end up doing it and as parents we got to be thinking about that that we can say all day long you know to our children that you need to be doing this you need to be doing that but then when they see us doing the opposite or not doing what we say we're supposed to be doing then they're not gonna end up following that so Solomon was one of the wisest man he's the wisest man to walk on upon the face of the earth besides the Lord Jesus Christ but his son didn't follow his example and you got to wonder why he didn't follow his example so Solomon he purposed in his heart from the very very young age right he said he would follow the Lord and he prayed to the Lord for wisdom that he would give him wisdom to judge this great people but Rehoboam didn't do that and so children can often take for granted what has been given to them and you got to think about this too because I'm a first-generation Christian meaning that I didn't grow up you know like my parents giving me the gospel and getting saved from that I got saved outside of that and so I didn't grow up in that realm although I was I grew up in a Christian valued home meaning that you know they definitely had Christian values and you know claim the name of Jesus and all that stuff but a lot of times that that generation that comes up and gets saved at a later age will get on fire for the Lord but then the next generation will end up falling off because they take it for granted you know they didn't have to learn the hard way right they didn't have to learn it themselves they're being spoon-fed and listen I'm not against being spoon-fed but ultimately each person whatever generation you're in when it comes to being saved and if your parents are saved or how you got saved you have to make the choice yourself that you're gonna follow God that you're gonna say from a young age and prepare your heart to seek the Lord because as much as your parents are on fire that will not mean that you will be and ultimately too if your parents are not on fire doesn't mean that you can't be you know it's an individual thing that you have to make up for yourself so you can't just lean on Solomon his father who was a great the greatest king over Israel besides the Lord Jesus Christ and just say I'm gonna lean on what he did I'm gonna lean on his wisdom listen wisdom I believe personally wisdom is not just having knowledge and understanding but it's applying that knowledge and understanding rightly into you know to being a wise person meaning that wisdom is where you're actually doing what you understand and know that's of God and you know Rehoboam probably had a lot of head knowledge right because his father's telling him all this stuff telling him you know to stay away from these people but why didn't he do it when he's saying to to not be yoked up with these wicked men but yet then it talks about how the sons of Belial were at a young age when he was tender heart and could not withstand them you know was enticing him or you know it doesn't really say what they did but I believe that obviously they were probably you know getting him to do that you can think about this too how did he get all of Israel against them they probably brought up a bad report about him and they probably brought up his past where they were running with him and doing things that he shouldn't be doing or whatever you never know what actually took place to order like we don't have any lot with the son of Jesse you think it was just like all you know it's just because he wants us to work hard it could be but it could be a lot of other reasons but it could be this to the fact that he did not prepare his heart to seek the Lord at a young age and if he would have done that then he could throw off all those sons of Belial at a young age and throw off their influence and follow the Lord from a young age because he was 41 when he started the rain it's not like he was just this young buck that couldn't handle you know life he should have been able to handle it at that age okay it's not like an 18 year old they're like all right you're king over the nation it's 41 years old okay but the point is is that he didn't prepare himself for that and we have to prepare ourselves for any type of opportunity think about what God wants you to do in your future and you know what type of position he may want you to have or just different opportunities that he gives you don't think about that think about the fact that you need to prepare now for anything that would come you know I think about pastoring in church what if I waited until I was like qualified with children before I mean I better start reading the Bible now I better start soul winning now that's ridiculous to think that right it's kind of it makes you laugh to think that oh I'm just gonna start right now now I'm gonna go start a church now you got to prepare way ahead of time for that position if it avails itself because I prepared reading the Bible memorizing soul winning before I even thought I was even gonna be qualified whether I was ever gonna get married whether it's gonna ever have children because ultimately it doesn't really matter if I wouldn't have gotten married if I wouldn't had children does that mean I shouldn't read the Bible or I shouldn't memorize the Bible or I shouldn't go soul winning of course not I should still do that no matter what but I was also in the back of my mind hey if this opportunity arises I want to be ready when it happens and so we need to be ready we need to prepare our heart because there are people constantly out there that are gonna try to attack you and try to bring you down and try to cause it to where when God brings that opportunity you won't be able to handle it so you got to be ready for that but real bone there's definitely a lot of interesting stuff and you may just read through the first Kings and you're just like okay you know he did evil on the side of the Lord he listened to the advice the the young men and not the old men that was his big falter there but ultimately what does it say the reason that he did evil on the side of the Lord he didn't prepare his heart to seek the Lord it sounds simple it is simple it's simple in concept it's hard and the actual putting forth you know how you do it that makes sense simple to read isn't it but it takes work to do it and so you know something to think about but but real bone we're gonna be going through all these Kings going down through Judah and so I'm excited about this because I finally we'll have to talk about the sins of Judah from the son of Nebat every single time we talk about a king I'm sure it'll be brought up in some of these Kings but you know we finally will get to the point where it says he did right in the eyes of the side of the Lord you know like in the side of the Lord I can finally be like oh it's a good one so anyway let's end with a word of prayer. Heavenly Father we thank you for this evening and just pray that you be with us as we go out there the rest of this week and Lord thank you for the souls that were saved today thank you for the laborers and I pray to be with anybody that's just not feeling well today this feeling under the weather and Lord just a lot of people that are out but Lord just prayed she'd be with us throughout this week help us with our jobs help us to get everything we need to get done and ultimately Lord we just pray that everything that we do would be to your glory and Lord that that we'd be pleasing in your sight and Lord we love you. Pray all this in Jesus Christ's name. Amen.