M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

The Reign of Jeroboam^[a][b]

Chapter 12

Revolt against Rehoboam. ¹ Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all of Israel had gone to Shechem to make him king. ² When Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, heard about this in Egypt where he had fled from King Solomon, he returned from Egypt.

³ They sent for Jeroboam, and when he arrived, he and the whole assembly of Israel spoke to Rehoboam, saying, ⁴ “Your father made our yoke heavy. If you make our service and our heavy yoke lighter than the heavy load your father laid on us, then we will serve you.” ⁵ Rehoboam answered, “Go away for three days, and then come back to me.” So the people departed.

⁶ King Rehoboam consulted with the elders who had stood before Solomon, his father, during his lifetime. He said, “How do you advise me to answer this people, so that I can give them an answer?” ⁷ They answered him, “If you become a servant to this people today and you serve them and you give them a favorable answer, then they will be your servants forever.”

⁸ But he ignored the advice that the elders had given him, and instead, he consulted with the young men who had grown up with him and who stood before him. ⁹ He asked them, “What advice do you give me so that we can give an answer to this people who have spoken to me, saying, ‘Make the yoke lighter than that which your father laid upon us?’ ”

¹⁰ The young men who had grown up with him answered, “Say the following to the people who said to you, ‘Your father made our yoke heavy; will you lighten it for us?’ Say this to them: ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s waist! ¹¹ My father laid a heavy yoke on you, but I will add to your yoke. My father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions.’ ”

¹² Three days later Jeroboam and all of the people returned to Rehoboam as the king had decreed when he said, “Come back to me in three days.” ¹³ The king responded harshly to the people. He ignored the counsel that the elders had given him. ¹⁴ He said to them what the young men had advised him saying, “My father laid a heavy yoke on you, but I will add to your yoke. My father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions.”

¹⁵ Thus the king would not listen to the people, for the Lord had brought this about to fulfill what he said when the Lord spoke through Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam, the son of Nebat. ¹⁶ When all of Israel realized that the king would not listen to them, the people answered the king, “What share do we have in David? What inheritance do we have in the son of Jesse? To your own tents, O Israel. Look after your own house, O David.” So the people of Israel returned to their homes.^[c]

¹⁷ Rehoboam still ruled over those Israelites who were living in the cities of Judah. ¹⁸ King Rehoboam sent out Adoniram who was in charge of the forced labor, but all of Israel stoned him to death. King Rehoboam, however, mounted his chariot and fled to Jerusalem. ¹⁹ Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David up to the present day.

²⁰ When all of Israel heard that Jeroboam had come back, they sent for him and summoned him to an assembly. They made him king over all of Israel. No one followed the house of David except for the tribe of Judah.

²¹ When Rehoboam arrived in Jerusalem, he assembled the entire house of Judah along with the tribe of Benjamin, one hundred and eighty thousand fighting men to battle against the house of Israel and to restore the kingdom to Rehoboam, the son of Solomon. ²² But the word of God came to Shemaiah, the man of God, saying, ²³ “Speak to Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, the king of Judah, and to all of the house of Judah and Benjamin, and to the rest of the people, saying, ²⁴ ‘Thus says the Lord, You are not to go up or fight against your brothers, the Israelites. Let each man return home, for this thing is from me.’ ” They obeyed the word of the Lord, and they turned around and left, as the Lord had instructed.

²⁵ Jeroboam built Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim and he dwelt there. He went out from there and built Penuel.

²⁶ Jeroboam’s Idolatry. Jeroboam said to himself, “The kingdom is going to return to the house of David. ²⁷ If this people goes up to sacrifice in the temple of the Lord in Jerusalem, the heart of this people will return to their lord, to Rehoboam, the king of Judah. They will kill me and they will return to Rehoboam, the king of Judah.”

²⁸ The king sought counsel, and so he made two golden calves.^[d] He said to them, “It is too difficult for you to go up to Jerusalem. Behold, your gods, O Israel, which brought you up out of the land of Egypt.” ²⁹ He placed one in Bethel, and he placed the other in Dan.^{[e] 30} This thing became a sin, for the people went to worship before one of them, even to Dan.

³¹ He built shrines upon the high places, and he appointed priests from the lowliest of people who were not Levites.

³² He established a festival on the fifteenth day of the eighth month like the one that was celebrated in Judah, and he offered sacrifices upon the altar. He did this in Bethel, offering sacrifices to the calves that he had made. In Bethel he also appointed priests for the high places that he had made.

³³ And so he established a festival for the Israelites on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, a date of his own choosing, and he offered up a sacrifice on the altar he had built in Bethel. He offered up a sacrifice and burned incense on the altar.

Chapter 3

¹ Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord.

Warning against False Teachers

Worship by the Spirit.^[a] I do not mind writing the same things to you again; it is for your safety.

² Beware of the dogs!^[b] Beware of evil-doers! Beware of those who mutilate the flesh! ³ For we are the circumcision,^[c] we who worship by the Spirit of God and who boast in Christ Jesus and do not place any confidence in the flesh— ⁴ even though I too have reason for confidence in the flesh.

Joyous Sacrifice of All Things for Christ.^[d] If anyone thinks that he has reasons to be confident in the flesh, I have more! ⁵ I was circumcised on the eighth day of my life. I was one of the people of Israel, the tribe of Benjamin.^[e] I am a Hebrew and the son of Hebrews. In regard to the Law, I was a Pharisee; ⁶ in regard to religious zeal, I was a persecutor of the Church; in regard to righteousness under the Law, I was without fault.

⁷ All these I once regarded as assets, but now I have come to regard them as losses because of Christ. ⁸ Even more than that, I count everything as loss because of the supreme good of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake, I have suffered the loss of all other things, and I regard them as so much rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ ⁹ and be found in him.

I do not wish to have any righteousness of my own based on the Law, but one that comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness given by God in response to faith. ¹⁰ All I want is to come to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and to share in his sufferings by becoming conformed to his death, ¹¹ so that I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

¹² Racing toward the Goal.^[f] It is not that I have already attained this or have yet reached perfection. But I press on to take hold of that for which Christ once took hold of me. ¹³ Brethren, I do not claim to have taken hold of it as yet. Only this one thing: forgetting what is behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, ¹⁴ I press on toward the finishing line to win the heavenly prize to which God has called me in Christ Jesus.

¹⁵ Those of us who are mature should adopt this same attitude. If on any matter you have a different point of view, this too God will make clear to you. ¹⁶ Only let us hold fast in our conduct to what we have already attained.

¹⁷ Our Citizenship Is in Heaven.^[g] Brethren, join in imitating me,^[h] and take note of those who conduct themselves in accord with the model you have in us. ¹⁸ As I have told you before, and now remind you with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. ¹⁹ Their end is destruction. Their god is their stomach. Their glory is in their shame. Their minds are set on earthly things.

²⁰ But our citizenship is in heaven,^[i] and from there we await our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. ²¹ He will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be conformed to his glorified body by the power that also enables him to make all things subject to himself.

Chapter 42

Other Structures. ¹ Then he led me toward the north into the outer court and brought me to the rooms that were opposite the temple courtyard and facing the building on the north. ² The length of the building on the north side was one hundred cubits, and its width was fifty cubits.

³ Facing the twenty cubits of the inner court and the pavement of the outer court, there were three parallel rows of chambers on each level facing each other. ⁴ In front of the chambers, there was a passageway, ten cubits wide and one hundred cubits long, and the entrances to the rooms faced north.

⁵ The chambers on the upper level were narrower than those on the two levels below because the galleries took up more of the width on the upper level. ⁶ For they were divided into three stories and they had no pillars as the courts had. Thus, the upper chambers were more narrow than those on the lower and middle levels.

⁷ There was an outer wall parallel to the chambers that extended out toward the outer court; it was fifty cubits long. ⁸ The chambers facing the outer court were fifty cubits long, while those facing the temple were one hundred cubits long.

⁹ Below these chambers there was a passage that one entered from the east so that one could enter them from the outer court. ¹⁰ On the south side that faced the open area and the building, there were chambers.

¹¹ There was a passage that ran in front of these chambers. They were identical in design to those on the north, with the same length and width, and with the same exits and entrances and doorways. ¹² Before the chambers on the south side, there was an entrance from the east at the end of each passage, by means of which one could enter from the east.

¹³ Then he said to me, “The north and the south chambers which open out onto the courtyard are the chambers of the sanctuary. It is there that the priests approach the Lord and eat the most sacred offerings. There they deposit these most sacred offerings—the grain offerings, the sin offerings, and the guilt offerings—for this is a holy place. ¹⁴ When the priests have entered the holy place, they must not depart from the holy place and enter the outer court without first leaving there the vestments they have worn while performing their duties, since these vestments are holy. They shall first clothe themselves in other garments before they go near the area designated for the people.”

¹⁵ Measurements of the Outer Court. When he had completed his measurements of the interior of the temple area, he brought me out through the gateway that faces east, and he measured the temple area all around.

¹⁶ He measured the east side with his measuring rod, and it was five hundred cubits. ¹⁷ He then turned and measured the north side, and it was five hundred cubits. ¹⁸ He next turned and measured the south side, and it was five hundred cubits. ¹⁹ Then he turned and measured the west side, and it was five hundred cubits.

²⁰ Thus, he measured the area on all four sides. The wall around it was five hundred cubits long and five hundred cubits wide, to separate the sacred from the profane.

Psalm 94^[a]

God, Judge, and Avenger