REHOBOAM AND JEROBOAM.

seat a very disrespectful message to
Rehoboam, and said, “Thy father
Solomon was unkind to us, and
made hard laws which we did
not like. Do thou be kind, and
make easy laws, and then we
will serve and obey thee.” When
Rehoboam heard this message, he
asked the old men, who had been
his father’s friends, to give him ad-
vice. The old men said, “ Speak
gently to the people, and then they
will be thy servants, and love and
obey thee.” But Rehoboam did not
attend to this good advice of the
old men. He called his own friends,
foolish self-willed young men, and
he asked them, “ What shall I do?”
The young men said, “Speak harsh-
ly to the people, and tell them that
the laws shall be more strict now

 

 

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than they were in Solomon’s time.”
Rehoboam attended to this foolish
advice, and called Jeroboam, and all
Israel, and said, “ My father’s laws
were strict, but I will make them
more strict. He punished you a
little, I will punish you very much.”
This answer made Jeroboam and
the people very angry, and they
said, “ We will not obey Rehoboam.”
So the people of Israel made Jero-
boam their king, and he reigned
over ten tribes; but Judah and
Benjamin followed Rehoboam.

But why did God take away ten
tribes: from Rehoboam? Because
of Solomon’s sin. God had not for-
gotten the message He sent to Jero-
boam by Ahijah. All God says, He
remembers, and does; and He must
always punish sin.

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CXUL

FRREHOBOAM AND JEROBOAM,

HERE were two kings in
a\U the land of Canaan now,
25 Rehoboam and Jeroboam,
=) and they were always
fighting against one an-
other. Were they good kings? No,
both were very wicked. Rehoboam
was not like his father, but foolish
and self-willed; and his people
were wicked too, and, therefore,
God’s blessing was not upon them.
An enemy came to fight against
them, Shishak king of Egypt, and
he took many of their cities, and
came to Jerusalem. Rehoboam
and his people felt very much
frightened when they saw Shishak
coming with all his soldiers, and
chariots, and horses. They had cause

  
   
 

to fear; for God sent a very sad
message to them by a prophet, to
to tell them how angry He was :—
“Thus saith the Lord, ye have
forsaken me, and now I have given
you up to the power of your ene-
mies.” Rehoboam and his people
were all very sorry to hear this.
What could they do? They did
what was best—they humbled them-
selves before God. When we sin
and make God angry, we ought to
ask humbly for pardon. God is
always willing to hear prayer. He
heard the prayer of Rehoboam and
his people, and said, “I will not de-
stroy Rehoboam, because he is hum-
ble and sorry for his sin.” So Jerusa-
lem was spared, and Shishak went