Thursday

23-May

1 Kings 11-12; Ps 66; Romans 3

1 Kings 11: A long chapter.  We see a drastic change in Solomon which leads to the divided kingdom of Israel.  What happened and what are the consequences? 

1Kings 12: Who was Rehoboam and who was Jeroboam? What stupid thing did Rehoboam do?  What stupid thing did Jeroboam do and why?

Romans 3: How are we ‘justified’?

Journal Prompt: In verse 25 of Romans 3, what symbolic event does Paul refer to?

Answers:

1 Kings 11:  Solomon violated the Lord’s commandments by marrying so many women including foreigners.  The result was exactly as the Lord had warned – he turned his back on the Lord and began to worship the gods of his wives.  Solomon broke the covenant that the Lord made with him and he lost the provision and support of God.  The Lord allowed adversaries to rise up against the house of David, although Solomon remained in power – it was his sons that would suffer the consequence.

1 Kings 12: Rehoboam was Solomon’s first born son (you can only imagine how many children he must have had).  Jeroboam had been a very qualified servant of Solomon who was given leadership responsibilities.  God spoke through Ahijah, the prophet, telling Jeroboam that he would be king of most of the tribes.  Solomon obviously found out and tried to kill Rehoboam who escaped to Egypt. 

Rather than listen to trusted advisors, Rehoboam took terrible advice from his friends.  He laid even heavier taxes upon the people, so they revolted and sided with Jeroboam.

Jeroboam also followed bad advice and made two golden calves which were idols. He did this because he wanted his people to be able to worship the Lord outside of Jerusalem so they wouldn’t change their minds and return to Rehoboam.  He basically instituted his own system of worship which included appointing non-Levite priests.

Romans 3: We are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus (v. 24) through his death on the cross.