Day 25: 1 Kings 7:38-1 Kings 16:20 - 90 Day Challenge

We Were Rooting For You!

Israelite King[s] Continue to Miss the Point


Oh, Israel. When will you remember how great your God is? When will you remember all the good He did for you? How can you continually turn your backs on God, and begin worshiping golden calves again?? (Don't you remember how that turned out last time?!)

  1. The reading today begins with the remaining description of the temple that was built to the Lord, then continues on to tell how the Ark of the Lord's Covenant was brought to the Temple. The King blessed his people and praised the Lord. He then proceeds to say a prayer of dedication, asking for forgiveness for all of the sins of Israel and all of it's people. 
  2. The Lord Himself actually appeared to Solomon! The Lord says that He has heard Solomon's prayer and will honor it as long as Solomon continues to walk in the ways of the Lord--as David did. 
  3. The Queen of Sheba pays Solomon a visit, not believing the stories of his wealth and wisdom. When she arrives and Solomon is able to answer all of her questions, she is amazed at what the Lord has done, and gives Solomon many gifts. 
  4. Solomon became so wealthy, however, that it was in a point of ridiculous excess. He had not only accumulated 12,000 horses (seriously, could you even think of 12,000 names for them?!), 1,400 chariots, but also SEVEN HUNDRED WIVES AND THREE HUNDRED CONCUBINES (this is a woman who lives in the house but is not married)--and they were all from foreign lands, which God had forbid the Israelites to intermarry with. Because Solomon loved his wives so much, he built temples to the gods that they worshiped, and then began to worship those gods as well. The Lord becomes angry (rightfully so) and tells Solomon that the Israelites will be taken away from the hands of his son.
  5. Several people begin to rebel against Solomon, one of them is an official of his, Jeroboam. Ahijah, the prophet, tells Jeroboam that he will be king over ten of the twelve tribes of Israel. The other two will be given to the descendants of David (Solomon and his sons). 
  6. After Solomon died, but before Jeroboam returned to Israel, Solomon's son, Rehoboam, took over being the King of Israel. But, the Israelites rebelled against Rehoboam, except for the people living in the tribe of Judah and the Benjaminites--but God commands them to not go to war with their brothers, the Israelites. 
  7. After Jeroboam takes over, he things that if the Israelites go back to worshiping God, they will also go back to Rehoboam and David's descendants (I'm not sure why, since Rehoboam's heart was also not turned towards God). So, Jeroboam makes two golden calves and tells the Israelites that it was the golden calves that brought them out of Egypt. 
  8. God sent a man from Judah to speak with Jeroboam and tell him that he is wrong is his ways. The altar Jeroboam is sacrificing to is split open, and his hand deteriorates before his eyes (but is restored when the man of God asks it to be). Even still, Jeroboam didn't change his ways. 
  9. Jeroboam's son, Abijah, becomes ill. Ahijah, the prophet, tells Jeroboam's wife when she comes to him, that her son will die as soon as she steps foot back into the city, and that all of Jeroboam's descendants will eventually be destroyed. After Jeroboam's death, his other son, Nadab, succeeds him. 
  10. Looking back at the tribes of Judah: Rehoboam is not doing an awesome job as ruler. The people, and him, are worshiping false gods, and eventually his son, Abijah (yes, they both had sons named Abijah) succeeds him as King. Abijah also did evil in the eyes of the Lord, but eventually, Asa, Abijah's son, succeeds him.There was war between the tribes of Judah and the Israelites this whole time.
  11. Asa did what was right in the Lord's eyes, as David had done! Finally! He expelled the evildoers from the city, and re-dedicated the temple to the Lord. 
  12. Back to Israel: Nadab did evil, and was succeeded by Baasha, son of Ahijah. Baasha killed all of Jeroboam's descendants. Baasha did evil and was replaced by Elah who did evil and was replaced by Zimri (who only ruled seven days).
Oh, boy. I'm sure tomorrow's reading will be even crazier, as this constant change of power continues. 

Amidst all this crazy, there is one verse that I'd really like to cling to: 

The Lord keeps his promises, that is one thing we can see again and again. 

Tomorrow's reading will be 1 Kings 16:21 - 2 Kings 4:37
Have a blessed day!
Jill Jafarace
Director of Student Ministry
New Leaf UMC



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