M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

The Kingdom Divided

12 Then Rehoboam^(A) went to Shechem,^(B) for all Israel^(C) had gone to Shechem to make him king.^{(D) 2} When Jeroboam son of Nebat heard about it, he stayed in Egypt, where he had fled from King Solomon’s presence.^(E) Jeroboam stayed in Egypt.^{[a] 3} But they summoned him, and Jeroboam and the whole assembly of Israel came and spoke to Rehoboam: ⁴ “Your father made our yoke harsh.^(F) You, therefore, lighten your father’s harsh service and the heavy yoke he put on us,^(G) and we will serve you.”

⁵ Rehoboam replied, “Go away for three days and then return to me.” So the people left. ⁶ Then King Rehoboam consulted with the elders^(H) who had served his father Solomon when he was alive, asking, “How do you advise me to respond to this people?”

⁷ They replied, “Today if you will be a servant to this people and serve them, and if you respond to them by speaking kind words to them, they will be your servants forever.”^(I)

⁸ But he rejected the advice of the elders who had advised him^(J) and consulted with the young men who had grown up with him and attended him. ⁹ He asked them, “What message do you advise that we send back to this people who said to me, ‘Lighten the yoke your father put on us’?”

¹⁰ The young men who had grown up with him told him, “This is what you should say to this people who said to you, ‘Your father made our yoke heavy, but you, make it lighter on us!’ This is what you should tell them: ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s waist! ¹¹ Although my father burdened you with a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke; my father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with barbed whips.’”^[b](K)

¹² So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam on the third day, as the king had ordered: “Return to me on the third day.” ¹³ Then the king answered the people harshly. He rejected the advice the elders had given him ¹⁴ and spoke to them according to the young men’s advice: “My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to your yoke; my father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with barbed whips.”

¹⁵ The king did not listen to the people, because this turn of events came from the Lord^(L) to carry out his word, which the Lord had spoken through Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam son of Nebat.^{(M) 16} When all Israel saw that the king had not listened to them, the people answered him:

So Israel went to their tents, ¹⁷ but Rehoboam reigned over the Israelites living in the cities of Judah.^(P)

¹⁸ Then King Rehoboam sent Adoram,^[c](Q) who was in charge of forced labor, but all Israel stoned him to death. King Rehoboam managed to get into the chariot and flee to Jerusalem. ¹⁹ Israel is still in rebellion against the house of David today.^(R)

Rehoboam in Jerusalem

²⁰ When all Israel heard that Jeroboam had come back,^(S) they summoned him to the assembly and made him king over all Israel.^(T) No one followed the house of David except the tribe of Judah alone.^{(U) 21} When Rehoboam arrived in Jerusalem,^(V) he mobilized one hundred eighty thousand fit young soldiers from the entire house of Judah and the tribe of Benjamin^(W) to fight against the house of Israel to restore the kingdom to Rehoboam son of Solomon. ²² But the word of God came to Shemaiah,^(X) the man of God: ²³ “Say to Rehoboam son of Solomon, king of Judah, to the whole house of Judah and Benjamin, and to the rest of the people, ²⁴ ‘This is what the Lord says: You are not to march up and fight against your brothers, the Israelites. Each of you return home, for this situation is from me.’”^(Y)

So they listened to the word of the Lord and went back according to the word of the Lord.

Jeroboam’s Idolatry

²⁵ Jeroboam built Shechem^(Z) in the hill country of Ephraim and lived there. From there he went out and built Penuel.^{(AA) 26} Jeroboam said to himself, “The kingdom might now return to the house of David.^{(AB) 27} If these people regularly go to offer sacrifices in the Lord’s temple in Jerusalem,^(AC) the heart of these people will return to their lord, King Rehoboam of Judah. They will kill me and go back to the king of Judah.” ²⁸ So the king sought advice.

Then he made two golden calves, and he said to the people, “Going to Jerusalem is too difficult for you. Israel, here are your gods^[d] who brought you up from the land of Egypt.”^{(AD) 29} He set up one in Bethel,^(AE) and put the other in Dan.^{(AF) 30} This led to sin;^(AG) the people walked in procession before one of the calves all the way to Dan.^[e](AH)

³¹ Jeroboam also made shrines^[f] on the high places^(AI) and made priests from the ranks of the people who were not Levites.^{(AJ) 32} Jeroboam made a festival in the eighth month on the fifteenth day of the month, like the festival in Judah.^(AK) He offered sacrifices on the altar; he made this offering in Bethel to sacrifice to the calves he had made. He also stationed the priests in Bethel for the high places he had made.^{(AL) 33} He offered sacrifices on^[g] the altar he had set up in Bethel on the fifteenth day of the eighth month. He chose this month on his own.^(AM) He made a festival for the Israelites, offered sacrifices on the altar, and burned incense.^(AN)

Knowing Christ

3 In addition, my brothers and sisters, rejoice^(A) in the Lord. To write to you again about this is no trouble for me and is a safeguard for you.

² Watch out for the dogs, watch out for the evil^(B) workers, watch out for those who mutilate the flesh. ³ For we are the circumcision,^(C) the ones who worship by the Spirit^(D) of God, boast in Christ Jesus,^(E) and do not put confidence in the flesh— ⁴ although I have reasons for confidence in the flesh. If anyone else thinks he has grounds for confidence in the flesh, I have more: ⁵ circumcised the eighth day;^(F) of the nation of Israel,^(G) of the tribe of Benjamin,^(H) a Hebrew born of Hebrews; regarding the law,^(I) a Pharisee; ⁶ regarding zeal,^(J) persecuting^(K) the church; regarding the righteousness that is in the law,^(L) blameless.^(M)

⁷ But everything that was a gain to me, I have considered to be a loss because of Christ. ⁸ More than that, I also consider everything to be a loss in view of the surpassing value^(N) of knowing Christ^(O) Jesus my Lord. Because of him I have suffered the loss of all things and consider them as dung, so that I may gain Christ^{(P) 9} and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own from the law,^(Q) but one that is through faith in Christ^[a]—the righteousness from God based on faith.^{(R) 10} My goal is to know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings,^(S) being conformed to his death,^{(T) 11} assuming that I will somehow reach the resurrection from among the dead.

Reaching Forward to God’s Goal

¹² Not that I have already reached the goal or am already perfect, but I make every effort to take hold^(U) of it because I also have been taken hold of by Christ Jesus. ¹³ Brothers and sisters, I do not^[b] consider myself to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind^(V) and reaching forward to what is ahead, ¹⁴ I pursue as my goal the prize promised by God’s heavenly^[c] call in Christ Jesus.^{(W) 15} Therefore, let all of us who are mature think this way. And if you think differently about anything, God will reveal^(X) this also to you. ¹⁶ In any case, we should live up to whatever truth we have attained. ¹⁷ Join in imitating me, brothers and sisters, and pay careful attention to those who live according to the example you have in us. ¹⁸ For I have often told you, and now say again with tears, that many live as enemies of the cross^(Y) of Christ. ¹⁹ Their end is destruction; their god is their stomach; their glory^(Z) is in their shame; and they are focused on earthly things. ²⁰ Our citizenship is in heaven, and we eagerly wait for a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ. ²¹ He will transform the body of our humble condition into the likeness of his glorious^(AA) body,^(AB) by the power that enables him to subject everything to himself.

The Priests’ Chambers

42 Then the man led me out by way of the north gate into the outer court.^(A) He brought me to the group of chambers opposite the temple yard and opposite the building^(B) to the north. ² Along the length of the chambers, which was 175 feet,^[a](C) there was an entrance on the north; the width was 87½ feet.^{[b] 3} Opposite the 35 foot space^[c] belonging to the inner court and opposite the paved surface^(D) belonging to the outer court, the structure rose gallery by gallery^(E) in three tiers. ⁴ In front of the chambers was a walkway toward the inside,^(F) 17½ feet^[d] wide and 175 feet long,^[e] and their entrances were on the north. ⁵ The upper chambers were narrower because the galleries took away more space from them than from the lower and middle stories of the building. ⁶ For they were arranged in three stories and had no pillars like the pillars of the courts;^(G) therefore the upper chambers were set back from the ground more than the lower and middle stories. ⁷ A wall on the outside ran in front of the chambers, parallel to them, toward the outer court; it was 87½ feet long. ⁸ For the chambers on the outer court were 87½ feet long, while those facing the great hall were 175 feet long.^{(H) 9} At the base of these chambers there was an entryway on the east side as one enters them from the outer court.^(I)

¹⁰ In the thickness of the wall of the court toward the south,^[f] there were chambers facing the temple yard^(J) and the western building, ¹¹ with a passageway in front of them, just like the chambers that faced north.^(K) Their length and width, as well as all their exits, measurements, and entrances, were identical. ¹² The entrance at the beginning of the passageway, the way in front of the corresponding^[g] wall as one enters on the east side, was similar to the entrances of the chambers that were on the south side.

¹³ Then the man said to me, “The northern and southern chambers that face the courtyard are the holy chambers where the priests who approach the Lord will eat^(L) the most holy offerings.^(M) There they will deposit the most holy offerings—the grain offerings, sin offerings, and guilt offerings—for the place is holy.^{(N) 14} Once the priests have entered, they are not to go out from the holy area to the outer court until they have removed the clothes they minister in, for these are holy.^(O) They are to put on other clothes before they approach the public area.”^(P)

Outside Dimensions of the Temple Complex

¹⁵ When he finished measuring inside the temple complex, he led me out by way of the gate that faced east and measured all around the complex.^(Q)

²⁰ He measured the temple complex on all four sides. It had a wall all around it,^(R) 875 feet long and 875 feet^(S) wide, to separate the holy from the common.^(T)

Psalm 94

The Just Judge