M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

Israel Turns Against Rehoboam

12 Rehoboam went to Shechem because all the Israelites had gone there to make him king. ² Jeroboam son of Nebat was still in Egypt. He had gone there to escape from Solomon. When Jeroboam heard about Rehoboam being made king, Jeroboam returned from Egypt. ³ So the people sent for him. Then he and the people went to Rehoboam. They said to Rehoboam, ⁴ “Your father forced us to work very hard. Now, make it easier for us. Don’t make us work as hard as your father did. Then we will serve you.”

⁵ Rehoboam answered, “Come back to me in three days. Then I will answer you.” So the people left.

⁶ Some of the elders had helped Solomon make decisions during his lifetime. So King Rehoboam asked them what he should do. He said, “How do you think I should answer these people?”

⁷ They answered, “You should be like a servant to them today. Serve them, and give them a kind answer. If you do, they will serve you always.”

⁸ But Rehoboam did not listen to this advice. He asked the young men who had grown up with him. They advised him in making decisions. ⁹ Rehoboam said, “The people said, ‘Don’t make us work as hard as your father did.’ How do you think I should answer them? What is your advice?”

¹⁰ The young men answered, “Those people came to you and said, ‘Your father forced us to work very hard. Now make our work easier.’ So you should tell them, ‘My little finger is bigger than my father’s whole body. ¹¹ My father forced you to work hard. But I will make you work even harder! My father beat you with whips. But I will beat you with whips that have sharp points.’”

¹² Rehoboam had told the people, “Come back to me in three days.” So after three days all the people returned to Rehoboam. ¹³ At that time King Rehoboam spoke cruel words to them. He did not listen to the advice that the elders had given him. ¹⁴ He did what the young men had told him to do. Rehoboam said, “My father forced you to work hard. So I will give you even more work. My father beat you with whips. But I will beat you with whips that have sharp points.” ¹⁵ So the king did not do what the people wanted. The Lord caused this to happen. He did this to keep the promise he had made to Jeroboam son of Nebat. He had made this promise through Ahijah, the prophet from Shiloh.

¹⁶ All the people of Israel saw that the new king refused to listen to them. So they said to the king,

So the Israelites went home. ¹⁷ But Rehoboam still ruled over the Israelites who lived in the towns of Judah.

¹⁸ Adoniram was in charge of the people who were forced to work. King Rehoboam sent him to the people. But they threw stones at him until he died. But King Rehoboam ran to his chariot and escaped to Jerusalem. ¹⁹ Since then, Israel has been against the family of David.

²⁰ All the Israelites heard that Jeroboam had returned. So they called him to a meeting. And they made him king over all Israel. But the tribe of Judah continued to follow the family of David.

²¹ When Rehoboam arrived in Jerusalem, he gathered the tribes of Judah and Benjamin. This was an army of 180,000 men. Rehoboam wanted to fight against the people of Israel. He wanted to take back his kingdom.

²² But God spoke his word to Shemaiah, a man of God. The Lord said, ²³ “Talk to Solomon’s son Rehoboam, the king of Judah. Talk also to all the people of Judah and Benjamin and to the rest of the people. ²⁴ Say to them, ‘The Lord says you must not go to war against your brothers, the Israelites. Every one of you should go home. I made all these things happen!’” So the men in Rehoboam’s army obeyed the Lord’s command. They all went home as the Lord had commanded.

²⁵ Then Jeroboam made Shechem a very strong city. It is in the mountains of Ephraim. And Jeroboam lived there. He also went to the city of Peniel and made it stronger.

Jeroboam Builds Golden Calves

²⁶ Jeroboam said to himself, “The kingdom will probably go back to David’s family. ²⁷ The people will continue going to the Temple of the Lord in Jerusalem. If they do, they will want to be ruled again by Rehoboam. Then they will kill me and follow Rehoboam king of Judah.”

²⁸ King Jeroboam asked his men for advice. So he made two golden calves. He said to the people, “It is too hard for you to go to Jerusalem to worship. Israel, here are your gods who brought you out of Egypt.” ²⁹ King Jeroboam put one golden calf in the city of Bethel. And he put the other in the city of Dan. ³⁰ And this became a very great sin. The people traveled as far as Dan to worship the calf there.

³¹ Jeroboam built temples on the places of worship. He chose priests from all the people. (He did not choose priests only from the tribe of Levi.) ³² And he started a new festival. It was the fifteenth day of the eighth month. This was like the festival in Judah. During that time the king offered sacrifices on the altar. He offered sacrifices to the calves in Bethel he had made. He also chose priests in Bethel to serve at the places of worship he had made. ³³ So Jeroboam chose his own time for a festival for the Israelites. It was the fifteenth day of the eighth month. During that time he offered sacrifices on the altar he had built in Bethel. So he set up a festival for the Israelites. And he offered sacrifices on the altar.

The Importance of Christ

3 My brothers, be full of joy in the Lord. It is no trouble for me to write the same things to you again, and it will help you to be more ready. ² Be careful of those who do evil. They are like dogs. They demand to cut^[a] the body. ³ But we are the ones who are truly circumcised. We worship God through his Spirit. We are proud to be in Christ Jesus. And we do not trust in ourselves or anything we can do. ⁴ Even if I am able to trust in myself, still I do not. If anyone thinks that he has a reason to trust in himself, he should know that I have greater reason for trusting in myself. ⁵ I was circumcised eight days after my birth. I am from the people of Israel and the tribe of Benjamin. I am a Hebrews, and my parents were Hebrews. The law of Moses was very important to me. That is why I became a Pharisee. ⁶ I was so enthusiastic that I tried to hurt the church. No one could find fault with the way I obeyed the law of Moses. ⁷ At one time all these things were important to me. But now I think those things are worth nothing because of Christ. ⁸ Not only those things, but I think that all things are worth nothing compared with the greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. Because of Christ, I have lost all those things. And now I know that all those things are worthless trash. This allows me to have Christ ⁹ and to belong to him. Now that I belong to Christ, I am right with God and this being right does not come from my following the law. It comes from God through faith. God uses my faith in Christ to make me right with him. ¹⁰ All I want is to know Christ and the power of his rising from death. I want to share in Christ’s sufferings and become like him in his death. ¹¹ If I have those things, then I have hope that I myself will be raised from death.

Continuing Toward Our Goal

¹² I do not mean that I am already as God wants me to be. I have not yet reached that goal. But I continue trying to reach it and to make it mine. Christ wants me to do that. That is the reason Christ made me his. ¹³ Brothers, I know that I have not yet reached that goal. But there is one thing I always do: I forget the things that are past. I try as hard as I can to reach the goal that is before me. ¹⁴ I keep trying to reach the goal and get the prize. That prize is mine because God called me through Christ to the life above.

¹⁵ All of us who have grown spiritually to be mature should think this way, too. And if there are things you do not agree with, God will make them clear to you. ¹⁶ But we should continue following the truth we already have.

¹⁷ Brothers, all of you should try to follow my example and to copy those who live the way we showed you. ¹⁸ Many people live like enemies of the cross of Christ. I have often told you about them, and it makes me cry to tell you about them now. ¹⁹ The way they live is leading them to destruction. Instead of serving God, they do whatever their bodies want. They do shameful things, and they are proud of it. They think only about earthly things. ²⁰ But our homeland is in heaven, and we are waiting for our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, to come from heaven. ²¹ He will change our humble bodies and make them like his own glorious body. Christ can do this by his power. With that power he is able to rule all things.

The Priests’ Rooms

42 Then the man led me north out into the outer courtyard. He led me to the rooms across from the Temple courtyard. The outer wall was north of these rooms. ² The building on the north side was 175 feet long and 87½ feet wide. ³ There was 35 feet of the Temple courtyard between this building and the Temple. On the other side, this building faced the stone pavement of the outer courtyard. The building had rooms and balconies on three stories. ⁴ There was a hallway on the north side of the rooms. It was 17½ feet wide and 175 feet long. Doors led into the rooms from this hallway. ⁵ The top rooms were narrower. This was because the balconies took more space from them. The rooms on the first and second stories of the building were wider. ⁶ The rooms were on three stories. They did not have pillars like the pillars of the courtyards. So the top rooms were farther back than those on the first and second stories. ⁷ There was a wall outside parallel to the rooms and to the outer courtyard. It ran in front of the rooms for 87½ feet. ⁸ The row of rooms along the outer courtyard was 87½ feet long. The rooms that faced the Temple were about 175 feet long. ⁹ The lower rooms had an entrance on the east end of the building. This was so a person could enter them from the courtyard.

¹⁰ There were rooms on the south side, parallel to the wall of the outer courtyard. They faced the Temple courtyard. ¹¹ These rooms had a hallway in front of them. They were like the rooms on the north. They had the same length and width. And the doors were the same. ¹² The doors of the south rooms were like the doors of the north rooms. There was a door at the east end of a hall. This hall went to all the rooms.

¹³ The man said to me, “The north and south rooms across from the Temple courtyard are holy rooms. There the priests who go near the Lord will eat the most holy offerings. There they will put the most holy offerings: the grain offerings, sin offerings and the penalty offerings. ¹⁴ The priests who enter the Holy Place must leave their serving clothes there. Then they may go into the outer courtyard. This is because these clothes are holy. The priests must put on other clothes. Then they may go to the part of the Temple which is for the people.”

The Outside of the Temple

¹⁵ The man finished measuring inside the Temple. Then he brought me out through the east gate. He measured the area all around. ¹⁶ The man measured the east side with the measuring stick. It was 875 feet by the measuring stick. ¹⁷ He measured the north side. It was 875 feet by the measuring stick. ¹⁸ He measured the south side. It was 875 feet by the measuring stick. ¹⁹ He went around to the west side. And it measured 875 feet by the measuring stick. ²⁰ So he measured the Temple on all four sides. The Temple had a wall all around it. It was 875 feet long and 875 feet wide. It separated the holy from that which is not holy.

God Will Pay Back His Enemies