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A Kingdom Divides - Civil War
by Pastor Ronald Boelte
After the death of King Solomon, the nation of Israel was in trouble.
Solomon had allowed foreign gods into the nation and the people were under
heavy taxes to pay for all the public buildings and the support of
Solomon's huge family. Rehoboam was the son that would take over the rule
of the nation. The nation and its people wanted relief from these taxes,
but Rehoboam would not listen. Ten of the tribes would rebel and call
Jeroboam to be their king and Rehoboam would keep the two tribes of Judah
and Benjamin.
This division caused a civil war between the nation and two countries were
formed. They would seldom work together in the future for the good of the
whole nation.
The northern kingdom was called Israel and was ruled by Jeroboam. This
term can be confusing when reading the Old Testament, but a simple rule is
if the book is written after Solomon, Israel means the Northern kingdom.
If written before Solomon Israel means the whole nation, the 12 tribes.
The southern kingdom was to be called Judah and was ruled by Rehoboam.
Again the same applies as with Israel. Before Solomon Judah was taking
about the tribe of Judah, after Solomon it is talking about the Southern
kingdom. Of course there are a few cases were this is not true, but the
are rare.
This week we will look at these two nations and the two kings that ruled
them. We will begin to see a pattern that will cause the Northern kingdom
to completely fall away from the worship of God and take up the worship of
other gods. Judah would do better, but often we see them stray from true
worship to the worship of other gods.
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