Follow the key verses as you read and skim through the rest of it.

1 Chronicles 1:1 Adam, Seth, Enosh, ² Kenan, Mahalalel, Jared, ³ Enoch, Methuselah, Lamech, ⁴ Noah, Shem, Ham and Japheth. ²⁴ Shem, Arpachshad, Shelah, ²⁵ Eber, Peleg, Reu, ²⁶ Serug, Nahor, Terah, ²⁷ Abram, that is Abraham.” This is the same genalogies found in Genesis 5 and 11. This is the seed line of Jesus starting with Adam to Abraham. ³⁴ Abraham became the father of Isaac. The sons of Isaac were Esau and Israel (Jacob will be called Israel here in 1 Chronicles). 2:1 These are the sons of Israel: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, ² Dan, Joseph, Benjamin, Naphtali, Gad and Asher.

2:³ The sons of Judah were Er, Onan and Shelah; these three were born to him by Bath-shua the Canaanitess. And Er, Judah’s firstborn, was wicked in the sight of the Lord, so He put him to death. ⁴ Tamar his daughter-in-law bore him Perez and Zerah. Judah had five sons in all.” (This was the events in Genesis 38 where Tamar dressed up as a prostitute b/c Judah failed to give his 3rd son in the Levirate marriage to Tamar: his first son was her husband but died childless. Judah had sex with Tamra, as a supposed prostitute, and Tamar had twins: Perez and Zerah. Perez came into the seed line of Jesus. Tamar is in the genealogy of Jesus in Matthew 1). The other twin, Zerah, was the 2:⁵ The sons of Perez were Hezron and Hamul. 2:⁹ Now the sons of Hezron, who were born to him were Jerahmeel, Ram and Chelubai. 2L¹⁰ Ram became the father of Amminadab, and Amminadab became the father of Nahshon, leader of the sons of Judah; ¹¹ Nahshon became the father of Salma, Salma became the father of Boaz, ¹² Boaz became the father of Obed, and Obed became the father of Jesse; ¹³ and Jesse became the father of Eliab his firstborn, then Abinadab the second, ^[x]Shimea the third, ¹⁴ Nethanel the fourth, Raddai the fifth, ¹⁵ Ozem the sixth, David the seventh; ¹⁶ and their sisters were Zeruiah and Abigail. And the three sons of Zeruiah were Abshai, Joab and Asahel. ¹⁷ Abigail bore Amasa, and the father of Amasa was Jether the Ishmaelite.”

So trace the main genealogy: Judah, Perez, Hezron, Ram, Amminadab, Nahshon, Salma, Boaz (who married the widow Ruth as Naomi’s kinsman redeemer and Ruth is in the genealogy in Matthew 1), Obed, Jesse, David.” Interesting tidbit: David had a sister named Zeriuah whose 3 sons were Abshai, Joab, and Asahel. So Joab, the commander of David’s army, was the nephew of David! We read a lot about Joab and his 2 brothers in the events of David’s life, but this is the first time we learn that Joab was David’s nephew. So it had to be sad for David to have to order Solomon to kill Joab b/c Joab supported Adonijah trying to take his throne.

3:1 Now these were the sons of David who were born to him in Hebron: the firstborn was Amnon, by Ahinoam the Jezreelitess; the second was Daniel, by Abigail the Carmelitess; ² the third was Absalom the son of Maacah, the daughter of Talmai king of Geshur; the fourth was Adonijah the son of Haggith; ³ the fifth was Shephatiah, by Abital; the sixth was Ithream, by his wife Eglah. ⁴ Six were born to him in Hebron, and there he reigned seven years and six months. And in Jerusalem he reigned thirty-three years. ⁵ These were born to him in Jerusalem: Shimea, Shobab, Nathan and Solomon, four, by Bath-shua the daughter of Ammiel; ⁶ and Ibhar, Elishama, Eliphelet, ⁷ Nogah, Nepheg and Japhia, ⁸ Elishama, Eliada and Eliphelet, nine. ⁹ All these were the sons of David, besides the sons of the concubines; and Tamar was their sister.”

So the genealogy continues from David to Solomon. Notice the different sons by different wives (David had 8 wives and many concubines). His son Amnon raped his half sister Tamar (who was the full blooded sister of Absalom. David’s son Absalom’s mother was Maacah, the daughter of a king of Geshur, a pagan nation that the Israelites were supposed to destroy but didn’t. After Absalom killed his half-brother Amnon for raping Tamar, he fled to Geshur and lived with his grandfather King Talmai for three years (2 Samuel 13:37). Adonijah the son of Haggith was the son of David who tried to take throne from Solomon as David was on his deathbed. Bathsheeba was the wife of Uriah whom David committed adultery with and got pregnant. She lost that child as part of David’s punishment but had Solomon and 3 other sons. David would pass his throne down to Solomon. Bathsheeba is in the seed line of Jesus in Matthew 1.

The genealogy continues with the descendants of Solomon which would be the kings of Judah: 3:¹⁰ Now Solomon’s son was Rehoboam, Abijah was his son, Asa his son, Jehoshaphat his son, ¹¹ Joram his son, Ahaziah his son, Joash his son, ¹² Amaziah his son, Azariah his son, Jotham his son, ¹³ Ahaz his son, Hezekiah his son, Manasseh his son, ¹⁴ Amon his son, Josiah his son. ¹⁵ The sons of Josiah were Johanan the firstborn, and the second was Jehoiakim, the third Zedekiah, the fourth Shallum. ¹⁶ The sons of Jehoiakim were Jeconiah his son, Zedekiah his son. The Babylonians recognized Jeconiah as the last rightful king of Judah, carried him to Babylonian ezile but released him after 37 years of exile and treated him well. They placed Zedekiah as king after Jeconiah and Zedekiah was king when Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon destroyed Jerusalem and the temple in 586 BC. Interesting: Zerubbabel in 3:19, the grandson of Jeconiah, was the Zerubbabel who led the 1st return from Babylonian exile to rebuild the temple in 536 BC.

Chapters 4 and 5 give the detailed genealogies of several of the 12 sons of Jacob (Israel). Chapter 5 ends with the reference to the Assyrian captivity of the northern kingdom, Israel which consisted of 10 tribes. 10:²⁵ But they (the 2 1/2 tribes that settled east of the Jordan River) acted treacherously against the God of their fathers and played the harlot after the gods of the peoples of the land, whom God had destroyed before them. ²⁶ So the God of Israel stirred up the spirit of Pul, king of Assyria, even the spirit of Tilgath-pilneser king of Assyria, and he carried them away into exile, namely the Reubenites, the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh, and brought them to Halah, Habor, Hara and to the river of Gozan, to this day.

Chapter 6 gives special attention to the genealogy of the priestly tribe Levi. Several key characters: 6:1 The sons of Levi were Gershon, Kohath and Merari. ² The sons of Kohath were Amram, Izhar, Hebron and Uzziel. ³ The children of Amram were Aaron, Moses and Miriam. And the sons of Aaron were Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar. ⁴ Eleazar became the father of Phinehas…” Israel would come out of Egyptian bondage in the 4th generation and did: Levi/Kohath/Amram/Moses. Aaron became the first high priest of the nation of Israel. 2 of his sons, Nadab and Abihu, were killed by fire from God for offering “strange fire”. Aaron’s son Eleazar became high priest after Aaron died. After the death of Aaron’s older sons, Nadab and Abihu, the high priesthood initially flowed through the elder surviving son, Eleazar (whose descendants included Phinehas). Phinehas was the one who stopped the plague at Peor (where Balaam got his money from Balak the king of Moab by getting the Israelite men to have sex with the Moabite women) by running his spear through an Israelite man and a Moabite woman having sex. At some point, the office of the high priest crossed over into the younger son of Aaron, Ithamar, beginning with Eli. Five high priests descended from Ithamar, including Eli, Ahimelech, and Abiathar. This line came to an end due to the corruption of Eli’s sons (Hophni and Phinehas) and subsequent divine judgment. King Solomon deposed Abiathar (the last high priest from Ithamar’s line) and replaced him with Zadok—who belonged to the elder line of Eleazar—permanently returning the high priesthood to Eleazar’s descendants. King Solomon banished the priest Abiathar because Abiathar supported the failed coup of Adonijah to seize the throne of Israel instead of recognizing Solomon as the rightful king. , the Zadok in 1 Chronicles 6:8 is the exact same Zadok who served as high priest during the reigns of King David and King Solomon. He was the first high priest to serve in the newly built First Temple in Jerusalem, and his descendants (the “sons of Zadok”) remained prominent throughout the history of the Jerusalem priesthood. The high priesthood would continue through Eleazar’s descendants until the Hasmoneans took over in the 2nd century BC. Notice that 1 Chronicles 6 doesn’t give the genealogy of Aaron’s youngest son Ithamar even though the high priesthood fell to Ithamar and a few of his descendants. Probably b/c the rightful high priestly line was only through Aaron’s son Eleazar, not Ithamar. Interesting: 6:¹⁵ and Jehozadak went along when the Lord carried Judah and Jerusalem away into exile by Nebuchadnezzar.” So Jehozadak, descendant of Eleazar, was high priest when Judah was carried into Babylonian captivity in 586 BC. I wonder how he coped with being high priest in Babylon without a temple, without a most holy place to enter and sprinkle blood on the ark of the covenant on the Day of Atonement each year, etc. What duties did he try to do as high priest while in Babylon? The primary known son and descendant of the High Priest Jehozadak (also spelled Jozadak or Josedech) was Jeshua (also known as Joshua the High Priest), who returned from the Babylonian exile with Zerubbabel to rebuild the Second Temple in Jerusalem, working alongside with the “governor” Zerubbabel (who was from the kingly line of Judah).

The high priesthood and the first high priest Aaron would come through Levi’s son Kohath and then his son Amram (the father of Moses and Aaron), but the rest of Levi’s sons Gershom and Mearari and their descendants would serve with other duties in the tabernacle and temple. 6:³¹ Now these are those whom David appointed over the service of song in the house of the Lord, after the ark rested there. ³² They ministered with song before the tabernacle of the tent of meeting, until Solomon had built the house of the Lord in Jerusalem; and they served in their office according to their order.” ⁴⁸ Their kinsmen the Levites were appointed for all the service of the tabernacle of the house of God.” But the duties of the priests and high priest were reserved for Aaron (the first high priest) and his descendants. ⁴⁹ But Aaron and his sons offered on the altar of burnt offering and on the altar of incense, for all the work of the most holy place, and to make atonement for Israel, according to all that Moses the servant of God had commanded. ⁵⁰ These are the sons of Aaron: Eleazar his son, Phinehas his son, Abishua his son, ⁵¹ Bukki his son, Uzzi his son, Zerahiah his son, ⁵² Meraioth his son, Amariah his son, Ahitub his son, ⁵³ Zadok his son, Ahimaaz his son.” The Levites would be given 48 cities with pasture land scattered throughout the 12 tribes in Canaan.

Chapter 7 continues with the genealogies of 6 more of the 12 tribes of Israel.

Wow, that’s pretty technical but that’s 1 Chronicles! The genealogies were very important to Israel, just as your family genealogies are probably important to you. Have you ever tried to trace your genealogies of your family? A cousin of mine did and we were astonished at how many old records mentioned our family members from many years ago. It’s also kinda fun to see how many of the names we remember from our study in 1, 2 Samuel and 1,2 Kings. Chapter 8 will get into more history with the reign of Saul of the genealogy of Benjamin.

Israel #11 Jehoahaz. 2 Kings 13:1-9 Reigned 17 years. Hazael kills many in Israel just as Elisha had predicted.

Israel #12 Jehoash (Joash). 2 Kings 13:10-14:16 Reigned 16 years.

Elisha Miracle #14: A Moabite corpse comes to life after being thrown in the grave of Elisha. A fitting end to the life of the great prophet Elisha. Take time to review all the miracles that Elisha did in the chart above. As Elisha was dying of some sickness, he told King Joash of Israel to strike the ground with arrows as a sign of how many times Joash would defeat the Arameans who were continually raiding and killing Israelites, but he only struck the ground 3 times. Elisha told him that meant that he would only defeat the Arameans 3 times and that he could have had a more complete victory if he had struck the ground 5 or 6 times.

Judah #9 Amaziah. 2 Kings 14:1-20 Reigned 29 years. He killed all the men who killed his father King Joash of Judah. He defeated the Edomites and became proud, challenging King Jehoash of Israel to battle, and was defeated by Jehoash. Jehoash captured Amaziah and took gold from the temple. Amaziah was later released and murdered back in Jerusalem.

Israel #13 Jereboam II. 2 Kings 14:23-29 Reigned 41 years. He was evil but God used him to keep Israel from being “blotted” our completely at this tie (later God would allow Israel to be taken in to captivity in Assyria in 722 BC. The prophet Jonah of Amittai predicted his victories. Jonah prophesied for many years during that period of time. That is the same prophet Jonah as in the book of Jonah so that dates the book of Jonah during the reign of Jereboam II of Israel (793-753 BC).
Amos the prophet was a sheepherder and cultivator of sycamore trees, lived in Judah, but mainly spoke to Israel from Bethel during Jereboam II (Israel #13, 790-748 BC). He told them God hated their hypocritical worship and sacrifices at Bethel (4:4-5; 5:21-24). He predicted exile for Israel for their indulgence and lack of grief over sins of greed, dishonesty, trampling the poor.
Hosea the prophet had a long ministry from 760-725 BC to Israel during Jereboam II (Israel #13) and a contemporary of Amos a short time and several years with Isaiah and Micah. He condemned Israel’s apostasy, idolatry, murder, stealing, violence, and deception (ch 4). He predicted Israel would be taken into Assyrian exile b/c of their sins (ch 11).

Judah #10 Azariah (Uzziah). 2 Kings 15:1-7. Reigned 52 years.
1. He began reigning at 16, and did right in the days of Zechariah the prophet. God helped him become very powerful, defeating all his enemies, with an elite army of 307,500 men and engines of war (catapults).2. But when he became strong, he heart was so proud that entered the temple and burned incense which only the priests could do. Azariah the priest rebuked him and he was enraged. 3. God struck him with leprosy on the spot, he died a leper. Reigned 52 years. It is sad to see a good king like Uzziah end up his reign in pride and failure. He had served God faithfully most of his 52 year reign. It is a reminder to those of us who have served God most of our lives that we can be lifted up with pride in our latter years and fall away from God. Many of us older Christians (I am 76) have material strength and assets like Uzziah that tend to make us forget God and think that we have aattained wealth and health by our own doing.

This is a good place to show the pattern used in 1,2 Kings. Uzziah reigned over Judah 52 years, so after giving all the events in his 52 years the author will then go over to the northern kingdom and cover all the kings of Israel during that 52 years before going on to the next king of Judah, Jotham.

Israel #14 Zechariah. 2 Kings 15:8-12. Began his reign in the 38th year of Uzziah’s reign. Reigned 6 months and was killed by Shallum.

Israel #15 Shallum. 2 Kings 15:10-15. Began his reign in the 39th year of Uzziah’s reign. Reigned 1 month and was killed by Menahem.

Israel #15 Menahem. 2 Kings 15:14-22. Began his reign in the 39th year of Uzziah’s reign. Reigned 10 years. He bribed Pul the king of Assyria with silver to keep Pul from attacking Israel and it worked.

Israel #16 Pekahiah. 2 Kings 15:22-26. Began his reign in the 50th year of Uzziah’s reign. Reigned 2 years and was killed by Pekah.

Israel #17 Pekah. 2 Kings 15:27-31. Began his reign in the 52nd year of Uzziah’s reign. Reigned 20 years. In the days of Pekah, Tiglath-Pilesar king of Assyria invades and captures cities in Israel.

Having caught up with all the kings of Israel during Uzziah’s 52 year reign, that author goes back to the next king of Judah, Jotham, who started his reign in the 2nd year of Pekah.

Isaiah prophesied to both Judah and Israel from 740-722 BC, and then to Judah only from 722-687 BC during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah (all kings of Judah). He condemned the sins and hypocritical worship of Judah (1:10-23; ch 5).

Micah the prophet was a contemporary of Hosea and Isaiah in the days of Kings Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah of Judah, but he preached to both Judah and Israel, usually referring to them by the names of their capital cities (Israel/Samaria and Judah/Jerusalem). He condemned their greed, idolatry, and oppressing the poor (ch 1).

Judah #11 Jotham. 2 Kings 15:32-38. Reigned 16 years.

Judah #12 Ahaz. 2 Kings 16:1-20. Reigned 16 years. He was very evil and made his sons to pass throug the fire to the god Molech. Rezin king of Aram (Syria) and Pekah king of Israel attached Ahaz and Ahaz bribed Tigleth-Pilesar king of Assyria to attack and kill Rezin, which he did. AI: “While visiting Damascus to meet the Assyrian king Tiglath-Pileser III, Ahaz saw a pagan altar that caught his interest. He sent a sketch and detailed blueprints of the altar to Uriah (Urijah) the priest in Jerusalem, who built an exact replica before Ahaz returned. Upon his return, Ahaz offered burnt offerings, grain offerings, drink offerings, and peace offerings on the new altar, moving the original bronze altar of the Lord to the side. Worshipping the Gods of Damascus: 2 Chronicles 28:23 explicitly states that Ahaz sacrificed to the gods of Damascus who had defeated him, reasoning that because the gods of Aram helped their kings, he should sacrifice to them as well.”

Israel #18 Hoshea. 2 Kings 17:1-6. Reigned 9 years and was carried captive to Assyria in 722 BC by Shalmaneser king of Assyria. Hoshea was the last king of the northern kingdom of Israel before the fall of Samaria (after a 3 year siege) and the Assyrian captivity of Israel in 722 BC. Hoshea refused to pay tribute to the Assyrians and relied on Egypt for help. The Assyrians carried tens of thousands from Israel into captivity. Assyria brought in foreign populations from Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath, and Sepharvaim to repopulate the land. At first they did not fear the Lord and God sent lions to kill many of them. They brought in a priest from the captives to teach them how to obey Yahweh the God of Israel, but they also worshipped their false gods. Over time, these groups intermarried with the remaining Israelites to form the Samaritans. A significant number of northern Israelites fled south ahead of the Assyrian advance, integrating into the remaining Kingdom of Judah. Israel was sent into captivity b/c of their sins and idol worship. Several times it says that they refused to listen to the warning of God’s servants the prophets.

Because the northern tribes were scattered and never received an edict to return (unlike the later Babylonian exile of Judah), they became known in tradition as the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel. Most mainstream historians and traditional consensus agree that the tribes were reabsorbed into history rather than surviving as distinct entities. Numerous global groups—including communities in Africa, Asia, and the Americas—have historically claimed descent from the lost tribes. British-Israelism: Popularized heavily from the 19th century onward (and explored in texts like Origin: Lost Ten Tribes in the West), this ideology proposed that the Anglo-Saxon and Western European peoples are literal physical descendants of the lost tribes. traditional British Israelism (also called Anglo-Israelism) most commonly teaches that Great Britain is Ephraim and the United States is Manasseh although some reverse that due to the preiminence of the US.Mainstream historians and geneticists dismiss this as a pseudohistorical narrative used to justify imperial or nationalist identity. Mormons believe that the lost 10 tribes will be regathered in the last days.

Wow, that gets us to a great stopping point on the readings up to 2 Kings 17 and the captivity of Israel in 722 BC. The rest of 2 kings will focus on the last kings of Judah only.

Israel #9 Jehoram continued. 2 Kings 3:1-9:25 Reigned 12 years.

1 Kings 8 Let’s give the evil Jehoram a little credit. Elisha told the Shunammite woman whose son Elisha raised from he dead to go to Philistia for 7 years during the famine. When she came back to Israel, she requested that she be given her house and land back that she had left. Let’s give leprous Gehazi a little credit also. He told Jehoram about the woman and the miracle, and Jehoram gave the women her house and land. Kudos to Jerhoram and Gehazi!

Elisha later came to Damascus when Ben-hadad was sick. Ben-hadad sent Hazael to ask Elisha if he would recover. Elisha wept as he told Hazel that Ben-hadad would die. Hazael asked why he wept. Elisha wept b/c he knew that Hazael would be the next king of Syria and would kill many of the Israelites in the future. Hazael went back to Ben-hadad and told him that Elisha had said that he would recover (which was a lie). On the next day Hazael suffocated Ben-hadad and became king.

Judah #5 Jehoram 2 Kings 8:16-24 Reigned 8 years. He did evil b/c he was married to Athaliah, the daughter of Ahab and Jezebel. 2 Chronicles 21 tells us that he killed all his brothers when he became king. He died of diseased bowels b/c of all the evil he did. Notice this is another Jehoram other than the Jehoram king of Israel. A little confusing when reading.

Judah #6 Ahaziah. 2 Kings 8:24-9:29 Reigned 1 year. His mother was the evil. Athaliah, the daughter of Ahab and Jezebel.

Here is a great slide showing the intermarriage of Athaliah with Jehoram king of Judah, the son of Jehoshaphat, and her interaction with Jehoram’s descendants.

Israel #10 Jehu. 2 Kings 9:1-10:36 Reigned 28 years. Elisha had Jehu anointed as king specifically to kill Ahab, wipe out the house of Ahab, and kill Jezebel. Jehu began a series of assassinations just as God commanded him.

He chased down Jezebel. She painted her eyes and adorned her head before Jehu had her thrown out a window and she died. The dogs all all of her except her skull, feet, and palms of her hand just as Elijah had predicted. God rewarded Jehu with 4 of his sons later becoming kings of Israel. All of the kings of Israel were bad but at least he obeyed God in those assassinations.

Judah #7 Athaliah. 2 Kings 11:1-20 Reigned as queen 6 years. She was the daughter of Ahab and Jezebel. She was a usurper of the throne and obviously not on the line of Judah kings as were the other kings of Judah. Summary: 1. She counseled her son Ahaziah (6th king of Judah) to do wickedly and he was killed by Jehu.2. When Ahaziah died, Athaliah seized the throne and destroyed all the royal offspring of Judah. 3. Jehoshaba, king Jehoram’s (5th king of Judah) daughter hid Joash the infant son of Ahaziah for 6 years and in the 7th year Jehoida the priest (Jehoshaba’s husband) overthrew and killed Athaliah. She “reigned” 6 years.

Judah #7 Joash. 2 Kings 11:1-12:21 Reigned 40 years. More details are given in 2 Chronicles 22-24.
1. Joash began reigning at age 7 and with the guidance of Jehoida the priest he repaired the temple. 2. But when Jehoida died at 130 years old, Joash gave in to the officials of Judah and the people worshipped the Asheriim and idols. 3. God sent prophets but the people would not listen (24:19). 4. Zechariah (Mt 23:35) the son of Jehoida rebuked Joash, but Joash murdered him 5. His own servants assassinated him. Joel the prophet probably prophesied during the reign of King Joash of Judah. He predicted the locust plague as punishment for Judah’ sins but also predicted the pouring out of the miraculous Spirit in the last days of the Jewish nation (30-70 AD).

I hope you like the format I am using for the divided kingdom. If you pay attention to the years in which each king began to reign, you will see that pattern that I described for reading the divided kingdom.

1 Kings 10 The Queen of Sheba. Whether the Queen of Sheba was Ethiopian depends on the historical or traditional account you reference, as her kingdom spanned both sides of the Red Sea. Mainstream archaeological and historical sources place the ancient kingdom of Sheba (Sabaʾ) primarily in southwestern Arabia, in modern-day Yemen (see the map).

Her conclusion after meeting with Solomon? The half was not told me. According to Ethiopian tradition, she bore Solomon a son named Menelik I, who later founded the Solomonic line of Ethiopian emperors. Ethiopian belief holds that when he grew up and visited Jerusalem that Menelik brought the Ark of the Covenant back to Aksum, where many still believe it resides. The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church officially claims to possess the original Ark of the Covenant. The church states that the Ark is housed in a special treasury near the Church of Our Lady Mary of Zion in the town of Aksum (Axum), Ethiopia. It is guarded by a monk and no one is allowed to view it. That is all Ethiopian tradition. No one knows what happened to the ark. Many think the Israelites buried it under the temple so the Babylonians could not take it. AI: “When the Romans sacked and burned the Second Temple in 70 AD, the Holy of Holies contained no Ark. According to the ancient historian Flavius Josephus, who witnessed the siege, the inner sanctuary was completely empty. While the Roman soldiers did loot sacred items like the golden menorah and the table of showbread—which are famously depicted on the Arch of Titus in Rome—the Ark of the Covenant was notably absent from the list of captured treasures.”

Solomon’s wealth. The 666 talents of gold he received each year was about $3 billion today.

1 Kings 11 Solomon’s idolatry. He had 700 wives and 300 concubines mainly from countries that he subjugated. He began to worship Ashtoreth, Chemosh, Milcom, and Molech and other gods. God told him that his kingdom would be taken away from his son Rehoboam after Solomon died. He would leave Solomon one tribe, Judah, for the sake of the promises God had made to David, his father, that David’s house would be established. The rightful kings came from the tribe of Judah and the southern kingdom of Judah. Jesus would eventually come from the tribe of Judah and take his seat on the throne of David in heaven (a spiritual throne over a spiritual kingdom, the church). BTW the tribe of Benjamin, which was very small and close to Judah on the map, stayed loyal to Judah, so the southern kingdom of Judah actually had 2 tribes (Judah and Benjamin). It’s hard to believe that rhe wisest man of earth could turn to idolatry like Solomon did. The prophet Ahijah anointed Jereboam as the king of the 10 tribes that rebelled against Solomon’s son, Rehoboam. Solomon tried to kill Jereboam but he fled to Egypt. Solomon ruled 40 years and died.

1 Kings 12 The kingdom divided. Rehoboam had a chance to keep the 12 tribes together if he would lessen the heavy yoke that Solomon had put on them, but he listened to his young advisors who told him to make the yoke even heavier. The 10 tribes anointed Jereboam to be their king and would come to be known as the northern kingdom of Israel (a little confusing since us to now all 12 tribes of the united kingdom was called Israel). Rehoboam assembled 180,000 men to fight the 10 tribes and force them to be loyal to him, but God told him not to fight them. Jereboam then set up 2 golden calves to worship at Dan and Bethel. He also instituted feast days and his own priesthood (not Levitical) so that the Israelites in the 10 tribes would not go back to Jerusalem for the main feasts and to worship in the temple in Jerusalem. All of the kings of the northern kingdom would be idolatrous.

1 Kings 13 The prophet sent to curse Jereboam’s altar. God sent a prophet to curse the idolatrous altar that Jereboam was burning incense on at Bethel. God told the prophet to return from Bethel to Jerusalem non-stop. An older prophet caught up to the prophet and lied to him. He told him that an angel had told him (the older prophet) to bring the prophet to his house to eat. When he did, God told the prophet that he would did b/c he disobeyed God. A lion killed him on his journey back to Jerusalem. The older prophet recovered and buried the prophet’s body.

Lesson: We might be thinking, “but the prophet was lied to”. That’s correct. But he had his instructions and he should have consulted the Lord before accepting what the older prophet told him. There is a lesson there. Many false prophets have told people that they have had angels or visions or God speaking to them. Be careful before you accept what they say as the word of God. “Test the spirits to see whether they are from God or not.” (1 John 4:1) Jesus said, “the blind lead the blind and they both fall into the ditch”. It is our responsibility to make sure someone is really telling us the word of God. Be like the Bereans in Acts 17:¹¹ Now these were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so.”

1 Kings 14 Jereboam’s son was sick so his wife disguised herself and went to Ahijah the prophet in Judah to find out if the boy would get well. The prophet was told by God that she was Jereboam’s wife and told her the child would die as soon as she set foot back in her house, and he did. Jereboam reigned 22 years over the northern kingdom of Israel.

Solomon’s son Rehoboam would reign over the southern kingdom of Judah for 17 years. During that time Shishak the king of Egypt came and took the gold treasure that Solomon had accumulated. Rehoboam was the son of an Ammonite mother and the people of Judah committed idolatry and sinned.