REHOBOAM
Rehoboam went to Shechem to be made king by all Israel.
People requested that he lighten their burdens;
on advice of his contemporaries, he refused their request --
with arrogance.
The people of Israel (northern tribes) departed from him; chose Jeroboam
as their king.
Rehoboam sent Adoram, taskmaster of forced labor, and all Israel stoned him.
Rehoboam fled to Jerusalem. Assembled army from Judah and Benjamin to
fight house of Israel to restore kingdom to him.
Shemaiah, man of God, brought word from Lord saying not to do this.
Rehoboam fortified cities. Stored food and weapons in fortresses.
Levites and priests from northern tribes came to Judah, as well as
Israelites who set their hearts to seek the Lord. (See Jeroboam--golden calves)
Rehoboam took many wives and concubines (18 wives, 60 concubines) and
had many sons and daughters (28 sons, 60 daughters).
For three years Rehoboam walked in way of David and Solomon. When kingdom was established, forsook law of the Lord.
In fifth year Shishak, king of Egypt came against Judah and Jerusalem. King and princes humbled themselves, so God spared them his wrath so Judah was not destroyed. But Shishak took all treasures from temple and palace. Judah became servants to king of Egypt.
Rehoboam was 41 when he began to reign, reigned 17 years. War between Rehoboam and Jeroboam continually. Rehoboam died; Abijam (Abijah) his son reigned in his stead.
ABIJAH
18th year of Jeroboam; Abijam (Abijah) reigned 3 years in Judah.Mother's name Maacah, daughter of Abishalom [I K](R's favorite wife according to II Chron 11:20-21), Micaiah, dau. of Uriel of Gibeah [II Chron]. [In this case, II Chron seems to be inconsistent with itself. See 11:22 and 13:2.]
Walked in sins of his father. War between
Abijah and Jeroboam. Abijah called out to the army of Jeroboam
concerning LORD God of Israel. Priests blew trumpets and God
gave victory to Abijah. "Jeroboam did not recover his power
in the days of Abijah; and the LORD smote him, and he died."
II Chr 13:20.
However, Jeroboam was still reigning when Abijah died.
Abijah had 14 wives, 22 sons, and 16 daughters.
ASA
20th year of Jeroboam, Asa began to reign; reigned 41 years in Jerusalem.
His mother was Maacah, dau of Abishalom (acc to I K 15:10), which
would make him Abijah's brother rather than son (?) Scripture
calls him son (II Chron 14:1).
Walked in the ways of the Lord; cut down pillars and Asherim; removed idols, removed male cult prostitutes. Built fortified cities; land had rest.
Ethiopians came against them; Asa defeated them completely with help of LORD.
Azariah, son of Oded, a prophet, prophesied to Asa that God was with him as long as he followed God. (II Chron 15) Asa and Judah held great sacrifice and made covenant to seek God with whole heart. Maacah, removed from being queen mother because of her abominable image for Asherah.
Asa was king from near the end of Jeroboam'a reign, through reign of
Jeroboam's son Nadab (2 yrs); Baasha and his son Elah; Zimri;
Omri and into reign of Ahab.
II Chron 16:1 speaks of 36th yr of his reign being attacked by Baasha --
must be wrong year. However he made league with Ben-hadad, king of Syria,
with silver and gold so that Ben-hadad would break his league with
Baasha. Ben-hadad attacked northern cities of Israel, so Baasha
had to stop work in south against Asa. Hanani, the seer, rebuked
him for calling on Syria rather than the Lord, and Asa put in
him in prison.
In 39th years of reign, Asa became diseased in his feet and sought help from physicians rather than the Lord. Died in 41st year of reign.
Note concerning Ben-hadad from Harper Study Bible: Scripture mentions three kings of Damascus all of whose names were Ben-hadad. The first Ben-hadad is mentioned here (I Kings 15). The second one is his son, Ben-hadad II, who warred against Ahab and unsuccessfully besieged Samaria. He was defeated by Ahab at Aphek and smothered by Hazael who seized the crown. He is found in I Kings 20 and 2 Kings 7,8. The third Ben-hadad was the son of Hazael and is mentioned in 2 Kings 13.24.
JEHOSHAPHAT
Began to reign over Judah in 4th year of Ahab; 35 years old and reigned 25 years.He walked in ways of his father; did what was right in the sight of the Lord. He also made peace with the king of Israel. He made a marriage alliance with Ahab. (His son married Ahab's daughter -- a bad mistake!)
He sent princes and priests to teach ways of the Lord in the cities of Judah; they had the book of the law of the Lord. Fear of the LORD fell upon all the kingdoms round about Judah.
Ahab induced him to go to war with him against Ramoth-gilead. Many prophets encouraged it; Micaiah prophesied Ahab's death. Ahab was killed in that battle; Jehoshaphat returned home safely. But Jehu, son of Hanani rebuked him.
Jehoshaphat appointed Levites and priests to give judgement for the LORD and to settle disputed cases. Encouraged people to follow the LORD.
Moabites, Ammonites, and Meunites came against Jehoshaphat for battle.
(II Ch 20)
Jehoshaphat proclaimed a fast, sought help of the LORD. (see his prayer)
Jahaziel prophesied ...stand still and see the victory of the
LORD on your behalf...
In the morning as they went out, Jehoshaphat said
"...Believe in the LORD your God, and you will be established;
believe his prophets, and you will succeed." Those who were
to sing and praise the Lord went before the army. Invading armies
fought each other. Jehoshaphat and his army took much spoil.
Jehoshaphat joined with Ahaziah, king of Israel, to build ships at Ezion-geber. But the ships were wrecked.
When Ahab died and his son Jehoram reigned, the king of Moab rebelled against Jehoram. So he asked Jehoshaphat to go with him to war against Mesha, king of Moab. (See II K 3) Marched by circuitous route, no water. Called for a prophet -- Elisha. Contempt for Jehoram, but responded because of Jehoshaphat. He said they would have water and prevail over Moabites. This happened. King of Moab sacrificed eldest son as burnt offering on wall. "And there came great wrath upon Israel; and they withdrew from him and returned to their own land." Meaning?
JEROBOAM, SON OF NEBAT
Jeroboam thought if the people of the northern tribes went to Jerusalem to worship God they would return to Rehoboam and kill him, Jeroboam. So he set up two golden calves at Dan and Bethel and told the people those were their gods. He appointed a feast day and made priests to offer sacrifices. This is known from this time on in Scripture as "the sin whereby Jeroboam son of Nebat made Israel to sin."
A prophet came from Judah to prophesy against the altar at Bethel and to prophesy concerning Josiah, who would desecrate this altar (almost 300 years in the future). This prophet was tricked into eating and drinking in Israel, which God had told him not to do on pain of death. And he was killed by a lion.
Jeroboam's son Abijah became ill, and he had his wife go to Ahijah the prophet (who had told Jeroboam he would be king) to find out what would happen about this son. Ahijah told her that God had rejected Jeroboam because of his sin of idolatry, and he would put an end to his house. Only Abijah would die a natural death "because in him there is found something pleasing to the Lord." When she returned, the child died. Jeroboam reigned 22 years; he died and his son Nadab reigned in his stead.
NADAB
Nadab reigned two years and continued in the sin of his father. Baasha, son of Ahijah of Issachar, conspired against him and killed him and became king. He then killed all the house of Jeroboam as Ahijah the prophet had predicted.
BAASHA
In 3rd year of Asa of Judah, Baasha became king and reigned 24 years. (So he could not have been reigning in 36th year of Asa.) He fought against Asa, and he did evil in the sight of the Lord and continued in the sin of Jeroboam. Jehu, son of Hanani prophesied against him.
ELAH
Baasha died and his son Elah became king in the 26th year of Asa. He reigned 2 years. Zimri, an army commander, conspired against him and killed him when he was drunk in the house of Arza. He killed all the house of Baasha.
ZIMRI
Zimri reigned 7 days! The army was not happy with Zimri's action, and they made Omri, the commander of the army, king over Israel. They besieged Tirzah where Zimri was. He burned down the king's house over him and died in the fire.
TIBNI/OMRI
There was a division among the people, and one part of them followed Tibni to make him king, and the other part followed Omri. The "Omrites" overcame the "Tibnites" and Tibni died. Omri became king in the 31st year of Asa and reigned 12 years -- 6 years in Tizrah and then six years in Samaria, which he built. He is considered a great king in secular history, but the Scripture records of him that he did more evil than all those before him. He walked in the sins of Jeroboam and his idolatry. He died and his son Ahab reigned in his stead.
AHAB
In the 38th year of Asa, Ahab began to reign and reigned 22 years in Samaria. "And Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the LORD more than all that were before him." He not only continued in the sin of Jeroboam, he married Jezebel of Sidon and brought Baal worship to Israel.
In the reign of Ahab begins the prophetic ministry of Elijah the Tishbite of Tishbe in Gilead. He called for a drought because of the sins of Ahab. The ravens fed Elijah at the brook Cherith east of Jordan till it ran dry. Then God sent him to a widow in Zarephath in Sidon. (Ironic, since Jezebel was from Sidon) Her small remaining store of meal and oil did not fail all during this time of famine as she fed Elijah as well as herself and her son. Her son died and Elijah restored him to life.
God sent him back to tell Ahab He would send rain. This is where the contest with the prophets of Baal on Mt. Carmel took place. The people then killed the prophets of Baal; the rain came; and Jezebel threatened Elijah. Elijah fled from Jezebel to the wilderness. An angel of the Lord told him to go to Horeb.
God told him to go to Damascus to anoint Hazael to be king over Syria; to anoint Jehu son of Nimshi to be king over Israel; and to anoint Elisha to be prophet in his place. This passage only tells about the anointing of Elijah.
Ben-hadad, king of Syria, with a number of other kings, besieged Samaria. (This is the second Ben-hadad in the note above.) A prophet of God told Ahab he would defeat the Syrians and told him who should go out against them. He followed this advice and attacked Ben-hadad at noon when he was drinking himself drunk. The Israelites prevailed. But the prophet told Ahab to be prepared because Ben-hadad would come against him again in the spring.
The Syrians decided that the God of the Israelites was a hill god, so they should fight them in the plains. In the spring they took a large army and met Ahab at Aphek. They camped seven days, and on the seventh day the battle began. The Israelites defeated the forces of Ben-hadad, but Ahab spared the king. A prophet of the Lord came to Ahab and told him, "Thus says the Lord, 'Because you have let go out of your hand the man whom I had devoted to destruction, therefore your life shall go for his life, and your people for his people.'"
Ahab wanted the vineyard of Naboth, which was next to his palace. He offered to buy it or give him other land for it, but Naboth would not give up his land. Ahab was quite vexed. Jezebel told him she would get it for him, so she set up Naboth so he would be falsely accused and stoned to death. Then she told Ahab he could now have the vineyard he wanted.
Elijah came to Ahab and told him "In the place where the dogs licked up the blood of Naboth shall dogs lick your own blood." And he said the kingdom would be taken from him. Ahab put on sackcloth and fasted, and the Lord said he would not cut off his house in Ahab's day but in his son's days.
For three years Syria and Israel continued without war, but when Jehoshaphat came to visit Ahab, Ahab suggested they go together to get back Ramoth-gilead which Syria had taken from Israel. Jehoshaphat agreed to join with him, but wanted a word from a prophet. As also told in II Chronicles, a lot of false prophets told Ahab to go ahead; he would be victorious. Micaiah told him he saw Israel scattered upon the mountains, as sheep without a shepherd. Ahab was killed in the battle and buried in Samaria. They washed his chariot by the pool of Samaria, and the dogs licked up his blood as the prophet had said. And Ahaziah his son reigned in his stead.
AHAZIAH
Ahaziah fell through a lattice and lay sick. He sent a messenger to inquire of Baal-zebub, god of Ekron, whether he should recover. Elijah met the messenger and told him he would not recover. When Ahaziah heard Elijah had done this, he sent a captain and 50 men to capture him. Elijah called down fire from heaven to consume them. The same for the second fifty. The third captain asked that his life be spared, and God told him to go with these men. Elijah told Ahaziah in person that he would die. He did die and Jehoram his brother became king. II Kings 1:17 says in the second year of Jehoram, son of Jehoshaphat. But in chapter 3, Jehoshaphat goes to battle along with Jehoram of Israel. Apparently there is an overlapping coregency between Jehoshaphat and his son Jehoram.
Elijah and Elisha go from Bethel to Jericho and across the Jordan (Elijah striking the water with his mantle and it parted) where God is to take Elijah to heaven. When Elijah asks Elisha what he wants him to do for him, Elisha replies, "let me inherit a double portion of your spirit." Elijah says if he sees him depart, it shall be. A chariot of fire and horses of fire come between them. Elijah was taken up in a whirlwind (not the chariot of fire) and his mantle fell. Elisha picked up the mantle and struck the water saying "Where is the LORD, the God of Elisha?" and the waters parted and Elisha crossed back to the west of the Jordan. Now the ministry of Elisha begins.