Our reading challenge for the day is 1 Kings 11-15. I’ll hit a few highlights. You make comments too and fill in the gaps. What strikes you as specially significant?
1 Kings 11 - Solomon’s heart is turned from God by his many alliances with wives of other religions. God promises to preserve his covenant people but will break up the kingdom. See how even this does not move Solomon to repentance. Our hearts become hardened against God very easily! May we have grace to be faithful.
1 Kings 12 - Rehoboam, son of Solomon, by his poor choices, turned ten tribes of Israel against him. From this time the kingdom is divided. The northern tribes are called Israel and the tribes of Judah and Benjamin are called Judah. Jeroboam in Israel entices the people to idolatry in a politically motivated religious move. When we desire to establish a new thing in worship we must question the wisdom of that move.
1 Kings 13 - Even in these dark times God sends his prophet to call Israel to repentance. God gives a false prophet repentance for his evil but Israel does not repent. Jeroboam’s sin will cut off Israel.
1 Kings 14 - Jeroboam never repented of his sin. his house was embroiled in strife until his death. From this point, it may be useful to keep two timelines of history, one tracking Israel and one tracking Judah, as the text follows both kingdoms. See that Judah provoked God as well.
1 Kings 15 - Watch Israel go from bad to worse as evil kings rule. Meanwhile Judah does not do much better but does have a bright spot in Asa. Do we pray for our rulers? They need it.
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