I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on 2 Chronicles 11-14.

When Rehoboam returned to Jerusalem after the rebellion of the Northern Tribes, he mustered the warriors of Judah and Benjamin to attempt to take put down the rebellion.   However a prophet named Shemaiah prophesied that they should not make war against their fellow Israelites.  The passage here, and the equivalent in 1 Kings, is somewhat ambiguous about who responded to Shemaiah’s prophecy, but it reads to me like the warriors declined to fight against their fellow Israelites and Rehoboam was forced to allow the Northern Tribes to go their own way.  In response to this Rehoboam initially emphasized following God’s commands as laid out in the Law of Moses and welcomed the priests and Levites who migrated from the territory of the Northern Tribes.  The wording of the passage suggests that the Levites left the Northern Kingdom voluntarily because they felt unwelcome there.  Once Rehoboam felt secure on the throne of the Southern Kingdom he stopped doing more than paying lip service to doing God’s will.  However, when the Pharaoh of Egypt invaded, he had a renewal of faith.

Fortunately, both Rehoboam’s son and grandson learned from his shortcomings and were faithful to God.  When Rehoboam’s son Abijah was king, Jeroboam attempted to conquer at least part of the Southern Kingdom.  Jeroboam’s army outnumbered the southern army by two to one.  The account of the battle between the two armies is interesting.  While Abjiah was practicing psychological warfare against the northern army, Jeroboam was outflanking him..  In the end, the faith which the men of the southern army placed in God was rewarded and they slaughtered much of the northern army. We have a similar story when Abijah’s son Asa became king.  This time the opposing army was not that of the Northern Kingdom, but one from Ethiopia.  Asa was able to muster a larger army than his father had, but the Ehtiopian army was even larger and once again they were outnumbered by approximately two to one.  King Asa recognized that he could not defeat such a large army directly and called on God’s aid.  God provided that aid and Asa defeated the enemy army.